About us
The Diaspora Circle
A large group of immigrants from Africa to the West in the last 20 years, have lived long enough in their adopted homelands to have built a family, a career and a financial footing, no matter the size. While we are proud of these accomplishments, there usually remains burning personal reflections on our future in these adopted homes; the long term welfare of our children; whether or not to retire and move back home. The list continues…
The Diaspora Circle was born out of a need to find connections to answer these questions and more as we evolve and build our life’s story. From matters concerning our adopted homelands to matters that include our land of origin, there are too many questions going unanswered.
Additionally, there is a teeming number of us who have evolved to a place where we are clear about the one thing we will continue to do our whole lives; some of us have built it up to be able to sustain us financially and it has become our life’s work. Some of us are still on our road to this pace and have unanswered questions.
We are founders, innovators, builders, tinkerers, visionaries, thinkers, counselors. The Diaspora Circle was created for this – to build a community of Africans living and working in the diaspora who would enjoy a place to land ….. where we can convene, interact, innovate and perhaps find solutions to some of the most pressing needs of our places of origin.
It is ambitious but among us are some of the greatest problem solvers our motherlands didn’t know it needed. Doing nothing is an unwise decision.
Join me and others like you for thought provoking conversations, riveting debates and a call to try something different. Because within us, we have everything it takes.
Cynthia Ibe Ezeani
The Founder
Cynthia Ibe Ezeani is a lawyer, social justice advocate and nonprofit strategist. She immigrated to the United States over a decade ago with her family. She is a 2014 recipient of the prestigious Scott Ross Center fellowship in Nonprofit Management. Her professional spectrum has spanned through civil litigation, commercial law practice, nonprofit management and public service.
She founded GrantsCentral in 2015 to help nonprofit organizations build capacity to actualize their mission and goals. She has secured grants for nonprofits and helped them build networks. She has also mentored young immigrant visionaries through building their own nonprofits and guided startups on how to craft and develop corporate social responsibility.
With TheDiasporaCircle, Cynthia along with some of the brightest diaspora minds in innovation, entrepreneurship and governance are raising a community of changemakers committed to answer some of our generations toughest questions as it relates to diasporans and in the near future sit at the table where decisions on governance in our land of birth are made.