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ABC Legal Clinics

The ABC Legal Clinics provide ABC Members access to an exclusive series of Clinics with experienced lawyers from the internationally-renowned law firm, Morrison and Foerster LLP. The Clinics are an opportunity to have a one-to-one consultation with a specialist lawyer in your area of work, who will provide pro-bono advice and guidance on any legal concerns or queries you may have. This could cover a range of topic areas including contracts, employment, tax, IP and business structure. ABC members are free to attend and should register by email abc@afford-uk.org Non-members interested in attending please email abc@afford-uk.org for further details.      

Advance your Skills with an African Language

At AFFORD we recognise that the young generation of diaspora Africans wish to give back and connect with Africa in new ways outside of remittance giving. They wish to know how to tap into the emerging opportunities of a fast moving, rapidly changing continent with language being a key way to do so. Diaspora Experience will be holding a session on learning African languages to explore the growing interest in African languages for business, career progression, for enhancing cultural experience on the ground and for linking and connecting to African heritage. If you have an interest in travelling to Africa for your work, career or studies but lack the language skills to engage on a higher level this session is for you! Register Here

Ghana Trade Missions: Fashion Sourcing Trip and Exploring Opportunities

The ABC is partnering with Africa Fashion Guide and will be heading to Ghana on 28th October 2019 for 5 days to look at sourcing partners, manufacturing and exploring opportunities. We are holding a briefing event for you to find out more about the mission and learn about all of the possibilities it could hold for you and your business! More info here

ABC Webinar: What investors are looking for with Christelle Kupa & Rubelyn Alcantara from Uhusiano Capital (UK)

Join  Christelle Kupa and Rubelyn Alcantra of Uhusiano Capital who will : Their experience of running an Investment Fund What they look for from entrepreneurs as investors Their thoughts on what diaspora entrepreneurs should be focused on in terms of business in Africa Tips for entrepreneurs seeking investment This webinar is free to attend register here About the speakers Christelle Kupa is a sustainable finance expert and global impact investor with experience spanning international finance & banking, sustainable investing and cross-border innovation scale-up. Christelle is the Founder and Chief Executive of Uhusiano Capital which she founded in 2016 as a catalyst to facilitate better business in the African impact investing sector, with a particular interest in agriculture and women economic empowerment. Christelle has convened a team of experts and specialists with whom she has developed service propositions that solve complex problems and add value for communities, stakeholders and shareholders in Africa. Christelle spent 13 years as an Investment banker and Hedge-fund manager, JP Morgan and development expert at Symbiotics. Christelle is an internationally recognised leader in impact investment. She has spoken at high profile events and conferences around the world and has been an expert participant in a number of panels and knowledge-sharing initiatives. In her non-for-profit activities, Christelle is a practitioner, advocate, and lecturer on sustainable impact capitalism and community bridging through business and bottom-up leadership. She sits as a Trustee on Medical aid film. Christelle is Belgian- Congolese, based in London, with extensive travel on the African continent. She holds a BA in business and finance and speaks French, Flemish, English, with some basics in Swahili and Lingala. Rubelyn Alcantara, MBA is CEO & Founder, Supivaa Advisory Group (Canada)  which was founded after she spent several years supporting businesses, entrepreneurs and investors in Africa. Supivaa Advisory Group is a boutique consultancy firm focused on two pillars 1. Facilitating and encouraging Canada-Africa trade & investment and 2. Women’s Empowerment. “Supivaa” is a play on words French/English of “support” and “vivre” (to live) thus “supporting life”. Supivaa also has a second, more fun meaning, “supporting the divas”. Ruby is also an Advisor to Uhusiano Capital, an UK regulated financial advisory firm focused on Impact Investing in Africa. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Ruby first stepped foot on the African continent in 2007 and since then, supporting Africa’s economic development has been interwoven her DNA. For the past 7 years, she’s been leading start-ups/projects either in or focused on Africa’s growth in a variety of sectors including renewable energy, agriculture, fin-tech, education, health, and media/publishing. Ruby has lived and worked across Africa including Tanzania, Nigeria, Madagascar, South Africa, Cameroon, Uganda, Egypt, and Kenya. Early in her career, she worked with both governments and private sector in Africa to promote their respective countries to investors, policy-makers and key decision-makers, by producing reports distributed publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and the International Herald Tribune (now The New York Times International). Ruby has played a lead role in companies that have benefited from commercial, impact and/or hybrid investment and as such she’s passionate to ensure that projects and entrepreneurs can get the support they need to hit that critical trajectory for growth and ensuring their investors are rewarded. Ruby has served as Managing Director of Push Observer, an investment of SixTelecoms Group in Tanzania, where she trebled the company’s client base in less than 2 years with clients including of Vodacom, Diageo, the United Nations, British Gas and the Government of Tanzania. She was the Chief Marketing Officer at Homestrings Ltd, later known as Movement Capital, one of the first crowdfunding sites focused on Africa.  She was part of the founding team that raised $25 million USD for 35 deals in 12 countries across Africa.  Most recently, she consulted, serving as interim-CEO for a solar energy and agriculture company in Madagascar which is a blended finance/hybrid investment of a private investor and grant funding from the EU. Today her focus is on working/advising with both the Seekers of Capital (entrepreneurs and fund managers) and the Investors themselves (both Impact Investors and commercial investors) to actualise on the potential of Africa. Often with the Impact lens leveraging on the guidelines of the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (UNPRI) ensuring both ESG and SDG alignments. Ruby holds an international MBA from IE Business School (Spain), a BA in Communications and Political Science from Simon Fraser University (Canada) and a Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from Columbia Academy (Canada). Register to attend this webinar here

