Thulani Mpofu among Mandela-Washington Fellowship participants

Thulani Mpofu is the founder of Dial-A-Tech Zimbabwe

A TOTAL of 42 young Zimbabweans were selected for this year’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders the flagship programme of the Young African Leaders Initiative (Yali).

The group is expected to leave for the United States on Tuesday on a six to 12 weeks leadership training programme.

Yali empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.

Among those who will be attending are Thulani Mpofu, an IT Specialist with 10 years of corporate work experience in Zimbabwe and the SADC region.

He is an associate member of the Computer Society of Zimbabwe and the Institute of Information Technology Proffesionals, passionate about ICT, Business and Entreprenuership.

Currently he is the head of operations for Batanai To Create (B2C) a proudly African Incubator, Accelerator and Co Working Space In partnership with Old Mutual and TelOne, and supported by the US Embassy Harare.

Thulani is also the founder of Dial-A-Tech Zimbabwe, an IT Support and Managed Services Firm offering affordable 24hr, per incident Helpdesk Support primarily to the Zimbabwe’s Small to Medium Enterprises.

“I am happy I made the gruesome selection process and am excited at the opportunity to make the 2018 Cohort of the Mandela Washington Fellowship. I am particularly excited at the opportunity to represent B2C, Co Working and Zimbabwe’s Young Millennials,” Mpofu said.

“It is time for the young to innovate, stand up, stand out and offer real solutions to Africa’s everyday problems using technology” I will take the opportunity to learn  as much as much as I can, even through the professional development experience, working at an American Institution,” he said.

This year the Fellowship will provide up to 700 outstanding young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa with the opportunity to hone their skills at a U.S. higher education institution with support for professional development after they return home. Institutes focus on leadership and skills development in one of three tracks: Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, or Public Management.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship, which begun in 2014, is the flagship program of former US President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative.