DIASPORA – MEET Africa Forum of Diaspora Entrepreneurs : a massive mobilization. 

The Palais des Congrès in Paris was a real Euro-African hive during the MEET Africa Forum of Diaspora Entrepreneurs which took place on Saturday, February 11^th , 2023 from 8:30 am to nearly 8 pm. 

Connecting the talents of the Diaspora to entrepreneurial opportunities, companies and investors and accompanying entrepreneurs and project leaders to create or develop their business with social impact in Africa, here are the ambitions of this first edition. 

Bringing together the Euro-African entrepreneurial ecosystem  

 3516 visitors participated in this MEET Africa Forum, organized by ANIMA Investment Network and Expertise France with the support of Classe Export.  

Throughout this day, the MEET Africa Forum brought together Euro-African entrepreneurial ecosystems, diaspora and African entrepreneurs, African institutions, support structures, recruitment agencies, financial actors, foundations, sponsors, and all the many speakers in conferences and workshops.   

Secretary of State, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, to the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, who spoke at the opening of the MEET Africa Forum, spent nearly five hours exchanging with exhibitors and participants, illustrating in her speech as much as by listening the importance of the diaspora in fostering bonds of trust and partnership between Europe  and Africa. 

A program of great wealth, reflecting the investment opportunities in Africa

The MEET Africa Forum hosted, on a large exhibition space, the MEET Africa and GIZ pavilions as well as the pavilions of ten African countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Morocco, Senegal, Chad and Tunisia. Many companies (including Orange Money, Air France, Forbes Africa, Veolia) and financial institutions also had stands. 

The exhibition space also offered an area dedicated to recruitment and training, an area for entrepreneurs from the cultural and creative industries in Africa, and a space to present the incubators that support the diaspora. 

Beyond the exhibitors, participants were invited to connect with speakers from plenary conferences, African countries workshops, thematic workshops, pitches of entrepreneurs under the palaver tree and participants in business networking sessions.  

The plenaries recorded an average audience of 200 to 350 people, with a peak of 450 people at the opening plenary. 

The MEET Africa Forum was an opportunity to promote the creative industries sector in Africa, a major issue for the economic and social development of the continent. The creative industries, such as music, cinema, fashion or crafts, represent a significant potential for job creation and income generation.  To promote these industries, a space dedicated to the REA-BRIDGE Africa project supported by ANIMA Investment Network and Business France and financed by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs allowed participants to discover the remarkable work of African entrepreneurs.  

This dynamic program has created a real highlight of Euro-African entrepreneurship that has brought together entrepreneurs, politicians, partners, leaders of structures, companies…  

An initiative for the development of diaspora entrepreneurship between Europe and Africa  

Euro-African collaboration is more than ever at the heart of economic challenges. For several years, the European Union has been supporting initiatives to encourage investment and entrepreneurship among African diaspora communities living in Europe.   

The MEET Africa Hub, the information and orientation platform for entrepreneurs of the African diaspora living in Europe and wishing to develop a business project in Africa, is part of the continuity of these actions, to promote the dynamics of wealth creation and employment in Africa.    

A device coordinated by ANIMA in the framework of the MEET Africa 2 project. The objective is to federate the actors of the diaspora ecosystem in Africa and Europe and to contribute to develope a Euro-African community of entrepreneurship by strengthening interaction between stakeholders through dedicated tools and by providing clear and qualified information on existing technical and financial support services.  

ANIMA Investment Network has been advocating for many years to recognize the role of diaspora talents as a bridge between continents, to listen to them, to value them and to involve them in politics, in Europe as well as in Africa.   

Thank you to all the participants for having mobilized, entrepreneurs from the Diaspora and Africa, African institutions, support structures, recruitment firms, financial actors, foundations, sponsors, and all the numerous speakers in the conferences and workshops. 

Thanks to the European Union and the French Development Agency represented by Papa Amadou Sarr for having financed the event as well as to the GIZ GmbH Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbei for its parallel action in Germany.   

Thank you to Classe Export and to the TeamAfrica of ANIMA Investment Network accompanied by our President Tarak Chérif for the organization of this beautiful event.  . Hoping that this day has allowed many projects to move forward!