Eric’s keep and Yaw Owusu Owusu
“I’m not African as a result of I used to be born in Africa however as a result of Africa was born in me.” Amongst different philosophies, these timeless phrases from Kwame Nkrumah, Africa’s independence revolutionary and the primary president of Ghana, underpin the rising drive by Caribbeans, Black People, Afro Latinos and different members of the diaspora to rediscover their African heritage. Following its much-publicized 12 months of Return, which sought to encourage the diaspora to maneuver again to Africa, the Diaspora Affairs Workplace of Ghana just lately introduced that between 2019 and 2023, greater than 1,500 People of African descent relocated to Ghana, the primary Black African nation to realize independence. Sierra Leone’s path to citizenship initiative is bearing comparable fruits of boosting tourism and settlement by Blacks born and raised outdoors the continent.
Greater than 200 million folks of African descent reside outdoors the continent, making the mixed inhabitants of Africa and its diaspora a probably highly effective 1.7 billion power, greater than China and approaching 1 / 4 of the world inhabitants.
The “12 months of Return, Ghana 2019” was a marketing campaign by the Ghanaian authorities to welcome again the African diaspora to Ghana, particularly for the four-hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the primary enslaved Africans in Virginia. It was a solution to rejoice the resilience of the African spirit and encourage funding and settlement in Ghana. The initiative concerned a collection of occasions and actions all year long, together with cultural exchanges, historic explorations, and alternatives for Diaspora members to attach with their roots.
The success of that marketing campaign led to the “Past The Return” program, curated to advertise tourism and homecoming of Africans within the diaspora, foster financial relations, enterprise and investments from the diaspora in Ghana and Africa. Captioned “A decade of African Renaissance,” the principal pillars of the initiative is grounded in Experiencing Ghana, Investing in Ghana, Diaspora Pathway to Ghana and Selling Pan African Heritage and Innovation.
On this essay we concentrate on a number of the companies from the Diaspora who headed the decision and have established their enterprise in Ghane and different African international locations – paving the way in which for others to observe.
In March 2025, Afreximbank, the African Export Import Financial institution, unveiled a $180 Million Africa Commerce Centre in Barbados to Strengthen Afri-Caribbean ties. The Afreximbank Africa Commerce Centre (AATC) in Bridgetown, Barbados, which marks the primary time an African enterprise is launching a everlasting presence within the Caribbean, will facilitate commerce, funding and monetary collaboration between the 2 areas. The enterprise includes a 12-storey twin-tower, that includes Afreximbank’s regional places of work, a high-end lodge and a expertise/SME incubation heart, together with a Digital African Commerce Gateway (DATG) to function a middle for commerce info, buyer due diligence companies, and a digital fee expertise. These assets will streamline commerce between Africa, the Caribbean, and world markets. Moreover, a contemporary convention and exhibition heart will join with different Afreximbank Commerce Centres in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon, creating a world enterprise community.
Case Examine 2: A decade earlier than the Afreximbank foray into the Western Hemisphere, the Republic Financial institution, one of many largest industrial banks within the Caribbean, acquired Ghana’s HFC Financial institution, which was first licensed as a non-bank monetary establishment specializing in mortgage transactions. Case Examine 3: In April 2025, the federal government of Trinidad signed a Bilateral Air Providers Settlement (BASA) with Nigeria, laying a basis for the primary direct flight between the Caribbean and Africa.
Case Examine 4: In 2015, Colin Gayle, Yvette Gayle, Roger Patton who have been profitable media and leisure executives within the US returned to South Africa to companion with Kevin Boakye, an funding skilled to determine the Africa Inventive Company a platform for the continent’s distinctive expertise, untold tales, and wealthy tradition. They create distinctive alternatives to advance the brand new African story: creativity, innovation, and excellence.
A rising variety of African American-owned companies export items to Africa, producing an extra of $100 million in exports to Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa (mixed) in 2023, in response to the Progressive Coverage Institute. The Black client market in america is projected to prime $1.7 trillion in shopping for energy by 2030.
Africa’s diaspora inhabitants consists of descendants of slaves who arrived within the Western Hemisphere between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries as nicely more moderen immigrants and their forebears who moved to Europe and the America from Africa, circa 1945-2025.
International-born Africans in america hail from all areas of the continent. The very best represented international locations are Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya, accounting for 50% of the foreign-born African inhabitants within the U.S in 2024.
Remittances from the African Diaspora to the continent ($100 billion) exceed the overseas direct funding ($94 billion) and developmental assist ($42 billion).
High 20 international locations with the biggest Black inhabitants (quantity in million).
Nation Inhabitants
Brazil 100.0
USA 47.0
Colombia 10.0
Haiti 10.0
France 6.0
Saudi Arabia 3.7
Yemen 3.7
Mexico 2.5
Jamaica 2.5
United Kingdom 2.5
Nation Inhabitants
Iraq 1.0
Dominican Republic 5.0
Panama 1.4
Spain 1.2
Canada 1.6
Italy 1.0
Venezuela 1.5
Cuba 1.0
Germany 1.0
Peru 1.0
In 2020, america Census Bureau reported that 47 million folks within the nation are of Africa descent.
