Oprah Winfrey established the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in January 2007 to create academic and leadership opportunities for academically-skilled female teenagers of South Africa who come from impoverished backgrounds. These girls are judged by the degree of leadership characteristics they exemplify and their potential of making a difference in the lives of others.

Oprah established the foundation after peace advocate and former South African president Nelson Mandela asked for her support in bringing quality education to post-Apartheid South Africa. Oprah donated $40 million for the construction of the Leadership Academy and oversaw building process, as well as selecting the students and faculty.

Currently, the Leadership Academy sits on a 52-acre campus with state-of-the-art facilities like a wellness center, gymnasium, dining hall, libraries, and dormitories. Upon its completion, famed American literary critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr. compared the Leadership Academy to Eton College for Boys.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls – South Africa aims to train and develop women leaders to become role models and become the focal characters of positive change to the people around them, the community, and the world. The girls are schooled in several academic disciplines including arts, language, culture, philosophy, leadership, mathematics, social and natural sciences, and business management.

One of the Leadership Academy’s goals is to train girls and have them give back to the community. Students at the Leadership Academy dedicate 3,000 hours to participate in community outreach projects, mostly in areas where they experience firsthand several important issues in Africa such as environmental awareness, housing, and similar socially relevant issues. To further immerse the girls in their experience, the Leadership Academy partners with other charitable groups such as Habitat for Humanity.

When it opened in 2007, the Academy only had 7th- and 8th-grade pupils. Every year, one grade will be added to it until it reaches the approximated population of 450 in 2011.