Changing Dynamics of Migrant Entrepreneurial Activities : Implications for the African Diaspora and the UN SDGs (Presentation Slides)
This paper presents a radical departure from what is now replete, and well documented in the literature - i.e. ‘mom and pop’ shops in European migrant populations. Rather our focus is on budding returnee migrants, and transnational entrepreneurs, who have navigated away from traditional means of remittances to their home countries to forging, and leveraging, more structured diasporic connections/ networks as alternative foreign investment mechanisms in and out of ‘home’ and ‘host’ countries. Indeed, from our combined experiences as practitioners and scholars, such missed opportunities need to be acknowledged by key stakeholders in order to mainstream the contribution of the diaspora towards the attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) especially in the light of the missed targets of its predecessor, the millennium development goals (MDGs). In this context, we use the illustrative case of Nigerians in the Diaspora, tapping into the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) activity network, as well as other similar experiences under the broader framework of the African Diaspora Network Europe (ADNE). Overall the study highlights the medium to long-term implications of these trends/ developments, for the attainment of key pillars of the SDGs in the region of interest – sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)