Entrepreneurs, business owners and corporate leaders looking to amass beneficial information on doing business with Africa will come together next week on Aug. 1 for the U.S.-Africa trade and investment summit in St. Paul.
The half day event is being organized by the Minnesota-based nonprofit Minnesota Africans United (MAU), a coalition of African immigrant communities in the state. It is the organization that two years ago led the charge in lobbying African countries to support the U.S. bid to host the World Expo 2027 in Minnesota.
“We want to create a space for people to come together and have healthy dialogue about the current state of trade and policy as it continues to evolve with the current federal administration,” said Basil Ajuo, CEO of MAU, in a written statement. “We are bringing you an exciting lineup of speakers you won’t want to miss at this year’s summit.”
MAU hosted summits and webinars have become the state’s go-to source for resources on how to do business with Africa, due to their longevity and consistency. The idea being to provide information and resources to help grow trade between the U.S. and Africa, Ajuo has told Mshale in the past, while also bringing business leaders, the local African diaspora and African countries’ representatives to network.
According to the U.S. Trade Office, trading of goods between the U.S and Africa totaled $71.6 billion in 2024 with Africa enjoying a trade surplus of $7.4 billion. U.S. exports to the continent last year were $32.1 billion, up 11.9 percent from 2023 while U.S. goods imports from Africa in 2024 totaled $39.5 billion, up 1.9 percent from 2023. The trade deficit with the continent has been a focus of the Trump administration which has instituted various tariffs on imports from some countries in Africa
A companion event to the summit is the annual Minnesota Farmfest that MAU has now made a tradition of taking a delegation to- including farmers who travel from Africa as part of MAU’s delegation. Farmfest is being held a few days after the trade summit on Aug. 5-7.
Speaking on her involvement in MAU’s summits and Farmfest, Anita Fondikum, an agribusiness owner and MAU member, described the experience as one that creates synergy among the various business entities and industries that come together.
“When I joined MAU for Farmfest last year, I was only interested in exploring and learning more about the agricultural industry in Minnesota because I had an agricultural background of my own,” she said. “But I was so inspired by what I saw and all the connections that I made. With support from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, I launched a farm in Minnesota and am now expanding to Africa to promote ‘Made in Africa’ goods that will drive trade and business collaboration with Minnesota.”
Among the roster of speakers at this year’s summit is Minnesota Department of Agriculture Assistant Commissioner Patrice Bailey, who will discuss the role his department is playing in supporting emerging farmers – many who are African immigrants – and Minnesota’s position as America’s country’s 4th largest agricultural exporting state. Minnesota exported $9.1 billion in domestic agricultural exports in 2023, the latest year data is available from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Other speakers include John Bennett, the senior vice president for product development at 21st Century Bank, Laure Djoukam of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cameroon, Esther Obaigwa of Kare Healthcare, Steven Dickinson of Avisen Legal and Efe Ukala of ImpactHER.
The US Commercial Service, the trade promotion arm of the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration will be represented at the summit by Bailey Rowell.
Registration for the summit which will be held at The Commodore in St. Paul, Minn. is open through July 31 and can be done on the Minnesota Africans United website.
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About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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