Malay to Marakesh 2023

Each year the Brilliant Minds Collective hosts an intimate conference at various locations throughout the African continent. This conference will be held in countries important to Africa’s development and repositioning. Participants from both the continent and the diaspora will take this journey together. The goal is to form a Pan African community that builds social, economic and policy building bridges between African people all over the world. The annual yearly conference is rooted in the study of the history of each nation/region, business building, personal development, global leadership, networking, and tourism…

Continue reading

Working Toward Black

There is a growing effort across the continent to build bridges between African nations themselves and the diaspora, in an effort to restore the continent back to its pre-colonial glory. Many development projects have been created and funded with the help of the diaspora. 17 nations in Africa have formed a trade and travel alliance reconnecting African nations to each other. Rather than getting cocoa from South America, African nations will get it from Ghana, the largest producer of cocoa in the world. The alliance will make travel without visas available to citizens of the alliance opening inter-continental exploration and business opportunities. Hip Hop celebrity Akon is building small cities that will attract further development in Senegal. Many African Americans are resettling across various nations on the continent, opening businesses and building new lives, and bringing others along for the journey. The continent of Africa is the new frontier. It is also an opportunity to expand beyond the institutional racism in the US providing alternative markets and opportunities.

Continue reading

Generation Who Part Four: The Metaverse

Generation Who? Part Four

Brilliant Minds Collective is proud to announce the next webinar in their Generation WHO? series entitled “The Metaverse: Educating Money Focused Black & Brown Millennials on NFTs,
Gaming, and Web3”. The free webinar features an intimate discussion with David Kim, VP of Business Development. wdny.io and NFT Expert, Dave “Black Dave” Curry on Wednesday December 1, 2021 at 6pm EST.

This webinar will explore opportunities for young adults and millennials to build their brands and profit margins in the Metaverse. Focusing on creatives, musicians, and artists with an emphasis on the Black and Brown demographic, The Metaverse: Educating Money Focused Black & Brown Millennials on NFTs, Gaming, and Web3 will answer questions like where do you fit in Globally, how to ensure you are not left behind, and how to best leverage your creativity and ingenuity on the Blockchain?

David Kim stated, “Major technological innovations have the ability to create disruptions which level the playing field and open up new economic opportunities for anyone who has the vision and work ethic to find ways to leverage the new economies they create. It’s important that we spread the message to everyone and educate them to give them the chance to take advantage of these opportunities.”

Panelists

Dave Curry

Artist & NFT Creator

David Kim

VP of Business Development & Marketing, wdny.io

What we know and don’t know on new COVID variant

LONDON — South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus that they say is behind a recent spike in COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province.

It’s unclear where the new variant first emerged, but scientists in South Africa alerted the World Health Organization in recent days, and it has now been seen in travelers arriving in several countries, from Australia to Israel to the Netherlands.

On Friday, the WHO designated it as a “variant of concern,” naming it “omicron” after a letter in the Greek alphabet.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT OMICRON?

Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the variant was linked to an “exponential rise” of cases in the last few days.

From just over 200 new confirmed cases per day in recent weeks, South Africa saw the number of new daily cases rocket to more than 3,200 Saturday, most in Gauteng.

Struggling to explain the sudden rise in cases, scientists studied virus samples and discovered the new variant. Now, as many as 90% of the new cases in Gauteng are caused by it, according to Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform.

Read more here

Solomon Islands brings in nighttime curfew in capital Honiara after third day of violence

A nighttime curfew entered into force in the Solomon Islands’ tense capital Honiara on Friday, after a third day of violence that saw the prime minister’s home come under attack and swathes of the city reduced to smouldering ruins.

Police fired warning shots and tear gas to scatter rioters who marched on the house of embattled leader Manasseh Sogavare in the east of the usually sleepy seaside capital.

The mob set fire to at least one nearby building before being driven back towards the city centre, witnessed by AFP reporters.

