Senegalese rapper Akon is lighting Africa through the use of solar energy. His program known as “Akon Lighting Africa” was created in hopes of bringing electricity across Africa and laying a foundation for future development. He has provided 14 African countries with street lamps and domestic and individual solar kits that allow electricity to be created through solar panels. The main goal is to help build the economy through education and job creation.

Singer Alicia Keys, co-founded “Keep a Child Alive” with activist Leigh Blake in 2003. The intensely community-oriented charity supports six grassroots organizations throughout Africa and one in India, which address the socioeconomic roots of the AIDS epidemic and honor individuals with the disease. The Charity serves 70,000 people annually. Its milestones include getting generic, affordable AIDS medications to needy populations and piloting innovative approaches to region-specific issues.

Former US president Barack Obama, through The Obama Foundation, has established a new program known as Africa Leaders: Africa is a year-long program that provides 200 emerging African leaders with the skills they need to create change. The program offers leaders with a range of backgrounds, the opportunity to attend in-person and online seminars focused on values-based leadership development, skill-building for social change, hands-on service learning, and technical training. 

The BeyGOOD Fellowship Program in South Africa was started by Beyonce in partnership with Global Citizen. The two organizations are working to empower local youth in helping end world poverty by 2030. Each youth fellow receives a paid, yearlong job opportunity and will focus on one of four pillars of activity from Global Citizen: creative, campaigns, rewards or marketing.

Bono started “ONE” which is a global movement campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease so that everyone, everywhere can lead a life of dignity and opportunity. As part of his work with ONE, Bono has lobbied heads of state and government, and members of legislatures all around the world. Another org is RED which partners with the world’s most iconic brands to raise public awareness about and corporate contributions for the AIDS crisis. To date, RED has generated more than $600 million for AIDS treatment and prevention in Africa through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

He is the CEO of the Made in Africa Foundation which is an organization run from Uganda established to assist the development of the African continent. This is done by providing first-stage funding for the feasibility studies and business development of large-scale infrastructure projects based in the region. Made in Africa Foundation engages with different organizations such as  international governments, multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, financial institutions, and private investors, in order to promote and advocate for the continent and the foundation's supported projects, and raise awareness of the economic changes taking place in Africa.

Actor Don Cheadle is associated with The Enough Project which is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2007. Its goal is to end genocide and crimes against humanity. The Enough Project conducts research in several conflict areas in Africa including Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic etc. The Enough Project seeks to achieve an advantage against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes by conducting research, engaging with governments, and mobilizing public campaigns. He also started a poker tournament aimed at raising money and public awareness for the crisis in Darfur known as the “Ante up Africa” foundation. 

She had been involved with the British Red Cross for several years before the charity organized and supported her January 1997 trip to Angola. It was there, in Huambo province, that she came across the work of the HALO Trust, which had been working to clear mines in Angola since 1994 amid the then-ongoing civil war there. At the time of her visit at the beginning of 1997, negotiations were ongoing to initiate the Mine Bans Treaty. Diana had vocally appealed for an international ban on landmines during her time in Angola. 

Rapper French Montana was so moved while filming the video for his hit “Unforgettable” that he decided to leave a lasting mark with Ugandans.  Montana donated $100,000 to the Mama Hope Foundation, an organization in Uganda geared towards improving healthcare. The rapper also convinced rapper and producer Diddy and swooner The Weekend to match his donation. MAMA HOPE helps communities achieve lasting, self-directed prosperity by challenging a broken aid system that perpetuates poverty and disempowerment. 

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation was established in order to help protect the world’s last wild places. This foundation implements solutions that help restore harmony to threatened ecosystems, ensuring the long-term health and well-being of all Earth’s inhabitants. Through his social media platform, Leonardo encourages his fans to join his cause and many of them have engaged on a variety of issues such as protecting key species like sharks in California, tigers in Asia, elephants in Africa — and calling on world leaders to address the global climate crisis.

