Build Africa Here

Build Africa Here · A Program of BAH Group · Washington, DC · Boston · Conakry

Learn here.
Build for a continent.

Most fellowships prepare you to join an institution. This one asks you to help build one. Fellows train under an experienced founder, build real ventures serving real clients, and graduate with published work carrying their name — across the U.S.–West Africa corridor.

90 DaysVirtual Phase · Fully Sponsored
10 DaysConakry Expedition · Earned
10 MonthsResidency · By Invitation
No CostStipend-Supported
Ten SeatsFounding Fellows · Ever
West AfricaConakry, Guinea

Residency includes monthly — field courses across Guinea and West Africa, from the Fouta Djallon to Gorée Island, drawn from a sixteen-nation Expedition Atlas.

The Charter

Why this fellowship exists

We build ventures that create measurable economic and social value in Africa — and we train the people who will build the next ones.

Africa's next generation of institutions will not be imported. They will be built — by people who learned to build by building. The BAH Fellowship exists to train those people: through mentorship, through real work on real ventures, and through the discipline of finishing what they start.

This is an educational program. Fellows are here to learn venture-building, entrepreneurship, and leadership by practicing them under direct mentorship — not to fill jobs. Every fellow's experience is organized around defined learning outcomes, a completed project, and published work they own for life.

The Program

One pipeline. Two phases. Earned, not given.

Phase I — Everyone starts here

Virtual Fellowship

  • 90 days, fully remote — keep your city, keep your life
  • One named project with your name on the deliverable
  • Weekly working session directly with the founder
  • Stipend of up to $500/month plus goal-based bonuses
  • French instruction and venture-building curriculum
  • Leave anytime — no penalty, no hard feelings

Phase II — By invitation only

Residential Fellowship · Conakry

  • Up to 10 months in Guinea, invitation extended to top Phase I performers
  • Housing, three meals daily, transport, and workspace provided
  • Health insurance, medical coverage, and emergency evacuation coverage
  • Round-trip international travel covered
  • Monthly Leadership Expeditions across Guinea, with earned regional journeys and a capstone abroad
  • Paired with a West African associate fellow for language, context, and continuity
  • Eligible for advanced recognition — leadership awards, achievement bonuses, and future paid opportunities

The residential phase is a selection, not a requirement. It is earned in Phase I.

Complete both phases · Claim a founding seat

What Fellows Receive

Learn. Build. Live. Connect. Compete. Launch.

Learn

  • AI & automation
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Leadership
  • French
  • African market exposure

Build

  • Real ventures
  • Real products
  • Published research
  • A portfolio with your name on it

Live

  • Housing & three meals daily
  • Transportation & workspace
  • Monthly Leadership Expeditions
  • (Residential phase)

Connect

  • Direct founder mentorship
  • Alumni network
  • Entrepreneurs & investors
  • Diaspora community

Compete

  • Against the mission — never each other
  • Cohort-wide institutional goals
  • Team awards funded by cohort revenue
  • Major awards reserved for residential fellows

Launch

  • Certificate of completion
  • Written recommendation
  • Founding Fellow Medal & lifetime alumni status
  • Priority for future paid roles

The Standard

Every fellow graduates with five things

  • I.One major project, completed — not started, completed.
  • II.One published work carrying their name.
  • III.One public presentation of their work.
  • IV.One measurable business contribution.
  • V.One written recommendation from the founder.

These are not aspirations. They are the definition of completion. A fellow who leaves with all five has something no classroom can issue: proof.

The Work

Ventures fellows build

Active — Phase I

OperatorDeskHQ

Back-office operations platform serving U.S. real estate operators. Fellows build the workflows, AI systems, and client delivery of a live services business.

Active — Phase I

Research & Publications Platform

Articles, white papers, and case studies on real estate, investment migration, and African markets — the fellowship's public body of work.

Expanding — Phase II

BAH Advisory

Investment migration advisory serving West African and Gulf families pursuing U.S. residency through the EB-5 program.

Expanding — Phase II

Boston Realty Institute

Real estate education and consulting — courses, certifications, and workshops delivered in the U.S. and West Africa.

Expanding — Phase II

BAH Club

A verified membership community connecting African and diaspora investors, builders, and professionals.

In Study — Venture Lab

Future Ventures

Mobility, modular education, light manufacturing, and infrastructure — researched and stress-tested by fellows before a dollar is raised.

Who We Look For

Four kinds of people thrive here

  • The recent graduateDegree in hand, hungry for real work with real stakes, and a story bigger than an entry-level cubicle.
  • The transitioning veteranMission-wired, disciplined, comfortable in austere environments, looking for the next thing worth building. The founder is one of you.
  • The diaspora professionalWest African roots, world-class training, and a long-held intention to build something back home that isn't an NGO.
  • The professional in transitionBetween chapters, with skills sharpened over a career and time to invest in something that matters.

We select for people moving toward something — a skill, a portfolio, a market, a mission. In every interview we will ask you what that is.

The Founding Register

Ten seats. Ever.

The title of Founding Fellow will be conferred exactly ten times in this institution's history — on the members of the inaugural cohort who complete both phases. All ten seats are currently open for application. When the tenth seat is filled, the register closes permanently.

