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Liberia’s president is set to return to Atlanta next week for the second time since May as the West African leader addresses a group of Black business leaders convening in the city.
Joseph Nyumah Boakai will keynote a Pan-African Black business luncheon at the 124th National Black Business Conference, which is designed to mobilize diaspora communities around the world toward entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
The Aug. 21-25 conference is organized by the National Alliance for Black Business, including co-founders The National Business League, founded by Booker T. Washington with national headquarters in Tuskegee, Ala.; the National Black Chamber of Commerce and The World Conference of Mayors.
Ken Harris, the league’s president and CEO, said having the president of the nation of 4 million people speak at an event designed to foster connections between African Americans and the African continent underscores the longstanding transatlantic links between the U.S. and Liberia, which was founded in 1822 by free Black Americans.
“The keynote speech delivered by President Boakai at the 124th National Black Business Conference is a clarion call to unite the global Black diaspora in economic empowerment and transformative leadership,” Dr. Harris told Global Atlanta in an email. “His words will echo across continents, igniting a new era of collaboration and prosperity for Black businesses worldwide.”
During his May visit to Atlanta, Mr. Boakai was met by a group of Liberian community organizations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with which the Liberian Airport Authority has a longstanding sister airport agreement focused on the sharing of best practices.
The president met with airport officials to enhance the partnership, with both sides committing to deepen collaboration on issues like fire safety, human trafficking prevention and air cargo handling.
Global Logistics Systems CEO Peter Malcolm King, a Liberian, made the trip over to meet with officials from ATL, showcasing his company’s newly launched logistics facility near the Roberts International Airport in Monrovia, according to Cynthia Blandford, the former Liberian honorary consul in Georgia and now publisher of International Focus magazine in the state. Plans now call for Atlanta airport leaders to visit Liberia again before the end of the year.
Mr. Boakai and Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti also visited Georgia Tech for a luncheon with academics from across the state, Ms. Blandford added in a news release.
The University Consortium for Liberia, which has more than 20 institutional partners, mostly in Georgia, was founded in 2009 to foster exchanges and drive opportunities for Liberian students.
With the consortium as one of the key parties alongside a number of historically Black colleges, USAID in 2023 committed $5 million to empower students from the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry to set up a curriculum and center of excellence in conservation and forest management in Liberia.
Ms. Blandford said she was “honored” to host the president and learn more about his “ARREST Agenda (Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation and Tourism), she wrote at the time.
The president’s other activities in Atlanta included honoring the late bishop at the International Christian Fellowship Church and holding a town hall with the Liberian Association of Metropolitan Atlanta, or LAMA, at the Westin Buckhead.
Bior Bropleh, president of LAMA, welcomed the quick return of Mr. Boakai, who has family in Atlanta.
“President Boakai’s second visit to Atlanta this year is a testament to the incredible opportunities here and his passion for engaging the diaspora. Liberians in the great state of Georgia are always delighted to showcase our hospitality to President Boakai whenever he and other government officials visit,” Mr. Bropleh said.
This isn’t the first conference or delegation focused on linking up global Black diaspora via Atlanta, a theme becoming increasingly embraced by foreign diplomats posted here.
In May, the week after Mr. Boakai’s visit, Kenyan President William Ruto came to Atlanta. Aug. 28-30 will bring the Africa Diaspora Investment Summit, which has a particular focus on South Africa. Learn more here >>
The Atlanta Black Chambers’ Global Opportunities Committee is putting on their own event in early October.