Ahead of Obama's Africa Trip, the DC Launch of The Next Africa

Introduction by:
J. Peter Pham 
Director, Africa Center
Atlantic Council  

Featuring:
Aubrey Hruby 
Visiting Fellow, Africa Center 
Atlantic Council 
Co-author, The Next Africa 

Jake Bright
Co-author, The Next Africa 

Eghosa Omoigui
General Partner
EchoVC Partners

Moderated by:
Lesley Wroughton
Senior State Department Correspondent
Thomson Reuters
 

It's no coincidence that Kenya will host this year's Global Entrepreneurship Summit in July, or that President Barack Obama will be there in person, as well as traveling next door to Ethiopia. Home to entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and artists who embody the spirit of innovation, Africa is rapidly commanding more influence on the global stage. The United States, and indeed the world, has taken notice.  

A new book, The Next Africa: An Emerging Continent Becomes a Global Powerhouse, by Africa Center Visiting Fellow Aubrey Hruby and coauthor Jake Bright, captures this story.

Bright and Hruby detail the cross-cutting trends prompting Silicon Valley venture capital funds and firms like GE, IBM, and Proctor & Gamble to make major investments in African economies, while describing how Africans are stimulating Milan runways, Hollywood studios, and London pop charts.  

The Next Africa introduces readers to the continent's burgeoning technology movement, rising entrepreneurs, groundbreaking philanthropists, and cultural innovators making an impact in music, fashion, and film. 

The Next Africa describes a future of a more globally-connected Africa where its leaders and citizens wield significant economic, cultural, and political power–a future in which Americans will be more likely to own African stocks, work for companies doing business in Africa, buy African hits from iTunes, see Nigerian actors win Oscars, and learn new African names connected to tech moguls and billionaires.

Please join the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, July 14 for the official Washington, DC launch, a discussion of this new landscape, and what it means for the future of business and investment on the continent. 

Copies of The Next Africa will be available for purchase at the event. This will be your opportunity to get an early copy, as books go on sale officially July 21.

A networking reception will follow the discussion.

Members of the media should contact Press to register.