Read more here

Latinos must confront anti-Black racism and colorism within their communities, writers argue in new anthology

(CNN)Saraciea J. Fennell remembers how normal it seemed for her, her siblings and cousins, to use bleaching cream on their elbows and knees every day growing up. As dark-skinned Latinos, that’s what they had been taught to do.”Once I got older, I realized it was an anti-Black practice because I was not being allowed to love the skin that I’m in,” said Fennell, a Black Honduran writer based in New York City and editor of a new collection of essays and poems titled, “Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed.”

The anthology, published Tuesday, explores topics that Latinos don’t normally talk about — anti-Blacknesscolorism, the intersection of Latinidad and Blackness, and numerous stereotypes, myths, and taboos in Latin American cultures.

The Latino community is complex and multifaceted, so Fennell was surprised that seven of the 15 pieces in the collection explored colorism and anti-Blackness. 

Blackness and Latinidad are not mutually exclusive. Here's what it means to be Afro-Latino in America

Blackness and Latinidad are not mutually exclusive. Here’s what it means to be Afro-Latino in America“I thought that I would probably be one of the only (book) contributors who experienced this, but when the essays started to come in, the experiences that they (authors) shared validated everything that I went through,” she said. “It’s our reality.”

Fennell spoke with CNN recently about the book, her journey navigating her identity, and the stories she feels still need to be told.

Read more here

Haiti Economy

Haiti has an agricultural economy. Over half of the world’s vetiver oil (an essential oil used in high-end perfumes) comes from Haiti. Bananas, cocoa, and mangoes are important export crops. Haiti has also moved to expand to higher-end manufacturing, producing Android-based tablets and current sensors and transformers.

Continue reading

South Africa Feels Punished for Alerting World to New Variant

JOHANNESBURG — As the United States and European countries close their borders over fears over the recently detected coronavirus variant, many South Africans say they feel as if they are being “punished” for alerting global health authorities.

Hours after South African scientists announced the existence of a new variant that they said displayed “a big jump in evolution,” Britain banned travelers from southern African nations. Other European nations and the United States quickly followed suit.

“I do apologize that people took a very radical decision,” said Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform and the scientist who announced the new variant on Thursday.

Fresh from a virtual meeting with global health leaders, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser on the coronavirus, Mr. Oliveira told journalists he believed that international solidarity would be in favor of South Africa’s decision to publicize its findings.

The variant, named Omicron by the World Health Organization, was first detected in South Africa and in neighboring Botswana. The government in Botswana announced that four initial cases were all foreign diplomats who had since left, and that contact tracing was continuing.

Cases have also now been spotted in Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel, in travelers sometimes returning from countries other than South Africa or Botswana, and suspected cases are being investigated in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Read more here

Amazon to Open Most Technologically Advanced Fulfillment Centre in Abu Dhabi to Drive Innovation and Retail in Middle East and North Africa

Abu Dhabi will be home to Amazon’s most technologically advanced fulfillment centre in the region. The launch of the centre is a part of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s (ADIO) programme to attract investment that drives innovation. Amazon is working to launch the facility in Abu Dhabi to drive innovation in the logistics sector, to support entrepreneurship and the growth of the retail ecosystem, and to create thousands of new job opportunities. 

Expected to be launched by 2024, the new fulfillment centre comes as part of a wider collaboration between Amazon and ADIO which will also unlock job opportunities over the coming years, as well as provide support to help entrepreneurs, startups and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) thrive in the digital economy. 

Russell Grandinetti, Senior Vice President, International Consumer, Amazon, said: “Driven by customer-obsession, innovation and long-term thinking, we are very proud to be working alongside the UAE leadership as we contribute to the nation’s accelerating digital economy and ambitious growth agenda. We look forward to partnering with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to bring Amazon’s advanced logistics, technology innovations, sustainability initiatives and decades of expertise to the area.” 

Following its successful and ongoing collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch cloud data centres in the UAE, ADIO continues to partner with Amazon to advance innovative and technological solutions in Abu Dhabi. ADIO creates an enabling environment for such partnerships and invests in strategic projects that promote an ecosystem of innovation. 

Read more here