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.

(Guest Post)* SAWIP – Driving the African Century: Youth, Technology, and Entrepreneurship

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Africa Rising, African youth, entrepreneurship in Africa, impact investing in Africa, SAWIP, South Africa, technology in Africa, Wilson Center

* Guest Post by Sharon Czarnek

On June 26th, the Wilson Center hosted the South African Washington International Program (SAWIP) event.  While I wasn’t able to attend all 3 of the speaker series’, I did make it to two out of three. The first was entitled Business, Technology and Entrepreneurship in Africa.  The moderator was Tom Wheeler, the Managing Director of Core Capital Partners and the two panelists included Andile Ngcaba the Executive Chair of Dimension Data and David Frankel the Managing Director of Founder Collective.

It Might Be Morning in Liberia: Insights From Atlas Corps Fellow Janice Pratt

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Atlas Corps, Dream Big Foundation, Janice Pratt, Liberia Governance Commission, Liberia Vision 2030, Liberia youth, Mary Broh, Monrovia, PSI, Stella Marris Polytechnic, technology in Africa, women in Liberia, WorldWatch Institute, youth during Liberian war

As part of my recent pledge to diversify Africa in DC’s coverage this summer, I sat down with Janice C. Pratt an extremely energetic, focused, and determined young Liberian who has recently come to DC as an Atlas Corps Fellow.  Janice will be bringing her limitless energy as an Atlas Corps Fellow to Worldwatch Institute, which focuses on delivering innovative solution to intractable global environmental issues.

Although Janice just