“We must start from the simple premise that Africa's future is up to Africans.” President Obama, July 2009, Ghana

The development of any country hinges on its access to human capital. For decades, Africans have been well represented at the premier institutions for higher education in Europe and the United States. However, not until the past couple of years have we begun to witness the influx of Africans back to the Diaspora. Equipped with their foreign degrees and specialized training from the developed world, recently returned Africans have begun making countless contributions to the growth of their respective countries. The challenge we face now is how we can encourage others to follow suit and how we can best aid our countrymen in dealing with the obstacles of returning home.

Fred Swaniker, CEO, African Leadership Academy

Fred Swaniker is an entrepreneur with deep experience in education and leadership on the African continent. He is the Founder & CEO of African Leadership Academy, a world-class, pan-African secondary school that aims to develop future generations of African leaders. He has extensive experience launching and managing private educational institutions of excellence inAfrica. Fred helped launch and was a director of Mount Pleasant English Medium School in Botswana. More recently, Fred founded and led the launch of Global Leadership Adventures and was also founding Chief Operating Officer of Synexa Life Sciences, a biotechnology company in Cape Town. Fred has worked extensively across the continent as a consultant for McKinsey andCompany. Fred holds an MBA degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was named an Arjay Miller Scholar. Fred also holds a B.A. degree magna cum laude in economics from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.

Zemedeneh Negatu, Managing Partner, Ernst & Young

Zemedeneh is a globally experienced executive who has lived around the world including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Saudi Arabia.

An American with Ethiopian heritage, Zemedeneh’s clients have ranged from Fortune 500 companies to Latin American multi-nationals to the U.S. government. In Africa, he has advised clients extensively in various sectors including airlines, telecoms, manufacturing and agro-industry, in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Togo, and Egypt.

He is frequently invited to speak at international business gatherings including the Harvard Business School’s Africa business conference, the Africa IPO and capital markets summit in South Africa, the US-Africa transport summit in Miami, the Nigeria infrastructure summit in Abuja and at the IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, about transatlantic trade and investment policies. He is also regularly interviewed by the international media including the Financial Times/Mergermarket, Africa Investor magazine and Summit TV South Africa.

For several years, Zemedeneh had served on Ernst & Young’s Africa board and as a member of the firm’s Global Partner Council (GPC).

Zemedeneh has a business degree from Howard University and received his CPA in Washington D.C. He had also studied at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada.

Blessing Rugara, Founder and Managing Director, Circle Capital Global

Mr. Rugara is the Founder and Managing Director of CCG. Mr. Rugara has structured and advised on over $2 billion dollars in transactions on four different continents. He has advised some of the largest corporations and largest financial institutions, and Heads of State and Government on a wide range of matters from Finance and Corporate law to Strategy and Governance.

Prior to CCG Mr. Rugara was a Partner in the Corporate Finance department of a large US based law firm. Mr. Rugara represented clients in a variety of industries and advised on transactions in multiple jurisdictions. Mr. Rugara worked with several Fortune 500 companies and many corporate entities. The majority of Mr. Rugara’s work was in the area of private issuances of debt and equity, municipal bonds, corporate law and board governance.

Mr. Rugara received his BA in Psychology from the University of Manitoba and served as Student Union President. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School which he attended on a Royal Stone Scholarship and served on the Audit committee of the Board of Regents.

Kunbi Oguneye Head of Strategy, Oceanic Bank

Kunbi has 10 years of strategic experience at some of the world most prestigious consulting companies (Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, & McKinsey & Co). Inspired to move to Nigeria to try to make an impact and prove that 1st generation Nigerian Americans can play a role in supporting the transformation that Africa's second largest economy (Nigeria) is undertaking.

Zemedeneh has a business degree from Howard University and received his CPA in Washington D.C. He had also studied at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada.

Elisa Salazar-Chukuma, Managing Director & Founder, Evaluation & Staffing Ltd.

Elisa Salazar-Chukuma (Belizean/American), a Masters Degree holder in Measurement and Evaluation from Columbia University has over 10 years experience. Managing Director and Founder of Evaluation and Staffing Africa Limited “ESAfrica” located in Nigeria, involved in Human  Resource management, Program Evaluation and specialized job skills placement services. ESAfrica has consulted for both Corporate and Public sectors in Skills Training, Talent Search and Research & Report Writing e.g. Actis West Africa, Suburban Telecom, Afrinvest West Africa, British American Tobacco, Standard Chartered Private Equity, CMB Developers, Cosse Group, Citibank, Pfizer, Vectis Capital, Renaissance Securities, AMG Petro Energy, EFINA, First City Group in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, London and Ghana.