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Building Entrepreneurship, Economic Opportunity and Peace in Africa

A conversation with Tony Elumelu and Dana Banks

Date: Thursday, April 28, 2022 / Time: 10:00am - 11:00am EDT

Center: Africa Center

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As one of Africa’s leading investors and philanthropists, Tony Elumelu understands the importance of an entrepreneurial-driven private sector in building sustainable peace in Africa. Economic opportunity is critical to checking the political dissatisfaction that coup-makers, terrorist groups and other non-democratic actors are increasingly taking advantage of in the Sahel and other unstable African regions. 

Elumelu has acted on the idea that entrepreneurship is central to peacebuilding, creating the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2010. As part of a ten-year, $100 million commitment implemented through its flagship entrepreneurship program, the foundation has funded over 15,000 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries and connected over one million African entrepreneurs through the TEF Connect digital network. The foundation has partnerships with the European Commission, the United Nations, Red Cross and other development agencies, and Elumelu is a foundational partner in the Power Africa Initiative and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.   

On April 28, USIP and The Heritage Foundation held a discussion with Tony Elumelu on the links between entrepreneurship and peacebuilding in Africa — as well as how African leaders and the international community can harness the potential of the continent’s private sector to move Africa toward a better future. Also joining this important conversation was Dana Banks, special assistant to the president and senior director for Africa at the National Security Council.

Take part in the conversation on Twitter with #AfricanEntrepreneurship.
 

Speakers

Lise Grande, welcoming remarks
President and CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace

Tony Elumelu
Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation

Dana Banks
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Africa, National Security Council, The White House

Makila James, co-moderator
Senior Advisor, Africa, U.S. Institute of Peace

Joshua Meservey, co-moderator
Senior Policy Analyst, Africa and Middle East, The Heritage Foundation

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