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Mandela Washington Fellowship

Mandela Washington Fellowship

A business intensive for young African leaders focused on entrepreneurship and offering opportunities to strengthen skills and develop professional networks.

Four students stand facing the Hesburgh Library's Word of Life mural. A woman in a black dress with a blue Notre Dame backpack, a smiling man in an orange shirt, a man in a red shirt, and a woman in a navy polo and jeans. The reflecting pool is visible below.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship Leadership in Business Institute at the University of Notre Dame is hosted by the McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business at the Keough School of Global Affairs. Programming for the six-week intensive combines academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, professional opportunities and community engagement in collaboration with Notre Dame faculty, local businesses and entrepreneurs, and members of the South Bend community.  

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

More than 270 young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa have been hosted on campus as part of the University of Notre Dame Leadership in Business Institute through the Mandela Washington Fellowship, celebrating its eleventh year in 2025. Already successful business leaders in their own right, Fellows return to their home countries upon completing the program to use new skills in leading organizations, communities and countries.