Ambassador Sanders Begins Fall 2019 as Robert Morris University's Rooney Scholar & Alum of the Month

Ambassador (Dr.) Robin Renee Sanders begins the 2019 Fall Season being in the prestigious position as Robert Morris University's (RMU) "Rooney Scholar" for the semester. The scholar position, named and funded by the Rooney family, owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers, allows for and funds scholars and professional experts to spend a semester at RMU to share both their academic expertise and/or professional experiences with RMU's students across all disciplines.  Dr. Sanders plans to focus on the importance of global topics such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Why Africa is Important to the United States, global human rights, and the key role of small businesses in the world's development, including in the United States.

Also see RMU's article on Sanders as Rooney Scholar and the University's "Alum of the Month,"
https://rmu.edu/alumni-giving/news/alum-month-robin-sanders-d10

Dr. Sanders Helps Two African American Students Participate in Johannesburg's African Leadership Academy Programs

Dr. Sanders under an endowment in her late mother's name supports a RMU student to intern at South Africa's famed African Leadership Academy (ALA) to learn about Africa, enabling her to meet other young leaders from the region, and also be able to share more of what Africa is really about dispelling many stereotypes and lack of knowledge about the region in her various communities and elsewhere. Sanders will be supporting a member of her FEEEDS staff to participate in ALA's Model African Union Conference March 2019. See testimonial: https://youtu.be/8iP8iuyUbpA .

A FEEEDS Series BlogSpot

Allafrica.com Highlights Sanders' New Book on Insta-impact of Africa's SMEs

Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders’ new book on “The Rise of Africa’s Small & Medium Size Enterprises” (SMEs) is an insightful examination of the dramatic shift in the development paradigm for Sub Saharan Africa – driven in large part by the imaginative, innovative and insta-impact leadership of the region’s small businesses or SMEs. “SMEs have helped drive economic growth and aided in increasing the size of the Continent’s middle class,” Sanders says. The book’s Introduction is by renowned civil rights leader Ambassador Andrew Young, and the Foreword is by Africa’s leading businessman, Mr. Aliko Dangote. Sanders’ credits the determination of Africa’s SMEs to step into the void left by 40 years of post-independence development efforts that had little impact on overall poverty reduction and job creation in the region. (click here to  purchase book)

The book also has recommendations on what donors, the African Union, African Governments, and the new U.S. Administration can do to further assist Africa SMEs. For the US, Sanders notes that as the new U.S. Administration seeks to have markets for its goods and services as part of its efforts to reinvigorate jobs in the US Rust Belt (the Midwest Region), and as Africa SMEs expand their procurement sources and help expand the region’s manufacturing base – both efforts can be synergistic, and help stimulate America's as well as Sub Saharan African economies. There is also an extensive discussion on China called the China Factor – highlighting what it is doing in the Africa SME sector, both the big pluses, like special economic zones, the potential role of the New Development Bank, and becoming the world’s net credit lending country, as well as noting some of the things on which it needs to do better. Other areas of focus in the book are on Africa SME women, youth, the importance of having what she calls a continent-wide "Africa SME Strategic Plan," or Africa SSP, a single, coherent policy and financing approach which African institutions, governments and private sector can  work from and together. The book also provides a range of examples of the innovative small businesses on the Continent in areas as far ranging as agriculture, climate change, tourism, and creative apps to improve quality of life.

Included in the book are DataGraphs from the world- respected Gallup Analytics® on the enabling environment for Africa’s SMEs and comments on the importance and impact of the region’s SMEs from other key notables such as Gallup’s Managing Partner Jon Clifton, Nigeria telecom leader and Chairman of Etisalat Nigeria Hakeem Belo Osaige, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Oscar Onyema, Chairman of Operation Hope John Bryant, CEO of Homestrings Eric Guichard, former Senior U.S. Small Business Administration official Ngozi Bell, and the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Congo, Madame Yvonne Adelaide Mougany. Dr. Frederick G. Kohun, nationally-recognized scholar of Pittsburgh’s Robert Morris University (RMU), a University Professor of Computer and Information Systems at RMU’s School of Communications and Information Systems, underscores Sanders point  in the book that the impact of Africa SMEs is not only a result of technology and its mobility, but the sister relationship that these have with providing access to knowledge management for communities around the world that have helped small businesses globally transform their societies and their nations.

The prestigious Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) has included Sanders' Africa SME book in its recognized series of Memoirs and Occasional Papers Series (MOPS) given its additional focus on the role and changes in diplomatic approaches to development over the ages, including the shift changes brought about by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

See other stories on Sanders' book and the press release on Africa's premier online media platform Allafrica.com at these links: Sanders' New Book Notes the Insta-impact of Africa's Small Businesses; and, Rise of Africa’s Small & Medium Size Enterprises - Robin Sanders

A FEEEDS Series Blog Spot

Dr. Sanders Keynotes@Washington Center's Robert Morris University NationalSecuritySeminar

Washington D.C. - Ambassador Sanders was the recent keynote speaker for Pittsburgh's Robert Morris University (RMU) National Security Seminar, which is part of the school's goal to provide its students with an opportunity to interact with national security subject matter experts in Washington, D.C. The seminar, held annually at The Washington Center, focuses particularly on current cyber security issues for its students, faculty and other guests who are part of, or connected to, the School of Communications and Information Systems.

RMU, which is dedicated to ensuring its students have a global engagement awareness, invited Sanders, an alumnae of the University's doctoral program in information systems and communications, to provide her thought-leadership on the issue of cyber security and global development trends. Ambassador Sanders discussed with students the key global development issues she saw, which had linkages to many people (certainly not all) being lured or forced into cyber security crimes, or participation in terrorist activities because of their dire economic circumstances or human condition. This, of course, excludes those who were and would be criminals or involved in terrorism no matter what. She noted, as an example, Nigeria's Boko Haram forcing many of its captives, particularly girls and young women, into acts of terrorism such as suicide bombings.

Some of the global poverty issues highlighted in the discussion included terrorists using the Syrian refugee flux to Europe as a gateway to enter France and Belgium recently to execute terrorist attacks, and the long-term planning (at least two years) for the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California last year executed by an American and his Pakistan-born wife. Investigators are considering now if from the onset, the wife was possibly a terrorist sleeper-cell operative for the Islamic State. In all cases, the use of cyber and mobile platforms played a significant role. Possible other additional gateways for terrorists to use could also be the migrant flux from Libya as well as the new migrant and refugee gateway which has now opened from Alexandria, Egypt to southern Europe, Sanders also highlighted.

Dr. Sanders, having just returned from Indonesia and Russia, noted that the U.S. needed to better help and assist friendly-partner developing nations, as well as some developed nations, with improving their security infrastructure and interagency coordination and cooperation, as well as try to be more than several steps ahead of countries the U.S. currently does not have a good relationship with such as Russia, or "frenemy" countries such as China.

Ambassador Sanders was introduced at the event by the Dean of the School of Communications and Information Systems, AnnMarie LeBlanc.


A FEEEDS Blog Series