Senior OPIC Executive and New America Foundation Fellow on Africa Rising

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Africa Rising, Booker T Washington, Dayo Olopade, Ethiopia, Josh Keating, Mimi Alemayehou, New America Foundation, Sino - Africa, technology in Africa, The Brightest Continent, World Health Organization

 

Olopade (L) and Keating (R). The very short dress is worth acknowledgement.

After a long day on Capitol Hill (post to follow) yesterday, I ventured to Dupont Circle, where I learned that Arizona State has an office, for an event with a former Fellow of the New America Foundation.  Dayo Olopade, spoke on her new book, The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa.   I wasn’t able to get an especially clear picture of Olopade’s book from the talk, but it seemed that she has traveled widely throughout east and west Africa during her Fellowship and sought to challenge assumptions of Africa as a stagnant continent lacking the capacity for innovation (although the way she articulated this didn’t particularly resonate with me).  Mimi Alemayehou, Senior VP at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) was also on hand to provide refreshingly candid remarks for a government official and Josh Keating of Slate moderated.

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A GWU Primer on African Development with NDI and Vital Voices Staffers

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Africa Rising, AU, Christiane Yelibi, DRC, George Washington University, Gina Chirillo, National Democratic Institute, OAU, technology in Africa, Vital Voices, Yvonne Captain-Hidalgo

From L to R: Captain – Hidalgo, Chirillo, Yelibi

George Washington University’s Honor Society for International Studies held an event last night on ‘Trade, Gender, and Politics: An Introduction to African Development.’  Panelists included GW’s Professor Yvonne Captain – Hidalgo, Christian Yelibi, a Vital Voices staffer of Ivorian origin, and Gina Chirillo, who supports programs in Mali and Burkina Faso at the National Democratic Institute.

Kah Walla – “It’s the politics, stupid.” (Guest Post)

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Africa Rising, Cameroon, emerging Africa, gender parity in Africa, Ghana, Kah Walla

By Angie Tyler, Graduate Student at SAIS at Johns Hopkins

Kah Walla, entrepreneur, activist and former presidential candidate from Cameroon gave a short presentation on Thursday at Georgetown MSFS titled, “Africa is Rising. Are Africans?” and then spent most of the time on Q&A. She said that she chose her theme based on her recent trip to Ghana where she found that despite impressive statistics on economic growth her conversations with Ghanaian citizens revealed a different reality.  Apart from a few exceptions, she argued, most African countries have not been able to translate their vast economic potential into health and wealth for their citizens, which led her to ask, “Why is there such a disparity between the potential and the reality?” In a word…GOVERNANCE. She says Africa is not poor, but poorly run and lacks visionary leaders and strong democratic institutions.

‘It’s Time to Move to the Next Level’: The President of the African Development Bank on the Era of iTunes & Africa’s Colonial History

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Africa Rising, African Development Bank, Brookings Institution, Donald Kaberuka, Homi Kharas, iTunes Africa, Jendayi Frazer

Kaberuka at Right

I ducked in today for most of ‘A New Agenda for African Development Finance in the 21st Century: A Conversation with African Development Bank (AfDB) President Donald Kaberuka‘ at the Brookings Institution. Opening remarks were delivered by Homi Kharas of Brookings, who reinforced my previous positive perceptions and noted that Africa is growing in general – its economy, population, and cities.

He quickly turned things over to Kaberuka, whose comments rather impressed me,

‘You Can’t Have Capitalism Without Capital’: Kingsley Moghalu, Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria on why Africa Matters

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Africa finance, Africa Rising, AllAfrica, BlackBerry Babes, Carl Levan, Kingsley Moghalu, Nigeria, Wilson Center

I heard one of the best public speakers that DC’s think tanks have hosted in a long time at the Wilson Center’s (AllAfrica co-sponsored) ‘Africa as the Last Frontier: Why it Matters in the Global Economy‘ yesterday.  Kingsley Moghalu, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is almost certainly destined for increasing prominence.  Moghalu was on hand to ‘talk about Africa’ and promote his new book, Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s ‘Last Frontier’ Can Prosper and Matter.  Despite the rather tame name of this book, Moghalu gave us two reasons to read it:

A Conversation with CSIS Summer Interns Pierre Tantchou and Sa’eed Husaini

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Africa Rising, Central African Republic, China in Africa, CSIS Interns, DC Africa interns, Mali election, MINUSMA, Pierre Tantchou, Sa’eed Husaini, South Africa - Nigeria relations, Zimbabwe election

Sa’eed (L) & Pierre (R)

I recently sat down for an engaging conversation with Pierre Tantchou and Sa’eed Husaini, summer interns for the Africa Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).*  Both have African connections – Sa’eed, a Nigerian national, recently graduated from Hope College, while Pierre, who completed his undergraduate degree at GMU, was born and raised in