ADIS2025: A New Day for Diaspora Investment in Africa?

By Gregory Simpkins

The recently-concluded African Diaspora Investment Symposium 2025 (ADIS2025) commemorated a decade of the promotion of Diaspora investment in Africa by the African Diaspora Network (ADN). After the United States announced the suspension of aid and grants worldwide earlier this year, many voices spoke of Africans fending for themselves with their own resources.

However, ADIS2025 reminded us that the promotion of African Diaspora investment on the continent is not a new phenomenon. Almaz Negash has been actively pursuing this mission through her creation and ongoing presentation of ADN for the past decade.

At the opening of the conference, Dr. Liesl Riddle, Dean & Associate Professor of International Business & International Affairs at George Washington University, which was co-host of this event, said: “This is more than just a conference; it is a community in motion.”

And indeed, it has been.

I have had the privilege of attending several such ADN investment summits over the past decade in San José, California, and Washington, DC, and ADN has demonstrated a remarkable ability to identify and bring innovative African companies before potential partners and investors. Many have taken advantage of the spotlight to grow into significant economic entities.

Spotlight on Successful Diaspora Enterprises

One such company that was showcased early on at an ADN summit was Shea Yeleen.

Rahama Wright, Chief Executive Officer and tireless brand promoter for her company, realized long ago that an association with ADN could be of great benefit. Of course, it helps if, like Shea Yeleen, you create livelihoods for African women in a value chain through which they benefit as well as distribute a quality product.

I have watched her for several years rise through the ranks in terms of the esteem she and her company achieved in the eyes of major funders and other companies.

In fact, several years ago, while I was the US Agency for International Development (USAID) liaison with the President’s Advisory Council for Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA), I traveled with the group to several countries in Africa. There on the trip was Ms. Wright – injured ankle and all – representing not only her company, but also Diaspora companies in general.

I watched as corporate leaders, impressed with the mission of her company to provide a quality product by helping African women build wealth, treated her as one of their own, offering advice and presumably subsequent help for her cause.

Ms. Wright looked past the skepticism among some Diaspora businesspeople in the United States about ADN and what it could accomplish. I attributed some of this Diaspora sentiment to resentment of an Eritrean-born woman shooting ahead of American-born entities in national and international councils.

Following Ms. Negash’s attendance at an African Diaspora Investment Symposium hosted by the US Department of State and USAID in 2014, she quickly convinced the hosts to provide funding for the first ADN-presented ADIS in Silicon Valley the following year with US$15,000 in State Department seed money.

State realized what one participant at this year’s symposium vocalized: Ms. Negash has a knack for “turning ideas into action.” ADN has grown from the original 15 people she convened in 2010 to discuss the creation of the organization to more than 15,000 members worldwide today.

Along the way, she has successfully highlighted companies like Shea Yeleen, as well as others such as African Renaissance Ventures, Bio Usawa, Zidi Circle and Bridge Partners/ADINA. These four companies returned to ADIS to discuss how their success has been achieved.

A Rising Star: World Shoe, Inc.

There were a number of companies making their debut at ADIS2025, but perhaps the star at this year’s edition was World Shoe, Inc., a Ghana-based company producing shoes designed for comfort in diverse climates and conditions made with EVA foam to reduce waste and provide a positive environmental impact. They are infused with antibacterial agents to promote hygiene and healing.

Parasitic infection, he said, is the leading cause of amputations in children.

The company’s founder – Emmanuel Ohonme – told the audience that he grew up without shoes and wanted to make sure many other children didn’t have to do so. He said he wanted to “send down the elevator” so to speak to allow others to rise as he did.

The company currently produces one million pair of shoes annually, creating 3,000 jobs for companies headed by women and youth who are trained to become shoe distributors. It is his dream to produce 10 million pairs of shoes each year.

Mr. Ohonme explained that there were several resource models and that aid was but one of them. His wife – Mrs. Tracie Ohonme, head of the Ohonme Foundation – said aid may meet the hunger needs today, but trade produces tomorrow’s future.

“We want to be judged not by what we gave, but by what we built,” she said.

Launching the African Innovation Fund

ADIS was the staging ground for the announcement of the African Innovation Fund, in collaboration with Myriad USA, a platform that provides donors with a simple and efficient platform to support nonprofit initiatives internationally. While the collective impact of remittances and investment are significant, they remain underutilized.

The mission of the Fund is to fully unlock the potential of Diaspora-driven philanthropy to enable philanthropic capital to be channeled to high-impact social entrepreneurs across Africa.

Culture as Economic Power

The final day of the program included a cultural celebration. Cultural products are too often underestimated as a commercial force. However, Africa produces a vast array of cultural products, including films, books, music and fashion:

• While Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry, is one of the largest in the world, producing more than 1,000 films annually, other nations are producing increasing film and television productions, including South Africa, Ghana and Kenya.
• African literature also is a growing field, with authors such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o gaining international readership and attention. While the number of African-produced books varies annually, literary production on the continent is clearly on the rise.
• Afrobeats, a genre originating from West Africa, has gained global popularity with artists such as Wizkid, Davido and Tiwa Savage achieving international acclaim. Other musical genres such as Highlife, Juju and Afro-pop also contribute to the continent’s vibrant music scene.
• African fashion is renowned for its bold prints, vibrant colors and unique designs. African designers such as Laduma Ngxokolo and Maki Oh have been at the forefront. Textiles such as Adire, Kente and Mudcloth are iconic symbols of African fashion, with many designers incorporating traditional techniques into modern designs.

ADN, in addition to its annual ADIS sessions, also presents the African Scientific Community Engagement and programs such as the Accelerating Business Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Builders of Africa’s Future and the Impact and Innovation Forums. Further information on ADN programming can be found on the organization’s website at www.africandiasporanetwork.org.

The Habari Network, along with the Brampton (Canada) Community Economic Empowerment Network and the 21st Century Solutions consulting firm, were proud to help promote ADIS2025, and this coalition intends to continue working with ADN to broaden the commercial alliances created among Diaspora businesses in North America, the Caribbean, Africa and elsewhere in the global Diaspora.

The foreign aid resource model apparently has run its course. Therefore, now is the time for the Diaspora to collectively provide the necessary funding and expertise for the entire Diaspora to grow and become sustainable through our collective efforts.

ADN has shown the path to achieving this for 10 years, and we all should follow their lead in this post-aid world.

Gregory Simpkins, a longtime specialist in African policy development, is the Principal of 21st Century Solutions. He consults with organizations on African policy issues generally, especially in relating to the U.S. Government. He further acts as a consultant to the African Merchants Association, where he advises the Association in its efforts to stimulate an increase in trade between several hundred African Diaspora small and medium enterprises and their African partners.