It was clear to me quite young in life that the world is full of creative, dynamic people, who with a little help can achieve great things for themselves, their families and their communities. I also realised that not everyone has the resources to make things happen on their own, but that a little help can send them a long way. My mother used to be a prominent Ghanaian civil servant who worked incredibly hard to give my brother and I a good education. She took us with her to provide food and other help to poorer families in our area and I saw how transformative a little support can be, something which has always stayed with me. Everywhere we went it was the mothers upon whom the families relied, and I saw that empowering women led to great and positive change. Life took an exciting turn when my step-father, Rear Admiral Tom Annan, moved from being head of the Ghanaian navy to become the country’s ambassador to India. I went to The British School in New Delhi and was suddenly surrounded by people from all over the world with their different food, languages, cultures and ideas, something which has made me easily adaptable to different places and customs. My step-father died when I was sixteen and we had to return home to Ghana where my mother picked up the pieces of her career, eventually becoming Executive Secretary of the Ghana National Commission on Children. I went to an unusual and exceptional high school, the SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College in Tema. Pupils were evenly split between those from privileged backgrounds who’d been to the best schools in Africa and others chosen from orphanages all over the continent. What they had in common was extraordinary minds, selected as they were entirely on the basis of high academic achievement and strong character. Class and wealth were not important within the school walls, and the students flourished, going on to the best universities in the world, proving to me that there is potential in everyone, regardless of their start in life. My Higher Education began at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, graduating Summa Cum Laude in Biochemistry and Biotechnology before taking my Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Georgetown University, Washington DC. This was the time of the global financial crisis and I had to support myself through my Master’s, like many other students, working in a pharmacy and a pet shop to pay my way. At the same time, I had started building up my contacts at the United Nations, and after a brief dalliance with the idea of setting up my own pharmaceutical company, I was lucky enough to land an internship with the organisation in Armenia before being taken on as an employee of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). I’m very proud to say that I’m still a global Goodwill Ambassador for UNEP and its work is very dear to my heart. UNEP taught me the importance of sustainability and the principal is a key element to my investment strategy to this day

My Armenia experience involved working with a number of multinationals including Athgo International and MAP International as I functioned as a consultant, attracting investment for global UN projects. It taught me how vital it is to harness private capital to bring out the best of developing nations. I saw how it was possible to build pipelines of funding for Africa’s creative economy while successfully navigating the challenges involved in inserting private capital into small and medium scale businesses. My work devising fund raising strategies in the areas of climate change adaptation and poverty alleviation had the added and vital benefit of the economic empowerment of women in particular. I was fortunate enough to meet many ultra-high net worth individuals and families and could see how vital these people are in making a success of such projects. This invaluable experience led me first to LJ Africa Advisors and then to the founding of Roberta Annan Consulting, which was rebranded to Annan Capital Partners in 2016. I realised I have a talent for finding the connection between investors and opportunities and grew to understand that impact investment can have enormous benefits when financial support is given to the drive, passion and entrepreneurial spirit of people with a dream. I led significant projects for all sorts of businesses throughout Africa from multinational corporations to small to medium-sized enterprises to establishing foundations for a number of high-net-worth individuals. Realising that investors need to have the confidence that I believe in the businesses I’m asking them to support I started putting in my own capital to show them I was willing to put my money where my mouth was. In 2011 I founded the Africa Fashion Foundation, specifically to support the growing fashion industry on the continent. I realised how the sector is always desperate for new ideas and that the creative potential of Africans had been wasted or ignored for so long in Europe and the United States in particular. As later with the consulting business, the Foundation was launched with my own money as while I understood the potential of African entrepreneurs, I had no track record to point to to prove it. Ten years on and the message is now getting across that Africa is open for business and brimming with talent. Fashion was an early interest of mine I put on my first fashion show at the age of eleven and today my horizons have expanded to include all manner of creative industries. It’s also a sector which attracts woman and the young; I firmly believe it is they who will bring the continent’s amazing culture and energy to the wider world.

My mission to connect investors with talent led me to many businesses and boardrooms. In 2017 I became Senior Market Liaison for Fieldstone Africa, looking after business and marketing strategy for this highly regarded independent investment bank and financial services provider in energy and infrastructure on the continent. My board memberships include, For Afrika USA Board, Africa International Design Awards, Industrie Africa, The Rose of Sharon Foundation, and The European Commission Devco Steering Committee for the International Colloquium for the Creative Economy. Possibly my proudest achievement to date however, is the launch in 2021 of the Impact Fund for African Creatives. It’s a €100 million fund which will channel investment into small and medium-sized African creative and fashion enterprises. It will provide development grants of up to €50,000 to selected projects and offer a further €250,000 – €2 million in venture capital for African entrepreneurs. Successful applicants will be put through a unique skills-building program to hone their skills and infrastructure building to ensure that their creative flair is backed up by the knowledge they need to succeed in business. I’m looking forward excitedly in 2025 to the publication of a new book, Ghana Orange Economy, which is a collection of words and pictures I have brought together to showcase some of my homeland’s finest creative talents. I hope that one day there will be such a volume for every country in Africa and that the books will become a source of inspiration for people of imagination and drive.

Africa is a continent of the young, and here as ever and everywhere, youth is the future. I want our young people to think freely without limits, to know their own value and not to underestimate themselves or their abilities. I ask them to follow their passion, to use that creative drive and hunger for success to drive them forward, but to remember that determination, persistence, hard work and discipline are equally fundamental to achieving their goals. And I ask them to remember where they came from and to give back. My career has centred upon impact investing, philanthropy and advocacy and I assure them that time and money spent on building sustainability, social justice and the empowerment of communities will be repaid a thousand-fold.