The African Women’s Circle has created a community of women with a passion for Africa and for positive change

Reconnect Africa spoke to Amina Adewusi about the Africa Women’s Circle and the work it is carrying out in inspiring and connecting African professional women in London.

ReConnect Africa: Please tell us a little about you and your own background.

Amina Adewusi: I was born and brought up in London by an English mother and Nigerian father. My interest for Africa started when I first travelled around Nigeria with my family at the age of eleven. I wanted to understand potential solutions to all the challenges I saw; I was angered by a number of injustices and I also fell in love with the place!

I currently work in the Africa funds team for CDC, the UK government's development finance institution. I work with private equity funds to make investments on the continent in sectors which have high job creation potential. I am still surprised that I work in finance! I studied social policy at the LSE, which was amazing. I loved studying about poverty alleviation and I thought I would work for an NGO in West Africa. However, I ended up working as an Africa economist for an investment bank after university and only recently moved to my current role at CDC.

ReConnect Africa: What was the rationale behind setting up the Africa Women’s Circle?

Amina Adewusi: The Africa women's circle was set up to give members a platform to meet other talented women who are passionate about Africa. We encourage our members to work together on projects related to the continent.

ReConnect Africa: What are the key issues that your members grapple with?

Amina Adewusi: Our members are from a wide variety of industries and backgrounds and we are united by our passion for Africa and more often than not, a desire to engage in positive change. 

ReConnect Africa: How frequently do you meet and how are your events structured?

Amina Adewusi: The AWC hosts dinners for our carefully selected members once a quarter at African restaurants in London.

We have been running since mid-2010 so we are challenged to find new restaurants that can accommodate us. A plea to all budding African restaurant owners!

ReConnect Africa: Can you tell us about some of the activities or projects that the group has been involved with?

Amina Adewusi: AWC's members are bankers, artists, lawyers, dancers, entrepreneurs, sportswomen, and sometimes all at the same time! They have different dreams, so there are a wide variety of things they get involved in. For example, one of our members does pro bono consulting for a film school in Kibera, Nairobi.

Another has recently written a children's book of African fables. One of our ladies has photographed Mali's Olympic swimming team. Another is a global hotelier! There are just so many amazing projects and it is the rich diversity of our membership base that brings this.

At our last dinner we partnered with Yale University in the USA to offer our members a trip to Ghana to join Yale students and alumni on a volunteering trip.

ReConnect Africa: With the wide number of networks available to Africans in the UK, why do you think the Africa Women’s Circle is needed and what sets it apart?

Amina Adewusi: The AWC is very special because we hand pick our members so we are sure that all of them are brilliant! We manage to create an informal atmosphere at our dinners which is not at all like a normal networking event.

We are more like a community. Also we often offer complimentary coaching, massage and meditation before our dinners for our women to re-connect to their centre!

ReConnect Africa: What are the main obstacles you have encountered in setting up and running a group – particularly alongside a full-time job - and how have you dealt with them?

Amina Adewusi: The main challenge has been time. It can be really time consuming to organise an event and manage our database. I am very lucky in that our other co-founder, Justine Lutterodt of the Centre for Synchronous Leadership, has a lot of experience in creating extraordinary networks and working with senior leaders

ReConnect Africa: Since the group began three years ago, what would you describe as the key measures of success for you and the benefits it has brought to members?

Amina Adewusi: The key measure for success for me is seeing our members come back time and time again to the network. We are building a special community of women who support one another on businesses, projects, charity work and so much more.

We wanted AWC to connect, inspire and promote women who are passionate about Africa. I think we have largely achieved this, but we still have so much more we can do. One of the main challenges for both Justine Lutterodt and I as co founders, is finding the time to organise the events and hand pick our members. However, it all becomes worth the effort as so many of our members have such positive feedback after attending our quarterly events.  Members benefit greatly from networking with like minded women, and being in the unique environment we create is highly energising and inspiring.