Gallup World Poll and FEEEDS Advocacy Initiative will host a curtain raiser July 14, 2016, in Washington, D.C. for President Obama's upcoming second U.S.-Africa Business Forum, which will be held in New York on September 21.
This third annual U.S.-Africa event sponsored by Gallup and FEEEDS highlights the centrality of Africa Diaspora Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) in job creation and development of the Continent's middle class.
The forum, which is supported by media partner allAfrica.com and leading Africa energy and pharmaceutical firm GB Group Global, will take place from 1:30-4:30 pm at Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street NW in Washington, DC 20004.
The event features presentations by President Obama’s Special Assistant and Senior Director for African Affairs Catherine E. Byrne, as well as senior officials from the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, members of the President's Doing Business in Africa Council, and the African Center for Strategic Studies.
Gallup Managing Partner Jon Clifton said the upcoming event "provides an opportunity for Gallup to share key polling data about the positive things happening today on the African Continent, from people being more upbeat about election processes to millennials in Africa having confidence to start their own SME business in their country of origin despite economic challenges."
Dr. Gloria Herndon, president of GB Group Global, whose international firm does significant business on the Continent in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors and is launching a ground breaking HIV drug with its operation in Nigeria, says “SME’s are crucial to the success of our initiatives given the focus on local content and capacity building.”
"For AllAfrica Global Media, which produces the leading online resource for news and information from Africa, this event provides an important ‘scene setter’ for the Obama business forum in New York, which is expected to draw broad participation from both Fortune 500 firms and American and African Small and Medium Enterprises,” said AllAfrica CEO Reed Kramer.
Ambassador Robin Sanders, CEO of the FEEEDs Advocacy Initiative and chief organizer of the event, underscored the importance of “bringing together both African and African-American SME businesses as one diaspora interested in doing business on the Continent."
