— A Hospital Couldn't Open Without Us.
A Ministry Fought Corruption With Us.The African Union Trusted Us With a Generation.
For over a decade, the Center for African Leadership Studies has trained 200,000+ leaders across 14 African countries — not with theory, but with the kind of leadership development institutions turn to when failure is not an option.
"Everything rises and falls with leadership."
The sermon that redirected a life, 2000
— Who we are
Leadership Was Never a Theory Here. It Was Survival.
Tewodros Tadesse Araya didn’t learn leadership in a classroom. He learned it watching his mother raise six children through famine and war while his father sat in prison. In 2012, that lived experience became CALS — not a copy of a Western leadership model, but an answer built for the realities African institutions actually face.
"It wasn't a new idea to him — it was a description of his mother."
— Featured Programs
Nine Ways We've Proven Leadership Can Be Taught, Not Just Hoped For
Healthcare Leadership Program
Before Ethio Turkish Hospital saw its first patient, every doctor and nurse on staff had already been through CALS. Now expanding to 15 hospitals across Ethiopia.
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Youth Leadership Development Program
The African Union doesn’t outsource its youth strategy lightly. We’ve nurtured 2,000+ young leaders across the continent over the past decade — and we’re not done.
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Leadership Garage
A monthly gathering where leaders learn from leaders who’ve actually been tested. Once a year, it becomes a two-day immersion that goes deeper than any single lecture could.
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Organizational Leadership Assessment
We don’t walk in with answers. We walk in with questions — honest, data-driven ones — and let what we find determine what comes next.
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— Our Approach
Three rounds, one coffee ceremony.
01
Assessment
Honest information about each leader’s strengths, limitations, and growth opportunities — before anything else is decided.
02
Challenge
Disrupting comfort zones and naming the gap between current skills and what the moment actually demands.
03
Nonstop Updates
We strive to innovate when it comes to functionality. Our mission is to be the best, come and join the ride.
Our coaching methodology is rooted in Ethiopian cultural tradition — the coffee ceremony: a space of trust, unhurried conversation, and genuine human connection. We do not import foreign models. We build on what already exists in our people.
— Featured Partner Story
When the Fight Against Corruption Needed a Leadership Strategy
In 2018, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance didn’t need another training seminar. It needed leaders willing to confront institutional culture head-on. CALS designed ‘Character Formation in the Fight Against Corruption’ — a 90-day initiative that asked managers to do more than attend. It asked them to change.The result wasn’t a certificate. It was a roadmap for sustained reform — and proof that leadership development, done seriously, can move an institution’s culture, not just its org chart.
— Our Trusted Partner
Institutions That Couldn't Afford to Get This Wrong
— Customer Reviews
What our client says
Hear from individuals who decided to take their organizations to another level by partnering with us for leadership development.
— Center for African Leadership Studies
International & Government Partnerships
United Nations
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African Union Commission
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Ethiopian Government Ministries
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Diplomatic Missions
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Academic & Research
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Private Sector
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Your Institution's Next Crisis Will Be a Leadership Crisis. Let's Talk Before it is.
— Our Founding Story
Our Events
Urre March 11, 2022
The Center for African Leadership Studies, in collaboration with the የሴቶች፣ሕፃናትና ወጣቶች ሚኒስቴር Ministry of Women Children and Youth, gave training on leadership and entrepreneurship …
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Urre March 11, 2022
CALS was honored to be invited to present by the Civil Service Commission this week. Our founder Tewodros Tadesse gave a presentation on the topic …