Tourism in Africa

Our ABC Connect for September will be a roundtable looking at tourism in Africa. We’ll be looking at the different challenges of organising travel in Africa, practicalities of setting up a travel enterprise, how to grow the business etc. We look forward to seeing you at this industry-focused event which is part of the AFFORD Business Club's monthly networking event series. This roundtable event will be a fantastic opportunity to meet members of the African travel community who also work within the tourism sector. We shall explore how to best access opportunities and overcome various challenges faced by diaspora running travel and tourism enterprises. Register now

£10

ABC Business Growth Workshop

Our Business Advisor Denise Rawls has expertise and a track record of taking fledgling enterprises and established businesses to the next level. On Saturday 28th September 2019 we will be holding a workshop to work on shifting your thoughts and plans from uncertainty to strategy. During the workshop you will: Craft a mission and vision statement, define your company objectives, and perform an analysis of your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Create a one-page strategic action plan to underpin your businesses growth. Work through the personal and business challenges you may face in growing your business and develop strategies, supported by a tailored roadmap Identify resources to focus on to enhance business growth – investment, human resource, technology, business development support (Coach, mentor, training etc.)

£60

APPG – Afrikan Reparations, African Restitution

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations discussion on the restitution of African artefacts held in UK heritage collections. About this event All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations (APPG-AR), invites you to explore the issues, concerns and desires for the restitution of African artefacts held in UK heritage collections. AFFORD shares secretariat responsibilities for the APPG Afrikan Reparations, focusing on issues of the restitution of cultural artefacts and ancestral remains. Estimates suggest that up to 90% of sub-Saharan Africa’s cultural heritage is held outside the African continent. A result of conquest, plunder, colonisation, as well as legitimate trade and exchange, although this figure is disputed by some experts. Most of the UK’s African artefacts are held outside the national museums and collections, and not governed by UK legislation. Currently, there are no accurate figures of the total number of African artefacts and human remains held in UK museums, libraries, palaces, and other public collections. The vast majority of these artefacts are held in storage and not on public display. Join us to explore ways forward on these important issues and learn more about the work of the APPG-AR on African restitution. Hosted by African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) Chair Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP – Chair of the All-Party Group on Afrikan Reparations Speakers Onyekachi Wambu, Executive Director of AFFORD Elsie Owusu OBE RIBA FRSA, Architect and Specialist Conservation Architect, interior and urban designer Yvette Abrahams Ph. D. in Economic History, Consultant for government and various NGOs

The Restitution Debate – Where Are We Now?

