Celebrating 5 years of African Science Frontiers Initiatives: scholars’ experiences

Initiatives from the African continent are welcome, particularly those aimed at fostering the development and capacity building of African scholars. This perspective paper presents the experiences of African scholars who have been members of the African Science Frontiers Initiatives (ASFI), describing their encounters and benefits derived from being part of ASFI and participating in its activities over the years. Furthermore, in celebrating five years of ASFI, the paper narrates African scholars’ perspectives of ASFI leadership. The paper uses a combination of the four Foundations of being a leader and Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) as research methodologies to obtain the narratives from seven African scholars who have experienced ASFI over the years. The paper used content analysis to extract relevant themes. The findings revealed themes, in the words of the scholars, including: “The ASFI workshops, seminar series and annual conferences, especially from 2023, allowed us to be able to defend the values that ASFI stands for” (Dr. Dwayi, South Africa); “On January 2025, l received the Best Reviewer Award” (Dr. Mkwizu, Tanzania); “As the first pioneer President of ASFI General Assembly, I embraced the challenge to steer a nascent organization that symbolized hope and ambition for African science” (Dr. Fondze-Fombele, Cameroon); “I decided to reach out directly to the convener, Prof. Bright Nwaru. It was a simple act of hope” (Dr. Onyedikachi, Nigeria); “Prof. Nwaru is a true leader and a great mentor” (Dr. Mwambi, Kenya); “As a woman of faith, my connection with ASFI can best be described as divine” (Dr. Ebenezer, Nigeria); and “Working with various researchers and scientists from different institutions and all parts of Africa has broadened my horizon on the gaps ASFI is filling in” (Dr. Oladejo, Nigeria). Implications and recommendations to direct ASFI to continue its great work are highlighted.