Written by Thomas Kinnaird
Today, 29th September, marks the 5th anniversary since the official registration of Think Africa as a non-profit and non-governmental organisation. Over the years, Think Africa has grown as an established brand amongst the African diaspora in Finland and in Finnish society. This status has been reached through building a diverse, active and engaged community representing the interests of the African continent.
The idea behind Think Africa stems from an honest desire for inclusiveness, cooperation and development. Since the first initiative, it has always been about empowering the African diaspora in Finland and enhancing collaboration between Finland and African countries.
The story of Think Africa began in 2013, when Tiina Juvonen was working at Helsinki Think Company, (the University of Helsinki’s think tank branch). Having recently returned from an internship in Uganda, Tiina started meeting and talking with other like minded Finns with similar interests and experiences from Africa. Among them were Joni Karjalainen, who had also just returned from Cameroon on an internship, and Riku Aakala, who had also returned from an entrepreneurial endeavour in Senegal.
The discourse and discussions became regular and several meetups were organized. These generic meetups grew organically in size and attracted larger audiences and lead to the idea of building a community interested in African issues by blending academia and entrepreneurial endeavours. A lot of brainstorming went into giving this initiative a name, but it was Tiina’s connection to Think Company that finally inspired the now well recognised name “Think Africa”.
Tiina, Joni and Riku, along with others saw the need for joining forces with this initiative as the next logical step to advancing the discourse further. The mission was to setup an event with Helsinki Think Company that would showcase the African diaspora’s influence in the host community. This joint collaboration marked the birth of the Think Africa Week event, organised between October 7th and 10th of 2013.
As the planning for Think Africa Week progressed, the components of the event began to fall in place. The program included a series of discussions with speakers such as Ani Oko and Sarah Laaru of Suomen-Afrikka Seura, a Ghanaian entrepreneur by the name of Leslie Asamoa and Iina Soiri from the Nordic Africa Institute as well as MP Pekka Haavisto. The event also included several social networking opportunities with business prospects.
The practical focus of arranging the “first-of-a-kind” event also materialized. The event received support from various stakeholders. University of Helsinki was the initial sponsor and provided the venue and a small budget. Shortly after, FinCEAL joined and became the primary financial sponsor. Participants were also looked after by Sandros, who graciously sponsored the event with tasty bites and edibles. .
Luckily and out of coincidence, KEHY (Imatran seudun kehitysyhtiö Oy) was seeking to host an event related to the African continent during the same week. However, KEHY did not have a suitable venue for hosting a photo exhibition by Meeri Koutaniemi. Thus an opportunity for collaboration and cooperation was identified and Meeri held her popup photo exhibition featuring the Herero people of Namibia at the Think Africa Week venue.
This was the “first-of-its-kind” event organized under the Think Africa banner. The event experimented with a mixture of lectures, business sessions, cultural representations with social networking opportunities, which turned out to be successful with some events being full to capacity. The success of the event confirmed a realistic need to increase collaboration between Finland and Africans in Finland and their respective home countries. This created a synergy which would lead to the intentional building of a Think Africa community, which culminated into the registration of Think Africa as an association with legal entity in Finland the following year.
Networking during Think Africa Week 2013: By Konsta Naumi
Since registration in 2014, Think Africa has grown with a status of recognition and international presence through participation and partnership in events, as well as cooperation with institutions and actors on the African continent. Think Africa is now a thriving community based on a platform where members and affiliates can create, develop their interests, find support and access resources and build networks.
If you have been inspired by the origins of Think Africa and are interested in contributing to our mission, we invite you to join! You are also welcome to attend the fourth installment of Think Africa Week.
