Business Growth Between Africa And The Diaspora: An Emerging Revolution

Eric Osiakwan and Yaw Owusu

“I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me.” Among other philosophies, these timeless words from Kwame Nkrumah, Africa’s independence revolutionary and the first president of Ghana, underpin the growing drive by Caribbeans, Black Americans, Afro Latinos and other members of the diaspora to rediscover their African heritage. Following its much-publicized Year of Return, which sought to encourage the diaspora to move back to Africa, the Diaspora Affairs Office of Ghana recently announced that between 2019 and 2023, more than 1,500 Americans of African descent relocated to Ghana, the first Black African country to achieve independence. Sierra Leone’s path to citizenship initiative is bearing similar fruits of boosting tourism and settlement by Blacks born and raised outside the continent.

More than 200 million people of African descent live outside the continent, making the combined population of Africa and its diaspora a potentially powerful 1.7 billion force, bigger than China and approaching a quarter of the world population. 

The “Year of Return, Ghana 2019” was a campaign by the Ghanaian government to welcome back the African diaspora to Ghana, specifically for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia. It was a way to celebrate the resilience of the African spirit and encourage investment and settlement in Ghana. The initiative involved a series of events and activities throughout the year, including cultural exchanges, historical explorations, and opportunities for Diaspora members to connect with their roots.  

The success of that campaign led to the “Beyond The Return” program, curated to promote tourism and homecoming of Africans in the diaspora, foster economic relations, business and investments from the diaspora in Ghana and Africa.  Captioned “A decade of African Renaissance,” the principal pillars of the initiative is  grounded in Experiencing Ghana, Investing in Ghana, Diaspora Pathway to Ghana and Promoting Pan African Heritage and Innovation.

In this essay we focus on some of the businesses from the Diaspora who headed the call and have established their business in Ghane and other African countries – paving the way for others to follow. 

In March 2025, Afreximbank, the African Export Import Bank, unveiled a $180 Million Africa Trade Centre in Barbados to Strengthen Afri-Caribbean ties. The Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre (AATC) in Bridgetown, Barbados, which marks the first time an African business is launching a permanent presence in the Caribbean, will facilitate trade, investment and financial collaboration between the two regions. The venture comprises a 12-storey twin-tower, featuring Afreximbank’s regional offices, a high-end hotel and a technology/SME incubation center, along with a Digital African Trade Gateway (DATG) to serve as a center for trade information, customer due diligence services, and a digital payment technology. These resources will streamline trade between Africa, the Caribbean, and global markets. Additionally, a modern conference and exhibition center will connect with other Afreximbank Trade Centres in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon, creating a global business network.

Case Study 2: A decade before the Afreximbank foray into the Western Hemisphere, the Republic Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in the Caribbean, acquired Ghana’s HFC Bank, which was first licensed as a non-bank financial institution specializing in mortgage transactions. Case Study 3: In April 2025, the government of Trinidad signed a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with Nigeria, laying a foundation for the first direct flight between the Caribbean and Africa.

Case Study 4: In 2015, Colin Gayle, Yvette Gayle, Roger Patton who were successful media and entertainment executives in the US returned to South Africa to partner with Kevin Boakye, an investment professional to establish the Africa Creative Agency a platform for the continent’s unique talent, untold stories, and rich culture. They create unique opportunities to advance the new African story: creativity, innovation, and excellence.

A growing number of African American-owned businesses export goods to Africa, generating an excess of $100 million in exports to Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa (combined) in 2023, according to the Progressive Policy Institute. The Black consumer market in the United States is projected to top $1.7 trillion in buying power by 2030.

Africa’s diaspora population consists of descendants of slaves who arrived in the Western Hemisphere between the 16th and 19th centuries as well more recent immigrants and their forebears who moved to Europe and the America from Africa, circa 1945-2025.

Foreign-born Africans in the United States hail from all regions of the continent. The best represented countries are Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya, accounting for 50% of the foreign-born African population in the U.S in 2024.

Remittances from the African Diaspora to the continent ($100 billion) exceed the foreign direct investment ($94 billion) and developmental aid ($42 billion).

Top 20 countries with the largest Black population (number in million).

In 2020, the United States Census Bureau reported that 47 million people in the country are of Africa descent.