The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls is a girls-only boarding school that officially opened in January 2007 at Henley-on-Klip in Meyerton, south of Johannesburg, South AfricaCoordinates: 26°32′49″S 28°03′19″E / -26.54694, 28.05528. Inspired by her own humble beginnings and disadvantaged background, Oprah Winfrey stated that she founded the Leadership Academy to provide educational and leadership opportunities for academically gifted girls from impoverished backgrounds in South Africa who exhibited leadership qualities for making a difference in the world.

Oprah Winfrey created the school after Nelson Mandela asked her to give support for educational causes in post-Apartheid South Africa. To realize the vision of the Leadership Academy, Winfrey donated $40 million to establish an educational facility for academically talented young women with leadership qualities who grew up in poverty. To carry forth this vision, Winfrey became involved in the overseeing of many details of building the Leadership Academy and managing the administrative details, from selecting students and faculty to designing the buildings and interiors. African American historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. stated that the Academy is comparable to "the creation of Exeter or Eton on the continent of Africa." The 52-acre, 28-building campus of the Leadership Academy features state-of-the-art facilities, including large dormitories, wellness center, gymnasium, dining hall and libraries , with many of the rooms having large fireplaces. The Leadership Academy plans to offer students an academic curriculum based on national educational standards in South Africa that includes teachings in the English, Zulu and South Sotho languages and the subjects of arts and culture, life orientation and leadership, various topics in mathematics, natural sciences and technology, social studies, economic and management sciences.  The first two classes of the Academy will include 152 girls of ages 11-12, selected from 3,500 nationwide applicants in South Africa. Although the incoming classes of girls will enter grades 7 and 8, the Leadership Academy plans to provide middle school and high school education for girls in grades 7 through 12.   To qualify as a candidate for the Leadership Academy, the potential student must show that she is academically qualified, and that her family must have a household income no greater than $787 a month.