Akilah Institute
6,000 students. 110 businesses founded. Fifteen years of investing in the whole person — not just the career, but the courage, clarity, and inner strength that make leadership last.
Now entering our next chapter — led by the graduates themselves.
Commercial Cooperative Manager at SustainableGrowers, connecting more than 50,000 female coffee farmers across Rwanda, Tanzania, and the DRC to global markets.
Technical Support Engineer at Microsoft, on the strength of his Akilah diploma alone.
Spent years in Rwanda's manufacturing sector, then co-founded Isôoko Community Development. Now building community wellbeing in Masoro.
Founded Grace Girls Coalition, empowering rural and disadvantaged girls across Rwanda through education and mentorship.
A team of Akilah graduates runs operations on the ground in Kigali — delivering year-round leadership development, community gatherings, and career mentoring for alumni across East Africa. Founder Elizabeth Hughes has returned as CEO. Every programme is shaped by what graduates tell us they need.
This is the next chapter of a fifteen-year story. Akilah opened in Kigali in 2010 and became Rwanda's first women's college, offering the country's first accredited diplomas in hospitality, information systems, and entrepreneurship, and later extending our model to young men through Davis College. In 2023, new regulations required all colleges to own their campuses. Akilah had always rented. We graduated our final cohort and the campus closed.
Ask our graduates what changed their lives at Akilah, and very few name a technical skill. They name the moment they discovered their own worth. The confidence that came from being seen and invested in. The community that caught them when things fell apart.
Want the full story — including why things went quiet and what we learned?
Read "The Power Pause" and "Coming Home to Akilah" on our Substack →Delivered by Akilah graduates in Kigali. No campus to maintain. Every dollar goes to people and programmes.
Forty to sixty alumni each month, a featured speaker, and the kind of honest conversation that professional life rarely makes room for.
Leading through conflict, communicating across power differences, emotional intelligence, personal wellbeing.
Thirty alumni, two to three days of leadership development, personal growth, and renewal. Consistently named Akilah's most transformative offering.
Coaching, business mentoring, and connections for 110+ alumni-founded ventures and graduates navigating their paths.
Six thousand young leaders are building across East Africa. Akilah is how they stay connected, challenged, and supported.
We are raising funds for a full year of programming in 2026. No campus overhead. A lean team of Akilah graduates in Kigali delivers everything.
One alumna's place at a community dinner: transport and a meal.
A full workshop scholarship for a graduate who cannot afford the fee.
A complete retreat scholarship: leadership development, accommodation, and meals.
An entire community dinner for 50 alumni: speaker, venue, food, and transport.
For major gifts or partnerships: elizabeth@akilahinstitute.org