Bilgho Akaramata Kora

Our inspirational leader for this week is a Burkinabe musician and vocalist ,Bilgho Akaramata Kora a.k.a Bil Aka Kora. He was born in Burkina Faso on April 25 ,1971 and is one of 17 children.

Initially Bilgho went to college to study math and physics but dropped out two years later because of financial circumstances. He had neither the funds nor a scholarship to continue his studies. Bil Aka Kora then turned to music to sustain a living. He began playing full time in bars and nightclubs. In 1997 the Cultural Minister of Burkina Faso initiated the National Grand Prizes of Music which is a national competition for Burkinabe musicians. Bil won first place and this encouraged him to develop his musical talent.

Currently he owns a production studio called Djongo Diffusion. His purpose with the studio is to help young people who want to become musicians. Bil has travelled to Belgium ,France and Canada to meet and exchange with other artists and musicians like the Austrian musician Humber Von Goisen.

Bilgho Akaramata Kora

Kora has won the Gold Kunde twice in 2000 and in 2005. So far he has recorded three albums. Most of his music has themes of social issues. In his song 'Wematou' (God is my father) he explains how society criticizes single moms and their children but finds no fault with single fathers and their children.

Bilgho Akaramata Kora hopes to become more famous both in Africa and Internationally. He also hopes to win the KORA a musical festival in South Africa.

LESSON: Which ever path you take in life there is always room to make a difference and communicate life lessons. 

Tell us what you think about Bil Aka Kora in the comments section below.

Donald Molosi

This week's inspirational leader is a multi award winning classically trained actor ,writer and playwright from Mahalapye, Botswana where he was born on December 11 1985. He is Botswanas first male to perform off Broadway. The New-York Times have reviewed his work and called his perfomances "inflamed with passion". Molosi Describes his work as critical love letters to humanity. 

From a young age, Molosi demonstrated a natural performance flair and by age 16, he was already touring with arts festivals which include the Maitisong Festival Gaborone, Botswana with The Company Maitisong, where Molosi was also co-writing plays, and National Arts Festival,Grahamstown, South Africa. Molosi made radio and television appearances at a young age becoming the youngest person on the airwaves as a radio announcer at Yarona FM. He also partnered with UNICEF as a child presenter on Botswana Television during the UN International Children’s Day of Broadcasting. This resulted in a short stint at Radio Botswana 2 (RB2) under the tutelage of radio veteran, One Rabantheng. 

Donald was one of the 200 young achievers invited by President Ma of the Republic of China to commemorate Taiwans centenary celebrations. He has also been honoured as one of the 40 under 40 influential people in Botswana. Molosi is also an ambassador for Brand Botswana and has won several regional ,national and international film awards. He is a mentor for emerging African writers.

Molosi is a polygot with fluency in Setswana ,Swahili ,French  and English ,he is also conversational in Zulu and Ndebele. As a teacher of theatre for children with disabilities in Tamilnadu ,India he picked up on a bit of Tamil and Hindi.

Donald Molosi

LESSON: No race is superior or inferior than the other. The sky is the limit for our achievements as Africans.😊

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT DONALD MOLOSI ON THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.

Isabel Dos Santos

Societies have labelled women for generations confining them to the home and forbidding them from the public sphere but this did not stop Isabel do Santos from pursuing her dreams. She has proved that today’s African woman is strong, daring, and enterprising. Born on April 20 1973 in Baku, Angola Isabel is the first daughter of Angola’s former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. She attended an all-girls school in Angola then attained a degree in electrical engineering at Kings College in London. For the past 20 years Isabel has held management positions in different companies listed on European stock exchanges.

 She was a project manager for Urbana 2000 which had won a contract to clean and disinfect the city. Following that she set up a trucking business and opened Miami Beach Club. In an interview with Angolan press she let out that her biggest motivation was people’s speculation that she wouldn’t make it. And even after she had proved them wrong by chairing many large companies do Santos had to prove to the world that she had attained all her wealth from sweat and effort not from her father’s position.

Through Isabel do Santos women all over the globe have been represented and the notion that they have to choose between the private and the public sphere has been discredited as she is a mother of three despite owning shares in a major corporations. Isabel do Santos has been named by Forbes as Africa’s first billionaire woman.

