Faith Nyasuguta
For the first time on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Next Narrative Africa, the multimedia production company building an ecosystem that supports African content creation to advance economic progress hosted Next Africa Now @ Martha’s Vineyard – a salon-style conversation about economic opportunities in Africa and the importance of narrative change and collaboration to wealth building within the global Black African diaspora.
The timely event brought together a high-powered group of leading Black investors, entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and philanthropists from the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa to discuss strategies and solutions to challenges facing Black people globally, fostering collaboration and strategic relationships.
Congressman Steven Horsford, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, delivered inspirational opening remarks urging the audience of business leaders to focus on the economic opportunities in Africa even as we work to address the challenges.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee lauded Next Narrative Africa for its work advocating for Africa and the diaspora and expressed excitement for the power of collaboration across the diaspora for producing tangible outcomes to the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit held in 2022.
The panel of speakers that kicked off the discussion included: Olugbenga Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, a heralded unicorn company at the forefront of Africa’s fintech revolution, and Chinelo Anohu, Senior Director of the Africa Investment Forum, Africa’s largest investment platform whose mandate is to tilt the balance of capital towards Africa’s critical sectors.
The panelists answered pressing questions about investment opportunities in Africa and advised on critical strategies for businesses seeking to fuel the development of better infrastructure, technology, schools, youth talent, and energy projects.
Prior to the panel event, Ms. Chinelo Anohu, Senior Director at the Africa Investment Forum led a Roundtable where she presented the vision and objectives of their transactional platform and mentioned the diverse sources of investment opportunities that exist in Africa.
She shared with the leaders in the room that “investments cannot come from a unilateral source and that our presence here has shown how much capital can be raised from non-traditional investors present in the Vineyard for this event.”
“There is power in bridging Africa and the diaspora to tell better stories and change the narrative about Africa and people of African descent. Bringing Black investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs from across the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa to advance economic progress across the diaspora inevitably leads to changing our collective futures for the better,” says Next Narrative Africa CEO, Akunna Cook.
Flutterwave Founder & CEO, Olugbenga GB Agboola shared his enthusiasm for joining this important conversation stating “We’re all about bridging the payments gap in and to Africa, so we’re excited to be a part of the Next Africa Now @ Martha’s Vineyard where we can have meaningful conversations about economic opportunities and wealth building within the global African diaspora.”
