Paris, JUNE 3, 2019 – The French-African Foundation is honored to announce today the laureates of the 2019 "French-African Young Leaders" program.
The call for applications for the "French-African Young Leaders" program was launched on April 15, 2019 and closed on May 17, 2019. The objective of this program is to contribute to the emergence of the "next generation" of Franco-African leaders, who will be able, by their values and means of action, to meet the global challenges of our time.
In just one month, 2000 applicants from 54 countries: a guaranteed succession
Targeting a new generation of leaders in France and Africa, and the Diasporas, the call received more than 2,000 applications (4 times more than the first edition), with 36% female applicants and 54 countries represented. The application platform was consulted nearly 50,000 times in one month.
The top ten countries (60% of all applications) are particularly diverse and include several English-speaking countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda) alongside Cameroon, France, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Benin.
An independent selection committee, composed of experts in the Africa-France relationship, reviewed the large number of applications received in order to select the 30 profiles of the 2019 Young Leaders. Among the committee members: Malick Diawara, Le Point Afrique; Souad El Ouazzani, CSR Director, Deloitte; Sarah Marniesse, AFD Campus Director; Kine Seck Mercier and Lisa Barlow, Egon Zehnder; Romeo Tedongap, Professor at Essec; Arnaud Ventura, President of Baobab, and Eric Ntumba and Meryam El Ouafi, both Young Leaders of the 2017 class.
The laureates between France and Ghana
The 2019 class of French-African leaders will meet in Paris from July 7th to July 13th for a week-long personalized learning expedition, designed and organized by the French-African Foundation. On the Parisian program are several activities that include team-building, mentoring, training, workshops, debates and high-level meetings. In October, the Young Leaders will travel to Accra, Ghana for a week to discover the public, private, civil-society and media ecosystem of this country, considered the most dynamic in the world by the International Monetary Fund.
Mr. Rémy Rioux, Managing Director, Agence Française de Développement: "At the AFD, we continue to support Young Leaders because we believe that the emergence of young, creative and visionary talents driven by the collective search for solutions to the challenges of sustainable development is a sine qua non for building a world in common."
Mr. Thierry Déau, CEO, Meridiam Group: "If we have chosen to work with the French-African Foundation, it is to participate, through investment and training, in the positive movement that will reveal emerging young professionals and entrepreneurs who are building today’s Africa. It is a great honor for me to have been chosen as the patron of this year’s class of French-African Young Leaders.”
M. Eric Duval, Chairman, Founder, Duval group: “I am happy to support the French-African Foundation, which is a bridge between two continents that share so much. This beautiful and exciting initiative of the French-African Young Leaders will help to identify and develop a generation of talent.”
Mr. Philippe Heim, Deputy CEO, International Retail Banking Activities, Financial Services and Insurance, Société Générale: “Present in Africa for more than 100 years, we believe deeply in the potential of this continent. We are observing its incredible momentum and are proud to contribute to the development of local economies. Société Générale was created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs and we believe that it is these Young Leaders who represent the lungs and wings of this dynamic, creative and innovative Africa.”
felicitations a vous tous qui a etait choisir pour cet programme