Popular social media influencer, Abdullahi Haruna, is among the hundreds of Africans that made this year’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Mandela Washington Fellowship.
In an interview, Haruna who uses social media and his World Entourage magazine to provide range of insights into issues of health, human rights, good governance, entrepreneurship, peaceful and mutual co-existence, said he was looking forward to stimulating and rewarding experience during the fellowship.
“As an entrepreneur, publisher and business owner, the fellowship will be an opportunity to learn how to carry out my activities in a more effective and efficient way. It will be an opportunity to horn my entrepreneurial skills, build rewarding relationship with young African leaders and a means of establishing contact with business mentors outside Africa. It is a dream come true,” he said.
“It is true that the African continent is diverse in terms of business values and culture. The law, the opportunities and threats that are prevalent in the continent vary from country to country. However, as Mandela Washington Fellows, we are united by one creed: to succeed in our businesses and to make the continent better in terms of leadership, governance and social cohesion” he further said.
Haruna said that upon return from the six weeks intensive training, academic coursework, leadership training and networking at the Lehigh University ,United States of America, he would establish his own printing press and expand his publication outreach to other African countries where critical issues on development, good governance, youth participation would be discussed.
“I also intend to expand my humanitarian services through a Non-Governmental Organisation, Open Dialogue Initiative, which I founded with some brilliant Nigerians. Through this platform, we shall set national agenda and discourses in different areas of our national life” he said.
His love for the common good led him into starting a school in a remote village in Nasasrawa State, North-Central Nigeria, where young girls of 12 were married off due to absence of alternative life opportunities. He also mobilizes funds for indigent students in higher institutions, provides relief materials for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as well as embarks on crowd funding for less privileged persons with chronic health conditions.
YALI which has become increasingly popular by its flagship, Mandela Washington Fellowship, was launched in 2013 by the US Department of State to invest in young African leaders to spark development, strengthen democratic values and enhance peace and security across African continent. Since its launch, thousand of Africans have benefited from the initiative on an annual basis.
