Diaspora Engagement Seminar | Effective Use of Web Portals to Connect with Diasporas

On October 23, 2012, USAID held a Diaspora Engagement Seminar, “Connecting to Diaspora Communities Through Web Portals: Opportunities and Limitations,” featuring Molly Mattessich (VEGA Alliance) and Eric Guichard (GRAVITAS Capital Advisors Inc.). The seminar began with introductory remarks from Senior Advisor for Diaspora and Remittances at USAID, Yvon Resplandy, who stressed the importance of diaspora contributions to development. In addition to their efforts through philanthropy, advocacy, and volunteerism, diasporas give an estimated $350 billion in remittances to developing countries. According to Resplandy, the existing challenge of connecting with such widely dispersed diaspora groups has been made easier through the growing use of web portals.

Molly Mattessich began the presentations by highlighting a web portal she helped develop: Africa Rural Connect (ARC) – an online global philanthropic network aimed at finding answers to Africa’s greatest rural agricultural challenges. According to Mattessich, ARC was started by the National Peace Corps Association to address food security concerns in African countries. The web portal is designed to connect African farmers with the African diaspora and the Peace Corps community in an effort to collaborate and develop agri-business plans. She also stressed the concept of ‘crowdsurfing,’ which is ARC’s emphasis on expanding the scale of already existing projects and ideas. Users are also encouraged to ‘remix’ ideas, allowing others to adapt and apply project ideas to their own environments. ARC has approximately 20,000 users from 140 countries.

The second web portal, Homestrings Inc, is a private investment platform directed at emerging markets and was created by Eric Guichard. Homestrings was developed as a result of Guichard’s personal frustration of being unable to participate in the ‘African growth story.’ Homestrings was launched in August 2011 as a tool to give diaspora investors the right information to access investment opportunities. According to him, up to 25 percent of annual remittances to Africa, an equivalent of US$10 billion, were identified as investment-seeking. Homestrings began its investment operations in February 2012 and currently manages US$25 million in investments. Guichard states that Homestrings has been successful at selling infrastructure bonds, but also offers a growing portfolio of investment opportunities which include diaspora bonds, private equity, and housing loans. Homestrings user registration has been growing at 100 users a month and the company is currently looking to expand its operations to Asia and Latin America in the near future.

In the greenroom interview below, Eric Guicahrd and Molly Mattessich share some of their key takeaways from their presentations: