BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — African immigrant professionals looking to advance their careers, expand their networks or move into leadership positions will gather at North Hennepin Community College on Friday, Oct. 16, for a conference that has become an annual meeting place for the community’s professionals and aspiring leaders.
The ninth annual African Immigrant Professional Development Conference will focus on how African immigrants can use professional relationships and networks to create opportunities in a changing workplace.
This year’s theme, “Repositioning Through Uncertainty: Leveraging Social Capital for Career Growth and Leadership,” reflects a challenge that has been at the heart of the conference since its founding: how to ensure that African immigrants’ education, skills and professional experience translate into career advancement and economic success.
The free conference, organized by the Center for Immigrant Career Advancement (CICA), will run from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Helling Hall on the college’s Brooklyn Park campus. Registration and networking begin at 9:15 a.m., with free professional headshots also available to attendees.
Dr. S. Miata Getaweh, CICA’s executive director and founder of the conference, said African immigrant professionals have much to offer Minnesota employers but often need access to the relationships and networks that help people advance.
“African immigrant professionals bring tremendous education, experience, resilience and leadership capacity to Minnesota’s workforce, but talent alone does not always create access to opportunity,” Getaweh said in a statement announcing the conference.
“AIPDC is about creating the relationships, information and social capital that help people move from simply participating in the workforce to advancing, leading and creating opportunities for themselves and others.”
The conference will feature Rosemond Sarpong Owens, an author, philanthropist and longtime health care leader, as its keynote speaker.
Owens has more than two decades of leadership experience in health care and is an advocate for maternal health, health equity and literacy. She served as the first Black woman president of Books for Africa, founded Lion’s Historian Press and has authored 10 books. Her community service and leadership have earned her several honors, including a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
Her keynote is expected to draw on her experiences in leadership, professional growth and navigating change.
Other speakers listed by organizers include Comfort Dondo, founding executive director of Phumulani: African Women Against Violence; Dr. Manka Nkimbeng, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health; and Felix Okoth, an engineering leader and executive leadership coach.
Sessions will address career transitions, mentorship, professional visibility, entrepreneurship, wealth creation and the role of relationships in opening doors to opportunities that may otherwise remain out of reach.
The conference’s emphasis on professional networks builds on conversations that have taken place at previous gatherings.
At the 2022 conference, participants discussed the barriers African immigrants face in moving into leadership positions and the importance of building relationships beyond their immediate communities.
Wokie Daboh, then director of diversity and inclusion at ESPN, spoke about the difficulty of establishing professional connections while remaining true to one’s cultural identity. Other speakers urged African immigrants to become more visible in their workplaces and seek opportunities in fields where Black professionals remain underrepresented.
Two years later, the conference returned to similar questions about advancement and opportunity.
At the 2024 gathering, Mshale founder and publisher Tom Gitaa delivered the keynote address, discussing African immigrants’ growing economic contributions to Minnesota and the importance of accessing financial resources for business development.
That year’s conference also featured professionals who described the obstacles they encountered while establishing careers in the United States.
Among them was Dr. Mankpondehou Etienne Djevi, a physician trained in Benin who had to learn English and repeat medical training after immigrating to the United States. Despite sending hundreds of applications for a medical residency, he struggled to secure a position until a professional connection helped him find an opening.
His experience underscored a recurring message at the conference: qualifications and hard work matter, but relationships can also determine whether opportunities become accessible.
The conference grew out of Getaweh’s doctoral research examining the professional experiences of African immigrants in the United States. Established in 2018, it initially sought to bring those findings to the community and has since developed into an annual forum for professional development and networking.
According to organizers, more than 1,000 professionals have participated in the conference’s networking, mentorship and professional development activities since its founding.
Next year will mark the conference’s 10th anniversary.
For this year’s gathering, organizers say they want participants to leave with more than information gained from presentations and workshops.
“Social capital is ultimately about relationships — who knows you, who advocates for you, who opens a door and whose door you are willing to open for someone else,” Getaweh said.
“We want participants to leave with relationships that continue creating opportunities long after the conference ends.”
The conference is open to African immigrant professionals, students, employers, entrepreneurs and community members interested in career and leadership development.
Admission is free, but registration is required. Participants can register and find additional information at www.aipdc.org.
The conference will be held Friday, Oct. 16, at Helling Hall, North Hennepin Community College, 7411 85th Ave. N., Brooklyn Park. Registration, networking and free professional headshots begin at 9:15 a.m., followed by conference programming from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
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