African Social Enterprise Forum: A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-09-24 12:48:00 UTC
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African social enterprise in action at Appfrica Labs, Kampala, Uganda

On Saturday, more than $4 billion dollars worth of private capital, not to mention some incredible innovators and leading thinkers, will gather for the first Africa Social Enterprise Forum. Convened by apparent force of nature (and Catherine B. Reynolds Fellow at NYU) Magogodi Makhene, the gathering is designed to help highlight the pulse and power of innovation and enterprise humming across the continent.

One of the most fascinating things about the event is that it arose in direct response to a conversation that started online. In May 2009, ClearlySo founder Rod Schwartz asked if the only social innovators were Anglo-Saxon? He was responding to the demographic homogeneity found in so many major conversations about social entrepreneurship. The question sparked a lively debate that carried on through dozens of comments and many months.

Magogodi, herself born in Soweto and working to help invest in and enable Africa's middle class, saw a chance to not just answer the question, but to bring the conversation offline. With the help of friends who came together as an organizing committee, the Africa Social Enterprise Forum was born.

The day long event goes down on Saturday, and has some great speakers. It will be bookended by keynotes from Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Pop!Tech curator Andrew Zolli. In between, phenomenal folks representing Samasource, Ashoka, the Acumen Fund, Endeavor and many others will take the mic. For those of you in NYC, it appears to be a can't miss event.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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