Chaired by Onyekachi Wambu, Return of the Icons Programme, AFFORD Speakers Dr Monica Hanna, Associate Professor and Acting Dean of the College of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) in Aswan, Egypt.  She is an international figure in the world of Archaeology. Dr. Monica Hanna, did her undergraduate studies in Egyptology and Archaeological Chemistry at the American University in Cairo (AUC), 2004.  Dr Hanna then pursued an MA TEFL 2006 at AUC as well. She later joined the University of Pisa, Italy to complete her doctorate in archaeology entitled ‘Problems of Preservation of Mural Paintings in the Theban Necropolis: A Pilot Study on the Theban Tomb 14 using 3D Scanning Techniques’.   Dr Hanna has been granted numerous awards including the SAFE beacon award for 2014 for her efforts in the salvage of antiquities under conflict and was named by UNESCO the Monuments Woman of 2014. She has also received ‘Distinguished AUC Alumna’ two times, once in Cairo 2014 and the other in New York 2015. Her current research focuses on decolonizing archaeology, repatriation and restitution amongst methods for accessibility for the wider public to archaeology and heritage with a particular interest in digital humanities.  In 2020, she was chosen from the 50 most influential women in Egypt under the auspices of the Egyptian Prime Minister.  She was also awarded a research grant as part of Action for Restitution in Africa in collaboration with University of Oxford where she is working on starting a solid discourse of decolonizing western museum collections.  Dr Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp, was recently appointed Associate Professor in Heritage Studies, UCL Institute of Archaeology. Prior to this, she was Senior Curator of Anthropology at the Horniman Museum, Lecturer in Anthropology at Goldsmiths, and has over 10 years of experience working in museums. The focus of her museum practice is opening up museum collections to community-led research and projects. Her research explores mid-century museum practice, and its intersection with colonialism, as well as the colonial history and inheritance of milk and dairy. Johanna is Chair of the Museum Ethnographers Group, the primary SSN for museum practitioners working with cultural collections. Professor Kodzo Gavua, Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies University of GhanaUniversity of Ghana, is an Associate Professor of Archaeology and Heritage Studies and Director of the Leventis Digital Resource Centre at the University of Ghana. He holds an MA and a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary, and an MA in International Affairs from the University of Ghana. He researches the effects of early cross-cultural interactions on society, culture, cultural heritage, and economic development in West Africa. Gavua is the founding Dean of the University of Ghana’s School of Arts, a Trustee of the Ghana Culture Forum, and chairperson of the Ghana Heritage Committee’s Technical unit.  Phumzile Nombuso Twala, Heritage professional (South Africa) Virtual Attendance.In 2020  Phumzile Nombuso Twal was awarded a DAC Heritage-related studies Bursary as well as the Robben Island Museum Bursary and RIM Education Internship.   In 2020 Phumzile Nombuso Twala was a Visiting Lecturer for the University of the Underground New Politics and Afrofuturism Programme. Phumzile Nombuso Twala’s presentation titled “Umsamu womlando wama-Taxi” expanded on the impact of colonialism on vehicle mobility in South Africa- through the lens of the history and heritage of the minibus taxi industry in SA.   In 2020 Phumzile Nombuso Twala was co-curator(alongside Teresa Lizamore) of the Give Her A Crown Campaign, led by The Change Collective Africa.  In 2021 Phumzile Nombuso Twala was Research Assistant for the Brandfort Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Interpretive Centre/Museum Exhibition Design Project and the When Rain Clouds Gather Exhibition at Norval Foundation.  She is currently a Research Coordinator at Andani.Africa.   Dr. Lennon Mhishi, Pitt Rivers Museum, (UK) is a Project Researcher on the project Reconnecting “Objects”:Epistemic Plurality and Transformative Practices in and Beyond Museums funded by VW Stiftung. Mhishi is an anthropologist whose interdisciplinary work spans interests in Africa and its diasporas, the afterlives of slavery and colonialism, and the approaches to contemporary forms of exploitation forced labour and human rights in different African countries. Mhishi has experience in migration and diaspora, heritage, music, and other arts-based, creative approaches to knowledge-making and engagement. Mhishi is keen to pursue a research agenda, curatorial and museum practice that centres community-engaged, collaborative, antiracist, and inclusive practice.  For the Reconnecting “Objects” project, Mhishi will be collaborating with partners in Oxford (UK), Cape Town (South Africa), Dakar (Senegal), Dschang (Cameroon) and Berlin (Germany) to, among other things, explore colonial collections and to deliver two major exhibitions, opening simultaneously in Dakar and Oxford in 2024. In addition, Mhishi will be co-producing written work and other outputs from the research.  Dr. Frezer Getache. Haile is an experienced communications strategist and foreign policy expert with a decade of experience advising public sector and international organisations in Africa, Europe and Asia.  Dr Haile is currently a strategic adviser at Project Associates, a boutique consultancy firm, helping clients navigate complicated, transnational challenges of a political nature, involving policy issues, litigation, investments, elections or major crises.  Prior to this, he served as a senior advisor at the Ethiopian Embassy in London, during which time he was responsible for the Ethiopian Government’s work on restitution in the UK and led its negotiations with a variety of UK cultural institutions. He holds a doctorate in political geography from King’s College London. This event has been created in partnership with SOAS University  

