AFFORD Business Club legal clinics with Morrison & Foerster LLP

Following on from the success of the ABC Legal Seminar on Thursday 20th September , AFFORD Business Club are offering members access to an exclusive series of Legal Clinics with experienced lawyers from an internationally-renowned law firm, Morrison and Foerster LLP. The Clinics will be 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 any of the following topic areas: Types of business organisation, sole trader, partnership, company, charitable status Contracts, formation, effect and enforceability, standard terms and exclusion clauses Essentials of relevant employment law Tax considerations for entrepreneurs Avenues for conflict and dispute resolution Intellectual Property International trade: Import and Export The dates of these clinics are as follows: Thursday 22nd November 2018 Thursday 6th December 2018 If you are interested in attending any of the legal clinics and would like to join AFFORD Business Club click here. 

Rwandan Diaspora in the UK 2018 Study Presentation – London & Coventry

  The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Rwanda High Commission (RHC) and the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) are co-hosting two events in the UK for the Rwandan community to present findings and recommendations from a recent study of Rwandans in the UK and gather feedback and comments on the content; to provide an overview of Rwanda’s diaspora policies, initiatives and opportunities; and to showcase individual diaspora engagement experiences from Rwandans living in the UK. The events will also provide an opportunity for networking and wider discussions on diaspora engagement within the Rwandan community in the UK. The events are scheduled for 10th January in London and 11th January in Coventry. Register to attend the London event here Register to attend the Coventry event at https://rwandadiasporacoventry.eventbrite.co.uk Who Should Attend This event will be specifically about Rwanda and its diaspora and will be of particular interest to: Those from Rwanda Those interested in Rwanda or its diaspora The African diaspora community The Agenda 18:00 Doors open 18:30-18:40 Welcome and Introductions 18:40-18:55 Overview of Rwanda’s Diaspora Policies, Initiatives and Opportunities 18:55 -19:05 Introduction of IOM Project and Background to the Mapping Exercise 19:05- 19:20 Presentation of the mapping report ‘Rwandans in the UK: their skills base and engagement with Rwanda” 19:20-19:40 Question and Answer Session 19:40 -19:50 Insight and Response 19:45-20:00 Diaspora Experiences - diaspora speakers to give an overview of their respective diaspora initiatives in Rwanda and/or the UK 20:00-20:10 Diaspora professional skills and investment opportunities in Rwanda 20:10-20:15 Closing Remarks 20:15-21.00 Refreshments and Networking

Free

UK Visa Refusals for African Visitors

Chi Onwurah MP, Chair of the APPG for Africa, invites you to a parliamentary meeting to discuss UK visa refusals for African visitors. On Tuesday 22nd January from 6pm until 7.30pm in the Grimond Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons The meeting provides an opportunity for guests from a diversity of sectors including academic, cultural, NGO , health and business to share evidence with parliamentarians on the consistency and quality of the decision making of UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) for visa applications. Evidence will be presented to a panel of parliamentarians to feed into a policy brief in advance of APPG for Africa roundtable meeting with the UK Immigration Minister, Caroline Nokes MP, two weeks later. Some guests will be invited to formally present their evidence to the panel and advance notice will be given. Those not presenting to the panel will have the opportunity to submit written statements in advance of the meeting and to ask questions during the Q&A if time allows. Written statements should be submitted as soon as possible to Hetty Bailey on baileyh@parliament.uk but no later than Tuesday 8th January. (NB- Statements should be succinct, refer to the questions below, be no longer than 1500 words and in Word document format).   This meeting hopes to gather evidence and information from participants on the following questions: 1) What is your experience of supporting African nationals in applying for visas for African nationals to conferences / events / business meetings/ training sessions in the UK? 2) How many times have you supported African nationals to apply for a UK visa, of whatever type? 3) How many were rejected or approved? What were the most common grounds for refusal given? How many were granted, but too late to allow the participant to attend? 4) For those that reapplied, how many were granted visas? What circumstances changed in their application? Did they resubmit with additional information? And did the visa arrive in time for them to attend the event? 6) Have you seen any evidence of inconsistency in decision-making regarding visa applications? 7) What do you understand to be the main barriers to submitting successful visa applications for African nationals? And can you estimate how many might have decided not to visit the UK because of the difficulty of obtaining a visa? NB- Please note that numerically presented evidence is particularly valuable. Guests are actively encouraged to invite their local Members of Parliament to attend the meeting and listen to the evidence.   A guest list will be in operation. If you are interested in participating please e-mail the APPG for Africa at baileyh@parliament.uk with your name, role and organisation. This meeting in being held in a collaboration between the APPG for Africa, The Royal African Society, AFFORD and the APPG for Malawi.

Free

ABC Connects Fashion With Africa

ABC Connect is the AFFORD Business Club’s monthly networking event. It is an opportunity to network with members and gain some insight from experts in various fields.ABC Connect in January 2019 will be a roundtable discussion focusing on the business of fashion in Africa and reaching wider markets. We will be hearing from industry experts, successful designers and those with the finance to provide necessary insight to fashion entrepreneurs with their eye on Africa!Our guest speakers will include Jacqueline Shaw Director of Africa Fashion Guide, Yemisi Mokuolu CEO of Hatch Africa and Aji Ayorinde Founder and Creative Director of MIA London.Topics covered will include:- Testimony from industry experts- Experience of successful designers- Access to finance opportunities- Networking with fashion insidersThis exclusive event is limited to 20 seats, so register now and don't miss out!

Free – £10

Diaspora Professionals in Development and Humanitarian Spaces

  Join us on Tuesday 12 February 2019 at the Connecting Diaspora UK Networking Event "Diaspora professionals in development and humanitarian spaces" co-hosted by Shabaka, the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) and Centre of African Studies SOAS, University of London. Connecting Diaspora UK is a networking event for diaspora professionals working in the development and humanitarian sectors. The aim is to build a constituency of African and Middle Eastern diaspora professionals to increase diversity in these sectors and facilitate collaborations between international organisations and the diaspora. If you are: - Diaspora/migrant from Africa, Near and the Middle East regions - Working or interested in international development and humanitarian sectors - Seeking to connect with those with similar interests in international development and humanitarian response - Seeking to gain an insight into the role and potential of diaspora communities in peace, development and humanitarian response Then join us for this informal network event and build and strengthen new relationships! Register here

Free

ABC Connect

  ABC Connect in February will be a partner event with Business Networking and Growth London an exciting networking and social event targeted at the ambitious Black business owner. In relaxed City settings, come along with your business cards, product samples etc. to network, sell and build relationships with like-minded businesses. The event attracts business owners, directors and senior management from a rich and diverse mix of business sectors. The ABC Members will receive FREE tickets to attend this event and continue growing your network with like minded entrepreneurs. Register here

£5

Doing Business in Zimbabwe Webinar

You are exclusively invited to participate in a webinar hosted by the AFFORD Business Club (ABC), which will be focused on Doing Business in Zimbabwe. The speakers will include Na Ncube of The Global Native, Busi Bango of EMPRETEC and Denise Rawls of AFFORD UK as a facilitator.  We will be covering: • How to effectively set up your business • The realities of running a business in Zimbabwe • Challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs • Where to go for assistance and guidance To register for the session click here

ABC Webinar: Men, Business and Wellbeing

Join us for our webinar which will be focused on Men, Business and Wellbeing. We will be covering: The challenges faced by men in business, and ways to overcome these Advice for managing responsibilities and expectations of self The importance of taking care of your mental health and where to go for support and guidance The speakers will include Nii Odartei Evans of the BBC and Yann W. Tanoé of SunBird Journal Publishing.

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

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
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