LESSON: Leadership is not gender specific and gender are just socially constructed duties of men and women and they can be changed. 

Tell us what you think about Isabel Dos Santos on the comments section below.

Our first leader for this year is Algerian Human Rights Activist Ikram Ais. She was born in Oran ,Algeria. Ikram Ais is a Law graduate and Human Rights educator and the youngest person to have been elected as a board member of Amnesty Algeria.  Her journey into human rights began the summer she graduated from high school after she noticed numerous human rights violations against women ,young children and girls in her home town. During her summer vacation she streamed the movie "The Lady" about Aung Sung Kyi ,the political prisoner that Amnesty International had worked to release. The inspiring story behind the film led Ikram to joining an Amnesty reading club based in Canada. She discovered that there was an amnesty section in Algeria and joined human rights training in Algiers and has never looked back ever since.

In an interview Ikram let out that the things she learnt at her trainings cannot be compared to what she learnt in University. She felt like she had discovered what she really wanted to do ,which was to fight injustice ,stand up for those who cannot speak about their rights and educate them about their rights.

Her upcoming book is just one of the many projects she is involved in with the aim of raising awareness of human rights violations and promoting human rights education all over Algeria. Her choice to study law was motivated by the same wish to make a difference in her community. She hopes  to combine these two interests law and human rights to become a legislator in Algeria to influence policies and to make sure law makers take into account the needs of the most vulnerable.

LESSON: Academics may lead us a certain direction but that should not stop us from pursuing our passions.

Tell us what you think about Ikram on the comments section below.

Does it ever seem like everyone around you is having an easier time doing things than you are😒?Leadership and the road to success are never one sweet song 🎶that is why we at Afri-Renaissance have come up with an interesting way to keep you motivated to reach your leadership potential. Each week we will be posting an inspirational story of one of Africa's leaders and how they steered their 🚤boats towards success.

UNLEASHING YOUR LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL

Study Tips

OPEN EYES, OPEN MIND

We at Afri-Renaissance understand that when someone says “don’t stress”, you want to hit them over the head with your freakishly large textbook. So here is how to pull an all-nighter more effectively.

🕑You may want to give some exams more study time than others, so find a balance that you feel comfortable with. Organize your study space, make it as tidy as possible as this creates a conducive environment for reading and taking in information🕠.

Make your study space portable, in as much as we are creatures of habit with favourite seats and spots in the library information retention actually improves when we vary our places of study.

🎶Every time you feel your eyes close, play some hard core music. Allocate time for breaks in between studying this helps your brain remember information quicker and easier and ultimately helps you do better in your exams🎵.

📢Speak out loud instead of simply reading, although this may make you look a little crazy, give it a go! You will be surprised how much more you can remember when you have said it out loud (Do not try this in the library).

🍬Each time you read a topic and grasp a concept reward yourself with a treat. You could put pieces of candy 🍭at the end of each topic. The best way to test if you really understand something is to try to teach it to someone else. This is why group discussions are important so that in the event that you got a concept wrong you get corrections before going for the exam.

👭Create mental associations, studies have shown that associating with creative people who have a zeal for academics is the fuel of intelligence.👬

📱Turn off your cell phone and desist from thinking about checking your social media notifications. Watch a documentary on the topic you are reading on or Google search YouTube seminars of the topic. This is an entertaining way of compacting an entire story into a short timeframe. This will help you remember key details from a story plus you could even get extra credit for mentioning that you took the initiative and watched a film about the topic📴.

📃Create flash cards for quick memory buzz. Quickly test your knowledge of key concepts, definitions, quotes and formulas with flashcards. Don’t study in bed you’ll be tempted to take a little nap. If you are studying indoors open the windows and sit by the window provided there are no distractions outside. The cool breeze will invigorate you📄.

🔁Practice, practice and practice. Practicing sample answers to past exam questions can help train your brain to retrieve information. Create realistic exam-like conditions and test your understanding of the topics🔄.

➕The final piece of how to study effectively is to have a positive mind set. Nothing beats the “I can do it” mentality. It motivates you to keep on reading even when all you want to do is watch a movie or sleep➕.