IN CONVERSATION WITH ONYEKACHI WAMBU

The next big moment in the year of AFFORD@30 celebrations will be the In conversation with Onyekachi Wambu event at SOAS University of London on Friday 28 July from 5.30 to 8.00pm. Onyekachi is the former executive director of AFFORD, a celebrated diaspora transformer, journalist and writer. For 21 years, Onyekachi has worked with great vision, creativity and commitment for the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) and for diaspora impact in Africa. This will be an intimate and illuminating evening with the former executive director of AFFORD, covering his journey from journalist and writer, to diaspora and development, and culture and restitution. Onyekachi has recently published the second edition of Empire Windrush - reflections of 75 years and more of the Black British experience. In this newly-published, ground-breaking anthology, Onyekachi collates some of the best and most significant writing from the 75 years following the arrival of Empire Windrush. Featuring a preface by Margaret Busby and new writing from Bernardine Evaristo, Mike Philips and Dan Hicks, Empire Windrush conjures a unique journey through the British past, present and future, via the prism of the Black imagination. Several chapters tackle issues of restitution. Copies of Empire Windrush will be on sale at the venue, courtesy of Round Table Books. In conversation with Onyekachi Wambu will be moderated by AFFORD chair Ndidi Njoku and Professor Gibril Faal of LSE. Onyekachi will be introduced by Ra Hendricks, founder of Jazzzmo’thology, a platform promoting and staging live events to illustrate the breadth of music created and performed by African peoples. Download Programme: IN CONVERSATION WITH ONYEKACHI WAMBU

