Henley Centre
for Leadership Africa
Recognizing, developing, transforming, and sustaining positive and optimistic leadership in Africa


WHO WE ARE
Established in 2023, the Henley Centre for Leadership Africa is a sister centre of the Henley Centre for Leadership and is focused on recognising, developing, transforming, and sustaining positive and optimistic leadership in Africa. Both centres honour and advance Henley Business School's strong heritage and reputation as a pioneer in the thinking and practice of leadership and its development.
Henley Centre for Leadership UK
Our sister centre in the UK was founded in 2013 and is a community of scholars and leaders striving to tackle challenging leadership issues, transform leadership and create positive change in organisations, communities and society. It is committed to enhancing the study and practice of leadership by developing leaders, engaging in knowledge exchange and co-creating future-focused strategies.
Call to engage
Please reach out to us if you would like to learn more about our leadership insights, seek bespoke leadership research to support your organisation and activities, or look for assistance in leadership learning.
Contact:
Prof. Bernd Vogel
bernd.vogel@henley.ac.uk
We work in collaboration with researchers from around the globe to advance African knowledge and practice on leadership and leadership development and impact significant personal, business and societal issues and opportunities.
ACTIVE RESEARCH :

The attributes and energy dynamics of hopeful, healthy, performing senior management teams over time, and their impact on individuals and society in an African leadership context
This collaborative research project focuses on African leadership optimism. The focus is on developing case studies related to African optimism linked to the future of leadership. Through appreciative inquiry, the success stories of African leaders are researched and reported. The partnership could also see the joint supervision of doctoral students.
Research Team
-
Prof Bernd Vogel, is the project lead who scoped the project and gained ethical clearance.
-
Mr Brian Mhlanga, an HBS Africa adjunct faculty who holds two master’s degrees in leadership and is well connected with industry, is the team’s researcher and interviewer and will conduct the initial analysis.
-
Dr Janet Brumme from HBS Africa has joined the team as the lead researcher.
-
Prof Anneloes Raes, from IESE Business School (Spain) has joined the project as a collaborator.
-
Ms Vickey de Villiers, a Henley researcher, is assisting the team with compiling the database and setting up interviews.

Exploring the development of organisational leadership capacity on the job: a learning history for a manufacturing plant
This project addresses leadership challenges associated with current dynamic business contexts. The research project, under the auspices of Prof. Vogel and DBA student Mr Hugoh Ndudzo, investigates the evolution of collective leadership approaches as an avenue for extending the development of organisational leadership capacity (OLC).
The study proposes a conceptual model for developing OLC and adopts an action research strategy and learning history methodology. Findings will allow the researchers to develop a framework for developing OLC in this context. In phase one, the study explores and creates some perspective on insights from a five-year development process at a manufacturing plant in South Africa. In phase two, the study takes those findings as a next episode of action research into a similar plant in Zambia
Research team- Prof. Bernd Vogel, DBA supervisor
-
Mr Hugoh Ndudzo, DBA student

Human centricity in leadership
The study will focus on human-centred leadership. A survey will be fielded amongst senior leaders and early career leaders in the UK, Finland and South Africa.
Research Team
- Prof. Bernd Vogel, HBS UK and Director of the Henley Centre for Leadership Africa
- Dr Paula Kilpinen and Dr Can Ererdi, HBS Finland
- Prof Danie Petzer, HBS Africa
CENTRE ACTIVITIES
Launch of the Henley Leadership Centre Africa on 10 March 2023
The Henley Centre for Leadership Africa is the sister centre of Henley Centre for Leadership at Henley Business School in the UK and is part of Henley Business School Africa’s strategy to increase its research footprint in Africa to create original and impactful insights.
Please see the images from the Launch:
African Leadership Optimism Workshops
The African Leadership Optimism Workshops focus on positively shifting the leadership debates, practices, and insights in South Africa. The 5th annual workshop took place on 25 March 2025 which focused on Africa-rooted positive leadership.
Please see our graphic harvesting sketch notes that illustrate the key insights and takeaways from previous workshops:
Leadership stories
The Henley Centre for Leadership Africa is embarking on a project to highlight positive and optimistic leadership stories/journeys of South African business leaders.
Please find the links to our featured leadership stories here:
Research Output
See our published white papers:
A cross-sectoral perspective of gender disparity in the workplace: Perhaps the issue is less complicated than it seem
Read moreEpistemic leadership – a
unifying model of leadership: philosophy and application
Building quality relationships
and resilient teams: organisations’ secret weapon for weathering disruption?
Timing matters: applying musicians' insights to business
Read moreWomen in leadership: the more things change, the more they stay the same
Read moreSee our published case studies:


