• Ethiopian Diasporan Day

    H E L L O!

    S E L A M!

    It is with great pleasure that we introduce the Africa Business Club (ABC) at The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Our student organization exists to portray the deep potential of doing business in one of the fastest growing markets in the world - Africa. We achieve this in a number of ways, through events that create awareness and bring like-minded individuals together and partnerships that transform conversation to action.Buoyed by the collaborative leadership vision of our institution, in 2021 ABC developed a series titled Diaspora Day Africa. This series seeks to highlight how Africans in the diaspora are making an impact in their fields, and ways in which they are giving back to the continent. The goal of diaspora day event is to ensure the engagement of diaspora and migrants as entrepreneurs, social investors, policy advocates and partners in human development in Africa while simultaneously combatting the negative stereotype towards the continent and its people. The theme for our Ethiopia Diaspora day event will center around successes, opportunities and challenges facing Ethiopian healthcare, technology, education and business.

  • Nigerian Diaspora Day

    Event Summary

    On Friday October 22, 2021 Africa Business Club (ABC) at The Johns Hopkins University - Carey Business School hosted its first Diaspora Day Series. The series highlights how Africans in the United States are making an impact in their fields, and how they are giving back to the continent. The goal of Africa Diaspora Day is to ensure the engagement of diaspora and migrants as entrepreneurs, social investors, policy advocates and partners in human development while simultaneously combating the negative stereotype attitudes towards these groups within society. Moderated by Ifeanyi Umejei, Founder & CEO of Groovv, the panelists included Segun Adeyina, Babajide Akeredolu, Ike Eze, Dr. Vincent Onyema and Julius Akinyemi.

    The first country highlighted in our series was Nigeria and the theme centered around the role of its diaspora in building the Nigeria of tomorrow. We had notable speakers and panelists who all shared amazing perspectives about the role of the diaspora and how the diaspora can help.

    Carey School of Business Vice Dean Rick Smith introduced the event and spoke about human capital and global business. Then Honorable Abike Dabiri-Erewa followed with a keynote address that emphasized the importance of the diaspora coming and working together to build the Nigeria of tomorrow.

    Next, Distinguished guest, Representative Oye Owolewa mentioned the importance of giving back to the community. He spoke about strategies how the government can help build the community by engaging, enabling, and empowering members of the community.

    The panel discussion served as a platform to review issues facing Nigeria today. Panelists spoke about the issues faced in Nigeria's education and government systems and proposed solutions to fix these issues. Discussions centered on creating mentoring programs, seminars, and management trainings as solutions to Nigeria's education issues. Government issues require assistance from the private sector to deploy various strategies such as policy reform, advocacy, and technology.

    Overall, the Diaspora Day Series: Nigeria highlighted that Nigeria needs the diaspora abroad. It's important that those in the diaspora continue to advocate for those in Nigeria as they advance in their fields. When Africans collaborate and brainstorm as one, they are able to develop strategies that can shape the government, education, and social systems to further the development of Nigeria. Two brains and two sets of hands are better than one.

  • African Business Conference 2020

    First Student-run Africa Business conference

    It is the second largest continent in the world, bigger than the United States, China, and Europe combined. Its $1.4 trillion in consumer spending surpasses that of a more populous India. It is poised to become the world's largest free-trade area, with 400+ companies posting revenues in excess of $1 billion.

    Yet the economic development and potential of Africa remains an under-told story on the world stage.

    The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School's student-run Africa Business Club is hoping to spark a change in the narrative. That was the thrust behind a previous year's Africa Business Conference, sponsored by the club and held at Carey's Harbor East campus January 24 and 25, 2020. Building on the momentum of the Mzuzah Convergence 2018 Conference, also held at Carey, this year's conference brought experts and policy-shapers on African development together with faculty, students, alumni, and the Carey community at large.

    The conference set out to achieve a number of goals, chief among them to educate, connect, and show curious, like-minded people in the region and beyond, the instrumental role Johns Hopkins has in advancing the reality of African business.

    More than 100 people from the African continent and diaspora attended the conference, along with representatives from other Johns Hopkins divisions in addition to Carey, including SAIS, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Whiting School of Engineering, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the School of Medicine, and the School of Nursing.

    The conference's theme "Africa's Place in an Increasingly Global Network," featured five panel discussions tethered to that focus, including the Plenary Panel, Afro Tech, Energy & Infrastructure, Healthcare Innovation, and Africa-China Relations.

    Keynote speaker for the conference was Eleni Gabre-Madhin, chief happiness officer, Blue Moon (Ethiopia's first youth agriculture business incubator), and former CEO of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX). Her comments spoke to the power of social media in connecting people and spreading ideas, especially in relation to the burgeoning economic opportunities in Africa. "I refer to the current generation as 'Generation C' for connected, because through the power of social media dreams and ideas are no different," she said. "Once in a while a great idea becomes a company that can change the world," she added.

    Rhoda Weeks-Brown, general counsel and director of the Legal Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF), was one of three plenary speakers. Her focus was on the critical importance of making connections, especially early in one's career. "Your network is your net worth," Gabre-Madhin told those in attendance. She then challenged her audience: "Are you tapped into the right networks to effect change? Do you have the humility to build it? That's why we need more conferences like this to talk and to work through these issues."

    In all, 20 speakers from Africa and its diaspora spoke at the conference.

    Ernest Nyarko (MBA '20, Dean's Scholar); along with James Gyenes (MBA '20); and Mahamed Konfrou (MBA '20) served as conference co-chairs, and along with other student volunteers worked tirelessly over the past number of months to make the conference a reality. "The Africa Business Conference here at Hopkins is an engine," Nyarko observed, "one that translates ideas into conversations and conversations hopefully into actions that advance awareness and pursuit of business and careers in Africa starting with Hopkins."

