Summary:

• Does the African continent offer real opportunities for a better sense of community and a life with less racial discrimination?
• Is the Year of Return initiative promoted by the government of Ghana beneficial for the African diaspora?
• Does the world’s next big growth market offer significant wealth-building opportunities to the African diaspora and African repatriates?

In our previous AfriKili blog entry, part 1 of our 3-part series on Blaxit, we looked at the push factors behind the Blaxit movement. We analyzed both historical and contemporary factors that were pushing people of African descent to leave the diaspora and immigrate physically or spiritually to Africa.

In this entry, we will pivot from the push factors in the western world to the pull factors that are making the African continent an attractive destination for Blaxiters and repatriates. We will specifically explore the following 3 attractive factors: sense of community, the “Year of Return” initiative, and Africa’s business opportunities.

Does the African continent offer real opportunities for a better sense of community and a life with less racial discrimination?

Depending on how “community” is defined, there are relevant physical and spiritual components to consider when it comes to feeling a better sense of community in Africa.

Physically, if a community is to be defined as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common,” then Blaxiters will undoubtedly feel a strong sense of community on an African continent where black people are the majority. The same rationale is applicable to living a life without racial discrimination. Given the very nature of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population, the racial discrimination problem is de facto eliminated for Blaxiters.

Spiritually, things can get a little more complicated. If a community is to be defined as “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals,” it follows that it would be almost impossible to establish fellowships without first establishing relationships. Given that continental Africans and Blaxiters have evolved in significantly different environments, it would be wise to expect a significant period of acclimatation when they come in contact, before being able to develop a genuine sense of fellowship. It is only by willing to learn from each other and willing to establish relationships, that common attitudes, common interests, and common goals can be established. Without this prerequisite, there is a real risk that Blaxiters and continental Africans could develop resentment towards each other, despite having great intentions.

On one hand, continental Africans might see the Blaxiters as nothing more than an incoming source of revenue, bringing currencies from the West. On the other hand, Blaxiters might develop Saviors’ Complex, feeling that they have superior knowledge and resources, well suited to “fixing” African societies.

That being said, societies on the African continent have a reputation of being culturally welcoming and tend to encourage family ties beyond nuclear family units. Similarly, the shared experience of struggle by people of African descent in the diaspora, has also created a culture that tends to extend kinship beyond one’s family nuclear units. This culture was expressed by United States Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in an episode of the “I See You” Podcast, discussing the trend of people of African descent moving from the USA to Ghana. During the conversation, U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson stated:

“It’s in our DNA . . . We had to make families . . . And we did! We learned to embrace people as our family, our kin! You find that extensively in our community . . . Our neighbor will become our aunty or our uncle . . . Let’s find a way to keep this wonderful connectedness to the generations to come.”

U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, I See You, July 2022.

It would therefore appear that continental Africans and Blaxiters are well suited to embrace each other and create new common realities. Once they have established a desire to build genuine relationships, their reunions will lead to renewed brotherhood and sisterhood.

For Blaxiters, an opportunity of a life with less racial discrimination and a better sense of community makes the African continent very attractive. Ultimately, with the right approach, Blaxiters and continental Africans can re-establish genuine kinship, flourish together, and create new successful realities on the continent.

Is the Year of Return promoted by the government of Ghana beneficial for the African diaspora?

When it comes to African tourism initiatives, “The Year of Return” organized by the Ghanaian government, was a very successful. This sentiment was expressed by the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who declared that the “Year of Return” was a great success in 2019 and continues to be a success.

Initially, the objectives in 2019 were to incentivize people of African descent around the world to travel to the continent and reclaim their roots, using Ghana as the anchor. The main organizing entity, the “Ghana Tourism Authority” (GTA), defined the “Year of Return, Ghana 2019” as:

“a major landmark spiritual and birth-right journey inviting the Global African family, home and abroad, to mark 400 years of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Virginia.”

Ghana Tourism Authority, The Year of Return, 2019.