Matt witnessed what life was like for a community living in the global water crisis. As he was filming for a movie in Sub-Saharan Africa, actor Matt Damon spent a lot of time with families in a Zambian village. Due to their lack of access to water and toilets, it has inspired Matt exposure to commit to finding a way to help solve the global water crisis. Hence, in 2006 he founded H20 Africa Foundation to raise awareness about safe water initiatives on the continent.  Matt and Gary White merged H20 Africa and Water Partners International to create Water.org 

Supermodel Naomi Campbell’s charity work in late 2018-2019 has focused on bringing Africa to the forefront of the global fashion scene and harnessing the talents of its citizens to turn the continent into a global power. As the keynote speaker at the 2019 Forbes Woman Africa Leading Woman Summit, Campbell said, “The African continent is absolutely, one hundred and one percent, the future.” Campbell is a supporter of UNAIDS and its fight to end AIDS by 2030. In 2016, she donated $100,000 to be split between British organization Save the Children and UNAIDS. 

Eto’o, a striker for Chelsea in the English Premier League, travelled to Cameroon, his native country, to supervise projects for his foundation, which works to improve health care by providing ambulances and building hospitals. The notoriously media-shy Eto’o rarely promotes his efforts because the soccer player is more concentrated, as he has said, on actually making a difference. MedShare, an Atlanta-based global humanitarian aid organization, is shipping a 40 foot container load of brand new medical supplies and quality biomedical equipment to Laquintinie Hospital in Cameroon and funded by Cameroonian soccer star Samuel Eto’o’s Foundation.

Talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, established the Leadership Academy for Girls which was founded in 2007 to serve the needs of underprivileged girls living in nine provinces across South Africa. The boarding school has transformed the lives of hundreds of students in grades 8-12, providing them with the educational tools to realize their dreams of pursuing careers in such illustrious fields as medicine, public service and architecture. Oprah Winfrey — who is fondly known as Mama Oprah in South Africa — announced that the Oprah Winfrey Foundation has launched a fully-funded fellowship aimed at empowering African women who are in public service.

Singer Shakira started the Barefoot campaign to work with boys and girls whose lives have been disrupted by violence and poverty hoping that someday we will no longer lose young human potential to poverty, malnutrition and violence. 

The Barefoot Foundation recognizes that simply providing teachers and schools is not enough when children are faced with extreme poverty, so we work to ensure that they do not have to learn with empty stomachs and broken homes. Currently, the Barefoot Foundation supports six schools run by Pies Descalzos and also work in Haiti and South Africa.

Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalized racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honors—including the Nobel Peace Prize.

Wangari Maathai was a renowned Kenyan social, environmental and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize. She was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her "contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 1984, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "converting the Kenyan ecological debate into mass action for reforestation." Maathai, an advocate for democracy, was an elected member of Parliament.

The Gates Foundation Africa focuses on the ten countries that they believe can have the greatest impact, and team up with organizations and individuals across 45 nations. They participate in a range of programs from the international to the local level that emphasize health and nutrition; disease prevention, treatment, and research; water, sanitation, and hygiene; agriculture; financial services for the poor; and policy and advocacy. They partner with local governments and NGOs in several other African countries to advance healthcare, improve agricultural production, strengthen financial services for the poor, and improve maternal and child health. 

Singer and beauty mogul Rihanna is a global ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and founder of the Clara Lionel Foundation. The Clara Lionel foundation was founded in 2012 by Rihanna and seeks to support and fund groundbreaking and effective education and emergency response programs around the world. With the voices of Rihanna, this foundation also engages in global advocacy with the goal of improving the quality of life for young people everywhere. Current programs include primary and secondary education programs in Malawi, Barbados and Senegal.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on January 16, 2006. She was re-elected in 2011. She was the first woman in Africa elected as president of her country. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, in recognition of her efforts in the non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work. She has received numerous other awards for her leadership.