Young African Professionals networking evenings are held every month in Washington DC area and the event attracts over 50-100 professionals interested in Africa. The theme for the April 30th event was “Home Sweet Home: How to successfully relocate to Africa”. The evening was meant to address the many concerns of young Africans in Diaspora.

To lead the invigorating discussion, three panelists were invited from different fields- Mrs. Edith Haizel, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Ghana, and former member of Parliament; Mr Julius Kliza, University Lecturer, Makerere University, Uganda; and Alban Bagbin, Minister for　Water Resources, Works and Housing, Ghana.

Speaking from a University Lecturer’s perspective, Kliza said there were many factors pulling and pushing young professionals from home. He however encouraged youths to remember that there was no place like home. “Your countries and families need you and your ideas” he said.

The panelists admitted that things back home in African were not as rosy as they would have loved it to be. Among others they noted that roads are not good. No good electricity and ATM machines are not reliable. All these challenges are enough to discourage anyone from relocating.

A packed Suitcase photo by Sandra Beijer

To avoid frustration, the speakers suggested “relocation strategies”. “Before relocating, identify someone to entrust your wealth or ideas”, Africans in diaspora were advised. This person will be very helpful in helping you integrate into the society eventually.

Take out sometime to test the waters. If you can, carry out some local projects in order to be able to understand how the system works. The panelist noted that you must not relocate because of people’s pressure. “Make sure you are ready”. Meanwhile, relocating can also be a simple decision to invest in the country. “Look for innovative fields, do not join the bandwagon” said the Ugandan.

Bagbin, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing Ghana, reaffirmed the urgent need for young talents to return home and invest in their countries. However he said even after relocating, it is important to keep in touch with Diaspora. “Africa is said to be the future of the world, not because of natural resources but because of knowledge- brain gain”.

Bagbin noted that you could make a difference wherever you are. “If you think of Africa’s development, then you can make a difference” he said. And urged everyone to embrace the 3 C’s of leadership- Character, Care and Competence.

Source: The Nation newspaper.

I left New York last week to live and work in Nigeria. It felt like an out-of-body experience as I packed the articles that constituted my life since I moved to the U.S. in 2002. I’m here now, I’m living in Zaria and working as an energy consultant for the United Nations Development Program’s efforts in bringing efficient firewood stoves to people in Millennium Villages. My work starts in Nigeria, but I expect that after a successful test run in Nigeria, I’ll be moved to Senegal, Mali and hopefully elsewhere.

You should have seen me packing. It’s like I was trying to pack as much of America into my suitcase before leaving. As I walked around New York that last week, I looked around knowing it could be a while before I’d see “order” and “choice” and “convenience” as embodied by the subways, restaurants and other amenities of life in New York. However, this attitude almost ruined me. It wasn’t until I’d mentally let New York and the US go and fully embraced the reality that I was leaving and it was counterproductive and unfair to my time in Nigeria to keep wanting to capture as much of the US as I could. This realization was particularly freeing and has made the transition quite fun.

Boy, it was great to hang out with my parents and my sister. I get to be home for Easter, my sister’s graduation, my parents’ 25th Anniversary, my other sister’s 21st birthday, my little bro’s 13th birthday. I get to hang with my aunties and uncles – who can be quite a riotously funny bunch. I get to be uncle Jr to their kids. I’m also acutely aware of how much I have to learn about being a grown up in a place where I’ve only ever been a kid. It’s in small things like being called uncle Jr, but also in the way parents treat you and value your opinions – they actually kept quiet and wanted to hear stuff I had to say. People at work randomly assaulting you with a sir instead of your first name, etc. I promise I won’t let it get to my head.

Now that I’m here, I would recommend it to others who’ve lived away for a while. But remember, financial stability makes this move a lot easier. Like others have said, it’s no use comparing your life in Nigeria to your life abroad. In some ways it’s better and not so great in others. What matters most to me right now is that I get to see firsthand all the things I’d talked about with friends in the comfort of coffee shops and restaurants abroad. It’s a lot like putting your money where your mouth is, and sometimes, having your money and mouth in the same place won’t be tasty.

