It is upon our 5th year anniversary that we remember the journey and the mission that brought us to where we are today. At Afrolehar, we cherish the relationship between African communities and the places where it’s Diaspora live today. This is why we have partnered with many clients over the years to produce cost-effective solutions that enhance programs and impacts communities.

Why do we do what we do?

We seek to break down “the single story” produced in popular culture, as the Nigerian Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie would call it. We seek to incubate and interact with the talent, innovation, and quality that is coming from those engaged with the continent. We are storytellers, as bold as traditional narrators of the past, through each website we design, digital campaign we strategize, and each brand we incubate. Each story is a little different but the mission of each one is the same; to birth creative imagery that captures an audience and creates an innovative legacy.

Since I was first asked to join Afrolehar it has been a great honor to add my story to the team. I had worked with the team on 2 projects in the past, while I was interning for a non-profit and Afrolehar managed the digital branding and developed the program for our Africa department. They delivered the online platform, and I was trained to be the content manager. Shortly after that, we traveled together to Benin where I assisted in the documentation of the launch of The Global Youth Innovation Network, a network of young entrepreneurs from all over the world.

I remember my early conversations with Rahel, Afrolehar’s founder, when it became clear that we were like-minded and that we would continue to build in the future. Fast-forward to today, after a fellowship in France, a fellowship at an Internet strategy company, and living in West Africa for 15 months, Rahel and I connected again, and here I am now an Associate at Afrolehar. I engage with their team everyday, which has proven to be one of the best learning experiences of my life. Coming from a non-profit communications, new media, and development background, I was eager to jump into the business space and I cannot think of a better company within which to take on this endeavor.

I want to personally thank you all that have been an Afrolehar supporter! It is because of you, our followers, clients, and partners, that we are here today, celebrating our 5th year. Thank you for your support and collaboration. We know that the best is yet to come, and it is through our remembrance that we will find the inspiration to continue striving towards Afrolehar's vision.

I will be posting blogs each month on topics important to our company, our new brands, and highlights our projects and clients.
So stayed tuned!

If you would like to be a guest blogger, we would love to work with you! Please contact me via abigail@afrolehar.com.

Peace and blessings to everyone during this holiday season!

November 11, 2014 marks Afrolehar’s 5th year in business, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to remain on this path as an entrepreneur working to actualize my creation. A friend and mentor, Dr. Bernstein who is a serial entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Eniware, asked ‘what was our dream?’ as each of us responded around the table during a delightful dinner in honor of Anna, a Ukrainian lady paving her own path riding her motorcycle around the world capturing 1million dreams. For me, a dream has been branded as a subconscious messaging while asleep rather than a vision actualized in reality.

Thus, my vision is to build Afrolehar LLC, as a cross-cultural branding company based in Washington DC, that offers strategic and creative solutions to brand Africa and expand US/Canada presence in African markets. Acting as your cultural brokers, we are well-positioned to assist many US stakeholders seeking to provide services and sell products, as it requires a greater understanding about African cultures, environment, languages, traditions and other integral part of societal norms.

The first week of August 2014, during the historic Africa Heads of State Summit, stakeholders were informed about the timely opportunities in Africa, and to vigorously engage in the US led initiatives such as Power Africa, Trade Africa, Nelson Mandela Fellowship also known as Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), and Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). Various groups followed President Obama’s leadership to convene American constituents on various issues by organizing over 75 side events. As Ebola surged in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the virus became a worldwide phenomenon that replaced the narrative of a shining continent. This entails that each African country on the Continent has to promote the country’s development, investment opportunities, and human capital; and Afrolehar is committed to working with various stakeholders to transform Africa’s narrative.

As we remember our 5 years on this journey, Afrolehar LLC has advised on projects and programs, assessed organizational structures, produced digital platforms, provided strategies to scale businesses and organizations, and created two of its flagship brands – knocknockafrica.com [shop & experience African products] & agrifrica.com [promoting information while connecting markets]. We created these two flagships to solve the problem of market and information access.

We also have been honored with Abigail Simmons who joined the team in 2014, who will be managing Afrolehar’s digital presence in addition to other responsibilities within Afrolehar LLC.

We have our trailer [Signal Strength: 1480 AM] for the documentary production we are co-producing with Globaleyes productions established by our associate Ralston Smith. The documentary captures the importance of Radio/messaging, entrepreneurship and partnerships. As many believe that radio has become obsolete, radio remains a powerful communication tool and as reported by Radio Advertising bureau, “Radio reaches an impressive 91% of all Americans age 12 or older every week’, and we are looking for sponsors and investors for the documentary and project completion. Contact me at your convenience- we are looking to brand Radio.

When I started this entrepreneurial journey, many claimed that the lifetime of a startup is 5 years and thereafter it seems to be a make or break it outcome, and for us to celebrate on this remembrance day our 5th year is one that is humbling. The challenges of an entrepreneur are one that can be surmounted with focus, resilience, and persistence in addition to having champions for your vision. With that said, we could not have done it alone- and I personally take this opportunity to thank a few people who have championed my vision: the executive team of GoodWorks International, Tony Carroll from Manchester Trade; Eyob Tolina, Danya International, Col. Rick Orth (Retired), Dr. Bernstein, Melvin Foote, Eddy Eitches, Meera Wolfe, Jeannine Scott, Yusuf Reja, Nicole Peacock just to name a few... I am grateful to the State Department, USAID, and the White House for the Africa initiatives. I am thankful to institutions like the Brookings Institution, CSIS and Wilson Center that continue to provide insightful and informative platforms for American constituents to understand better Africa, and for the African Diplomatic corps and African leadership to share their initiatives.

We commend all institutions that continue to voice the importance of “Africa” and US/Canada-Africa relations.