In early September 2025, Africa’s story took an unexpected and historic turn in the heart of New York City. At the AFRICA’s BRAIN BANK® 6th Annual Summit & Charity Ball—held from August 28 to September 1—leaders from across the continent and the diaspora gathered to reclaim something long overdue: Africa’s place in global power, innovation, and intellectual leadership.
For centuries, Lower Manhattan was a gateway of trauma. Enslaved Africans were traded, insured, and forced into labor that built the foundations of modern finance. But this year, the arc of that history bent in a remarkable way. A delegation led by Dr. Mansa Suliman Al Kushi, Board Director of AFRICA’s BRAIN BANK®, walked into the New York Stock Exchange—not as commodities, but as contributors shaping a new era of African excellence.
It was a symbolic reversal, delivered with confidence and clarity: Africa is no longer a story told by others. It is a global force led by its people.
Reclaiming legacy through leadership
Hosted at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, the Summit brought together more than 200 guests from over 50 countries—including Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Cameroon, Senegal, and the DRC. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, former Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford, and Nollywood legend Richard Mofe-Damijo were among the prominent voices shaping the multi-day gathering.
Their message was unified: Africa’s intellectual capital is one of the world’s greatest untapped resources.
Few embody this belief more boldly than Dr. Al Kushi. An Afro/Jewish American entrepreneur and visionary nation-builder, he has spent over three decades creating economic bridges across continents. His latest mission—establishing the futuristic Kingdom of Kush in Bir Tawil—reflects an audacious commitment to sovereignty, innovation, and pan-African unity.
“Africa is not seeking liberation,” Dr. Al Kushi said during the NYSE visit. “We are building it—one idea, one institution, and one generation at a time.”
A blueprint for brain gain
Founded by HRH Rev. Dr. Pamela Fomunung, AFRICA’s BRAIN BANK® envisions a world where Africa’s dispersed brilliance becomes Africa’s greatest driver of development. Its digital “brain bank” allows Africans and people of African descent to deposit their knowledge—much like a transfer—into a shared repository accessible across borders.
The goal is simple but transformative: reverse the brain drain by turning global African talent into a connected, accessible, and mobilized network.
The platform connects engineers, doctors, researchers, creatives, and entrepreneurs to African governments, institutions, and communities. It also supports those wishing to return home and provides pathways for diaspora experts to contribute remotely.
This work is grounded in powerful numbers:
Africa will account for almost 20% of the world’s population by 2030.
One in four people on Earth will be of African descent by 2050.
The continent’s middle class is projected to reach 1.1 billion by 2060.
And Africa is home to the world’s richest reserves of gold, diamonds, and critical minerals.
The message at the Summit was clear: Africa is not rising—it has already risen. The challenge now is to organize its intellectual wealth with the same rigor that built the world’s largest economies.
A moment of reckoning—and renewal—on Wall Street
Standing on the NYSE floor, Dr. Al Kushi offered a reflection that resonated deeply with attendees.
“The first trade here was human beings,” he said. “Today, we return with ideas, companies, and power. Africa must walk through this open door.”
It was not only a speech. It was a reclamation—turning a site once tied to African suffering into a stage for African possibility.
A new chapter for the diaspora
Mayor Eric Adams underscored the significance of the moment, calling New York’s African community “vital to the fabric of the city.” With more than 2.4 million people of African descent in NYC alone—the largest population outside the continent—the diaspora’s influence is undeniable.
By convening leaders from business, governance, STEM, arts, and global advocacy, the Summit highlighted one truth: Africa’s future will be shaped by Africans everywhere.
Moving from absence to action
As the 2025 Summit concluded, one theme echoed across the ballroom: harnessing Africa’s intellectual power is no longer a dream. It is a strategy. And it is already unfolding.
Africa’s Brain Bank is not simply archiving talent—it is activating it. Dr. Al Kushi’s work is not merely symbolic—it is structural. And the diaspora is not disconnected—it is rising as one.
What began as a confrontation with history ended as a declaration of destiny: The door is open. Africa is stepping through.