Our case studies are available from The Case Centre at the following link here
See our published research report:
Positive contributions, leadership, and energy dynamics of senior management teams
Read moreDirector of the Henley Centre for Leadership Africa

Professor Dr Bernd Vogel. Professor in Leadership, Founding Director of Henley Centre for Leadership UK & Henley Centre for Leadership Africa, and Research Division Lead at Henley Business School, University of Reading. He is a Visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg and holds an Honorary Chair Professorship in Organizational Leadership, Woxsen University, India.
Bernd is working for more than 25 years with global companies, business schools and universities. He bridges between academia and practice and assists humans and organisations in life-long leadership learning journeys that help to develop and transform lives, organisations, and societal causes.
Bernd’s expertise focuses on strategic leadership to mobilise and maintain healthy organizational energy and performance, senior management teams, future of work and leadership, organization-wide leadership capability, transformation, change and culture, leadership development, and executive coaching. Bernd publishes in top-tier academic journals, authored and edited several books, and contributes regularly to global media. is a world-renowned musician with over 30 years’ experience in the creative sector – from performance and production to education, strategy, and business development.
Associate Members to the Henley Centre for Leadership Africa

Barry van Zyl is a world-renowned musician with over 30 years’ experience in the creative sector – from performance and production to education, strategy, and business development. Having toured the world for 21 years with South Africa’s most famous export, Johnny Clegg, and while working with artists like Annie Lennox, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Peter Gabriel, and Die Antwoord, Barry completed an MBA at Henley Business School Africa and is now focused on executive education in the areas of personal development, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
Since 2018, Barry has been growing new business for Henley Business School Africa, starting in Nigeria and then in other areas of West and East Africa, with the aim of ‘building the people, who build the businesses that build Africa’. Barry is a tutor on the MBA programme internationally.
As the chair of Henley’s pan-African Alumni community, Barry is leveraging the school’s network of 80 000 alumni to build the brand in new territories, develop the offer in existing markets, and create innovative new revenue streams. In addition to his Henley work, Barry embraces his passion for the marriage of the creative sector and executive leadership by designing and delivering corporate leadership programmes in creativity and innovation, entrepreneurship, and the business of resonance. His clients include major African and international companies in financial and professional services, telecoms, media, energy, and education. Despite his immense success in the creative industry, Barry’s most important job is being a role model to his teenage daughter.

Dr Mélani Prinsloo is a founding member of Infusion, where she undertakes the strategic leadership of the organisation. Infusion has positioned itself as a significant and unique research entity – operating a community-based research and business platform focusing on unevenly developed communities. One of Infusion’s flagship projects is now housed in the Centre for Democratising Information (CDI; www.cdi.org.za).
CDI and Infusion’s clients include Sibanye-Stillwater, Financial Services Board, Standard Bank, FNB, Sanlam, Momentum, Mitsubishi Hitachi, the Department of Basic Education, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Health, Business Trust, SoulCity, Finmark Trust, Shoprite, Vodacom, Microsoft, MultiChoice, SAP, Kumba, South32, Mozal, RBM, and more. In essence, Infusion aims to address the shortage of reliable, detailed information on underdeveloped communities by training unemployed people from communities to act as information agents, gathering data for surveys designed to investigate the context in which people live and make their decisions. A significant part of Mélani’s role is to identify and manage a network of people who engage on these research projects to ensure that each project is supported by a suitable/relevant/well-aligned team.
During the last three years, Infusion also partnered with FuseIT in the development of a revenue assurance and big data management tool called HeliumStream. The tool uses machine learning to help manage and optimise data by providing insights beyond human capability. HeliumStream is currently being rolled out at reference sites in a range of industries – from government to mobile service providers and transport services.
Mélani holds a BCom (cum laude), a BCom Honours, and an MCom (cum laude) in Marketing from the University of Pretoria, and a PhD from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. A former academic, Mélani started her career at the University of Pretoria’s Marketing and Communication Management Department. As an international lecturer, Mélani teaches various courses at several institutions in South Africa and abroad. Since 1996, Mélani has presented at various national and international conferences on numerous topics and has also published in accredited journals and authored a book.

