For many talented professionals across Africa, a Chevening Scholarship can be more than a master’s degree.
It can mean gaining the knowledge, network, and credibility to return home and tackle problems that matter.
But here is the reality:
A strong CV alone won’t win Chevening.
Chevening’s own guidance emphasises leadership, influencing, professional relationships, clear career goals, and the connection between your chosen UK course and your future impact.
So, if you’re applying from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Angola, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, or elsewhere across Africa, here are five strategies I would keep in mind.
- Don’t just describe your African context. Show what you are doing about it.
Your country’s challenges can provide powerful context.
But don’t turn your application into a catalogue of problems facing Africa.
Instead, ask:
What specific problem have I encountered?
What have I personally done about it?
Who did I influence?
What changed because of my actions?
Chevening wants evidence, not just statements that you are a “leader” or “change-maker.” Its guidance specifically encourages applicants to use concrete examples with clear results and to focus on their individual contribution.
Your African context should explain why your work matters.
Your evidence should demonstrate why you are the person to take it forward.
- Build a career plan that goes beyond “I want to help my country”
This is where many applications become generic.
“I want to return and contribute to economic development.”
“I want to empower young people.”
“I want to improve healthcare.”
These are admirable ambitions, but they’re not yet a strategy.
Think in three horizons:
Immediate: What will you do when you return?
Medium-term: What position, organisation, initiative, or influence do you want to build over the next 5 years?
Long-term: What systemic change do you ultimately want to contribute to?
Chevening itself encourages applicants to think about their plans in the 2, 5 and 10-year horizons and to make their goals specific and realistic.
Your ambition can be big.
Your pathway needs to be believable.
- Choose your UK courses as strategic tools, not just prestigious names
Don’t choose universities simply because they appear high in global rankings.
Ask yourself:
What capability am I missing today?
Which course will help me develop it?
Why this university rather than another?
How will I use that knowledge when I return?
The strongest applications make a clear connection between previous experience, the chosen course, and future goals.
For example, if you want to transform supply chains in Ghana, don’t simply say that a particular university has a “world-class programme.”
Explain which modules, expertise, networks, research, or ecosystem will help you address the specific challenge you’re trying to solve.
Your university choice should make your career plan stronger.
- Don’t underestimate the power of your professional network
Networking isn’t simply attending conferences, adding people on LinkedIn, or saying that you “have a large network.”
Chevening wants evidence that you can build and maintain professional relationships and use those relationships to achieve positive outcomes.
Think about:
A partnership you helped create Stakeholders you brought together. A mentor who opened a door for you. A cross-border collaboration A relationship that helped deliver a project. A network you intend to leverage for your future goals
Then explain the result.
And think beyond your current network.
How could the Chevening community itself help you achieve your long-term goals?
- Don’t underestimate your own story
This might be my most important advice.
You don’t need to have founded a multinational organisation.
You don’t need to be a CEO.
You don’t need to have changed an entire industry.
Leadership can happen in organisations, communities, professional settings, social enterprises, voluntary organisations, and projects.
Chevening explicitly says that leadership does not necessarily require managerial experience. What matters is demonstrating how you have led, influenced others, and achieved positive outcomes.
So don’t compare your journey with someone else’s.
Your story might be:
A teacher who transformed learning in her community.
An engineer who improved a process at work.
A healthcare professional who introduced a new initiative.
A young entrepreneur who created employment.
A civil servant who influenced policy.
A professional who brought stakeholders together to solve a problem.
Your job is not to sound impressive. Your job is to demonstrate impact.
One final piece of advice
Don’t write your Chevening application as though you’re asking:
“Why should you give me a scholarship?”
Instead, think:
“What am I going to do with this opportunity, and why am I ready to do it?”
Chevening is looking for people with leadership potential who can use their UK education, relationships, and experience to create positive impact in their home countries and beyond.
Africa doesn’t lack talented people.
It needs more people who can turn talent into leadership, knowledge into action, and opportunity into impact.
That could be you.
If you’re applying for Chevening this year and want help developing your scholarship strategy, choosing the right UK universities, positioning your leadership story, or strengthening your application, send me a message.
I’m Humayun Nosheerwan, Founder & Chief Mentor at Mentor Launch, and as a Chevening Scholar myself, I know what it feels like to stand on the other side of that application.
Your global journey starts with one application.
Credit; Humayun Nosheerwan, Founder & Chief Mentor at Mentor Launch
