African Diaspora Marketplace Gives $1.4 Million to Winners
FrontLines - February 2010
By John Waggoner
WASHINGTON—Fifty-eight
entrepreneurs from the African
diaspora—Africans living in the
United States—stood before their
booths at the Academy for Educational
Development (AED)
conference center Jan. 13 touting
their ideas on how to bring businesses
and jobs to their home
countries.
They were finalists in the
African Diaspora Marketplace,
which seeks to boost economic
opportunity in Africa by giving
start-up companies and new
ideas support in the sub-Saharan
region.
They were competing for
a share of $1.4 million in
grants—$800,000 provided by
Western Union and $600,000
from USAID. Fourteen businesses
were selected as winners
after facing an extensive grilling
by 16 development experts.
Discussion around the booths
was animated, spurred by the competition
and pride in the proposals
on display. The marketplace
brought interest from a range of
investors, including representatives
from the World Bank.
“I’m really fired up,” said
one participant, who was exhilarated
by meeting other African
entrepreneurs, sharing ideas,
and commiserating over earlier
setbacks.
The marketplace is one of the
first business competitions to harness
the knowledge of the U.S.-
based African diaspora with the
know-how of local partners. The
58 finalists were selected from a
field of 700 who applied.
Karen Turner, director of
USAID’s Office of Development
Partners, called the potential
entrepreneurs an “untapped” and
“committed resource” with an
“abiding interest” in the welfare
of their home countries.
“USAID’s contribution is
attracting private investment
interest in these promising enterprises,”
observed Michael Yates,
the Agency’s senior deputy
assistant administrator in the
Bureau for Economic Growth,
Agriculture and Trade.
The initiative is distinguished
from other forms of development
programming and holds
promise as a new way to create
public/private initiatives.
“This is a pilot,” Turner said.
Monitoring will follow with an
eye to replicating successful
projects elsewhere in Africa and
other developing countries.
The business proposals on
display were diverse. Among
them: expanding fish farming in
Nigeria; manufacturing solar
cooking ovens in Uganda;
improving waste management
services in Liberia; producing
solar-powered street lights and
billboards for local governments
in regions of Africa with poor
public power service; and establishing
alternative schooling for
pre-school and elementary age
children in Senegal.
USAID missions are encouraged
to lend technical expertise
to the competition winners to
help them get their ideas successfully
launched.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
To have FrontLines delivered
to you via postal mail, please subscribe.
Material should be submitted
by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
RRB, Suite 6.10, Washington, DC 20523-6100;
by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
To view PDF files, download
the Adobe
Acrobat Reader.
Back to Top ^
|
