Announcing Delali 2019
BY ALAN GREEN
Delali 2019, a high-profile event aimed at propping black entrepreneurship in the United States, will be held in New York city on 4-5 October. According to its initiators, this 2.0 version of an awards ceremony held last year in Canada seeks no less than to “Transform the Afro community, their middle and base classes into an army of world-class entrepreneurs servicing humanity.”
Delali is the brain-child of two African pioneers: Dr. Samuel Mathey, fondly called “intellectual globe trotter” because, armed with a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Delaware, he teaches in African, European and American universities, and serves as an adviser to several personalities throughout the world; and Eric Agbemelo, a self-made Canadian businessman of African origin with several companies in Canada, Belgium and Africa.
The initiative has earned the active support of Fall Toure Fashion, African ambassadors to the United States, Dr. Mark Little, a Harvard graduate and director of Kenan Institute at the University of North Carolina, The African Magazine (the premier African magazine published in the U.S.) and several other entities and personalities.
Building on the experience from the Delali 2018 held last September in Montreal, Canada, Delali 2019 promises to be two busy days and nights filled with conferences, exhibitions, business-to-business meetings, fashion shows, Afro cuisine master classes, all crowned with the awards gala dinner.
The awardees will also include people outside the black community who have contributed to the advancement of the community in fields as diverse as entrepreneurship, medicine or the spiritual, social, and industrial fields.
Looking beyond just a two-day, two-night event, the initiators of the Delali Awards highlight the following long-term, four-phase approach:
- Identify, bring on board and promote 50 success stories models (in 10 strategic and futuristic sectors) with the Delali Awards
- Identify, bring on board and promote 20 influencer personalities, celebrities as Delali ambassadors with the 1.5 billion Afro consumers
- Identify, bring on board and connect to the World Afro Grid (WAG) the 7 connectors of the Afro ecosystem: incubators, initiatives, media, federal/public programs, universities & research and banks & financial institutions
- Launch the 1 MILLION caravan in collaboration with stakeholders and success stories models combined with the AFFEED Foundation’s fast track mass training and Zero Capital expertise EZC (Entrepreneurs with Zero Capital), an approach on how to start your business with zero external funding.
Dr. Samuel Mathey, one of the godfathers of the Delali, is a professor of economics, strategy and management. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and an MBA from the universities of Delaware and Ohio State, and a Masters in Econometrics and Monetary Economics, as well as a Bachelors in Accounting and Information Systems. In addition to lecturing in the U.S., Europe and Africa, he has worked with major consulting, auditing and accounting firms (including KPMG and PwC).
This shining star of the new breed of African economists is also the founder of The African Foundation for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (AFFEED), an NGO that promotes entrepreneurship and the concept of Zero Capital and Export-Driven Entrepreneur (ZCE). After years of field testing and coaching, Dr. Mathey, working with leading institutions such as the African Development Bank, is using the copyrighted concept as an answer to the high unemployment among the youth across the continent. Specifically, the training and coaching programs are focused on how to start a company with zero or low capital and make it export- or expansion-driven. A welcomed concept in the face of the difficult access to credit and market/contract met by most base of the pyramid.
AFFEED has trained thousands of youths across the continent, including more than 16,000 youths in Cote d’Ivoire alone where Dr. Mathey is based.
According to the organization, 20% of those trained have so far created their own businesses, with the program in full swing in more than a dozen African countries.
Concurrently with this initiative, Dr. Mathey is dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship within the African diaspora, so far in Europe and Northern America. In that vein, Dr. Mathey’s AFFEED, in collaboration with his partner Eric Agbemelo’s Afrique Canada Monde and Nephtali Consulting firm, organized the first edition of the Delali Awards last September in Montreal. The ground-breaking event climaxed into an upscale, memorable dinner gala wrapped up in the fanfare and pomp usually associated with such grand events. Nine pioneering African business leaders operating in Canada and Europe took home prizes honoring them for their achievements.
Mathey and Egbemelo aim higher this year in the business capital of the world, on 4-5 October.
To learn more about Delali 2019, please go to: