Letter from the ADN CEO and Founder

Dear friends and colleagues,

On behalf of the African Diaspora Network, I am pleased to announce the ninth annual African Diaspora Investment Symposium, the premier Silicon Valley conference bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders from across the globe to envision the future of the African continent. For our 2024 conference, we are delighted to host you at the magnificent Hayes Mansion in San Jose, CA, USA, from March 20-22, 2024.

The African Diaspora Investment Symposium embodies our commitment to mobilizing the diaspora. Since ADIS23, we have been active in our mission to inform, engage, and activate:

Cultivating Partnerships We have activated intentional collaborations and partnerships with institutions such as Arizona State University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Institut Pasteur de Dakar. ADN is delighted to be a partner in advancing the leadership skills of African youth through the Young African Leaders Initiative Legacy Localization (YALI LL) award.
Supporting Entrepreneurs We have proudly grown the pipeline of entrepreneurs we support to 63 grassroots African entrepreneurs and 38 U.S.-based Black entrepreneurs through our respective programs, Builders of Africa’s Future and Accelerating Black Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
Creating Awareness ADN has taken the Beyond Remittances dialogue global, with the Skoll World Forum in April 2023, Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development (GFRID) in Nairobi, Kenya in June 2023, and UNGA in New York City in September 2023.
Strategic Planning The ADN Board has been diligently developing the new five-year strategic plan to be unveiled in early 2024.

With this year’s ADIS24 theme, “Activate with Africa: Climate Change, Connections, and Action,” we are delighted to activate our global community and build meaningful partnerships that move ideas to action.

My appointment to the Presidential Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States is an honor and uplifts the importance and impact of ADIS as an essential platform for knowledge exchange and dialogue on diaspora engagement in Silicon Valley. The trust placed in ADN in our thirteen years of operation has truly been a privilege.

Thank you to our funders, board of directors, executive leadership council, program advisory committees, team members, speakers, ecosystem partners, volunteers, and participants who have helped us sustain the celebratory spirit of this event for the last nine years.

We can’t do this alone and look forward to having you all play a part and get engaged:

Register for ADIS24
Sign up to mentor entrepreneurs here
Volunteer for ADIS24 (Email megan@africandiasporanetwork.org if you are interested)
Be a funder and sponsor the event (Email megan@africandiasporanetwork.org if you are interested).

Thank you,

Almaz Negash

CEO and Founder,
African Diaspora Network

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Dear symposium participants,

In its thirteenth year, the African Diaspora Network is at an exceptional juncture. Two years of virtual convenings kept our global audience engaged and connected in a historic pandemic, and we successfully pivoted back to our in-person African Diaspora Investment Symposium in 2023. Now approaching our 2024 conference, we look to focus our dialogue on climate change, in line with the trends and opportunities across the African continent.

ADIS is where the DNA of ADN comes to life. We aim to create an ecosystem that fosters innovation, collaboration, and investment by bringing together Africans, African diasporans, and friends of Africa. I can think of no better place to ideate and harness the knowledge and resources of our community than our annual Silicon Valley event.

As we conclude our current strategic plan this year, we also look forward to sharing our new, five-year strategic plan with you in 2024. I look forward to this announcement and ways of engaging you in the future of ADN.

Thank you,

Josh Ghaim, PhD

Impact

Since 2016 ADN convenings have reached...

6,500+

Audience

545+

Speakers and Industry Leaders

89+

Countries

10,000+

Network

68+

Ecosystem Partnerships

Letter from the ADIS24 Board Planning Committee

Greetings!

Welcome to the ninth annual African Diaspora Investment Symposium. As the ADN board planning committee for our signature conference, we are energized by the successful return of ADIS to an in-person event this past year. ADIS24 promises to offer an exciting and timely focus, with the theme “Activate with Africa: Climate Change, Connections, and Action.” Africa is making remarkable strides on so many fronts, and it is imperative that we keep up the momentum in the face of the ongoing climate crisis. Join us as we explore how to build a sustainable, thriving future for the African continent and diaspora. We are honored to host you and bring together our global community.

Rick Levenson

CTO, Rippleworks

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.

Ndeye Makalou

BioPharma Executive

As a bold and visionary Pharmacist with over 20 years in the BioPharma industry, Ndeye leads global transformation with courage. Her expertise spans program management, quality control, and global supply chain in both developed and emerging markets, emphasizing Health Equity. Passionate about shaping health systems in Africa, she is passionate about influencing policies for equitable healthcare access. A dynamic leader, she inspires individuals to collaborate seamlessly, fostering a team spirit that achieves exceptional outcomes. As a risk-taker and problem solver, she challenges the status quo, develops innovative solutions, and implements decisive actions for impactful results.

Kedest Tesfagiorgis

Deputy Director of Global Partnerships & Grand Challenges, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Kedest Tesfagiorgis leads the Global Partnerships & Grand Challenges team within the Discovery & Translational Sciences group at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Kedest is deeply committed to building collaborative, inclusive, long-term partnerships that address the biggest challenges in health and development. Her career has been rooted in the conviction that, as a global community in pursuit of equity, we go faster and further by working together. Kedest is a non-voting member of the board