The Inaugural UK Reparations Conference 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE 12 October 2023 REPORT EMBARGOED – 18 October 2023 – At a press conference by the main entrance of the British Museum, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Streatham MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations (APPG-AR), will launch a week of reparations themed events and activities organised by APPG-AR. These include: The publication of a summary briefing report: Hearings of the APPG-AR on the Restitution of Stolen African Artefacts and Human Remains. An Early day Motion (EDM) and lobby in Parliament on the restitution of stolen African artefacts and ancestral remains The Inaugural UK Reparations Conference 2023 from Saturday 21st - Sunday 22nd October 2023 at Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations (APPG-AR) brings together parliamentarians, campaigners, communities and other stakeholders to examine issues of African reparations and the restitution of cultural artefacts and ancestral remains. APPG-AR explores policy proposals on reparations and development and how best to redress the legacies of African enslavement and colonialism. The kick-off press conference outside the main British Museum entrance launches the summary briefing report of two APPG-AR hearings and a policy roundtable over 2022-2023, bringing together diverse perspectives from parliamentarians, senior museum experts, lawyers, academia and diaspora heritage practitioners, on the legal and global best practice on restitution. The experts highlighted the need for proactive measures and collaboration to address the challenges associated with restitution, such as the lack of a proper audit or cataloguing of collections, exposed by the recent scandalous theft and sale of classical items at the British Museum. Expert recommendations in the report include: The Department of Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) should provide resources for provenance research, negotiation of claims and cost of return; enhanced guidelines for the treatment and restitution of ancestral human remains within heritage/museum settings in England; The CMS Committee should undertake an urgent and comprehensive hearing into provenance and restitution; and Parliamentarians should consider proposing new legislation that applies similar provisions of the 2009 Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) to stolen African artefacts and human remains in UK collections In response to the report Bell Rebeiro-Addy, APPG-AR Chair, noted: ‘in supporting restitution efforts and implementing necessary changes to legislation and museum practices, the UK government can take significant steps towards rectifying historical injustices and fostering a more equitable and inclusive approach to cultural heritage.’ She continued: ‘The hearings and the roundtable further underscored the urgency of the issue, emphasising that the countries of origin must be given the opportunity to care for their own cultural heritage, which requires a comprehensive understanding of what items are in possession, especially when after recent events we take note of the questionable safety record at the British Museum. I will be launching an Early Day Motion on this subject and we will be exploring broader issues of reparatory justice at our 2 day conference on 21-22 October at Friends House in Euston.’ Ends For media inquiries, please contact: Bell Ribeiro-Addy - bell.ribeiroaddy.mp@parliament.uk or APPG co-Secretariat Onyekachi Wambu – onyekachi@afford-uk.org NOTES 1. The summary report is available for free download on the APPG-AR website, UK Reparations Conference 2023 — APPG for Afrikan Reparations (appg-ar.org), ensuring accessibility to a global audience. It is also available on the AFFORD website – www.Afford-uk.org. APPG-AR acknowledges that this summary report is part of an ongoing process, and it does not provide definitive answers to the complex issues it explores. Instead, it serves as a catalyst for further research, dialogue, and collaboration among museums, source communities, and relevant stakeholders. APPG-AR invites scholars, museum professionals, policymakers, and the public to engage with the findings and participate in the ongoing conversation regarding the restitution and reparations of cultural objects. 2. Other events following the press conference and publication launch include: the APPG-AR organised UK Reparations Conference 2023 from Saturday 21st - Sunday 22nd October 2023 at Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ. The conference brings together campaigns, institutions, and individuals to discuss the issue of reparations for colonisation, the transatlantic kidnap, trafficking and enslavement of Africans, theft of looted artefacts and ancestral remains, and continued exploitation of peoples of African descent across the world. The conference will be free to attend and will feature sessions on a range of policy issues as they relate to reparatory justice - from the restitution of artefacts to land rights, education, employment, environmental justice, economics, law, culture, and many other areas beside. Speakers include international government representatives, national and international dignitaries, Independent UN experts, campaigners, academics, Members of Parliament, legal experts, and youth voices. To register and for further information please go to. UK Reparations Conference 2023 — APPG for Afrikan Reparations (appg-ar.org) 3.The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations (APPG-AR) brings together parliamentarians, campaigners, communities and other stakeholders to examine issues of African reparations and the restitution of cultural artefacts and ancestral remains. APPG-AR explores policy proposals on reparations and development and how best to redress the legacies of African enslavement and colonialism. The APPG-AR seeks to continue the work of honourable Bernie Grant MP (1944-2000) on the restitution of African artefacts and ancestral remains to enable the restitution of stolen African artefacts and human remains. We look forward to exploring new ways to progress the restitution dialogue we hope to contribute to a constructive and informed global dialogue 4. The African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) is an international organisation established in 1994, with a mission ‘to expand and enhance the contributions Africans in the diaspora make to African development’. AFFORD’s mission is achieved through programmes and projects within the following overlapping themes: enterprise and employment, diaspora remittances and investments, diaspora engagement and capacity and action research, policy and practice. AFFORD acts as a co-secretariat for the APPG-AR, and complied this report through its Return of the Icons programme which focuses on restitution of looted African artefacts and human remains to their country of heritage. Website: African Foundation for Development - African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) (afford-uk.org)

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Diaspora Engagement Forum and African Diaspora & Development Day 2024

Holiday Inn, Wrights Lane, Kensington, London W8 5SP, UK Wrights Lane, London, United Kingdom

Diaspora Engagement Forum and African Diaspora & Development Day 2024 Join us for the Diaspora Engagement Forum (DEF) and African Diaspora & Development Day (AD3) 2024! Theme: "The next 30 years: Harnessing diaspora resources for sustainable socio-economic development and investment in Africa: contributions of the African diaspora in the United Kingdom" Date: July 6, 2024Location: Holiday Inn, Wrights Lane, Kensington, London W8 5SP, UKTime: 8:30am - 5:30pmProgramme: Download Don't miss this unique opportunity to connect with policymakers, diaspora communities, development partners, and the private sector. Be part of impactful discussions and collaborations aimed at driving sustainable development in Africa. Themes covered will include: Please register to attend here.  As AFFORD celebrates its 30-year milestone and looks ahead to the next 30 years, we invite you to support our mission of fostering sustainable socio-economic development and investment in Africa through the diaspora. Your donations, big or small, can make a significant impact. Please consider donating to support AFFORD's work. Donate NOW! This event is brought to you by African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) in partnership with the African Union Commission's African Institute for Remittances (AIR). #DEF2024 #AD32024 #AfricanDiaspora #SustainableDevelopment

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