Leadership Lab Yetu recently hosted a virtual masterclass with Mr. Brian Kagoro, Managing Director of Programs at the Open Society Foundations, one of the world's largest philanthropic funders, on what kind of leadership Africa needs in a changing development landscape.
Mr. Kagoro was joined by the Dr. Hage G. Geingob Fellows – a cohort of 15 public servants, ministers, government advisors, and business executives taking part in our Intergenerational Leadership Accelerator program – as well as our Founder and Chairperson, H.E. Monica Geingos, 3rd First Lady of the Republic of Namibia.
With 30 years of strategic leadership experience across constitutional law, justice, governance, economic development, and global policy, having previously worked for organizations including the African Union Commission and ActionAid International, Mr. Kagoro led the masterclass through in-depth dialogue on the role of imagination, trust, coordinated brilliance, disruptive innovation, and renewed pan-Africanism in creating the leadership Africa needs for this moment.
A renewed pan-Africanism
The exchange began with reflections from Mr. Kagoro on pan-Africanism as being inspired by the creation of conditions and ecosystems that foster dignity in a collective sense. This generated conversations about how the challenges in society are often diagnosed as a failure of leadership, when the more fundamental failure is the inability to imagine Africa as a cultural and institutional force.
“We need a redefinition of what it means to be pan-Africanist."
Participants discussed how many people focus on the differences among Africans—language, culture, and history—rather than what they share. Earlier generations were united by the shared experience of colonialism and dispossession, while today’s generations live in a different moment. Africa’s youth may now know more about TikTok than they do about past political leaders. The question raised, then, was how to re-energize and build a pan-Africanism grounded in shared principles and a common future.
“We need a redefinition of what it means to be pan-Africanist,” Mr. Kagoro said, noting that the foundations of pan-Africanism are evolving. Today, African artists can fill stadiums in America. African clothes, cuisines, and national languages are increasingly visible in public life and political spaces. Pan-Africanism, the Fellows reflected, will not only be built in parliaments, institutions, or summits; it will also be built through culture, technology, and storytelling. At the same time, it requires leaders to rethink international and domestic relations in ways that show people what solidarity and friendship can look like across borders and generations.
Disruptive innovation
Discussions also highlighted that while some leaders inherit institutions and simply maintain them, the present moment requires leaders who can disrupt old ways of working and build new structures that meet the demands of future generations. They emphasized that trust is critical to ensuring the successful transformation and creation of institutions.
“When you fail, the mission has not failed. The implementation has had a bit of a detour.”
The Fellows also reflected on the importance of having an astute understanding of the politics at play within institutions, as well as the courage to navigate them without compromising one’s values. However, when confronted with setbacks or challenges, Mr. Kagoro advised that, “When you fail, the mission has not failed. The implementation has had a bit of a detour.”
Leaders as pathfinders
A particularly profound moment came when Fellows reflected on leadership as an ecosystem of coordinated brilliance—one that provides supporters, mentors, sounding boards, and peers, enabling leaders to realize that they are not alone in shouldering their responsibilities.
They considered that leadership is not limited to those at the very top of an institution, and sometimes the person best able to articulate a policy is not necessarily best positioned to implement it. This underscored that leaders must accept the burden of being pathfinders and cannot always rely on tried-and-tested tools to respond to Africa’s distinct challenges and opportunities.
This was the first in a series of exclusive masterclasses with experts from the fields of development, diplomacy, politics, philanthropy, and governance for the Dr. Hage G. Geingob Fellows.