Looking beyond the initial trip to Ghana in 2019, the ultimate objectives are to establish long term relationships with the diaspora on the African continent. As the GTA stated, they wanted brothers and sisters to:

“. . . want to come back, get involved, see the opportunity that exists in Ghana to work together and begin to rebuild what has been stolen and lost over the past 400 years.”

Ghana Tourism Authority, The Year of Return, 2019.

Overall, the Year of Return was an important spark that continues to be very beneficial for Blaxiters and the African diaspora around the world. The initiative created a welcoming environment to help eradicate preconceived apprehensions and makes it easier for the returning diaspora to settle on the continent or join continental Africans in pursuing common objectives. As implied by the popular Sankofa concept from the Akan tribe in Ghana, you have to know where you are coming from, to know where you are going. Consequently, connecting with the continent of their ancestors has an important spiritual value in that it helps illuminate both the past and the future.

From the viewpoint of the AfriKili platform that advocates for unity across the Pan-African world, the true benefit of the Year of Return is its ability to initiate genuine connections between Africa and the Pan-African diaspora. By joining hands, continental Africans and Blaxiters can be instrumental in building a stronger Africa for the benefit of the continent and the entire Pan-African world.

Does the world’s next big growth market offer significant wealth-building opportunities to the African diaspora and African repatriates?

Traditionally, Western media outlets have often portrayed Africa as a paradox between immense natural resources reserves and chronic poverty. As a result, many Western leaders have long considered that mining and other extractive industries were the only viable business models worthy of major capital investments on the African continent.

However, for decades, Lebanese, Indian, and Chinese nationals understood that, despite poverty publicized by international macroeconomic metrics, African countries would need to import finished goods to meet their populations growing consumer demand. That was evident because the continent had very little mass production, industrial capacity, or raw material transformation value chains. As a result, these nationals have seized this trading opportunity by pooling funds or accessing cheap capital in their home countries in order to become imported goods distributors in Africa. Over the years, they have taken advantage of economies of scale to meet the low-cost environments and price sensitivity of the African consumer markets, and they have been able to amass immense wealth throughout the continent. Whether its South, East, West, Central or North Africa, it is common to find major consumer good distributors of Lebanese, Indian or Chinese descent. However, Western businesses are also increasingly working to enter the African consumer markets.

Today, it seems that more Blaxiters and continental Africans in the diaspora are also waking up to the realization that Africa is a massive and exciting opportunity for business growth. They understand that the continent is a vast market for product and services with its young, urbanizing, and rapidly growing population of 1.3 billion people, projected to reach 2.5 billion by the year 2050. This realization is supported by the fact that Africa has been one of the world’s fastest growing regions of the last decade and many long-term market projections predict favorable private investment returns in sectors such as agriculture, FinTech, energy, manufacturing, information and communication technology (ICT), consumer markets, etc.

The realization that Africa is indeed the world’s next big growth market is one of the pull factors for savvy Blaxiters and African repatriates, who are eager to seize the opportunity to create significant financial wealth on the continent. By being strategic, determined and collaborative, they have all the necessary tools to thrive, just like Lebanese, Indian and Chinese nationals.

Conclusion

We have seen through the three pull factors that we have explored in this post, that Africa is a very attractive destination for Blaxiters and continental Africans. The continent offers opportunities for a life with less racial discrimination and a better sense of community. Furthermore, initiatives like the “Year of Return” create a welcoming environment to help eradicate preconceived apprehensions and make it easier for the returning diaspora to settle on the continent or join continental Africans in pursuing common objectives. Finally, Africa is the world’s next big growth market that offers savvy Blaxiters and African repatriates the opportunity to create significant financial wealth on the continent.

Next week, in the third and final part of our series on Blaxit, we will focus on conducting business on the African continent. We will look at how Blaxiters, African repatriates and continental Africans can join forces to capitalize on the most promising growth sectors and unlock Africa’s massive business potential.

As always, peace be with you.

Let’s get to work!

AfriKili, African Intelligence to Build a New Africa!