Well, work starts tomorrow. I’m not as nervous as I thought I’d be. Let me spell out what my job is: Open firewood fires remain the main stove option for many African villages. In some places, this is a heavy burden on the forests and causing the desert to creep south even faster. To counter this, there are stoves that burn firewood more efficiently and could lead to as much as 40% less wood being burned and possibly less time spent fetching firewood for cooking. My job is to help community workers in these villages test the stoves and determine which one the community prefers. Once we’ve identified a stove that people are willing to buy, we will set up a cooperative to sell these stoves in the community. This also has benefits in terms of carbon credits that can be received from richer nations – but that comes up further along the road.

What does this mean for Solving Africa?

It means I’ll be a lot closer to the projects we’re hoping to start. I’ll be looking into how hard it is for ordinary individuals to start schools or basic health centers. Keep checking www.solvingafrica.com for what I’m learning about setting up these facilities. It’s going to be a busy next few months and with writing the book, it’s going to be a fun ride, but I hope to stay on schedule with completing a first draft of the book sometime this summer.

Now that I’m not in New York and wanting to concentrate fully on book-writing , Solving Africa will need a steering committee of a 3-5 people that will:
a) work on helping us organize events like April’s kickoff, where people can share their project ideas;
b) incorporate Solving Africa as a nonprofit; and
c) keep the website updated with fresh content.

If any of this interests you, please send me an email: junior.kanu@gmail.com and we’ll get the ball rolling.

From Zaria, Nigeria,

Jr.

Name: Tolu Itegboje
Age: 22 going on 23
City: Lagos, Nigeria
Educational history: Primary school @ Yaba College of Technology Staff School; Secondary @ International School, Lagos; University/College @ Baylor University, Waco, Texas.

When did you start hashing the plan to come back home?
It was never really a plan. It was just something I figured I’d eventually do. I actually kind of dreaded it. The plan was get a job on my OPT after graduation, work for one year, apply to film school in between, get accepted, and go to film school after the one year was up. I had however planned to visit Nigeria in the summer, before film school would start. Unfortunately, like all human plans, mine didn’t quite materialize the way I wanted it to. I didn’t get accepted into film school, the job thing worked out and then didn’t , my OPT was about expire, and what essentially was supposed to be a visit home ended up becoming an extended stay. Continue Reading

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Patrick Awuah (photo courtesy of TED.com) founded Ashesi University, the first liberal arts college in Ghana. He recalls what it took to start the university, challenges with re-acclimating to life in Ghana after decades in Seattle, and his experience dealing with corruption – not just something prevalent in the older generation, but a serious problem with young people also.

Please excuse the sounds of planes leaving from the airport in the background.

OSK stands for the Other Side of Kobo.  A kobo is the smallest denominator of Nigeria’s currency, the Naira.  The firm, started by three graduates of Baylor University who returned to Nigeria, is a full service financial information company.

Starting with Nigeria, they aim to make it easier for people to invest in Africa by:

1. Organizing Africa’s financial information
2. Making it that information universally accessible and acceptable; and
3. Setting accountability standards in the financial market.

Their vision is to establish a well-informed and equipped investor lifestyle in Nigeria by making the facts of the market available and easily accessible.

Born and raised in Ghana, Femi Adetola graduated in May 2006 from Wesleyan College in Georgia. Although her family name traces back to the Yoruba sub-nation of Nigeria, Femi’s family has been Ghanaian for generations.

She moved home in November of 2006 and while completing Law School at the University of Ghana, she launched her restaurant, Red Chilli. Just over a year old, the business employs 12 people and makes at least $1200 per week (on a bad week). Hear her thoughts on leaving America for life back home and what it’s like to launch a business at 24.

This is the story of Tadiwos Belete, an Ethiopian entrepreneur that had taken his little and turned it into very much. He was a teenager when he’d fled Ethiopia in 1980, six years after the coup that ushered in the Derg communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam.  In 1983, he was granted refugee asylum to the United States. He tried his hands at a restaurant and at promoting Ethiopian artists until 1989 when he enrolled in a school for hairdressers, working nights as a parking lot attendant. He then worked his way up from assistant stylist to salon manager before pooling resources with seven other entrepreneurs to open the salon on Newbury Street.

Belete has transplanted his success from Newbury Street to Bole Road in Ethiopia. He bought a piece of land along Bole and began construction on what is now the eight-story Boston Partners building in Addis Ababa. Continue Reading