The Projects · 03 · Lake Naivasha ↔ Hong Kong

Leaders are grown, not found.

The Leadership Exchange takes emerging leaders from the communities around Lake Naivasha — young people who have already proven themselves in TAFA and Wezesha — and gives them a year of formation few young people anywhere receive, followed by university and mentorship that does not end at graduation.

Three Exchange participants smiling against the Hong Kong harbour skyline at night
The year — Hong Kong
Five Exchange alumni together on a Kasarani street
The return — Kasarani

The year

Exchange participants serve for one year on the staff of Crossroads Foundation in Hong Kong, a non-profit that has spent three decades connecting people in need with people who can help. The internship is full-time, unpaid, and real: genuine responsibility inside a working organization, with daily mentorship and coaching throughout.

Talanta Africa Fund covers everything — flights, passports, visas, food, and accommodation — so that nothing about a participant’s circumstances decides whether they can go.

The return

The year abroad is the beginning, not the point. When it ends, the Fund sponsors each participant through university or college in the field they choose, and the leadership development continues — career and life mentorship that walks with them into adulthood. The aim is not a certificate. It is women and men who thrive professionally and personally, and who give back to the communities that raised them.

So far

7young leaders in the program since 2022
5completed their year — now in universities and colleges in Kenya
2in Hong Kong now, beginning their year

Several alumni already serve in leadership at the organizations they grew up in. It widens the world; it changes what a young person believes they are allowed to want.

Grow a leader.

One year of formation, a university education, and mentorship for life — designate your gift to the Leadership Exchange.

Give to the Exchange