From Fufu to Cou-Cou: Leadership Lessons from CARIFESTA XV

Last month, the Caribbean came together for CARIFESTA XV in Barbados — the fifteenth edition of the region’s largest cultural festival. Since its beginnings in 1972, CARIFESTA has been a platform to celebrate and reimagine Caribbean identity through art, literature, music, and food.

I had the privilege of participating in this year’s festival, joining conversations that looked at the past, present, and future of our foodways:

  • At Bush Tea Big Talk, we explored the wisdom in indigenous plants and remedies, and how climate resilience is often encoded in the everyday knowledge of aunties and elders.

  • At Tradition Meets Innovation, I shared the parallels between West African fufu and Barbadian cou-cou — a reminder that migration, survival, and creativity have always been part of the same story.

  • In another session, chefs worked with lionfish, turning an ecological threat into an edible solution. Innovation in service of sustainability.

The highlight, however, was hearing Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, speak about food as bridge:

“At its heart, CARIFESTA XV is about unity. And food may be one of the richest ways we discover just how connected we truly are.”
— Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley

Her words captured what I believe deeply: food is not just nourishment. It is leadership, diplomacy, and systems change. The table teaches lessons that boardrooms often forget:

3 Leadership Takeaways from CARIFESTA XV

  1. Unity requires translation. Fufu and cou-cou may use different grains, but they tell the same story. Leaders must learn to connect across languages, cultures, and contexts.

  2. Innovation comes from constraint. Just as lionfish turned from problem to ingredient, business challenges can be reframed into opportunities. Creativity thrives when limits are acknowledged, not denied.

  3. Culture drives sustainability. Practices like brewing bush tea or cooking nose-to-tail aren’t new trends — they are long-standing strategies of resilience. Leaders who embrace cultural knowledge gain a blueprint for lasting systems.

From festival stages to boardrooms, these lessons remind us that leadership—like cuisine—is about connection, creativity, and continuity. What we practice at the table shapes the systems we build everywhere else.

If you’d like to explore these ideas more deeply:
💼 Bring these lessons on unity, sustainability, and leadership to your boardroom, corporate retreat, or summit — inquire here:

Selassie Atadika