Future Africa Forum was born out of a frustration of things not working as they should across the African continent. Gerald Chirinda, an African entrepreneur, was constantly facing government bureaucracy when launching his ventures. When trying to get a license for an education finance company that he founded in Zimbabwe in 2014, he experienced an 8-month wait for a process that was supposed to take 8-weeks. He asked himself at that point, why do things work this way? Why are things so slow? And, what is the disconnect between business and government?
Gerald realized that complaining was not a strategy and that it was up to him to contribute to a better environment and bring about efficiencies and new ways of thinking within governments, institutions and society.
The idea was to uncover why Africa still comes up against so many challenges that could easily be solved and that other parts of the world have been able to move past. Further motivation came from Gerald’s time traveling on business trips, where he observed that in many regions around the world, citizens seemed so clear on what the vision for their country was – something he felt was missing across certain African countries.

These questions and insights led Gerald to think about what the future of Africa should look like and consider how to cast a vision to a citizenry level.

Future Africa Forum was formed as a platform where African citizens could contribute to a future Africa – one that they envisioned and wanted to live in and be part of.

The organization started in a humble place with just a set of articles and a handful of contributors, but what quickly became apparent was that young African thought-leaders wanted a platform to share their ideas and were looking for a space to connect with a community of like-minded individuals.

Today, Future Africa Forum’s network has grown to more than 70 African experts from across the continent and the diaspora.