"The first ones don't join an institution. They are the reason it exists."

Leadership Expeditions

The classroom is a continent

These are not trips. Every expedition is a field course in history, economics, conservation, infrastructure, and leadership — earned by the cohort together through achievement milestones, never by individual competition. West Africa holds some of the most consequential ground on earth: the memory of the Atlantic trade, the sources of great rivers, the mines and rails of an industrial future. Fellows study it standing on it.

Monthly

Guinea Expeditions

Home-ground field courses from Conakry — the Fouta Djallon highlands, Îles de Loos, the Simandou corridor, national institutions and industry.

Quarterly · Earned

Regional Expeditions

Multi-day journeys to neighboring nations — Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia — unlocked by cohort achievement milestones.

Annual · Capstone

The Capstone Journey

The graduating expedition — reserved for a cohort that meets its annual institutional goals. Cohort I's capstone: Ghana's Cape Coast and Elmina.

The Horizon

The Expedition Atlas

Sixteen nations of documented expeditions, built once and held for every future cohort — each unlocked as milestones and standing conditions are met.

Every expedition ends in work. Each fellow produces a reflection essay, a research brief, a presentation to the cohort, a photo or video essay, and one venture or policy recommendation inspired by the ground covered. The expeditions are curriculum — and their outputs join the institution's permanent body of knowledge, cohort after cohort.

The Expedition Atlas — Sixteen Nations

Guinea

Fouta Djallon waterfalls & river sources · Mount Nimba · Simandou corridor · Îles de Loos

Senegal

Gorée Island · Saint-Louis · Saloum Delta · Niokolo-Koba National Park

Sierra Leone

Bunce Island · Freetown historic district · Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary

The Gambia

Kunta Kinteh Island · Gambia River · Juffureh & Albreda

Ghana

Cape Coast Castle · Elmina Castle · Kakum National Park

Cape Verde

Cidade Velha · Fogo Volcano · Mindelo, São Vicente

Guinea-Bissau

Bijagós Archipelago · Orango Islands · Cacheu historic town

Liberia

Providence Island · Monrovia historic district · Sapo National Park

Côte d'Ivoire

Grand-Bassam · Banco National Park · Yamoussoukro Basilica

Togo

Koutammakou, Land of the Batammariba · Togoville · Lomé historic markets

Benin

Ouidah Slave Route · Royal Palaces of Abomey · Pendjari National Park

Nigeria

Badagry Slave Route · Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove · Kano Ancient City Walls

Mali

Timbuktu · Djenné & the Great Mosque · Bandiagara Escarpment

Niger

Agadez historic city · W National Park · Aïr Mountains & Ténéré

Burkina Faso

Ruins of Loropéni · Ouagadougou · Sindou Peaks

Mauritania

Chinguetti desert libraries · Banc d'Arguin National Park · Ouadane caravan city

Standing conditions on every expedition: current security clearance measured against U.S. State Department travel advisories and independent security assessment; availability of appropriate insurance, medical, and evacuation coverage; and cohort achievement milestones. Some destinations on the Atlas await conditions that do not exist today — they remain on the Atlas anyway. This map was built once, for every cohort that will ever exist. When conditions and milestones align, the expedition runs.

Open Founding Seats

All ten seats open

The Founder

Learn from someone who has done the work

Marouane Bah is a United States Marine Corps veteran, a licensed real estate broker with a quarter century of transaction and investment experience, and the founder of BAH Group — a portfolio of ventures spanning U.S. real estate operations, investment migration advisory, and West African institution-building.

A dual citizen of the United States and Guinea, he has spent his career operating across both markets — and built this fellowship to train the people who will do the same. Fellows work with him directly, every week, on ventures he has capital, reputation, and family legacy invested in.

He teaches the way the Marine Corps taught him: real responsibility, clear standards, and a leader who is present.

  • ServiceUnited States Marine Corps — 8 years
  • EducationMBA, Georgetown University
  • LicenseLicensed Real Estate Broker
  • Experience25 years — U.S. real estate investment & operations
  • CorridorDual U.S.–Guinea citizenship · DC & Conakry

Standards & Policies

How we run this program

Leave anytimeFellowship is voluntary at every stage. Any fellow may withdraw at any time, for any reason, with no penalty and no obligation.
Safety firstResidential fellows receive health insurance, medical coverage, and emergency evacuation coverage before travel. No exceptions.
Respectful housingResidential housing is separated by gender, one to two fellows per room, in secure, vetted accommodations.
Professional environmentFellows are never asked to participate in religious observance or social activities outside their comfort.
Direct mentorshipEvery fellow meets weekly with the founder. Learning is the program's purpose, and access is how it happens.
Defined outcomesEvery fellowship is organized around a written project charter, learning objectives, and the five graduation criteria — agreed before day one.
Plain-language notice: The BAH Fellowship is an educational fellowship. It is not employment and carries no salary, equity, or ownership interest unless separately agreed in writing. Stipends and bonuses are educational support, not wages.

Applications

Ten seats in history. Claim yours by earning it.

Applications for the inaugural cohort are open. Tell us who you are, what you want to build, and — most importantly — what you are moving toward.

Referring a candidate? Senior professionals may nominate one person by email.