Meet African Leadership’s Director of Fundraising:
Kelechi Anuna!
Being a part of the advancement and uplifting of other Africans, while being a servant leader, is something that I’ve always wanted to do.
Born into a Christian family in Raleigh, North Carolina to Nigerian immigrant parents who came to America to attend university, I grew up in a unique household. Even though my immediate family was in America, my parents made sure that our traditions, cultures, and values stayed intact throughout my upbringing. Stories of my parents surviving the Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War) and their perseverance instilled the drive to succeed and the passion to give back to my people in Nigeria and across Africa.
In 1996, my parents moved our family to Nashville, Tennessee for job opportunities. Growing up in Nashville, the African community was small, but as we see today, has grown to one of the biggest in the South. As a kid, I saw many parents working, while going to school, and raising children, still send money home to their countries for family upkeep in development. All these things continue to further my want to better Africa. I knew with the opportunities available to me here in the US, I could eventually somehow help the ones back home.
I completed my secondary education in Nashville Metro Schools and went on to study Business at Middle Tennessee State University. While there I was on the college basketball team, a part of the African Student Association, and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, INC.
Upon graduating from my undergrad university, I attended Pfeiffer University for my MBA in Sports Management and played my 5th year of collegiate basketball before going to play professionally in fifteen countries across a ten-year career. This is where my passion to help Nigeria and Africa reignited. I played in European, Asian, and South American countries throughout my career, but the best was when I was playing across Africa. I saw the ups and downs living in Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia, but visiting a plethora of countries across the Sub-Saharan region. The potential that I saw as a young child pertaining to Africa was oozing as I was able to see it as an adult. In 2016, I decided to give back by starting the Kelechi Anuna Foundation in Nigeria. A nonprofit that helps children learn lifelong lessons through sports. This was my way of helping grow the youth who would later become the future leaders of the country and continent. I was able to empower hundreds of youths through sports and academic scholarships locally and internationally, sports events, and mentorship programs. During Covid, I branched over to the humanitarian side and did food and palliative giveaways during this time of need.
After this initiative and a few other humanitarian and sports collaborative events, I was searching and yearning for more ways to help. African Leadership was the way. The approach African Leadership takes with facilitating and working to build a network of like minded African natives, that will grow to become self-sufficient! Helping my people and bettering my continent through initiatives in 11 different countries is something I’m grateful and eager to be a part of.
Get in touch.
Let us know who you are, and how you’d like to be a part of supporting African Leadership!