Arts & Culture
Calling all fashionistas! On Thursday, July 15th, the Adireé Fashion Agency will host Africa Fashion Week in New York.
The three-day extravaganza, set in the heart of Soho, will showcase more than 15 African designers before thousands of fashion industry professionals and aficionados. Founded as a vehicle to raise awareness of modern African designers and artists, Africa Fashion Week is an opportunity to experience cutting-edge designs from across the African continent and within the Diaspora.
Business & Finance
About 100 days ago, I resigned as a managing director at Goldman Sachs to join those who are rewriting the rules of the game to see Africa win on the global stage. Humanitarians like Bono and Jessica Alba as well as business leaders like Nigeria’s newly appointed Minister of Finance Segun Aganga are part of this movement. Like them, I see this as a critical turning point for Africa, and decided that I wanted to bet my career on Africa’s emergence into the global economy. Here’s why.
Social Enterprise & Philanthropy
This blog is the first in a series by Jacqueline Novogratz in partnership with Africa.com. As Jacqueline and team head to Africa, they will be sending back stories of their amazing work to Africa.com’s readers.
Our white van snaked through the now familiar streets of Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, to Mama Hamza’s community center for The Blue Sweater Challenge event. The day’s overcast sky had broken with a pounding, tropical rain and everything around us felt softer, a rosy kiss goodnight from the evening sky. We walked through the turquoise metal door to the courtyard and the first thing I saw was a table of books written by good friends — Seth Godin, Bill Easterly, Saj-Nicole Joni — behind which stood Chris, Gerry, Dickson, Herbert and Alex – five of the seven original organizers of The Blue Sweater bookclub, all of them from the slums of Nairobi. Kevin, the controller (and the first one to read the book and start a book club) was busy with Suraj Sudakhar, the remarkable Acumen Fellow who was responsible for making all of this happen.
Arts & Culture
The term “Afropolitan” includes a growing and increasingly vocal contingent: internationally mobile young people of African descent, who are making their mark in the world. The label is often associated with African artists, on or off the Continent. Some, who worry that the very best African talent is abroad, call these “Afropolitans” a symptom of a “brain drain” but others use more neutral terms and say they are part of the Diaspora.
Social Enterprise & Philanthropy
Women for Women International is a non-profit organization that supports women in war-torn regions with financial and emotional aid, job-skills training, rights education and small business assistance so they can rebuild their lives. Nigeria is one of four African countries in which Women for Women International is currently working. The others are Rwanda, Congo and Sudan. In this first of a series of columns written for Africa.com, Nigeria’s Country Director Ngozi Uchenna Eze describes her work.
Current Events
All too predictably Sudanese opposition parties boycotted Sudan’s April elections. Their case that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP) had set the stage to steal the election is indisputable. The NCP manipulated the 2008 census, used national security legislation to undermine basic freedom of expression, association, movement and assembly, and prevented state funds from going to all political parties as allowed by the electoral rules. The opposition was underrepresented on the voter registration rolls, harassed from campaigning, and starved of resources to fairly contest the elections.
Travel
The reasons to visit South Africa are legendary – wine, culture, wildlife, and recently football. You may know a great deal about any of these topics, but be less sure about understanding how to interact with a foreign culture, particularly one that has survived a bitter history of race relations.
I lived in South Africa for five years and love the country and its people. Here are my top 10 tips for enjoying your stay.
Social Enterprise & Philanthropy
Photographer Roger Hoit shows his work “Eyes of Africa” from Kenya and Tanzania in support of AMREF. Heard of the flying doctors? That’s AMREF, or the African Medical and Research Foundation. But AMREF is so much, much more. Join us on May 7 at de Castellane Gallery in Brooklyn. All ticket sales benefit AMREF.
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