Precinct Fellow, Timi Olagunju Launches book, "Yes, Africa Can" After Mandela Washington Fellowship

As part of the successes of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, Timi Olagunju, a 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow at the Presidential launched his third book titled: ‘Yes Africa Can: Stories of Mandela Washington Fellows’, which is written to primarily embolden young Africans to rise to proactive servant leadership and social entrepreneurship as a tool for a sustainable African future. The book is forwarded by Melvin Foote, President Constituency for Africa and Francois Baird, Chairman, Edelman and Precinct Board Member. ‘Yes, Africa Can’ by Timi Olagunju challenges the readers to go beyond the threshold of being onlookers, to implementing African interventions.

In addressing the question of leadership, the author felt that there has been too many books that have addressed leadership from the ‘traditional’ and theoretical perspective of a woman or a man leading others. So in this book, he took a slight detour. He neither delved into leadership theories nor its models. The book shifts the focus from the positional acknowledgement of the leader to drawing lessons from personal examples of young people (with little or no title or position) who have taken up the odds to distinguish themselves as leaders in their respective fields and communities, and have been so acknowledged as leaders, thereby qualifying them as participants of the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

This book propels the reader to look further inwards. It also covers the Mandela Washington Fellowship application, the YALI Regional Program, and the interview process.

The book touches on seven stages as regards the Mandela Washington Fellowship. These are: THE APPLICATION, THE INTERVIEW, THE PRE-DEPARTURE ORIENTATION, THE RESIDENCY PROGRAM, THE WASHINGTON SUMMIT, THE INTERNSHIP (PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE), AND THE RETURN HOME.

For those applying for the 2016 or future Mandela Washington Fellowship or/and the YALI Regional program, Chapters 1 and 2 are a must read before applying, in order to put the best foot forward. The complete book, ‘Yes Africa Can’ is available for eReaders on their computer and phone via Amazon and Okada Books, with the search name, ‘Yes, Africa Can’.

In addition, the author has made it possible for those applying for the Fellowship this year, to read only chapters 1 and 2, which could be assessed on Indiegogo, from now till December 5, 2015.

With this book, ‘Yes, Africa Can’, the author has demonstrated a brilliant blend of value creation and wealth generation, something he attributes to learning from some of the best minds in social enterprise such as Greg Fairchild, Toan Nguyen, Christine Mahoney, to mention a few, at the Presidential Precinct, during the Mandela Washington Fellowship.