Remittances to Africa exceed $100 billion a year – but they function as a survival net, not a development engine. On the sidelines of UNGA 81, ADN and Myriad USA are convening diaspora leaders, investors, and philanthropists to change that, building on the Beyond Remittances initiative and its call to move diaspora capital from individual support to collective, nation-building investment.
This side event calls on the African diaspora to move from individual giving to coordinated capital – positioning diaspora members not as donors, but as lead investors in Africa’s ground-up transformation. The vision draws on three proven precedents: the Indian, Irish, and Israeli diasporas, who built structured, collective giving networks that fueled national development, education, and technology industries at home; and the U.S. model, where early government R&D funding derisked the technology sector before private capital followed. Organized diaspora capital can play that same derisking role for African innovators.
That shift is already underway. For the past sixteen years, ADN has built a growing ecosystem of entrepreneurship accelerators, mentorship networks, and investment pipelines connecting diaspora talent and capital to the ground-up innovators building Africa’s future. This convening brings that ecosystem into the room – alongside institutional investors, philanthropists, and policymakers, to translate proven models into coordinated, collective investment at scale, with emerging vehicles like the African Diaspora Innovation Fund (AfDIF). AfDIF is a strategic fund designed by ADN and Myriad USA to build African communities and nations from the ground up through its social entrepreneurs and innovators. By moving beyond individual acts of giving toward coordinated, collaborative models, the diaspora can shift from being passive observers to becoming the “Lead Investors” in Africa’s ground-up transformation.
With Africa’s 2030 SDG targets still far off track, diaspora capital is the most credible, underleveraged resource available to close the gap. This convening is a call to move from conversation to coordinated action; building directly on the momentum of the 2026 African Diaspora Investment Symposium (ADIS26) and setting the course toward ADIS 2027.
By the end of the evening, we aim to leave with:
