EMY Africa and the Elegance of Global African Power
On a sultry July weekend, London felt like the epicentre of global African sophistication. It wasn’t Parliament nor Piccadilly pulling the power players this time. It was EMY Africa. In our 10th year, our platform once again flexed its curatorial might, assembling a weekend of gravitas and glamour that gave the diaspora its own Davos-meets-Vanity-Fair moment.
The scene? The Africa Rising Symposium at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Under the high arches of the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, the conversation turned heady. The theme was bold, ‘Beyond Potential: Africa’s Age of Performance,’ and so were the people in the room. Sharp minds, sharper convictions.
Dr James Orleans-Lindsay, stately in voice and vision, spoke not just of business but of legacy, and moving beyond rhetoric to action. Alex Dadey had a sit-down with the host, Elvina Quaison, about the realities of doing business in Africa. British MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy cut through platitudes with grounded policy insight. Taponeswa Mavunga, Nyasha Michelle, and Chris Soboh brought a rhythm to the room by offering sharp, actionable takes on the intersections of media, identity, and purpose. And when Richard Mofe-Damijo, the living sculpture of Nigerian cinema, took the stage, the room exhaled in admiration.
But it was the evening of the next day that gilded the weekend. The EMY Africa Soirée at The Waldorf Hilton crossed just being a another stop on the social calendar and became a moment of cultural pageantry. Internally, we call it the 55th African State Convention: The Diaspora Ball. Kaftans swept past gold-threaded gowns. Conversation danced through candlelight. Champagne played host to whispered partnerships, while the DJ and live band performed with the elegance of royalty. Culture, for once, didn’t feel curated. It felt lived.
The guest list read like a constellation of modern African influence: Alex Dadey, Dr James Orleans-Lindsay, Lady Princess Bright, Bell Bibeiro-Addy, Touré Roberts, David Wej, Rudolf Walker, Michelle McKinney Hammond, among others.
That weekend, London yielded to something larger. It was reminded that when the diaspora gathers in purpose and pleasure, something shifts. We’re proud to have staged a moment of global Black synchronicity.
