Executive Development | SBS-ED
Remote
Global best practice, grounded in African realities.
The Africa New Managers’ Development Programme is contextualised for first-time managers and organisations across Africa. It is facilitated by faculty who are subject matter experts, with significant insight into the private and public sectors in Africa and globally. Participants come from a wide range of cultures, countries, industries, and roles, with the majority drawn from African corporates and public sector organisations.
The programme places particular emphasis on the unique challenges of emerging markets. While the theoretical frameworks and tools are universal, case studies and examples are drawn largely from the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors that shape management and leadership on the African continent. Interactive discussion forums and project work are grounded in the same context, so what participants learn reflects the environments they actually lead in.
Participants develop a cross-disciplinary understanding of business, and are encouraged to collaborate across diverse business environments and organisational contexts, building a network of peers from across the continent along the way.
The Africa New Managers’ Development Programme pairs universal management frameworks with African case studies, so every lesson reflects the teams and markets you actually lead in.
Africa’s next generation of managers is stepping up. Most are stepping up unprepared.
Across Africa, a young, fast-growing workforce is moving into management sooner than ever. Organisations are expanding into new markets, adopting new technologies, and restructuring to compete, and they rely on capable first-line managers to hold teams together through that change. Yet for most new managers, the step from doing the work to leading the people who do it comes with little formal preparation.
The evidence shows why this matters. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace research, only 19% of employees in sub-Saharan Africa are engaged at work, and 46% experience daily stress. Globally, Gallup attributes 70% of the variance in team engagement to the manager. In other words, the quality of a team’s first manager has a direct effect on how engaged, productive, and committed that team will be.
African workplaces add their own layers of complexity: teams that span cultures, languages, and generations; operating environments shaped by regulatory change, infrastructure constraints, and rapid digital adoption; and value chains that often cross borders. New managers need more than technical expertise to lead well in that context. They need self-awareness, sound judgement, clear communication, and an understanding of how their team creates value for the wider business.
The answer is not to promote less. It is to prepare better, giving new managers a strong foundation in leading themselves before they are asked to lead others.
The Africa New Managers’ Development Programme equips first-time managers across Africa to lead themselves, and their teams, with confidence from day one.
Before you can lead others, you need to lead yourself.
The Africa New Managers’ Development Programme is a 3-month remote programme designed to ensure a seamless transition from managing yourself to managing others. It accelerates the development of Africa’s emerging leaders, equipping them with essential management and leadership competencies, the business acumen to engage confidently across business disciplines, and the techniques to excel in their new roles, stand out within their organisations, and advance their careers. It is equally valuable for individuals taking their first step into management and for organisations building a strong foundation of frontline leadership across their operations.
The programme zooms in on personal mastery: building the self-awareness, resilience, and personal effectiveness needed to lead with authenticity, and to respond confidently to challenges within and beyond the organisation. Participants combine that self-awareness with practical people management skills, learning to communicate effectively with diverse teams, define work objectives, and manage competing priorities through effective delegation.
Across five modules, participants build a practical foundation in personal mastery and leadership in practice, communication in the workplace, decision-making and problem-solving, how business works within African business ecosystems, and the changing business environment of the fourth industrial revolution. They are guided throughout by a Learning Process Facilitator, who acts as mediator, mentor, and advisor, and works closely with each syndicate on its Work Integrated Learning Project, advising on structure, research, and the integration of key learnings so that the work is academically sound and of high quality.
Delivered via video conferencing, the programme brings together new managers from across the continent, so participants learn not only from faculty, but from peers who lead in very different markets and organisations.
Participants leave with the confidence, clarity, and practical skills to lead their teams well, and a clear sense of the kind of leader they want to be.
For Organisations:
This programme is designed for organisations across Africa, in both the private and public sectors, that regularly promote capable specialists and individual contributors into their first management roles. These new managers are the leaders closest to your frontline teams, shaping day-to-day engagement, productivity, and service delivery, yet they are often the least prepared for the responsibility.
If you are seeing new managers struggle with delegation, decision-making, or communicating across diverse teams, or experiencing disengagement in teams led by first-time managers, this programme addresses the root cause. Nominate new managers to an open enrolment intake, where they learn alongside peers from other organisations, industries, and countries, or run the programme as a closed cohort that builds a consistent foundation across your newest leaders.
For Participants:
This programme is for you if you are transitioning into a junior leadership role, or have recently taken on your first management responsibilities within your organisation.
