Fortunatus Ekklesiah

Since finding his purpose at 17 years of age, Fortunatus (Fortune) Ekklesiah has devoted his life to helping people discover and unleash their potential for growth & contribution. He does this by educating and offering strategy support to those committed to achieving more in life, leadership & business while leading a life of fulfillment

For the past 4 years working as a Speaker & Life Coach, Fortunatus has physically reached over 4000 young people, and many more online, helping them get started on their journey to unleashing their full potential or supporting them in overcoming obstacles. As a Business Coach & Educator, he has worked with Business Executives with more than 20 years of experience, over 150 nonprofit organizations in the country and several SMEs in leadership, business model generation or digital strategy.

His work has earned him recognition: this includes an award in the 2016 Tanzania Annual Young Professional Awards; Associate Fellowship of the Royal Commonwealth Society; being selected as one of the youngest participants of the highly competitive YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa initiated by President Obama; the 2017 Global ChangeLeader Award; and being selected as a Highly Commended Runner up in the 2016 Queen's Young Leaders Awards initiated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to recognize youth change-makers across the Commonwealth.

In 2017 he was selected by UNDP to participate in the Youth Connekt Africa Summit hosted in Kigali by President Kagame of Rwanda. The Summit was aimed at creating a foundation for policies, programs, and partnerships for job creation, skills development and the welfare of youth in Africa.

Fortunatus has been featured in the "Power of YOUth Book" that tells the inspiring stories of 200 young leaders from 59 countries. Fortunatus is an alumni of the Brightest Young Minds program in South Africa, that only inducts 100 youth annually that have shown extraordinary achievement individually and in serving the community.

His volunteering roles include serving as a Shaper in the Dar es Salaam Hub of the Global Shapers Community, the World Cleanup Day Campaign, as well as projects by the YALI RLC alumni chapter of Tanzania, and Tanzania-US State Alumni Association. He enjoys quality time with people, especially kids and close friends, watching movies and occasionally writing poetry.

Fortunatus is a passionate lifelong learner and an advocate for investment in people.