The seminar was combined with the graduation of the YELP fellows of the class of 2019. Under the theme of “Living your Legacy”, leading questions like “How do you build your legacy? Why is this key? Does failure make you a loser? What is a servant leader? What is leadership about?” were answered and discussed during the seminar.
One of the sessions was based on the speech “Citizenship in a Republic” by Theodore Roosevelt. During this session, the fellows were guided through a process of self-reflection and towered them to identify and clarify why legacy is important and how to build their legacy. Roosevelt’s text indicated that falling short does not imply giving up. It further stated that if you didn’t fail as many times as possible you wouldn’t know who you really are. William Babigumira, Faculty Member of the LéO Africa institute, emphasised the importance for the fellows to discover their true selves and that failure is a necessary exercise to understand personal boundaries. Furthermore, he highlighted that part of legacy is also to shape and inspire the new generation of leaders and take responsibility and show evidence.
Joined by the alumni classes of 2017 and 2018, the fellows further discussed “Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution in an interactive conversation with Hon. Vincent W. Bagiire, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. He pointed at the national state of data security and innovations hubs and at how to incooperate technologies in different sectors like education.
He implored the fellows to apply consistency in their undertakings and to apply basic principles, to improve as leaders, and never to take anything for granted. Moreover, he dwelled on the differences between management and leadership. The fellows were moreover encouraged to think about their own branding. “Your responsibility to people depends on you and your decisions, if you are consistent the opportunities find you”.With the graduation ceremony of the 2019 class on Saturday, YELP has now an alumni network of 67 fellows from different countries all throughout Africa. An impressive network between the participants from eight different countries, including Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Somalia, Ruanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo has been established. In addition to the multi-nationality, the 2019 class of scholarship holders impressed above all with their colourful mix of different backgrounds. Through the fellowship, artists met biotechnologists and economists met graduates of development studies and film producers, all of whom contributed to the workshop with their exciting and extensive experiences.
