Reopening Africa, An Opportunity To Reboot

Michael Olayinka Eboda, a lawyer-turned-journalist-turned-entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of Powerful Media Group (PMG), one of the most respected speciality media businesses in the UK. Michael’s business, which he founded 14 years ago, is responsible for The Powerlist, an annual publication that features Britain’s most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage. This flagship publication prominently features annually both online and off as well as internationally, highlighting influential figures like the Duchess of Sussex, Stormzy and the 2020 number one, Ismail Ahmed.

In addition to its flagship publication, PMG boasts another market leading publication, Future Leaders, which focuses on the next generation of talent and social mobility; a bespoke recruitment firm within the Legal sector; and an events division hosting premier events in prestigious locations across the capital. One of the events Michael’s company hosts is the Powerlist Black Excellence Awards, an annual black-tie dinner that has become the most prestigious black-focused event in the UK.

Michael grew up in south London and left the UK for Nigeria in his early teens, living there for some eight years and qualifying for the Nigerian bar in 1984. After returning to Britain and doing a Masters Degree in Business Law, he decided on a change of career.

Following a stint as an entrepreneur (he owned a restaurant, a retail outlet and a number of properties), Michael chose to become a journalist. Michael gained a reputation for being one of the UK’s foremost journalists. In 1999, he was headhunted by the Ethnic Media Group and asked to help turn round their struggling titles, New Nation, which was aimed at an African Caribbean readership and Eastern Eye, which was Asian-focused. As Group Editorial Director, he helped turn the group into the biggest minority ethnic newspaper organisation in Europe within five years.

Michael’s interests include football, athletics, design, art, photography and travel. He is, for his sins, a diehard Manchester United supporter.

Yofi Grant is a renowned Ghanaian investment banker with over 30 years of extensive work experience in banking and finance. Having served in various capacities in corporate finance, credits, marketing, and investment banking, Mr. Grant has broad knowledge and exposure in the African financial markets and has cultivated strong relationships with international private equity funds, portfolio investment managers and brokerage funds. He was responsible for the development and implementation of AAF SME Fund LLC, one of the largest agriculture funds in Sub-Saharan Africa, and helped them achieve their first close of US$30million.

Yofi was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Organization of African Pacific Caribbean States (OACP) Endowment and Trust Fund. He is also on the Steering Board of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) representing Sub-Saharan Africa. He is a council member of the Continental Business Network of the African Union which advises African governments on private sector finance and infrastructure.

Prior to his current position as CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, an office under the Presidency of Ghana, he had had a very illustrious career in investment banking as a partner in the Databank Group, (a West Africa investment banking firm) serving in leadership roles at the Databank Agrifund Manager Limited, Databank Financial Services Limited and Databank Brokerage Services Limited and Business Development for the entire Databank Group. Prior to that he was in Corporate Banking at CAL Bank Ltd in Ghana. Yofi was a consultant on finance and business for the Africa Asia Business Forum (AABF) organized by the UNDP which ran workshops in 12 African countries and six Asian countries in 2002.

Mr. Grant was also Special Advisor to the Minister for Private Sector Development between 2002 and 2006 where he advised and assisted the Minister with policy formulation and implementation and also on financing for private sector development projects.

Mr. Grant currently serves on the advisory boards of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

Sandra Jackson-Dumont is the director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a new museum under construction in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park. Tasked with leading the institution through its opening and beyond, Jackson-Dumont came to the Lucas Museum from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she served as the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education from 2014 to 2019. She also served for eight years as the deputy director for education and public programs and adjunct curator of modern and contemporary art at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), and held positions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among other cultural organizations.

Known for her ability to blur the lines between academia, popular culture, and non-traditional art-going communities, Jackson-Dumont is invested in curating experiences that foster dynamic exchanges between art/artists, past/present, public/private, and people/places. A native of San Francisco, Jackson-Dumont received her B.A. in art history from Sonoma State University in California and her M.A. in art history from Howard University in Washington, D.C.