2024 Year in Review

November 20, 2024, 8am PST

Established in 2010, African Diaspora Network (ADN) is a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit committed to fostering social impact through entrepreneurship and economic development in Africa and diaspora communities. We convene Africans from the continent, the diaspora, and allies of Africa to create an ecosystem that nurtures their entrepreneurial spirit and mobilizes intellectual and financial resources toward a prosperous future for Africa and diaspora communities. Through strategic partnerships and innovative programs, we serve as a catalyst for positive change and growth in Africa and diaspora communities worldwide.

2024 has been a remarkable year. We introduced our new five-year strategic plan, hosted the ninth annual African Diaspora Investment Symposium (ADIS), welcomed new cohorts of entrepreneurs to Builders of Africa’s Future and Accelerating Black Leadership and Entrepreneurship, and became an implementing partner of the Young African Leaders Initiative Legacy Localization (YALI LL) Project. Looking forward to 2025, we have many exciting plans, including celebrating the ten-year anniversary of ADIS and intentional discussions on giving beyond remittances.

We invite you to join us for the ADN Year-in-Review Webinar which brings together collaborators, ecosystem partners, and supporters who have made our programs and initiatives possible. The purpose of the event is to thank you for being a vital part of the ADN network, provide a review of what we’ve done so far this year, and share about our plans for 2025. As we enter this season of gratitude and reflection, we invite you to join us to celebrate our milestones and envision the path forward for ADN.

2024 Stats

Speakers

Sessions

Countries Engaged

Attendees

0 +

Almaz Negash is a recognized thought leader and sought-after expert on entrepreneurship, innovation, and investment for international markets, especially high growth African and Diaspora. Leveraging 25 plus years of experience in international trade, business management, and social innovation, Negash is able to build successful partnerships with a variety of stakeholders, including Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, investors and entrepreneurs based in the USA and around the world. As a result, she is named as one of the 100 outstanding Silicon Valley Women of Influence for her work in social innovation. In 2010, Almaz founded African Diaspora Network (ADN) to inform and engage Africans in the diaspora and facilitate direct collaboration with social entrepreneurs, innovators, and business leaders to invest and improve the lives of everyone on the continent.

Omolayo is a multi-lingual strategist and researcher with over ten years experience in international development and has worked with or for African diaspora communities across the US, Europe and Africa to mobilise, impact and advocate for their needs and interests. Omolayo holds an MSc with Distinction in Migration, Mobility and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Prior to joining ADN, Omolayo was a research manager and gender specialist at DMA Global where she oversaw key projects for organisations such as the World Bank, IOM and others.

Speakers

Christopher “Chris” Bennett, JD, MBA, CPM is the founder of T-I-L(R), a social impact law and legal technology startup, working to make intellectual property rights more accessible to the underrepresented. His law and technology work includes startups, SMEs, and enterprise size organizations. Chris has graduate degrees from Georgetown (JD), Penn (MBA), a BA in education from Morehead State University / Johnson C. Smith University, and professional certifications in Blockchain, Data Science, Energy Innovation & Emerging Technologies, and Six-Sigma, and is a Certified Public Manager and Intellectual Property Law Attorney. Chris lives in Washington DC with life partner Jan, enjoys family and friends time, community service activities, and running on trails.

Josh Ghaim is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ignite Venture Studio, a new brand and innovation accelerator focused in the Health and Beauty markets as well as investments and support of Women and Minority led start-ups. Prior to his new venture, Josh was the former Chief Technology Officer of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health.

Rick is the CTO of Rippleworks, a nonprofit foundation that is relentlessly focused on the needs of social ventures, providing the practical support entrepreneurs and their teams need to improve more lives across the global south. Previously, he had spent his career as a technologist, starting in the early days of Silicon Valley, from research labs to nascent startups.

Sister Rose Thumitho is the co-founder of Mother Kevin Providence Social Enterprise. As a business manager with great passion and commitment with hands-on technical support, she brings 15 years of experience with expertise in leadership, governance, management, administration, resource mobilization, system-strengthening, networking and communications learned from working in underserved mission hospitals. In 2020, she started a social enterprise with the goal of reaching out with compassion to vulnerable communities to empower them to grow their income and transform their livelihood through organic poultry and sustainable means of farming while caring for Mother Earth. A collaboration between ACWECA, the Miller Center for Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University, and Ecopreneur mentorship to SBVP empowered her team to transition from a charity to a business model. The social enterprise reaches out to the communities to eradicate poverty, advocates for social protection, and resource equity through an inclusive approach to gender.

Mathias is an award-winning Ghanaian social entrepreneur and innovator. He has interest in food security, clean energy solutions and climate change. He currently leads AkoFresh, an AgriTech startup that offers smallholder farmers climate smart solutions to reduce post-harvest losses and alleviate poverty.Mathias’ contributions in various technology related solutions, has garnered acclaim as a “Top Youth4South Entrepreneur,” by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, and received recognition from Global Solutions Initiative, UpLink-World Economic Forum, FAO, and Prototypes for Humanity in Dubai.