NGO Soul + Strategy 079. Leadership in Africa Redefined With Taaka Awori of Busara Africa
Sep 23, 2024
42:27
Summary
What does it Busara's tagline mean: 'transformational leadership, from the inside out'?
To what extent are there truly different global south-normed leadership models?
Does personality still play an important role as well, in addition to national or regional cultural differences in leadership approaches?
In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Taaka Awori, Founder & CEO of Busara Africa, a leadership development services company, on redefining leadership in Africa.
Taaka's Bio:
- Founder and CEO of Busara Africa, a pan-African leadership development firm based in Accra, Ghana
- Author of the book Leadership Redefined: Untold Stories
- Associate Certified Coach with International Coaching Federation (ICF)
- Podcast host of Leadership Redefined: Untold Stories
- Member of the editorial board of Coaching Perspectives
- Chair of the board of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF)
- Former Country Director of AAI
- Assistant Social Development Adviser, DFID (now called FCDO)
- Degrees from Harvard and Columbia Universities
We discuss:
- Taaka started specializing in leadership development and organizational development, after discovering as a Country Director at ActionAid that what was most needed from her was good leadership – not any technical specialization
- Busara’s tagline is - transformational leadership from the inside out – signals that leadership starts with self-awareness and self-regulation
- Equally, good leadership is a combination of not just intellect or analytical capabilities, but also innate and learned wisdom, and the heart
- Other premises of Busara: let’s build on the examples of excellent leadership in Africa (not the negative examples); and feminist leadership
- 70% of Busara’s clients are NGOs; the rest are private sector and government agencies
- How are African leadership models distinct, if in any way, from global North-formed models?
- Another distinct element is the explicit inclusion of politization and thus the need for leaders to be aware of this, and to navigate it in a mission focused manner
- Busara is also interested to learn more about what’s to be learned from leaders of informal, non-registered organizations: informal worker associations, social movements and networks
- Interesting sub-continental dimensions of leadership within the African continent
Resources:
Taaka’s book: Leadership Redefined: Untold Stories
Leadership in Africa Redefined Podcast
YouTube video
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