For those of you who will be in the Washington, D.C. area on January 13th, please see the event announcement below (click "read full story") regarding the African Diaspora Marketplace. The African Diaspora Marketplace is an innovative business plan competition focused on African entrepreneurship.  The event is free and open to the public.

 
African Diaspora Marketplace: Diaspora-Driven Development

Join us at the African Diaspora Marketplace Event: January 13th, 2010

The African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM) is a business plan competition catalyzing the entrepreneurial spirit and resources of the U.S.-based African diaspora community to promote economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The ADM is financed jointly by USAID, the Western Union Company, and the Western Union Foundation, Ecobank, and Barr Management. The ADM is implemented by AED.

Experience the excitement as the 60 best business concepts selected from over 700 applicants compete for matching partnership grants of US$50,000 to US$100,000 each.
 
Come interact with the finalists and learn about their business concepts, which will be on display at the AED Conference Center in Washington, DC. Visitors are invited to visit the finalists’ display booths between 10:00 am to 5:30 pm as well as attend panel discussions on entrepreneurship in Africa.
 
At the close of the Marketplace event, the 10-20 winning businesses will be announced and celebrated.
 
To attend the ADM event, including the entrepreneurs’ Marketplace, the panel discussions and the ADM Awards Ceremony please follow the link
HERE.