Ambassador Sanders Keynotes Launch of New Africa Diaspora SME Trade & E-Commerce App "Kuueza"

In the recent launch of a new app, Kuueza," focused on US-Africa Diaspora Trade, Ambassador Sanders highlighted in her keynote the importance of both innovation and technology by small businesses in the Continent's development. 

Long having been an advocate for Africa small and micro businesses as well as technology uses since the mid-2000s, Dr. Sanders, who hold a doctorate of science degree in Information Systems, and Communications, noted that traditional sectors like manufacturing and agriculture are key and ripe for innnovation. It is likely, she said, that the most innovative ideas and technology uses will be add in the service sector.  

Finding and addressing local gaps in services and having stronger enabling environments, policy support and financing opportunities ,will be bedrock issues for many new Africa-based and Diaspora businesses coming onling in the next 5-10 years.  Furthermore creating new science and technology-based responses to healthcare, pandemics, and education and/or artificially-driven (AI & AR) or enhanced new and cutting-edge equipment, uses, and tools in these areas will also be key for the Continent's economic development.   

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Nigeria's Venture Garden Group ICT Firm Host Sanders SME Book Event

One of Nigeria's leading ICT companies, Venture Garden Group (VGG), gathered some of Nigeria's leading entrepreneurial incubators and startups to have a discussion with Ambassador Sanders about their companies' innovative ICT businesses addressing many of the country's development, access and supply issues, by creating technology responses to these challenges.

Many of the innovators were women businesses ranging in app creation for ICT services to web design and coding. One of the favorites of the Ambassador  during the evening event was speaking with the founder of "MaxGo," one of the larger SMEs which Sanders had written about in her book "The Rise of Africa's Small and Medium Size Enterprises," as a business or service being created out of a need.

MaxGo is an Uber-like motorbike  services which supplies a helmet and dust mask for its drivers get busy Lagosian from one place to another in the constant grid-lock traffic of Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos weaving in and out of traffic which Uber cars cannot do. (A FEEEDS BlogSpot).

Ambassador Sanders Speaks at Operation Hope Global Financial Summit (#HGF2016)

Ambassador Sanders (r) on Operation Hope Global Summit Panel

on "Global Unemployment," Atlanta, Georgia

Over the last three years one of the U.S.'s leading organizations which focuses on financial literacy, financial empowerment, and financial inclusion -- Operation Hope (OH) -- has hosted its annual Global Summit (Hope Global Forum, #HGF2016) bringing together world leaders on these empowerment and other key world issues.  This year was no different for the 3-day, high-level, information-packed, leading thought leaders' event held in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Ambassador (Dr.) Sanders served as a speaker on two of its prominent panels: "Global Youth Unemployment," where she discussed and shared her research on "Africa's Youth," bulge and how much more focus and effort needs to be made to address not only youth unemployment but also think about youth education in a different way, particularly as regards to vocational, SME, and entrepreneurial training. 

The Summit, lead by OH's dynamic leader, Chairman and Founder John Bryant, is the largest global forum that focuses on financial literacy/empowerment issues providing a platform for policy, business, foundation, activists, and non-governmental organizations to meet, discuss, and work together on options for the future.

Further on this forward-thinking approach, the OH Summit this year also held a panel on "Emerging Africa," for the first time,  which covered the range of positive changes and challenging issues the Continent is facing today. Dr. Sanders, as CEO-FEEEDS Advocacy Initiative, highlighted the role FEEEDS plays in helping power, information technology, agriculture and housing through and with African organizations and/or companies addressing economic development issues. Sanders provided for the audience examples of some of the innovative, work solutions that are being developed by young Africans to address the region's economic developed. Indeed, inroads in innovation in agricultural in Africa includes projects like Songhai, using "climate smart" techniques to increase food yields without damage to the environment;  or ABSI's green solutions for housing; and, creative technology solutions in power and education by Venture Garden Group.

She also noted that the @FEEEDS Index that the FEEEDS Advocacy Initiative publishes provides a direct window into what African people want and what issues are the most important to them regarding their future. Dr Sanders' participation in this year's OH Summit, will mark her third appearance in the 3-year Forum which began in 2014. In previous Forums she has highlighted the key role of mobile technology for Africa's development and work around development solutions given that the Continent is host to 700 million of the 1 billion global mobile phones.



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