A group of influential figures gathered for dinner at Post And Beam in the Crenshaw district on Thursday, as part of a movement encouraging the global Black diaspora to return to Africa and support its community. Isaac Kigozi, Head of Trade and Investment in the Office of the President of Uganda, shared insights with LA Weekly during a dinner featuring Longevity Wines, cast iron chicken, beef short ribs, and sweet potato wedges with ricotta and smoked honey. “His Excellency the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, is very keen on attracting a brain gain,”“For so many years, because of mass migration and slavery, there has been a brain drain. The majority of the smartest and the wisest people have left Africa. What the president is trying to do is enact a brain gain by lobbying the local black diaspora to come back and help us bring back all the best practices that they’ve learned abroad to Africa.”
The event, hosted by Jessica Dupree of the Dupree Agency, who has played a key role in connecting African leaders with the Los Angeles community, included notable guests such as actress Loretta Devine and her husband, former St. Louis Cardinals player Glenn Marshall, BET International Host and producer Noah Omobolanle, Cannes Film Festival board member Lisa Osinloye, and film financier Paul. They discussed the logistics of a movement that has seen Hollywood figures, like Yellowstone’s Denim Richards, returning to Africa, where he now lives full-time between Botswana and South Africa. “I have a television and film company there, and we develop film projects,” Richards told LA Weekly last July when Nigerian record label Chocolate City kicked off its 20th anniversary over the BET Awards weekend with a celebration of African and Caribbean culture in the Hollywood Hills at the AfriCa Haus brunch in honor of Black Music Month. “I’m the director of arts and culture for the African Union with the hope that I can be more of a lynchpin to bring these projects to light.” “One of the biggest devils in the room is corruption,” said Kigozi, who had left Uganda for the States and returned as a full-time resident by invitation of the president in 2015. “The way to combat corruption is to get the diaspora community that works for major corporations and industries to return and teach us how. Not every young person in Africa wants to be a farmer. God blessed some of them to be entertainers. We need help fixing our copyright laws and finding ways to monetize our music. You can’t monetize what’s not copyrighted.” In a message delivered by Dupree on behalf of Abbey Walusimbi, Senior Advisor to the President of Uganda and Ambassador of Diaspora Affairs, “The president is committed to fostering strategies that enhance Diaspora inclusion, brain gain, and the integration of the global Black Diaspora. These initiatives are vital to our national development, and this event represents a pivotal moment in our journey toward realizing this vision. Let us come together to build bridges back to Africa, a continent rich with potential and promise. Your engagement is key to our shared success and prosperity.” “Europe and Asia developed and evolved so much when they did this,” Kigozi said. “It’s time for African countries to look inward and welcome the expats back. Uganda has only been free for 62 years. We’re a new country, still learning. We’ve been asking the global diaspora community to help us and guide us to be independent so we can build not just a better Uganda, but a better Africa.”
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