A Saturday at the Wharton Africa Business Forum

30 November, 2010 | No comments | Category: Africa, Current Affairs, i.mmigration

Setting out on my very first trip to the illustrious city of Philly on a Saturday morning, I had very few ideas about what I will find at the Wharton Africa Business forum.  I imagined it to be a gathering of motivated young Africans and, as someone at the forum put it, Afri-philes gathered to talk about African business. Many great events held in the U.S. focusing on Africa are organized and frequented by people from all walks of life and this demonstrates a heightened level of interest by all in African affairs. But as an African, there is also a special feeling of validation I got from taking part in events like the African Social Enterprise Forum with a large younger African presence, so I was looking forward to WABF. For me personally, there was also the opportunity to hear more about the spreading perception that businesses (read: social enterprises) can work two targets into their bottom lines: profit and social good from an African perspective. As a young professional with a 9-5 job and thus a routine, I also realize the importance of pushing myself by exposing myself to material that challenges me personally, mentally and career-wise. So I was up at 5am and at ‘em driving as the horizon broke into dawn on my right, excited but mostly unaware of the content and great people I would encounter.

WABF did not disappoint on a lot of fronts. There were upwards of 400 professionally attired young graduate students, alumni and business reps filling the meeting rooms leaving little standing space & buzzing the hallway and lobby areas with energetic conversations in between sessions. The attendees, a majority of them African, were highly engaged with the forum and their fellow attendees. I’ll concede a good number of them were business-heads, ivy leaguers, male and Nigerian; Nigerians are everywhere, eh? (said in half-jest because I think I was the only Ethiopian and one of a few Africans from the Horn of Africa present) That said, in spite of any skewed attendance stats, I found most attendees to be open and happy to strike up a conversation and create a connection. Continuing with the lighthearted, the forum featured some great West African food and topped off in classic African fashion with some good African boogie music at a swanky gala and after party in the middle of downtown Philly.

On a more serious note, WABF was probably one of the most professional African events I have seen organized by young people. The conference mostly ran on time and aside from a couple of moderators being a tad loose about directing conversation and one unexciting keynote (I attended one of three keynotes by African business leaders) WABF was a very impressive event. There were almost too many choices for attendees of all business interests happening simultaneously.  The agenda touched on a well balanced number of topics: from private equity, real estate, banking, funding for small and medium enterprises to the growing telecom sector, social enterprise, agribusiness and a conversation about natural resources and even about diaspora moving back to Africa. I was especially impressed by two of the panels I attended: one on Social Enterprise and another on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Attendees had a focus and eagerness to engage with the people, the forum and the great panelists. The forum also delivered that special opportunity I had hoped for: to meet other Africans motivated to make an impact back home – it feels so good to be reminded how others hold these same aspirations. But even more so, it was inspiring to witness a kind of focus and ready-for-business attitude toward Africa amongst fellow young Africans. It made me feel hopeful about the potential of the continent.

After talking to a couple of people that did not attend the event, I realized that there are probably a good number of people that were not at WABF interested in hearing about some of the discussion at the forum. So I decided to share some content from the two sessions I have relatively better notes from. I was sad to miss the private equity panel so if anyone attended that and can share more information please get in touch with me!

A friendly forewarning: what follows below is an in depth and lengthy write-up of the discussion at the two panels. I hope it is of some use to you and thanks for reading. Until next time…Peaces!

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