The Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) Chapter of the African Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI) held an inaugural two-day event that included a Men’s and Women’s Empowerment Seminar, an Afro Royalty Gala & Cultural Dance, and an Afro-United Concert featuring both local and foreign Afrobeats performers on the campus of Howard University.

The festival aimed at creating a framework that would help Black people in the DMV region establish or expand enterprises that will compete equally in the social and economic space. Event organizers aim to take the festival international by encouraging chapters to organize it in their various respective foreign locations according to TheAfricanDream.co, one of the event’s media partners.

ADDI was founded in the Washington DC Metro region; despite being registered in Tennessee. Her Excellency (H.E) Ambassador Arikana Chihombori Quao had the concept for the ADDI after she was relieved of her position as the African Union’s Ambassador to the US in November 2019.

To signify its historic milestone, the festival was held at the Armour J. Blackburn Center of Howard University in Washington, DC – one of the country’s oldest historically Black colleges and institutions, from September 28 to 29, 2023.

The Men’s Empowerment Seminar was held under the theme “Empowering the Global African Community: Bridging Continents for Economic Prosperity”, it was moderated by Kelvin Williams, CEO of NuHollywood and owner of Columbia School of Broadcasting.

The Women’s Empowerment Seminar was themed “Recognising our resilience and Building Bridges to Empower Ourselves and Build the Africa we Envisage” and covered two key topics, Intercontinental Business and Political Leadership in the Diaspora. This seminar was moderated by Ms. Fatmata Barrie Esq.

Event speakers here included Dr. Remi Duyile and Dr. Stella Jeffries who spoke on, Intercontinental Business; and Representative Wala Blegay and Representative Naquetta Ricks who spoke on, Political Leadership in the Diaspora; H.E Ambassador Arikana Chihombori-Quao; climaxed this session by giving an empowering statement covering both topics.

Special guests at the event included H.E SEM Sékou BERTHE Ambassador of the Republic of Mali; H.E Lynn Young, Ambassador of the Republic of Belize; and Maria del Pilar Barona from Columbia, Latin America. Guest speakers included Michael Thompson from OBT Social (a key sponsor) and Dr. Martin Kwende.

There were performances by KanKouran West African Dance Company, Pupa Curly, J-Wils, Izzy Zick and a fashion show by Itel Fashion Modeling. TheAfricanDream.co, a DMV-based communication consultancy firm, and OBT Social as well as Voice of Africa were among the event media partners.

In a post-event interview with TheAfricanDream.co Ambassador Chihombori-Quao expressed her amazement at how huge the event turned out to be, “especially as ADDI is still a very young organization. This is the first of many chapter launches and Afro Festivals as ADDI continues to tell the world that enough is enough, we are ready to take our rightful place on the global stage”.

(Source: TheAfricanDream.co)