The 124th Annual National Black Business League (NBBL) Conference will rekindle its old ties to the African Motherland while expanding the promise of economic development opportunities for African Americans at home and abroad during the August 21-25 gathering in Atlanta. 

In welcoming African Union Ambassador to the United States Hilda Suka-Mafudze as one of the keynote speakers, some key conference participants hold the expectation that she will highlight the significance of Africa’s economic opportunities to members of the African Diaspora, and that she might shine some new light on the means of economic empowerment through mutual trade. 

Coalescing around the theme “We Are Together,” the conference coincides with Atlanta’s Black Business Weekend and anticipates more than 2,000 attendees. 

“A career diplomat with experience that spans the African continent,” her bio notes say, “Ambassador Suka-Mafudze’s core mandate is to enhance and maintain existing bilateral ties with the United States. These ties strengthen democratic institutions, advance trade and investment, knowledge sharing, promote peace and security, and mutual relationships between the U.S and all 55 AU member countries based on culture and shared values.”

LONG HISTORY

The National Business League (NBL), originally named the Negro Business League, was founded principally by Booker T. Washington in 1900, says Dr. Ken L. Harris, 16th National President of the NBL since Booker T. Washington.

Harris holds a PhD in economics with his headquarters in Tuskegee, AL. 

“From the original National Negro Business League, the name evolved to National Business League in 1966 with the 11th president/CEO Berkeley Burell who died in 1961.

“Today, 61 years beyond the Civil Rights Era, Black people still find themselves at the bottom of the economic platform and spectrum in society,” said Harris. “So, Booker T.’s message is more relevant today than it was 124 years ago when he founded this organization in pursuit of Black economic freedom and liberation and empowerment.

“We have chapters in all 50 states. We have international offices in Cape Town, South Africa. And we have our newly remodeled national headquarters in Tuskegee. Why Tuskegee? Because that’s where we were founded. That’s the home of Booker T. Washington.” 

The NBL has $26 million in annual revenue and has 27 full time staff members, according to the president. 

AFRICAN PRESENCE

The notion that Booker T. Washington was one of the first exemplars of the Pan Africanist Movement may come as a surprise to many of his critics, but Harris reports that Washington actively campaigned against making Liberia an American colony.

“Booker T. Washington had the idea that Liberia should be a decolonized state,” Harris said. “And he pursued that idea relentlessly with the U.S. government, acting on their behalf. He even invited the President and his delegation to Tuskegee to have that conversation. And he was very successful in convincing the U.S. to pull back on colonization. And more importantly, he tried to establish an economic platform at Tuskegee and around the country, where he coined the term ‘Negro Wall Street’ in Tulsa, OK, which became the theme for Black Wall Streets all across America. And that idea was to be extended upon the African continent.” 

Harris says the effort continues in the NBL. In tribute to Washington and his efforts to keep Liberia decolonized, the 2024 conference has Liberia’s 26th President, Joseph Nyumah Boakai, as keynote speaker for the Friday, August 23’s Pan-African Diaspora Black Business Luncheon.

“We’re excited to have the president come and speak, to connect with Black American business owners,” Harris said. “But even more importantly, we will have over 32 Pan African countries represented at this conference, which is historic and unprecedented in terms of business development.”

MESSAGE FROM CONGO

Her Excellency Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of Congo, delivered a missive of appreciation to the NBL Conference on behalf of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, “for its visionary leadership and its strengthening of the bonds between Africa and her Diaspora.” 

“It is with a heavy heart that I draw your attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the eastern regions of our country,” the minister said. “For years, this conflict has brought untold suffering to millions of our citizens, yet it remains largely underreported on the global stage. 

“The government of the DRC is committed to addressing this crisis and restoring peace to our nation. But we cannot do this alone…Together, we can ensure that the DRC achieves the peace it so desperately needs, and that Africa, as a whole, realizes its full development potential.”

DIASPORA UNITED

DeWayne Boyd, the Former Minister of Agriculture of the AU-recognized Sixth Region SOAD (African Descendants in the Diaspora), was responsible for bringing a number of African statesmen/women into the conference. 

“The fact that it is being held in Atlanta, which is considered to be the Black Mecca – for its financial importance, its Black wealth, and being of interest in itself – is of primary importance,” said Boyd. “Secondly, the NBL in its collaboration with the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the World Council of Mayors, and their effort to infuse the 124th conference with a Pan-Africanist outreach, is a great achievement through linking Black wealth, or economic wherewithal, to its African counterpart.

“It’s a conscious effort to unite the African Diaspora community to Mother Africa via trade and development, which has to this point in our history been attempted and spoken about, but rarely acted upon until now. They’re actually engaging in this collaboration to economically empower the Black community at this time, along with Africa.” 

As to the DRC and the Sudan and the humanitarian crises taking place there, Boyd said: “In the east of the DRC, the genesis of that conflict is in respect to the exploitation of the vast mineral wealth of that area. It’s not just DRC and Sudan that need closer ties to Black America. Being conscious of the reality in DRC is part of the National Business League’s effort to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis and to assist where we can with resources. But another part of NBL’s African agenda is to address the economic and development opportunities that exist of which we should partake. 

“For far too long we’ve been led to believe that Africa is a poor continent full of war, misery, disease, and all of that,” Boyd added. “Yes, that’s a reality, but the other reality is the enormous wealth of the continent that has been coveted and savagely exploited by other nations, especially in the DRC where we Black Americans have not been in the picture. And now we are seeking to insert ourselves into that scenario for Africa’s economic development and for our own economic development at this time.”

The 124th NBBL Conference has put forth an almost heroic effort to increase the wholesome and productive engagement of African descendants in the Diaspora with their not-so-distant brothers and sisters of the African Motherland.