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Happy Holidays from African Diaspora Network!
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
African Diaspora Network wishes you a happy holiday season. As we close out this year, we remember our humble beginnings that began this very decade. Thank you to all those who made our work possible. We wish you a wonderful season of celebration, full of warmth, joy, and time with family and loved ones. We look forward to celebrating the new year with you in the next month at our signature convening of global leaders at African Diaspora Investment Symposium 2020. Early bird registration is open until Tuesday, December 31. Register today, and have a wonderful holiday season.
As always,
Thank you,
Almaz Negash
Founder & Executive Director, African Diaspora Network
UN Economic Commission for Africa, HLPM on Migration & Immigration (2017-19)
Executive in Residence, School of Global Innovation & Leadership, SJSU (2018-19)
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"The ADIS2019 conference was a spectacular success. Excellent discussion topics, engaging panelists, dynamic keynote speakers, and Iivigorating interactions with Africans in the Diaspora and friends of Africa and ample networking opportunities. All with a focus on development of the African continent. I hope you can top this in ADIS2020." - Prof, Tokunbo Ogunfunmi, Santa Clara University
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Meet the Stanford SEED Entrepreneurs & Mastercard Foundation Scholars
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Yomi Adedeji, CEO, Softcom Ltd
Yomi Adedeji co-founded Softcom Limited in 2007. Since the company’s formation, Yomi has held several positions including those of the managing partner, CEO, and Head of IT. Yomi is a tech enthusiast which emphasizes his commitment to building a solutions company focused on connecting people, businesses, and communities in Africa using technology. Under his leadership, Softcom has pioneered some of Africa’s largest technology-focused deployments in addressing various problems for leading telecoms, consumer goods, financial, retail and governmental organizations. Yomi received a B.Sc from Covenant University in 2007, and is an Alumnus of the Stanford University Seed Program.
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Keza Bunyenyezi, Chief Commercial Officer, ComzAfrica
Keza Bunyenyezi is a co-founder of ComzAfrica ("Comza"), a mobile innovations company based in Rwanda. Since its inception in 2010, Comza grew its footprint to 25 countries across Africa, Asia & the Middle East with its flagship product, Airtime Credit Service (ACS), a cashless microloan service that allows customers to stay online even when they run out of airtime. Inspired and driven by the extent to which tech can transform lives, Keza is responsible for the strategic development of the company focusing on digital lending and payments platforms particularly for the unbanked.
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Dr. Elikem Tamaklo, Managing Director, Nyaho Medical Centre
Dr. Elikem Tamaklo is the Managing Director of Nyaho Medical Centre, a leading healthcare provider in Ghana and the first private Group Medical Practice in the country. He has held this position since 2015 and during this time, has led the digital transformation of the Hospital, integrating services, equipment and infrastructure through an integrated Hospital Information System centered around patients and their families. This has enabled the hospital to grow and expand from one central location to multiple sites, improving access to quality healthcare with a personalized approach. He also led the accreditation of the hospital by the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to become the only private hospital in Ghana to train Family Physicians.
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Marilyn Akinola
Marilyn Akinola is student in the master's of development practice program at the University of California, Berkeley. She was born and raised in Nigeria, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in economics and the desire to pursue a career in development was born. She is particularly interested in education and its role in development, and seeks to contribute to improving access to quality education in Nigeria.
Prosper Amie
Prosper Amie is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar studying data science at the University of California, Berkeley.
Obed Ali Fordjour, Participant, Management Leaders for Tomorrow
Obed Ali Fordjour is a graduating senior at UC Berkeley. He is interested in the intersection of business and public policy, and looking forward to forging strong connections at the symposium.
Mubarek Hassen, Engineering and Project Management
Mubarek Hassen is a project engineer with DPR Construction. His major project provides global capital access to African entrepreneurs and established companies.
Andualem Girma Kefeni,
Andualem Girma Kefeni is a recent M.S. graduate of systems engineering program with a concentration in data science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a MasterCard scholarship recipient at the university, which is among the most prestigious awards offered by the university. In addition to working as a research assistant on the SWITCH-china project, A Systems Approach to De-carbonize China’s power system. He was also a student assistant at Berkeley International Office, University of California Berkeley. He has a background in civil engineering with more than two years of experience in structural design and cost estimation. He has also been involved in several innovative engineering projects, including Boxed Wetlands and Rideshare demand modeling. He is obsessed with applications of machine-learning and optimization on engineering projects and enjoys changing complex problems into algorithms and coming up with optimal solutions more than anything.
