Keynote
Vice President Kashim Shettima, GCON
15th Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
A seasoned diplomat bringing multilateral experience and leadership expertise to bear on the evolving socio-political landscape of Africa.
Africa's Executive Knowledge & Leadership Platform
Convening leaders. Sharing experience. Transforming institutions.
For heads of state, C-suite leaders and policymakers who cannot afford to guess.
Vice President Kashim Shettima, GCON
15th Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Lord Gavin Barwell
Former Chief of Staff to PM Theresa May · UK House of Lords
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
7th Vice President of Ghana, 2017–2025
Dr. Victor Oladokun
Former Director of Communications, African Development Bank
Kola Adesina
Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group
Folake Ani-Mumuney
Communications Expert · Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Comms, FBN Holdings
Dr. Owen Omogiafo, OON
President / Group CEO, Transcorp Plc
Dr. Nero Ughwujabo
Former Special Adviser to PM Theresa May · The King's Trust
Dr. Yvonne Thompson, CBE, DL, FCL
Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London
The World Has Changed
The old rules of power assumed time to respond. That assumption is gone. Institutions now rise or fall in the space of a single news cycle and most leaders were never trained for that clock.
Multilateral certainty has given way to a home-pushed, fast-moving order. What used to be a communications problem is now a governance problem and it sits directly on the desk of the person at the top.
Discover The MasterclassLeadership, by the numbers that matter now
Reputation is economic capital. Perception shapes institutional power. Trust determines how long any of it lasts.
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Former heads of state & government among past and confirmed faculty
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Continents convened in a single, sequential programme
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Seats at the Abuja table by nomination only
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Closed room. No press. No recording.
Why We Exist
Not a course.
Not a course.
A closed room.
The Duke's Masterclass was built on a simple observation: the leaders who navigate crisis well are rarely the most talented communicators in the room. They are the ones who have already sat with someone who has been through it, a Chief of Staff at Number 10, a Vice President steering a nation through transition, a Group CEO who rebuilt a brand after regulatory fire.
We don't teach theory. We convene the people who have actually held the pen during the worst week of an institution's history, and we put you in the room with them once for Masterclass Nigeria, once for Masterclass International deliberately sequential, deliberately small.
The room, not the résumé
Keynotes. Fireside conversations. Crisis simulations run in real time. Every hour is built to be used the following Monday.
People who have already been in the room
A former Chief of Staff to a UK Prime Minister. A former Vice President of Ghana. A sitting Vice President of Nigeria. This is not a speaker roster, it is a faculty that has governed under pressure.
Keynote
Faculty
Lord Gavin Barwell
Former Chief of Staff to PM Theresa May · UK House of Lords
Navigated Downing Street through Brexit. Speaks on reputation, negotiation, and narrative control at the very centre of state power.
Faculty
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
7th Vice President of Ghana, 2017–2025
Economist, banker, and statesman. Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana and 2024 presidential candidate for the NPP.
Faculty
Dr. Victor Oladokun
Former Director of Communications, African Development Bank
A leading voice on executive communication and African economic transformation narratives.
Faculty
Kola Adesina
Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group
Former Chairman, Egbin Power & Ikeja Electric. A career built on the principle that reputation is rooted in character, not publicity.
Faculty
Folake Ani-Mumuney
Communications Expert · Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Comms, FBN Holdings
Three decades protecting the reputations of British Airways, Dangote Group, and First Bank of Nigeria.
Faculty
Dr. Owen Omogiafo, OON
President / Group CEO, Transcorp Plc
The first female and youngest President/Group CEO in Transcorp's history, leading across hospitality, power, and energy.
Faculty
Dr. Nero Ughwujabo
Former Special Adviser to PM Theresa May · The King's Trust
The first person of African descent to serve as Special Adviser inside 10 Downing Street.
Also drawn from past editions: Chief Emeka Anyaoku · Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II · Gen. Ike Nwachukwu · Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
Two Cities, One Sequential Programme
The African Convening
Masterclass Nigeria
Nigeria's most consequential public and private-sector leaders, gathered in one closed room.
Enter Masterclass Nigeria
The Global Extension
Masterclass International
A compulsory sequential follow-up, deepening the dialogue in an international diplomatic context.
Enter Masterclass International
The African Convening · Abuja
The clock is already running.
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Leadership Journal
Field notes on power, reputation and the decisions that don't make the press release.
Reputation
Reputation Is Now a Balance Sheet Item
Why the boards that treat perception as a soft metric are the ones most exposed when the crisis arrives.
Crisis Management
The First 24 Hours of a National Crisis
A field framework for institutional response, drawn from three decades inside government communications.
CommunicationsWhat Downing Street Teaches About Narrative Control
Lessons from the centre of state power on message discipline under sustained public scrutiny.
Founding Statement
At Duke's Masterclass, we provide a veritable global platform that has been specifically designed to enrich powerful interactions and engagement for the sole purpose of bridging developmental gaps.
The Duke's Masterclass Secretariat
By Invitation, Nomination, or Sponsorship
The room is small.
The room is small.
The seats are not open.
Abuja, October 29, 2026. London, March 22, 2027. Write to the Secretariat to be considered.
Reserve Your Seat