Western Union's Business Competition Spurs Financial Investment In Africa

Jan 20, 2010 4:00 PM ET

Alice Korngold's Blog

"During a recession, when credit is unavailable and investment funding is down, how do we help reactivate credit and financial investment in Africa." Luella D'Angelo, President, Western Union Foundation, told me that this was the challenge that Western Union and its Foundation wanted to address.

So, "to spur the entrepreneurial passion within the African diaspora," the company and its Foundation established a business competition for African diasporans who were creating sustainable enterprises back home.  Winners would receive investment funds to accelerate or expand their businesses. The business competition, the African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM), was held in Washington, D.C. last week.

Western Union, its Foundation and its Agent Giving Circles pooled investment funds together with USAID, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) in Africa and Irv Barr Management in the U.S. These partners also had support from the Academy for Educational Development (AED), a nonprofit organization that "combines innovative ideas with real-world perspective to change lives by improving health, education, social and economic development."

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