Belgium's 40 under 40

Passing the torch to the next generation of societal leaders

The selection Process

Selection

Belgium’s 40 under 40 brings together 40 emerging leaders committed to contributing to society.

Each year, we aim to form a Cohort that reflects a diversity of journeys, perspectives, and forms of engagement, across sectors, backgrounds, and areas of interest. Particular attention is paid to balance, including gender and linguistic diversity.

The Application

The application is centred around a single, personal statement.

We invite you to share your journey, what drives your engagement today, and why you are applying to 40u40. Beyond your aspirations, we are particularly interested in understanding how your commitments are already taking shape in your actions.

Your motivation statement should be written in English (maximum 6,000 characters). We value authenticity and clarity over exhaustiveness. AI tools can support language, but your voice, experiences, and reflections should remain genuinely your own.

If you have applied previously, you are welcome to apply again, provided you still meet the eligibility criteria. We encourage you to submit a renewed application that reflects your current journey and why this is the right moment for you to join.

What we look for in an application

Through your motivation letter, we seek to understand:
    • Your journey — what has shaped you and how you have evolved
    • Your engagement — how you are currently contributing, through your work, initiatives, or commitments
    • Your impact — the areas or challenges you are committed to addressing
    • Your alignment — why 40u40 matters to you, and what you would bring to the Community
We are not looking for perfect trajectories or extraordinary claims, but for individuals who are already in motion and willing to engage with others in a meaningful way.

Who are we looking for?

Initial societal footprint

You have a first proof of impact towards society. It can take various forms: being active as an entrepreneur, a dedicated civil servant, a community leader, an opinion shaper... There is no specific role or context for impact.

From ideas to action

You are ready to roll up your sleeves and bridge the gap between ideas and tangible impact. This program is not exclusively for entrepreneurs, but for those with a "can do" mindset and an entrepreneurial attitude who want to make change happen!

Leadership trajectory

You exercise leadership in your own context, through projects, activities or initiatives, in your professional environment or personal endeavors. There is no specific title or criteria to be a leader.

Active co-development

You want to grow as a leader, reflect on yourself, your values, and your impact, you want to connect with other people to learn and to strengthen your societal engagement, and you want to dedicate time to develop yourself.

Thematic sweet spot

You have a passion for one or more societal areas where you want to make a difference. All topics are relevant: why does this topic matter to you?

Future orientation

You want to think ahead, build solutions for the long term, adopt an integrative perspective and gather various point of view. You want to contribute to shaping the Belgium of 2030 and beyond!

Who is admissible?

Based in Belgium

Your nationality doesn't matter, but you need to be living in Belgium and demonstrate a strong attachment to the future of the Belgian society.

Below 40 years old

You need to be younger than 40 at the start of the program, so for your application to be accepted to join the Cohort 2026 you must be born on or after September 1, 1986.

Fluent in English

A good command of English is necessary since it is the main language used in the program.

No political mandate

We want to keep the debate outside of the political agendas. Hence, we do not accept candidates who hold an elective mandate.

Participation COMMITMENT

There is no financial contribution expected to join the program. However, as we mobilise up to 15.000€ resources per person in the program, participants are asked to commit real time, energy and goodwill. Participation in all the activities is a must. Repeated absences have direct consequence on the group dynamics, and lead to a discontinuation of your participation in the program.

To help you assess the commitment that is needed to take part in the program, you can consider the following baseline:

1. Forums: these meetings take place on Saturdays (and sometimes Sunday mornings), on average every 8 to 10 weeks. There are 5 Forums in the program, and the first one is scheduled on September 12 (full day) and 13 (morning), where participation is required.

2. Conversation Circles: these activities take place once a month, on a week evening, usually from 6pm to 10pm. The day of the week depends on the group, you typically define that with your Coach at the first meeting.

3. Field Work: this stream of activity is initiated during the Forums, and you are expected to meet with other Fellows to progress on your topic between the Forums. You are free to define the modality and the frequency of your work with your team mates, and we estimate that it requires on average 1 to 2 hours per week.

4. Individual Mentorship: these one-on-one meetings with your Mentor take place every 4 to 5 weeks to keep a good progression in your discussions, and each meeting is around 1h30 to have meaningful conversations. Since this is a one-to-one relationship that you build with your Mentor, you define the schedule of the meetings together.

We know that the overall commitment is significant, but is necessary to have real impact! Fellows who have been in the program estimate the time investment at 3 to 4 hours per week. If you feel that, at the moment, you would not be comfortable to investing that time in the program, then we advise you not to apply to avoid facing difficulties further down the road… Of course, in the event of a personal situation arising during the course of the program, we are always open to discuss and review how to adapt to individual cases.

Are there activities during holiday period?

