By Matthew Ainembabazi, Diaspora-Africa Investment Bridge-Builder
& Advocate | ForbesBLK Impact Speaker

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“He spoke fluent English,” quoted Warren Buffet and Robert Kiyosaki, “and held a bachelor’s degree in finance; yet there he was; driving me through Kampala traffic on the back of his motorcycle.”

Here we call them bodabodas; the cheapest, most common form of public transport in Uganda, East Africa. Most riders earn between $3-10 a day.

But this man? He was a graduate of my university, and he’s not alone.

What many don’t realize is that a growing number of these riders are degree holders. Young, gifted, ambitious, and still not sure if they can afford breakfast.

What happens when an entire generation of educated African youth has no access to opportunities?

Simple.

Up to 88% of the youth found themselves either unemployed or underemployed; costing us not just talent, but ideas, and innovation that would impact the continent…and the world.

But necessity always breeds ingenuity.

When formal jobs became scarce, African youth stopped waiting for opportunities and started creating them.

Today, 1-in-3 Africans is either starting or running a business, rendering us the globe’s most entrepreneurial continent. A shift just as much about survival as it is ambition.

But there’s a hard truth to go with it: 1 in 2 of these SMEs collapses within a year.

Why? A gaping deficiency in guidance, capital, and market access.

Now let’s zoom out:

Across the ocean, North American people of African descent alone control up to $1.7 trillion in assets; a figure projected to hit $2 trillion by 2026. Each year, they send over $100 billion of that capital back to Africa in remittances, but less than 5% of these assets are invested in Black-owned businesses.

Meanwhile, by 2060, Africa’s middle class is projected to grow by 1.1 billion new people. People who will not just demand the basics, but tech, luxury, premium brands, and entertainment.

In other words, a market wide-open for Black investment!

We’re staring at one of the world’s most under-leveraged opportunities of our time.

Africa’s leading entrepreneurial space, paired with the Diaspora’s unmatched diverse intellectual capital and $2 trillion buying power, holds the potential to build new markets, new industries, and create new pathways to generational wealth.

On both sides of the ocean.

The question is no longer if we can bridge them.

It’s how fast we do it.

The biggest sharks have already seen the opportunity and are silently moving in.

Why not the Black Diaspora?…

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Stay tuned for Part Two to this blog series…