Welcome Note by Almaz Negash
OVERVIEW
African Diaspora Investment Symposium (ADIS21) is the sixth annual global convening that celebrates and champions the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of Africans, Diasporans and friends of Africa.
Hosted by African Diaspora Network, the symposium inspires participants to be agents of change and active contributors to Africa’s development and the communities we live in. The conference activates the potential of partnership, drawing over 1,300 delegates from across the globe over the last five years.
The ongoing pandemic has devastated the world and hit Africa hard. At the same time, it has forced a renewed focus on accelerating development across sectors. This focus presents an opportunity to leapforward African development, bypassing physical infrastructure that the continent has lacked for the most part of a century. We foresee acceleration across four areas: connectivity, education, healthcare, and finance. ADN intends to be at the forefront of this momentum.
Join us as we build bridges among high-level, entrepreneurial leaders and bring speakers from Africa who are innovating to find solutions to pressing issues on the ground and leading the fight against COVID-19. Engage in dialogue on the future of Africa leapfrogging via innovations, investments, and policies that accelerate the continent’s progress in health care, connectivity, education and finance.
The historic COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the trajectory of the decade and remarkably shaped the priorities of the global community. As nations rise to meet the challenges and effects of the novel coronavirus, Africa stands at a unique inflection point in its history to accelerate changes that were already underway. Decades of development are anticipated to be concentrated in the next few years.
The sixth annual African Diaspora Investment Symposium explores the possibilities of accelerating key aspects of Africa’s infrastructure that are essential to individual, community, and national well-being.
October 28, 2020 / Wednesday, 8:00 AM PST, 11:00 AM EST, 3:00 PM GMT
Across the continent, several countries have taken various approaches to building strongholds of investment and innovation. Rwanda is actively planning an innovation hub, Kigali Innovation City, to transform the country into a knowledge-based economy. In West Africa, Nigeria has partnered with U.S. officials to launch a West Africa Trade and Innovation Hub.
What public-private partnerships are advancing local economies? How can innovators from across Africa become a part of these developments? How do initiatives such as Africa50 provide a model for sustainability in innovation through infrastructure investment and place-based innovation centers?
This session invites panelists to speak on examples of burgeoning industries from the North, East, South, and Western regions of Africa and share opportunities for private-public partnership and collaboration.
Prior to 2020, trends across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia demonstrate the traction of online education as a cost-effective approach to making educational opportunities more accessible. Today, remote learning has transformed into a key component of the new normal, proving that wide-scale implementation is not only possible, but necessary.
Africa, thanks to technological innovation will be able to reduce accessibility barriers and bring millions of African students online for the first time. There is an unprecedented opportunity for Africa to accelerate education through technology, which is why investment in the sector is a priority for Africa. The global digital economy will enable millions of young Africans to partake and contribute to the sustainability of the continent’s development.
How do we align the AU Continental Education Strategy for Africa with technological integration? What are the opportunities and challenges that the continent will need to address to systematize both in-person and remote educational opportunities? This panel seeks to explore models of online education and need for investment in catalyzing digital education to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the continent.
The digital payment space has transformed everyday lives across the continent, from the introduction of mobile phones to the adoption of digital payment systems by merchants to streamline their finance systems. How does Africa continue to develop its digital economy through innovation? What existing and new models have provided game-changing tools in various industries?
How do digital processes reduce the cost of wiring for remittances reaching individuals? How do various payment systems boost the transparency and efficiency of investments in Africa? What policies are essential for a secure finance system online?
This panel takes a deep dive into examples such as Facebook with Libra, BitPesa Flutterwave, Chipper, PayPal, and Mastercard to examine how these technological solutions will further advance economic growth.