“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
-African Proverb
We can’t know where we are going, without looking back and appreciating where we have come from. Furthermore, this helps us understand what strategies, innovations and solutions work versus those that don’t. When we say that “Africa is rising” this isn’t just a nice new trend that can’t be put into context- the facts are real: since 2005 20 countries in Africa are among the top 50 most improved world economies, hunger levels have dropped by 25% between 1990 and 2013, the proportion of people living in poverty has fallen from over 50% in 1991 to less than 45% in 2012 etc. How did we get here? Simply put, by coming together.
The African Business Club – a student administered club at Harvard University – is hosting their 18th African Business Conference on the 26th to the 28th of February on this premise under the theme “Unite. Innovate. Disrupt: Homegrown Models for Africa’s Prosperity”. The main focus of the Conference is to acknowledge progress on the continent by examining remarkable success stories, and motivating attendees to create innovative solutions that would be just as remarkable. The management team led by students Oare Avbuluimen & Humbulani Dombo believe that the combination of these two aspects will contribute to sustainable progress on the continent as a whole.
Conference activities include highly inspirational content sessions in TEDtalk fashion, a new venture competition, professional and industry networking opportunities, interactive workshop sessions and personal story sessions. It must be mentioned that some of these activities will be led by notable names in the industry such as Ashish Thakkar founder of the Mara Group, Makhtar Diop the current Vice President for Africa at the World Bank, Khanyi Dholmo the founder and CEO of Ndalo Media and Diane Audrey Ngako, founder of the platform Visiter l’Afrique, among others.
We often take events such as these for granted, we regard them as advertising opportunities for sponsors and the diaspora looking for a piece of the pie; when in actual fact it is events such as these where relationships that could birth high impact solutions are born. For all of those who will be in the Boston area during the 26th and the 28, you should all make it a point to attend.
Visit: http://www.africabusinessconference.com/ for registration and more information.
