2012Community
LEAF is founded
14 September 2012. People from business, government and NGOs sit down at one table with a question: how can Slovakia become a truly world-class country? The civic association LEAF grows out of the answers.
Ongoing
About
A world-class Slovakia is built by people
LEAF is a community of people from business, the public sector and NGOs, in Slovakia and abroad, who want to grow themselves, their organisations and Slovakia.
Why we exist
Despite the progress of the last 30 years, many people, including the most successful, are sceptical about where the world and Slovakia are heading. That is exactly why we want to contribute to a world-class Slovakia, like Finland, Ireland or Switzerland today: a country with economic growth, good public services and values that bring people together.
That takes many more world-class organisations, companies, public institutions and NGOs, that bring innovation and act ethically. And they need a new generation of values-driven leaders across sectors: those who already lead and those who are still growing.
Traditional leadership programmes are not enough: they are time-consuming, inflexible and hard to scale. Yet Slovakia has untapped wealth: Slovaks abroad who can share their experience, experienced leaders at home and thousands of alumni of development programmes. So instead of another course, we build a community where people develop each other.
How it started
LEAF was founded on 14 September 2012 by business leaders and successful entrepreneurs who wanted to improve Slovakia. Among the co-founders was Braňo Kleskeň, then a partner at McKinsey & Company. The people behind the idea and LEAF’s donors are private individuals, including several shareholders of HB Reavis.
Their first step was to invite people from Slovakia and abroad, from business, government and NGOs, to one table with a single question:
„How can we make Slovakia a truly world-class country?“
At first, LEAF focused mainly on young people and teachers. Organisations grew in this work and have been independent since 1 September 2023. Since then, LEAF has focused on professionals and leaders already working in business, government and NGOs. Since 2020, the GROWNi platform has been part of LEAF too.
LEAF over time
What we have worked on since 2012
Programmes for students, teachers, professionals and Slovaks abroad. Some now continue independently, others moved online to GROWNi.
2012/13Teachers and schools
IRPU: a development programme for teachers
An individual teacher development programme: teachers work on their own goals in class with their students, supported by a mentor. It ran in person for eight years and moved online during the pandemic. More than 300 teachers from all over Slovakia completed it.
Continues at MentóriaMore2013Professionals and leaders
Skilled volunteering programme
Young professionals from companies lend their expertise to NGOs, startups and social enterprises, for example as lawyers or marketers. In the first four years, more than 300 volunteers took part in 150 projects. In 2015 the programme joined a global network of pro bono service providers.
Continues on GROWNi as VolunteeringMore2015Students and young people
LEAF Award
An award and a year-long support programme for inspiring projects of young people: funding and a mentor. Laureates included computer games for children with intellectual disabilities and air quality monitoring in Liptovský Mikuláš. Four editions up to 2019.
2016Students and young people
LEAF Academy
An international boarding secondary school focused on leadership, values and character. Entrepreneurial leadership has its own department, and students succeed in international debating competitions. The school is NEASC-accredited and its graduates go on to top universities worldwide.
Continues independentlyMore2016Slovaks abroad
SPAP: Slovak Professionals Abroad Program
Weekends, summer internships and events for Slovaks studying and working abroad, such as Global Slovaks in Zurich with Exponea in 2018. The Vratsa.sk portal connected young professionals with employers in Slovakia.
Partly continues in the Mentoring network and Brain Gain2017Students and young people
TalentHub
An online portal that helped primary and secondary school students discover what they enjoy and where their greatest potential lies. During the pandemic we revived it for learning at home.
Partly transformed into GROWNi2017Professionals and leaders
DELTA
A leadership development programme for professionals, from company heads to people early in their careers, with coaches and trainers from Slovakia and abroad. The pilot edition had 13 participants.
Many continue in Krúžky2015/16Students and young people
TalentGuide
Mentoring for secondary school students: 80 to 120 selected students every year. They chose their own mentor, for a single consultation or for 3 to 12 months, in person or online. Plus a summer camp and scholarships for summer programmes abroad.
Continues as mentoring on GROWNiMore2017Teachers and schools
Online mentor incubator
Preparing teachers who want to mentor colleagues at their school: 15 hours in ten online sessions covering core mentoring and coaching skills.
Continues at MentóriaMore2018Slovaks abroad
LEAF Award for all generations
For the first time, the award expanded from young people to teachers, young professionals and Slovaks abroad working on a meaningful project.
2018Students and young people
Butterfly Effect
Practical education for digital business: alongside school or work, young people tried building an app or a game from idea to release, working with top mentors and industry professionals.
