April 19, 2013 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Redwood City, Calif.
African donors are commanding an increasingly powerful voice both on their own continent and in the charity world, a fact that was driven home this week by the formation of the African Philanthropy Forum. The new group, a regional affiliate of the Global Philanthropy Forum, seeks to gather African donors and spur giving on the continent.
Its organizers include Tony Elumelu, a Nigerian banker; Angélique Kidjo, a Benin-born singer and Unicef Goodwill ambassador; and Manu Chandaria, a Kenyan billionaire businessman.
Some of the donors are working on policy changes that could make it easier to build foundations and nonprofits in African countries and say they want to help spur greater giving.
“There are 150 private jets in Nigeria, and there are only about four registered philanthropies,” said Wiebe Boer, a former Rockefeller Foundation official who now leads Mr. Elumelu’s philanthropy. “If we could get every one of those guys who owns a private jet to create a philanthropy, I think we could have a terrific transformation in that country.”
Donors Share Stories
Several of the group’s new members spoke at this week’s Global Philanthropy Forum, an annual event that brings together wealthy individuals, top foundation officials, and nonprofit leaders.
James Mwangi, a Kenyan banker, said that through his Equity Group Foundation, he supports scholarships for 10,000 students and hopes to double that number in the next five years. One goal, he said, is to ensure that more people benefit from his country’s economic growth and are prepared to play a role in steering the country’s future.
“We’re hoping that by 2030 the leadership of Kenya will be shared between the haves and the rest of the population that have not previously had opportunities,” he said.
Tsitsi Masiyiwa’s Higher Life Foundation, which she started with her husband, Strive, also provides students with scholarships and other support in hopes they’ll become leaders and social activists in their countries. Five charitable groups started by the Masiyiwas support education and health care in their native Zimbabwe and in Burundi and elsewhere on the continent.
Toyin Saraki, founder of Nigeria’s WellBeing Foundation Africa, described how her painful experience losing a newborn baby nearly 20 years ago led her to become an advocate for child and maternal health care.
She started by donating cash for new incubators at hospitals and covering people’s hospital bills. About a dozen years ago, Ms. Saraki says she began to realize that the numbers of children and mothers dying in childbirth constituted a “national emergency,” yet there was very little information available about the scale of deaths and the problems facing the health-care system.
“I was filled by a sense of outrage,” she said. “They were just trying to bury the women and move on.”
Beginning then, Ms. Saraki said, she started to use her influence and money to help collect data and use it to change the system.
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