You may have been promoted because you excelled in a technical or specialist role, and now find yourself leading former peers, setting goals, delegating work, and making decisions that affect your whole team, often across different cultures and backgrounds. You want to do it well, and you want the confidence that comes from knowing how.
This programme gives you a strong foundation in leading yourself and others, so you can step into your role with clarity, credibility, and confidence.
The Africa New Managers’ Development Programme prepares first-time managers across Africa to make a confident, successful transition from leading self to leading others. Grounded in the understanding that effective leadership begins with personal mastery, the programme follows a structured journey: from developing self-awareness, resilience, and personal effectiveness, through intercultural communication and structured decision-making, to understanding how business works within African business ecosystems and how rapid change and digital transformation are reshaping African markets. Participants develop the management and leadership foundations, and the people management skills, needed to enhance their own performance, facilitate team performance, and contribute to their organisation’s overall effectiveness.
CHALLENGES ADDRESSED:
For Organisations:
Across African organisations, managers are often promoted for their technical or specialist expertise, then expected to lead people with little formal preparation. Without support, new managers tend to keep doing the work themselves, avoid difficult conversations, or manage by instinct, and their teams feel the effects. This programme closes that gap deliberately, building the self-awareness, personal effectiveness, and people management skills new managers need to lead a team, not just perform within one.
When new managers communicate, delegate, and make decisions inconsistently, the effects ripple through their teams: priorities blur, work is duplicated, and collaboration suffers. In diverse, multicultural teams, the risk is even greater. This programme equips new managers with intercultural communication techniques, structured decision-making frameworks, and the ability to set clear objectives and delegate well, so their teams stay aligned with organisational priorities and productivity holds steady.
Emerging managers often have a limited view of how their team’s work connects to the wider business, its value chain, and its performance. When that connection is missing, teams optimise locally and organisational value is lost. This programme builds foundational business acumen, from African business ecosystems and the operational value chain to key financial indicators, so new managers understand how their teams contribute to organisational value, and lead accordingly.
For Individuals:
Moving from individual contributor or specialist to manager is one of the biggest shifts in any career. Overnight, success depends on what your team achieves, not just what you deliver, and the confidence that came from technical mastery can quickly give way to uncertainty. This programme helps you build the self-awareness, personal effectiveness, and confidence to lead others, and gives you a clear understanding of the management and leadership competencies your new role requires.
New managers are often pulled in many directions at once, with competing priorities, unclear objectives, and teams made up of people from different backgrounds and cultures. Without the right tools, it is easy to carry too much and communicate too little. This programme equips you to set clear short- and medium-term team goals, define work objectives that align with organisational priorities, delegate effectively, and communicate in ways that bring diverse teams together.
Business environments across Africa can change quickly, through new technologies, shifting markets, and evolving regulations. New managers are expected to make sound decisions and solve problems in that environment, often without a clear playbook. This programme gives you practical, structured frameworks for decision-making and problem-solving, agile techniques for solving problems collaboratively, and change management strategies that help you adapt with confidence.
PROGRAMME BENEFITS:
For Organisations:
Your future leaders are your new managers today. This programme builds a pipeline of emerging managers with the foundational capabilities required to manage teams effectively, from personal mastery and communication to decision-making and business acumen. For HR and L&D leaders, it is a practical, consistent way to develop first-time managers across functions, sites, and countries, and to prepare them for greater responsibility as your organisation grows.
When new managers set clear objectives, delegate effectively, and make structured decisions, their teams know where they are going and why. This programme supports improved team alignment, communication, and execution, helping work flow more smoothly, reducing duplicated effort, and making it easier for teams to deliver on organisational priorities.
Organisations perform better when every manager understands how their team contributes to the whole. By building an understanding of the value chain, African business ecosystems, and key financial indicators, this programme helps new managers connect their teams’ work to organisational value, strengthening internal effectiveness from the frontline up.
For Individuals:
You will leave with a clearer understanding of yourself as a leader: your strengths, your development areas, and how your behaviour affects others. Through personal mastery and self-leadership strategies, you will build the resilience and adaptability to manage the pressures of your new role, and the personal effectiveness to lead with authenticity.
The programme equips you with practical tools you can use from day one: communicating clearly, giving effective feedback, setting objectives, delegating, and working effectively with diverse teams. You will be able to lead with greater clarity and confidence, and build the trust and credibility every new manager needs.
You will build foundational business acumen, from how value chains and financial indicators work to how the business environment is changing, along with structured approaches to decision-making and problem-solving. The result is better-informed decisions, greater confidence in the moments that matter, and a stronger platform for the next step in your career.
