There are many members of the African diaspora who can articulate their passion for African affairs and the people living within the continent. However, it isn’t every day that you meet someone whose actions speak so much louder than their words that you wouldn’t dare question their passion. Amma A. Boateng, Howard University alumna, is the type of diaspora you want to be around because she’ll remind you that words aren’t enough.
“I am motivated by the plight of Africans around the world; both by those who [live] on the continent and work tirelessly to improve living conditions, and by the millions of migrants brave enough to leave home in search of a brighter future for the next generation,” says Boateng.
As a Ghanaian-American, Boateng has contemplated the duality of her identity for years, but a trip to Malawi reignited her passion for African affairs. She spent her summer serving as a GlobeMed GROW fellow in Malawi, where she spent most of her time curating & teaching workshops on HIV prevention, rape culture, and girl empowerment across 16 villages through the Nancholi Youth Organization. While there she got to reconnect with Africa more up close and personal and she realized that there was more she could do to support her students even in her absence. Now, with the help of her cofounder (Fatoumata T. Makadji), she is launching National Investments for Africa (NIA) - an emerging organization building tribes and changing lives.
NIA is the Swahili word for “purpose” and that is exactly what their work will be about. At NIA, they believe that African migrants leave their home with a purpose to help raise the next generation of leaders, investors, artists, and allies to return to work with those at home. NIA’s emblem shows branches adorned in gold leaves growing in a circle growing out of their “NIA” because they believe that their prosperity will grow out of their purpose. For Boateng and Makadji, NIA is another opportunity for them to empower women and girls in Africa. Boateng says that education and gender equality are going to be a big part of the work NIA will be doing.
“For many African girls through the diaspora the toxic narrative that we are less valuable as students and leaders than as wives creates a dangerous cycle of permissible abuse where girls are left dependent on men for survival and thus vulnerable to their actions,” Boateng says. Boateng wants people to understand that, “It isn’t a lack of marketable skills that leaves us beholden to the male figures in our lives, but the economic abuse girls and women endure leave them with little capital to break free.” NIA believes by supporting female entrepreneurs abroad and in Africa, then reinvest revenue into education programs for girls that vicious cycle can be broken.
To connect with NIA and learn about what they are up to, give them a follow on instagram: NIA