Bayo's January Round-up

In the first weeks of 2020, I met both Afua Hirsch and Fuse ODG. I bumped into Cephas of 56 Black Men and met 15 African female founders in London on a British government-sponsored trip, in collaboration with our friends at OneTech. Including one founder I mentored who is now part of our AfriTech XYZ cohort.

On the topic of AfriTech XYZ, our startups have begun to take part in their 1-2-1 virtual mentoring sessions with the experts in our network. They have worked with the fantastic Rashida Abdulahi, and have already received warm introductions to the teams at Google Launchpad Africa, Baobab Network and Founders Factory Africa, all of whom we’re extremely glad to have the support of as we roll out our program. 

Things haven’t slowed down on the UK front either. We re-launched our My Moon Landing initiative with support from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. We re-vamped our Black and Good initiative, and we’re about to run our first private event with PwC’s Design Thinking team in a few days. This is an exciting year for us as an organisation as we build on the wins and lessons of last year so that we can continue to improve the level and impact of support we offer our beneficiaries. 

As for clients, we’re still working with our major ones like the British Council, for whom we’re currently running a virtual mentoring programme as part of a larger piece of work we began last year. You can read up on the project here. 
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We’re also working on a few projects that I hope we’ll be able to announce next month. Until then, here is a blog post I wrote about my thoughts on Meghan and Harry’s decision to “step back” from their roles as senior royals. 

 Our Favourite Articles This Month 

• The lovely Khalia Ismain of Jamii wrote a think piece titled, Why Buy Black is Here to Stay
• Devex interviewed our friend Stephanie Kimou on “white gaze” and how it practically translates through the role INGOs play in the perpetuation of debilitating narratives and practices on the sustainable development of African communities
• Our friends at Briter Bridges have done it again and released some of the most insightful at-a-glance information about the African tech ecosystem
• We were incredibly inspired by the young black activists at Davos. Here is Natasha Mwansa speaking on the TIME panel. 

 What We're Reading This Month: 

• Purpose, Incorporated: Turning Cause into your competitive advantage, by John Wood and Amalia McGibbon
• Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson 
• Black and White: The way I see it, by Richard Williams 

​We're Hiring a Digital Assistant: 
As we continue to grow in capacity as an organisation, we are in need of people that are passionate about the work we do to join us on the journey. Our fifth hire this year will be a Digital Assistant. 

 Where we'll be in February:

• Running a workshop for the Philosophy, Politics and Economicsstudents at Warwick University, in Coventry, UK
• Joining global social entrepreneurship leaders at Catalyst 2030 for a series of roundtable discussions on catalysing global achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Northampton, UK
• Running a workshop alongside 3 of the startups in our AfriTech XYZ cohort for the UN World Food Program in Munich, Germany

 Thanks for reading! 

Bayo Adelaja | Chief Do-er at Do it Now Now | This is how I got here