Ended in 20232018/19Teachers and schools
Change School from Within
A 15-month programme in which a whole school builds a culture of peer support: teachers and leadership learn mentoring and coaching techniques and use them in everyday school life.
Continues at MentóriaMore2019Students and young people
LEAF Day in the regions
Workshops and inspiring stories for students in Košice, Nitra and Poprad. Nitra and Poprad welcomed 170 students and teachers, Košice another hundred students.
2020Professionals and leaders
Krúžky circles
Small groups of people from different backgrounds, meeting monthly with a trained moderator, built on the YPO Forum concept. In 2023, 286 people took part and the first Young CEO circle started.
OngoingMore2020Students and young people
Live webinars during the pandemic
When schools closed, we ran 20 live webinars for students with people such as astrobiologist Michaela Musilová, molecular biologist Pavol Čekan, journalist Vladimír Šnídl and JurajVie. Teachers got online workshops on teaching remotely.
2020GROWNi
GROWNi
During the pandemic, LEAF’s in-person programmes stopped and many moved smoothly online. We built GROWNi in four months, together with DASATO Academy.
OngoingMore2022Community
Kto pomôže Ukrajine
We helped people get involved in the Kto pomôže Ukrajine (Who Will Help Ukraine) initiative. Dozens of people from the LEAF community helped with their expertise.
2022Community
10 years of LEAF
An impact assessment showed 1,500+ former participants who want to stay in touch, and more than half of respondents said LEAF had a fundamentally positive impact on their life path. We closed the year with the first Christmas party of the whole community.
2022Teachers and schools
School mentoring supervisor incubator
The first edition of a programme for people who support mentors in schools.
Continues at MentóriaMore2023Community
Three organisations stand on their own
Since 1 September 2023, LEAF Academy, the scholarships abroad and Mentória, which takes over all programmes for teachers and schools, have been independent.
Continue independently2023Professionals and leaders
Public Leadership Academy
An 8-month programme for new managers in the public sector, with Teach for Slovakia, Nexteria and Klub úradníkov dobrej vôle. In its first year, 30 civil servants from 16 institutions took part.
OngoingMore2023Slovaks abroad
Slovak Pro Summit
At the summit, also attended by the President, we connected Slovaks abroad with opportunities in Slovakia.
2023GROWNi
GROWNi projects
Content, guides and mentors for people who want to make their own idea happen. Together with DASATO, Rozbehni sa! and Nexteria.
OngoingMore2024GROWNi
VIBE: mentoring across borders
A Danish-Slovak project co-funded by Erasmus+. GROWNi, together with the Danish organisations KRAS and C-Cube, designed a prototype mentoring platform for young people: 13 interviews, 60+ survey responses and 51 user tests.
Project 2024–2025More2025GROWNi
Dobrobáza
With the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations (PDCO) and the regional volunteer centres, the national volunteering database launches on GROWNi. Organisations posting their first volunteering offer get support from their regional centre.
OngoingMore2026Professionals and leaders
Mentoring network for a world-class Slovakia
Selective mentoring with mentors in Slovakia and abroad. Kick-off on 1 April 2026; by August we had connected the first hundred top Slovaks from around the world.
OngoingMore2026Slovaks abroad
Slovakia Reconnected
A networking evening at the Primate’s Palace and a co-design weekend for alumni of the summer schools of Klimatická akadémia, Škola diplomacie and LEAF Future of Markets, supported by a ZSE grant. Together we explored how to build a bigger Brain Gain programme for Slovak students at home and abroad.
Continues as Brain GainMore
How we work
From the inside out
Whoever wants to change the world around them starts with themselves. Self-knowledge and self-acceptance come first; change then flows into the team and the organisation, and through relationships into the community.
1
I grow myself
- I live LEAF’s values (below)
- I build the 4C skills: critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration
- I get to know myself: strengths, values, motivations
- I accept myself as I am
- I nurture my relationship with Slovakia
2
I build my organisation
- I build Slovak companies with global reach
- I bring innovation to international companies in Slovakia
- I improve public administration
- I build NGOs that can grow
- always with a focus on a values-based culture
3
I give back to the community
- with time, experience or money
- to individuals, organisations and projects
- once or over the long term
- I support cooperation between organisations to improve Slovakia
What we stand on
Four values
Character
Moral qualities based on moral courage, respect for others and humility, rooted in a belief in the worth of every person.
- Show moral courage, act honestly and stand up for what you believe is right.
- Treat others with respect and look for the value in their views.
- Act with humility, aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
Excellence
Breadth as well as distinction in one’s field, grounded in intrinsic motivation, relentless curiosity and strong will.
- Find your intrinsic motivation and follow your inner voice.
- Show curiosity and genuine joy in learning something new.
- Persevere, especially in the face of obstacles and uncertainty.
Entrepreneurial leadership
A drive for continuous improvement, high aspirations and the ability to take healthy risks and inspire others to change.
- Aim high and believe that even the biggest dreams can come true.
- Take healthy risks and show initiative; improve the status quo and look for new opportunities.
- Inspire the people around you and believe in the power of teamwork.
Civic engagement
A commitment to selflessly help the wider community, born of gratitude, interest in others, love of one’s home country and global thinking.
- Show gratitude and appreciate the ordinary things in life.
- Take a genuine interest in other people, also beyond your own circle.
- Build a relationship with your home country, an interest in your region and a global outlook.
4C
Skills we develop
Alongside our values, we develop four skills people need not only to want change but to make it happen.
- C1
Critical thinking
The ability to think in a wider context, ask the right question, argue logically and reach sound conclusions and decisions.
- C2
Creativity
The ability to spot opportunities, come up with new ideas and improve existing ones, and turn them into something useful in practice.
- C3
Communication
The ability to proactively understand other people’s views and to express your own effectively.
- C4
Collaboration
The ability to work effectively in diverse teams, including flexibility and shared responsibility for resolving conflicts and reaching a common goal.
LEAF in numbers
- graduates of LEAF programmes
- 2,000+graduates of LEAF programmessince 2012
- people contribute time or money every year
- 1,200+people contribute time or money every yearschool year 2025/26
- people and 1,700+ organisations on GROWNi
- 21,700+people and 1,700+ organisations on GROWNias of 6 November 2026
- of respondents say LEAF had a fundamentally positive impact on their life path
- 52%of respondents say LEAF had a fundamentally positive impact on their life path2021 impact survey, 387 respondents
What grew in LEAF
We build things that go on to stand on their own
LEAF Academy
An international secondary school focused on leadership, values and character.
Scholarships abroad
Secondary school studies abroad for talented students. The programme first ran on its own, then became part of LEAF, and has been independent again since 2023.
Mentória
Mentoring and coaching programmes for teachers and schools.
Together with Teach for Slovakia, Nexteria and Klub úradníkov dobrej vôle, we also run the Public Leadership Academy for new managers in the public sector.
Team
The people leading LEAF today
Branislav Kleskeň
Director
Braňo, a former partner at McKinsey & Company, has extensive experience across several continents in improving corporate performance, building new companies and improving education. He draws energy from enjoying the present (he has a wife and three children, is a former and occasional hockey player and an amateur musician) and from dreaming about the future (learning, building new initiatives and unlocking human potential).
Aurel Ollé
GROWNi
I have been growing with GROWNi from the very beginning. I originally came to LEAF to build an online platform, expecting a few years of preparation for something that big. Then COVID came, and the planned years turned into four months in which we got GROWNi up and running. My work also involves all kinds of toys: AI, Google Cloud, Firebase, GitHub, Bloomreach, Mailgun, LiveAgent, … In our own association we organise outdoor experiences for children (a ski instructor in winter, a river guide in summer), and in between I switch off my head and relax my body with Tai Chi.
Kamila Bundalová
Mentoring network
I love building things from scratch and developing people and programmes. At LEAF I lead the Mentoring Network for a World-Class Slovakia, which connects people in Slovakia and abroad in mentoring relationships, and I am responsible for its strategy and overall running. I joined LEAF through the only job application I ever sent in Slovakia; until then I had mostly lived in Vienna, where I studied. I also look after small organisations outside LEAF: since the age of fifteen I have run a badminton club that now operates in two cities and brings together children, competitive players and recreational players.
David Dvorský
Krúžky circles
What I enjoy most is growing together with the people around me. Alongside studying business economics and management at Masaryk University in Brno, I coach children and young people at ŠK BARBAR – I have been around sport all my life. Besides a love of sport, I try to pass on humility, a willingness to help others and pride in the place they represent. It always bothered me when talented people left for abroad with no plan to come back, which is why LEAF’s goal of making Slovakia world-class is close to my heart. At LEAF I am responsible for Krúžky – a safe space where equal members of the LEAF community meet, inspire each other and grow together.
Natália Leckešová
Implementation Support Specialist
Throughout my career I have gained experience in a wide range of areas – from production and events to project management and administrative and operational support. I enjoy a varied agenda, working with people and moving things forward – starting new projects, seeing them through or finding ways to do things better and more efficiently.
What drew me to working with LEAF was the idea of connecting people who want to contribute to a better society. I believe that sharing experience, inspiring each other and being willing to learn from one another are an important part of positive change.