Cameroon: Executive Leadership Programme Opens Amid Calls for Stronger Institutions

YAOUNDE, PAV – Senior leaders and managers from Cameroon’s public, private and civil society sectors have been challenged to look beyond day-to-day management and build organisations that deliver results, sustain their missions and survive leadership changes.

The call came as the 2026 Executive and Strategic Leadership Programme (ESLP) opened in Yaoundé on Tuesday, bringing together about 20 executives and senior managers for two days of intensive discussions on leadership and organisational effectiveness.

Organised by the Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation, the two-day residential programme is examining the leadership challenges confronting institutions in an increasingly uncertain and rapidly changing environment.

The programme draws on the Nkafu Policy Institute’s 14 years of institutional leadership and engagement with public, private and civil society organisations across Central Africa and beyond.

From Vision to Delivery

Opening the programme, Dr Denis Foretia, co-chair of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation and Executive Chairman of the Nkafu Policy Institute, challenged participants to focus on the fundamental leadership question of how to “build organisations that can deliver.”

He suggested the emphasis should not be on developing ambitious visions, but on creating the systems, teams and organisational cultures capable of turning those visions into measurable results.

The opening day examined governance and accountability, strategic planning, resource mobilisation and financial sustainability before a plenary discussion on “Leadership in a Complex World: The Moment We Are In.”

Dr Julienne Mesumbe, Deputy Director of the Nkafu Policy Institute, said the programme was designed to allow executives to exchange ideas about what holds organisations back and explore innovative ways of addressing those challenges.

“We have issues around the world culture, we have issues about people in the organisation buying the vision and the mission of the organisation, we have issues around shared values, we have issues around trust in the organisation,” Dr Julienne Mesumbe said.

She added that effective leadership also required humility and a willingness to learn from teams and collaborators. Leaders, she said, needed to adapt to a rapidly changing world and bring people and resources together to move organisations from being merely good to becoming great.

Can Organisations Outlive their Founders?

For some participants, the programme’s focus on institutional sustainability is particularly important in the civil society sector, where organisations can struggle to maintain their impact beyond the generation that created them.

Ngega Vanessa Achu, a participant who works as a Project Manager with the Grants and Research Office of the Network for Solidarity, Empowerment and Transformation for All (NewSETA), said strategic leadership was often overlooked when discussing development projects.

“When we hear about civil society, we’re always thinking about projects being implemented for the good of the local people of Cameroon, but usually we forget that for good projects to be implemented, we need strategic leadership,” she said.

Achu said she wanted to learn how organisations could sustain their work after their founders or key employees were no longer involved. She pointed to long-established companies in the Western world as examples of institutions that have survived successive generations of leadership.

“Why not in Cameroon, why not in Africa?” she asked, arguing that African institutions needed stronger strategies for sustaining their missions beyond the lifespans of their founders.

For other participants, resource mobilisation remains an immediate obstacle to institutional growth. Berinyuy Cajetan Tardzenyuy, President of Ethical and Sustainable Future for All, said he hoped to leave the programme with practical knowledge on organising and mobilising resources to advance his organisation’s vision and mission.

“Resource mobilisation is one of the problems that we are facing at Ethical and Sustainable Future for All,” he said, identifying limited funding opportunities and leadership challenges among the difficulties confronting civil society organisations in Cameroon.

About the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation

The Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation was established to catalyse Africa’s economic transformation by focusing on social entrepreneurship, science and technology innovation, public health, and progressive policies that create economic opportunities for all. Foretia Foundation partners with local governments, policymakers, private enterprises, civil society organisations, and development partners to expand resources available to entrepreneurs, farmers and small business owners, aimed at improving individual livelihoods.

About the Nkafu Policy Institute

The Nkafu Policy Institute is an African think tank with a mission to provide independent, in-depth, and insightful policy recommendations that enable all Africans to prosper in free, fair, democratic, and sustainable economies. The Institute’s team of analysts, experts, and researchers works on governance and democracy, health and education, peace and security, science and technology, and economic policy.