Leonor Fall, a 2016 graduate of EARTH University, has built an inspiring and multifaceted career. As a motivated professional committed to bettering her community and the world, Leonor’s path has taken her from organizing high-level meetings at the African Union to working alongside livestock keepers in her home country of Senegal. She is continually learning new skills, embracing fresh challenges, and making a difference wherever she goes. As she reflects, Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program Alumni Leonor remembers always being motivated by something deeper.
“I wanted to defeat hunger when I was younger. I knew agriculture was the way to do that. I used to go to the farm with my dad—we were so close. That smell of the soil just made me love agriculture. I also wanted to be a doctor, as a way of being useful to people, but after I spent some time in a hospital, I knew it wasn’t for me. And so, I thought, I know I want to serve people—if I can’t heal them medically, I will learn to work to better the system to feed them.”
Leonor graduated from the African Leadership Academy, a secondary educational institution focused on developing the next generation of African leaders emphasizing ethical, entrepreneurial, and transformative leadership. It is in those early roots that Leonor found her purpose. After being accepted to EARTH University, she solidified and focused her dream.
After graduating from the university, Leonor began working as a farm manager at an agribusiness in her hometown. She later gained international experience through an 18-month management training program at a multinational company based in Côte d’Ivoire. Back in Senegal, Leonor began working on a project to improve the livelihoods of livestock keepers, especially women, by helping them access feed year-round despite the challenges of drought and unpredictable seasons in her region. She also became the national coordinator of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program Alumni Network, supporting Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program Alumni through mentoring and organizing give-back activities.
During this time and through these experiences, Leonor learned about the agricultural value chain and ways to assist smallholder farmers. She developed skills in high-level decision-making, project management, and teamwork, while also reaffirming her strong commitment to addressing the socioeconomic challenges of her home country. In each role she took on, Leonor recognized the influence of EARTH University on her priorities and thinking. “We were taught to preserve biodiversity, to understand how every living being is a part of the ecosystem. They taught us to be entrepreneurs. To love the community. In each place I work I apply these principles.”
Eager to continue growing in her field and connecting with others, Leonor participated in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young Africa Leaders. In the following years she completed a one-year fellowship as a Program Officer for Strategic Partnerships at the Office of the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace, and Security, where she organized high level meetings on the margins of the African Union Summit with heads of state and leaders of UN agencies to fundraise for a project aimed at empowering women in agriculture. She also worked as a Senior Program Associate at the African Leadership Academy, where she strengthened her connections with agribusiness leaders and changemakers across the continent to secure placements and career opportunities for young Africans.
Leonor recently began a fellowship with the Mastercard Foundation Fellows Program, based in Dakar, Senegal. The Mastercard Foundation Fellows Program offers ambitious, career-driven, and hard-working Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program Alumni, with five to nine years of work experience, an opportunity to further develop their skills as they join a team of passionate individuals guided by the Mastercard Foundation’s vision, mission, and values.
She is thrilled to work with an institution that has not only supported her journey, but one that she deeply respects. “I knew that their mission and values aligned with my own. At the Mastercard Foundation I found people who really care about people.” She is also working with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) team—where program initiatives are addressing the challenge of youth employment in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo by driving transformation focused primarily on the agricultural value chain.
“Our main objective is to create fulfilling and dignified jobs for young people in the WAEMU region. We try to find partners in sectors including Education and Transitions, Digital, Agriculture, Refugees and Displaced Persons, Health, and Disability Inclusion, with a strong focus on young women and young people with disabilities. Africa has many young people, but they are really struggling to find jobs. In some parts of the region, you find conflicts and political crisis. Peace and security are so important, and part of that is access to food.”
Leonor has already made a profound impact on her community and her continent, always keeping her purpose in mind: “EARTH focused us on community development—on the importance of seeing how farmers and regular people live and on seeing how we could help them. It wasn’t only a degree to learn the academic aspects of agronomy. They taught us about the human part. I felt like we learned to place humans at the center of everything. That has really informed where I’ve worked and what I’ve focused on since graduating. I really thank EARTH for keeping the mission going. They keep on developing ethical leaders.”
It is clear Leonor is not only an ethical leader but is deeply committed to reimagining and supporting the ways her community, her continent, and its people can thrive.