No, we always organise the activities outside holiday period. So you will not have a Forum at the end of December or in the middle of July-August… and the same applies to the Conversation Circles. Regarding the Field Work and the Mentorship, you organise that with your team mates or Mentor directly, so you can arrange the schedule as you want.

Is the program compatible with parenthood?

Given the age range of the participants, we emphasise that becoming a parent is compatible with a participation in the program! For example, in the past, we had several Fellows who welcomed newborns while they were part of the program, and we are flexible to provide support and amend the participation rules depending on your individual situation.

Can I follow the activities virtually?

Most of the activities are taking place in-person. That’s the case for the Forums, where remote participation is not possible, and most of the Conversation Circles. You will define with your Coach if remote participation in the Circles is possible, but that’s certainly not ideal and should remain exceptional. For the Field Work and the Mentorship, you can decide with your peers or Mentor what is best for you.

Since one of the goals is to have meaningful discussion between the Fellows, it is never as good as meeting in-person. For that reason, we do not accept candidates who are living abroad, although we know that they could bring a lot of rich perspectives to the Cohort! It is a difficult choice, but experience proved that it is best in that way.

Where do the activities take place?

To keep things simple, the Forums take place in Brussels: we are hosted at TheMerode (Place Poelaertplein) which offers a central location and excellent facilities for our meetings!

The Circles can be organised in various/rotating places, to be defined with your Coach, otherwise the default location would be Brussels.

Regarding the Mentorship, we can pair you up with a Mentor from your geographical area to facilitate the organisation of your meetings, you just need to let us know at the beginning of the program.

And for the Field Work, it depends on your group, but location has not been an issue so far…

In the past, we had Fellows coming from all over Belgium: from Kortrijk to Herve, and from Oostende to Arlon! We want to keep it that way and your place of living (in Belgium) should not be a barrier to your participation.

Can I only do the activities that I like?

No, the program is not ‘à la carte’ so you cannot pick what you like and not do the rest… Therefore, a participation in all the activities is requested. You will quickly discover the complementarity of the activities and how each stream of activity reinforce the other streams. The program has been designed as a comprehensive experience!

What happens if I can't make it to an activity?

We know that there are times when you really must be somewhere else… For that reason, you have one joker that you can use to miss one of the Forums in case of imperative agenda conflict (except for the First Forum where presence is necessary). However, missing more than one Forum becomes an issue since you quickly get disconnected from the larger group. The same applies to the Conversation Circles, where you will see that a regular participation is needed to make the most of these sessions.

In the case of the Field Work and Mentorship, well, you probably don’t want to be kicked out by your peers or have a bad image to your Mentor.

Missing out on too many activities typically leads to a frank discussion to understand what has caused your disconnect. In extreme cases, it could possibly lead to an exclusion in cases of clear disinterest, but we hope it won’t get that far…

Calendar of the selection process

What is the
selection process?

The selection process consists of three stages:

    1. Screening: we review all the applications and we make a pre-selection for the second stage;
    2. Interviews: pre-selected candidates are invited to meet with Supporters and Alumni for online interviews;
    3. Validation: after the interview, we review all the feedback and assemble the Cohort, with an attention to forming a diverse and balanced group.

The intention is to expand the 40u40 Community with new selections on a yearly basis, and candidates can apply more than once to join. We emphasise that the selection is not a judgement of the intrinsic qualities of the participants: it is not a ranking of ‘The best 40 young leaders of the year’, nor an ‘elite group’!

Timeline For the
2026 Selection

Applications can only be submitted during the application period via the form announced on our website:

    1. Application period will open on April 22.
    2. Applications will close on Sunday May 31 (midnight).
    3. Selection Panel will review applications by June 18.
    4. Interviews will take place between June 25 and July 1.
    5. The selected participants will be announced on July 9.
    6. The Cohort 2026 will start the journey in September 2026.

Important notice: Given the amount of applications received in our previous calls, we may close the application period earlier than the initial closing date, and accept a maximum of 500 applications for this round. So don’t wait for the last minute to submit your application!

Join the Cohort 2026

Submit your application

What is the
selection process?

The selection process consists of three stages:

    1. Screening: we review all the applications and we make a pre-selection for the second stage;
    2. Interviews: pre-selected candidates are invited to meet with Supporters and Alumni for online interviews;
    3. Validation: after the interview, we review all the feedback and assemble the Cohort, with attention to forming a diverse and balanced group.

The intention is to expand the 40u40 Community with new selections on a yearly basis, and candidates can apply more than once to join. We emphasise that the selection is not a judgement of the intrinsic qualities of the participants: it is not a ranking of ‘The best 40 young leaders of the year’, nor an ‘elite group’!

The 2026 Selection round is taking place in the Spring, and the Cohort will start in September, the calendar will be announced on our LinkedIn page and in our newsletter. Don’t forget to register to stay informed! 

Back to homepage

Welcome.

To access the Cohort dashboard, please connect with your credentials.

watch video