Dr Janet Brumme is an adult education specialist with more than 25 years’ experience in large and small organisations, with skills and competence in learning design, development, and implementation of work-based learning linked to the achievement of organisational strategy. Sectors she has worked in and with include banking, mining, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, and education. She holds a PhD in Organisational Behaviour and her research interests include leadership, organisational culture and learning, and work-based learning. Dr Brumme works at Henley Business School Africa as head of department for Open Postgraduate Diploma programmes.

Tshidi Pila Machaba serves as head of Sales for the Inland Region at Altron Nexus, a subsidiary of Altron, which is a Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed entity. In her role, Tshidi achieved the critical milestone of merging two underperforming sales units that were ill capacitated and not generating revenue. This was one of the most transformative journeys in her career. Tshidi juggled the two profound requirements of rebuilding the team and generating the revenue, which resulted in her closing her second financial year end approximately 18% over target.
Some of the roles Tshidi has fulfilled in her 20-year professional journey include: change management consultant, programme manager, facilitator, neurolinguistic programming practitioner, transformation coach, radio and television presenter, and a host of life-transforming seminars in Gauteng and Botswana. Tshidi is an expert in the terrain of mindfulness, spiritual enlightenment, business efficiency and transformation, career growth, self-leadership, and holistic profitable life coaching, and serves as a content provider at multiple radio stations (e.g., Power FM, Radio 2000, Kaya FM, and 702).
Tshidi has 20 years of experience in the South African public and private sectors. She has developed strong experience in the sectors of defence, telecommunication, information communication and technology (ICT), business schools, and pay television industries.
During her stay at Vodacom South Africa, Tshidi managed the roll-out of a national ICT solution that covered 1 500 public schools. One of the challenges was to introduce the project to the different teachers’ unions, provincial districts as well as provincial and national departments. The outcomes of her engagements were a successful roll-out across nine provinces, which culminated in a high-profile launch event addressed by business and political thought leaders. Tshidi recently became an associate member of Henley Centre for Leadership Africa.

Malcolm Ferguson is an executive fellow of Henley Business School Africa. As programme director for Executive Education, he takes cohorts of corporate managers on development journeys towards courageous leadership. Moreover, Malcolm is the director of Strategy Activator, working with business leaders and their teams to facilitate collective accountability for activating strategy. Malcolm believes that sustainable returns start with courageous leadership. He partners with executives and their teams to design and activate strategies that deliver a return on investment sustainably using playbooks based on the CAFÉ framework™ – a combination of clarity, accountability, focus, and energy.
Five years conducting commercial feasibility studies, eight years building small businesses, and 12 years developing leaders and activating strategy across multiple sectors have given Malcolm an appreciation for the significant challenges business leaders face in getting their teams to pull together and the temptations those teams face in juggling priorities. A chemistry major with an MBA (Old Mutual Gold Medallist) from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, Malcolm is a seasoned facilitator, a qualified coach, and an accredited Heartstyles associate.

Dora Maribe-Moremi is a pan-Africanist born to teachers in Mochudi, Botswana. Her quest for learning and enthusiasm about humanistic values in leadership, organisations, and behaviour is garnered from an extensive and illustrious career in business. Through
exceptional leadership efficacy, Dora distinguished herself as a leader within Aon, where she developed a sense of servitude. In business, she contributed meaningfully to several
industries where she helped bring about sustained organisational performance and growth.
Dora continues to advise organisations and people to actively pursue sustainability because capital preservation remains the most critical factor to organisational success. Dora holds a Doctor in Business Administration degree from Henley Business School, University of Reading, where she advanced her passion and vision to promote leadership expertise. Her passion is to contribute to advancing leadership scholarship, practice, and performance in Africa and beyond. Specifically, Dora promotes the intentional inclusion of the botho/ubuntu influence as an intersection of the indigenous African leadership and Western systems of organising to enhance business sustainability.
She has contributed articles on leadership for Botswana Guardian and has a strong passion for people development. Dora excels in mentoring and coaching future leaders because she leverages human adaptability and capability to enhance performance in these disruptive times.
Meet your alumni chapter team