Gift Pola Kiti, Taste Afrique (Chibundiro)Gift Kiti is a 2nd-year MPH student at UC Berkeley, is a driven and energetic lady from Mombasa, Kenya. Gift did her undergraduate at Bates College majoring in chemistry
with a minor in French. Gift has experience working globally from summers with Metabiota in San Francisco to Doctors Without Borders in Cameroon. She recently started a health clinic in Mombasa –Zawadi Healthcare Services. Gift is also the co-director of Taste Afrique (Chibundiro). When not studying, Gift enjoys singing or dancing.
Samuel Mbaabu, EzzyFeedback.com
Samuel Karani is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, and current student at 42 Silicon Valley where he's receiving a master's in computer engineering. EzzyFeedback.com is an app that connects people seeking feedback on their projects with people willing to provide the feedback in a quick, simple and meaningful way.
Rukudzo Muyengwa, MPH Candidate, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Rukudzo Muyengwa is a young public health professional from Zimbabwe. She has worked in public health in the United States, Tanzania, and most recently, with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Zimbabwe where she worked on strategy for sustainable HIV prevention programming and innovative health financing. She graduated with a B.A. in public health from the University of California Berkeley, where she was a Mastercard Foundation Scholar. Currently, she is pursuing a master's in public health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where she is focused on tech-enabled innovations in global health.
Fanice Nyatigo, MamaTips
Fanice Nyatigo is a UC Berkeley graduate with a degree in bioengineering and a certificate in technology and entrepreneurship. With her passion lying at the
intersection of technology and health, she leverages computation, analytics and informatics to improve healthcare delivery and biomedical research. During her time in college, Fanice founded MamaTips, a platform to provide healthcare information to expecting couples in rural Kenya, where maternal and infant morbidity and mortality
rates are exceptionally high. She is also the co-founder at M-soma, a talent development company to equip Kenyan youth with the relevant software and web development skills needed in the job market. Fanice, her ambitions being fueled by the
need for gender equality and economic development in developing countries, is a MasterCard Scholar, an Unleash talent for the UN SDGs, and a Clinton Global Initiative
Award recipient.
Moses Surumen, M-Soma
Moses Suruman is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. He currently works as a software engineer at Qualcomm. He started M-Soma as a college sophomore in 2016, and the program has so far trained 74 high school graduates in Kenya in introductory computer science and data science.
Chidi Uwaeme, KazuTi
Chidi Uwaeme is a graduate student of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. He is passionate about health equity, social justice, and projecting action
plans to promote enduring achievement of Sustainable Development Goals bringing solutions that addresses social determinants of health.
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A Glimpse at ADIS2020: Session Highlights
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Power Africa: Energy & Renewable Resources
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According to USAID, two out of three people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. How do we go beyond the grid to increase the number of people who have access to power? This session examines projects including Power Africa, launched in 2013, that leverage partnerships to achieve the effective implementation of clean energy systems and efficient electricity generation to millions of homes and businesses on the Continent.
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Diaspora Remittances and Sustainable Development Agenda 2030
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The World Bank estimates in 2018, Africans in the diaspora remitted $46USD billion. This figure reflects the magnitude by which Africans in the diaspora are participating in economic development of the continent. In addition, the figures reflecting levels of both education and economics show the latent potential of the African diaspora community for mobilizing greater human and capital assets in support of their home communities in Africa. In this session, our speakers will discuss how remittances from Africans in the Diaspora is contributing to several of the SDG’s, the role of technology to transform markets, and the regulatory environment from the sending countries and the Continent.
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Session A: Intra-Africa Payments Systems: Mobile Money and the Role of Technology
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Transaction flows among Africa have transformed since the inception of mobile money. Removing major market barriers, cell phones and other digital technologies have been employed to streamline payments systems across the continent. How has the movement of financial flows across borders changed and expanded overtime? This session examines movement of financial flows and goods and how Africa may accelerate intra-regional trade within the Continent.
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Thank You to Our Sponsors
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Hugh Stuart Center Charitable Trust
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William H. Cilker Family Foundation
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Terry & Carolyn Gannon Fund
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Visit our website
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