More than a Pandemic, the Coronavirus as the Deus Ex Machina which makes Innovation in African Diaspora Capital Formation a Fierce Urgency.
One only needs to read through the following quotes culled from an article in the Financial Times - written by the respected Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning - to understand the perplexities of the intertwined African and African Diaspora economic and social reality today.
It’s 5am and I stir. My stomach feels cramped. I have slept no more than four hours. My mind races. The problems cascade through. I hear the birds and do my meditation. My wife Angie and I are in the middle of an Easter study on the Book of Daniel, and I can’t help but think of the writing on the wall: “mene mene tekel upharsin.” Have we been weighed and found wanting? But I am optimistic there will be a few who will stand up and become modern-day martyrs, not only to defeat this pandemic but to create a new era.
There is a lump in my throat as I think of Africa’s predicament. I question the unbalanced nature of the global architecture
Africa finds itself at the precipice of an economic crisis. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak has set off the first recession in the Sub-Saharan African region in 25 years. According to the latest Africa’s Pulse (the World Bank bi-annual analysis of the state of region’s economies), the growth forecast for Sub-Saharan Africa is -5.1% in 2020 from a modest gain of 2.4% in 2019; this puts the gains made along the various dimensions of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) at risk.
The Call to Action is an imperative for members of the African Diaspora and Africa to engage in solving the looming issues at both micro and macro levels. The crisis threatens to impact our everyday workers at marketplaces as well as our finance centers and national economies.
According to an African Union report, if 1% of annual African migrant savings of USD33.7 Billion is invested in Africa, this will mean an inflow of USD337m. Furthermore, if 1% of the 40 million members of the African Diaspora in North America invests $1,000 in Africa, there will be an annual inflow of another USD400m. In this Covid-19 era we have the greatest opportunity to even double these projections in all categories. This demonstrates the viability of an innovative approach to unlock the Diaspora potential.
Diverse studies published by entities including the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, Diaspora organizations and a wide range of other reputable institutions advocated the great potential of the African Diaspora to facilitate sustainable development in Africa. However, a significant gap exists between the enthusiasm and stated potential in the realm of rhetoric and the actual reality as measured by number of working solutions and scale of impact.
The African Diaspora - A critical part of the solution
We believe - with strategic collaboration - the African Diaspora in the United States, Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe can serve as innovation ambassadors to unleash the development promise of pooled Diaspora financial resources. We call for a Joint African Diaspora Economic Task Force to be organized to: 1- envision, 2- architect, and 3- build Capitalization mechanisms and vehicles that drive positive, measurable impact in Africa under select elements of the UN (SDGs):
Education
Good Health and Well-being
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sustainable Cities and Community
It is these goals which will liberate the African spirit. At no time in the last 100 years -including the African liberation era - has there been an opportunity as we have today to structure and network the financial, educational, cultural, entrepreneurial and capital market engines of the African Diaspora to opportunities in an African economy sure to be expanded by the African Continental Free Trade Area(ACFTA) Agreement.
We believe a Joint African Diaspora Capital Formation Task Force on Covid 19 can come up with a win- win response framework that addresses the intersection of pain points of the African Diaspora and pain points in the African economic ecosystem. With a crystal clear understanding of these pain points the task force will explore intersectional domains where transcendent value can be envisioned and therefore engineered for mutual benefit within a social enterprise framework. Multi-pronged solutions will be designed to reach out to the African Diaspora taking into account it’s diversity and complexity.
It is in this spirit that African Diaspora Nation is curating credible stakeholders and
convening an Ideathon. We invite stakeholders with experience across the following domains:
Capital Markets & Capital Structuring Advisors
IMF |World Bank|AfDB|IDFC
Ministers of Finance
Private Equity and Investment Banking
Business and Foundation Leaders
African Diaspora Organizations Worldwide
Students
African Union CIDO
HBCUs
Take action: Register by clicking on flyer below.
Note: You will be automatically registered for both days when you register on zoom
Day 1:
Feasibility of a Strategic Plan for a 1 Billion Dollar Capital Raise
Capital Structuring - Special Purpose Acquisition Companies|Bonds|Mutual Funds| Hybrid|others
Day 2
Marketing Innovation
Sponsors | Stakeholders| Implementation Team
Reference Documents
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