Leadership Development Program
Innovative, Indigenous Leadership Development
The African treasure we've been seeking...
Over the last decade, a number of theories have been developed that attempted to describe leadership and the effects its practices had on individuals, nations and organizations (Bennis & Nanus, 1985). Even though there are numerous theories on leadership, it seemed there was few empirical evidence of any of the prevailing theories of leadership being distinctly African in character. House & Aditya (1997) reviewed the development of leadership theories and noted that:
Almost all of the prevailing theories of leadership and about 98% of empirical evidence at hand are distinctly western in character assuming centrality of work and democratic value orientation and emphasizing assumptions of rationality rather than asceticism, religion, or superstition (pp.409-474).
As suggested by Chiku Malunga (2006), the plethora of leadership development initiatives and programs are largely imported from other countries and tend to have only limited application to the specific African contexts and cultures in which they operate. As a consequence they achieve only limited success in developing leaders. African culture is at best ignored and at worst viewed simply as a negative obstacle to ‘good leadership.’ She suggests that, to stand any chance of being effective, leadership development in Africa must be rooted in the influential cultural heritage.
Innovative indigenous leadership development is currently a very high priority for capacity building in Africa.
Develop Africa Inc. Leadership Development Academy has responded to this need and seeks to promote leadership development initiatives and programs through an innovative creative indigenous leadership strategy. Develop Africa Inc believes that African leadership development initiatives and programs should be tailored to a deliberate customized approach in sync with the African cultural heritage and practices. Therefore we have approached Leadership Development Programs from the following foundational premises.
