USAID and Western Union Launch African Diaspora Marketplace III Business Plan Competition – Roadshow Coming to Eight Cities

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Created on December 12, 2014

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Western Union have launched the third round of the African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM III), an initiative that promotes sustainable economic growth and job creation in Africa by supporting African diaspora entrepreneurs. The ADM III will kick off its eight-city tour starting on December 13, 2014 in Boston, followed by New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Atlanta before returning to Washington, D.C. on January 15, 2015. Specific dates

Launched in 2009 by USAID and Western Union, the African Diaspora Marketplace aims to encourage sustainable economic growth and employment by supporting African diaspora entrepreneurs. ADM entrepreneurs are individuals with demonstrable connections to or experience in Africa, and who have innovative and high impact start-ups or established businesses on the continent. Information about ADM and past winners, and the schedule for the small business workshops in the eight cities can be found at www.diasporamarketplace.org.

The Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF), through a cooperative agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will function as the implementing partner of an expanded and broadened ADM model designed to promote Africa diaspora entrepreneurial initiatives in Africa. The overall goals of the ADM model are to stimulate small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) investment in Africa by supporting entrepreneurial activity of diaspora communities, and to enhance investment flows outside traditional remittance channels.

Since the first round of ADM, the initiative has also been supported by key resource partners, including The George Washington University Center for International Business Education and Research (GWE-CIBER), which will continue to provide support and expertise during ADM III. Additionally, this third round of the initiative will introduce three new resource partners: the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) will provide business training and support for potential applicants; Homestrings LLC will provide a platform for awardees to raise follow-on capital; and as an ADM Partner, Deloitte intends to provide up to a maximum of USD 1,000,000 (one million) of in-kind professional technical assistance to either ADM grantees or qualified African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) members to support the development of the grantees business.

Since its launch, ADM has held three rigorous business plan competitions to identify and provide support to the most promising entrepreneurs. ADM has awarded 34 sub-Saharan, Libyan and Tunisian diaspora-owned SMEs with matched grants to start or expand businesses on their home countries. An additional 850 Africa-based businesses have participated in business training and access to finance events through ADM. Further, awardees work closely with ADM managers to identify and address their specific business challenges and leverage support provided through the ADM award into additional resources. Additionally, ADM aims to support the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem by providing a platform to connect lenders and investors with entrepreneurs across the continent. ADM and its partners have held two SME banking forums, an SME investor pitch event as well as related training and webinars to help entrepreneurs across Africa successfully access external financing. The ADM team also provides industry, trade and technology information to support business growth and innovation.

For more information on ADM III, please visit www.diasporamarketplace.org.

Specific dates and venues for each ADM road show business networking reception is as follows:

Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday, December 13, 2014 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm at the Cape Verde Consulate located at 300 Congress Street, Suite 204 Quincy, Massachusetts 02169.
PLEASE NOTE: Request that Boston MBDC representative attend but otherwise closed event for the Cape Verde Business Community.
New York, New York on Monday, December 15, 2014 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at The Green Room of the Bank of New York located at 101 Barclay Street, 16th Floor New York, New York 10007. Please RSVP directly to David J. Saunders at intern_cfa@yahoo.com as there is a requirement that all attendees are registered in order to have access into the building for this event.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, December 16, 2014 from 6:30pm to 9:00pm at The International House located at 3710 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104.
Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, December 17, 2014 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at The JW Marriott Chicago Hotel located at 151 West Adams Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603.
Los Angeles, California on Monday, January 12, 2015 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at the Marriott Courtyard LA Live located at 901 West Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90015.
Houston, Texas on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at the Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) located at 4807 Caroline Street, Houston, Texas 77004.
Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at the Rialto Center located at 80 Forsyth Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303 in partnership with Georgia State University CIBER.