Modupe Taylor-Pearce: Raising the profile of coaching within Africa

Modupe Taylor-Pearce, founder of BCA Leadership, was inducted into Thinkers50 Coaching Legends in 2025. His pan-African organisation is dedicated to the positive transformation of Africa through leadership enhancement and organisational development. It provides executive coaching, consulting, and leadership training services in all five regions of Africa through a network of coaches. BCA Leadership is also enhancing the quality of coaching by supporting its coaches with skill-enhancement services and peer support.

Modupe says BCA’s achievements to date can be measured in the difference its support has made to leaders, and the subsequent impact on their organisations. Another milestone has been raising the profile of executive coaching in the region; according to Modupe, it is now recognised by significantly more African leaders and entrepreneurs than before. 

“Prior to BCA Leadership, there was no pan-African brand in the executive coaching industry and many coaches toiled in isolation, carving out local niches for themselves and being invisible to multinationals and INGOs,” he explains.  

Modupe believes one of the most exciting areas within executive coaching is the enormous potential it has for making a decisive impact in Africa. 

“Imagine what the continent will be like when every country’s president, every cabinet minister, and every managing director of a state-owned enterprise in Africa has an executive coach?” he says. “The transformative effect of giving these leaders the ability to leverage thinking spaces with a coach to devise solutions that they will be committed to following through, is mind-blowingly exciting.”

The possibility that young adults in Africa may be priced out of the benefits of executive coaching over the next decade is a growing concern, however. The upfront price for executive coaching remains out of the reach of a vast swath of young people who need the support to achieve their entrepreneurial and professional goals. 

Looking forward to 2026, Modupe has identified three key trends impacting coaching: demographics, nationalism, and diaspora.

Demographics

In the global south, there is a bulging youth population that is increasingly urban and highly entrepreneurial. This will place a demand for coaching because most of these youth are in danger of failing to achieve their dreams without a thought-partner to help them through the challenges they face.

Nationalism

Brexit and the rise of Trumpism, tariffs, and right-wing politics indicate a trend towards nationalistic protectionism – away from aid and social programs that protect the world’s poor. This means that national and municipal governments will have to depend more on generating their own revenue to fund public services, which places a higher burden on public sector leaders, who will then seek coaching support to help optimise their performance. 

Diaspora

The south-to-north migration of the nineteenth and twentieth century has slowed down – in fact over the last decade it has reversed. Africans, Latin Americans, and Asians who lived or were educated in Europe and North America are migrating in large numbers back to their home continents driven by technological and logistical advances (as well as the rise of western nationalism). This will increase the demand for coaches in the global south – with their networks and experience of navigating the political and economic systems.