The Africa Report — July-August 2017

M

ention Lupita Nyong’o,

Chimamanda Ngozi

Adichie, Isha Sesay or

David Adjaye, and most

Africans will beam with

pride. These movers and shakers form

part of the African diaspora, people of

Africanoriginlivingoutsidethecontinent

who are changing the narrative about

Africa around the world.

Due to the number of refugees and

undocumented migrants who are not

includedinofficialstatistics,itisdifficult

to determine the population of Africans

inthediaspora,thoughtheAfricanUnion

(AU) estimates that around 170 million

Africansarelivingabroad.Thecontinen-

tal body formally recognised the group

as the sixth region of the AU in 2012.

Ofthemanycontributionsthediaspo-

ra makes to the continent, remittances

remain an important pillar for many

cash-strapped economies. Nigerians

abroad remitted a total of $35bn last

year, the highest amount received by

an African country. In Kenya, diaspora

remittance has been the single largest

source of foreign exchange receipts in

threestraightyears,andstoodat$1.71bn

in 2016, an 11% increase from 2015.

But beyond providing capital and

investment, a lot more can be gleaned

from this migrant group. According to

the World Bank’s vice president for the

Middle East and North Africa (MENA),

HafezGhanem,thediasporaisa“poten-

tial goldmine of knowledge, skills and

business networks,” that, if mobilised,

could solve many of the continent’s

current challenges.

With profiles of five outstanding

diasporans,The Africa Reporttakesalook

at how this group is using its influence

at home and abroad to dispel common

mythsaboutAfricaanditspeople,while

award-winninglawyerandwriterPetina

Gappah reveals some of the paradoxes

in Zimbabwe’s diaspora experience.

ByOheneba Ama Nti Osei

CAMILLE CHAUVIN FOR TA

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