    Already, Nyarko and his student colleagues are looking toward the future. "Our club plans to make the Africa Business Conference at Hopkins an annual affair … We are working toward a case competition and career fair that we hope will connect startups and businesses in emerging markets in Africa with students at Hopkins," he said. Nyarko added that a possible student trek to these emerging markets is also an aspiration of the team's.

    The Carey Business School's Africa Business Club exists to champion business and careers in Africa across the Johns Hopkins community. Its activities are professional, educational, and social in nature, and are open to all members of Johns Hopkins. At the core, the club is driven by a group of graduate students with a passion for the continuing economic, cultural, and social development of Africa.

  • Mzuzah Conference of Sustainability

    Event Summary

    Organization aims to assist emerging economies, particularly in Africa

    The Mzuzah Convergence 2018 Conference on Sustainability was held May 29 through May 31, 2018, at the Carey Business School's Harbor East Campus. The basis for this far-reaching conference, however, had its genesis a year before and half a world away.

    Founded in 2010, Mzuzah is an international organization of public, private, and educational interests whose mission is to inspire, empower, and provide the tools critical to economic, educational, social, and environmental sustainability for emerging economies, particularly for African nations.

    Among the sustainable development goals the organization focuses on are the eradication of poverty and hunger, good health, quality education, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, gender equality, and sustainable cities and communities. These goals align with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals to 2030 that also align with Carey's Innovation for Humanity (I4H) program and mirror the school's principle of teaching business with humanity in mind.

    Through year-round initiatives framed by annual conferences, Mzuzah engages government, nonprofit, and private-sector leaders in these countries, along with international experts to create partnerships, networks, and collaborative pathways to address often daunting challenges. The goal is to establish, then implement, best practices for corporate social responsibility and collaboration, along with investments in people, infrastructure, and the environment that are transformational and sustainable.

    Another key component of the organization's efforts is to develop the next generation of international leaders, imbuing them with a keen sense of the implication of their actions on the well-being of their communities, environment, and the world at large.

    It was this parallel philosophy reflecting Carey's mission that led Carey Professor James Calvin, along with GMBA students Anthony Jahanbakhsh and David Vallejo, in-country as part of Carey's I4H program, to participate in a Mzuzah conference held last year in Accra, Ghana. There, after meeting with Mzuzah co-founder Doyin Oluntona, the seeds of this year's conference at Carey were sewn, marking the first time in the event's history that it would be held in the United States.

    "The conference presented a valuable opportunity to engage the next generation of leaders on the managing, harnessing, and delivering of leadership that is sustainability-minded," said Calvin. "By being able to directly access thought leaders, ideas and questions can gain immediate feedback, assisting in the further development of goals and interests for individuals and organizations alike. Mzuzah is also a bridge to future collaboration as the Carey community extends ideas and knowledge creation toward global partnerships."

    Working with Carey's Net Impact club and other student groups, along with faculty and staff throughout the school as well as Mzuzah officials, a conference-planning committee assembled an ambitious agenda within a short amount of time. In addition, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mandela Fellows and Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) Fellows committed early to participate in the conference. Topics included sustainable investing, establishing Mzuzah in emerging economies, infrastructure and environmental challenges, entrepreneurship, social business and social value, and leveraging youth networks for economic growth, among other initiatives. The overarching question that generated rich discussion, exploration, and comment was the role that business can play in promoting and achieving sustainability goals in an advanced digital age.

    Among the conference participants were keynote panelists Patsy Doerr, global head, Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability & Inclusion, Thomson Reuters; Michael Goltzman, vice president, Global Public Policy, Environmental Sustainability & Social Impact, the Coca-Cola Company; Gregory Simpkins, senior advisor, Africa Bureau, Office for Sustainable Development, U.S. Agency for International Development; and Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, ambassador of the Republic of Ghana to the United States. Carey faculty participating included Paul Ferraro, Lindsay Thompson, James Calvin, Richard Milter, and Paul Gurney, as well as Kevin Frick, professor and vice dean for education, who delivered the conference's well-received welcoming remarks.

    In all, more than 35 speakers and panelists rounded out the agenda, including officials from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Uganda; U.S. government agencies; and entrepreneurs and social activists, in addition to Carey and other Johns Hopkins faculty, staff, and students. Conference attendees totaled more than 200, both in-person and participating remotely online.

    "This was a great opportunity to foster collaborative initiatives and cross-cultural learning," said Oluntona. "The Convergence drew speakers and participants from top institutions around the world and provided expert insights on key topics related to sustainability and economic empowerment for Africa and other emerging countries. I look forward to future partnerships with the Carey Business School positively inspiring next-generation leadership for sustainable growth of local economies around the world."

    "The Mzuzah conference was a powerful experience bringing together a wide range of people that had one passion – creating measurable impact in their communities," said Joel Igu, a Carey Global MBA student and physician who co-founded the Trinity Health Initiative, which focuses on reducing infant mortality in Nigeria. "I personally learned a lot, not only as an organizer but also as an attendee. I enjoyed meeting many of the attendees and hearing their stories, hopes, and visions for building a better world, starting from their own communities."

    He added, "It was the raw energy from a passionate audience that really made me excited for a future with leaders who understand that business and humanity are synergistic, and not mutually exclusive."

    Anvit Goyal (GMBA 2018), president of Carey's Net Impact chapter, said the conference "resonates well with Carey's and Net Impact's mission of doing business with humanity in mind. We plan to make this [the conference] an annual signature affair of the club."

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