2015 African Philanthropy Forum: Millennials Bring Down the House

The second African Philanthropy Forum (APF) convened in Kigali, Rwanda this past October. This year’s forum brought together over 150 of Africa’s current and emerging philanthropists and social investors to discuss the role of philanthropy in keeping a “Promise to the Next Generation” – a promise to leverage and further develop human capital and talent to achieve Africa’s potential.

Panels included incredible changemakers, who discussed how investments in education, health, agriculture, technology, and women will generate the talent needed to realize a brighter African future. However, it was the panel composed of millennials that brought an energy of passion and urgency too rarely felt at conferences.

In the “The Future We Make: Africa’s Next Generation of Social Actors” panel, Sangu Delle, Elizabeth Tanya Masiyiwa, Patrick Ngowi, and Uzodinma Iweala aptly summed up the cross-cutting themes of the 2015 APF as follows:

• We need to place emphasis on homegrown philanthropy. Working in Africa is distinctly different from working anywhere else in the world, which requires locally developed models of philanthropy, investment and development.
• The ideas and innovations required to solve problems in Africa already exist, but they require flexibility from funders in order to successfully develop and scale. This means creating local finance systems, access to affordable capital, long-term commitments, listening to local definitions of impact, and providing access to relevant mentors.
• Social entrepreneurship will be at the center of the next generation of philanthropy.
• Partnerships between private, public and civil sectors will drive greater change as they leverage different strengths.
• Achieving equal rights for women is crucial for Africa’s development, and both men and women need to be involved in driving those equal rights.

You can check out more of the discussion from this year’s African Philanthropy Forum on Twitter – #APF15.