African Privatisation Network (APN), the continental body for privatization agencies in Africa has launched a plan to woo wealthy Africans in the diaspora to come home and invest in the continent through the various national privatization programmes. As a first step towards achieving this, APN has invited international businessmen and industrialists of African descent to an APN Privatisation Summit opening on June 1, in Abuja.

Economic experts, private sector leaders and others who converged at the Pan-African University, Lekki, Lagos, recently, concurred that Nigerians in the diaspora are a critical factor in the federal government's efforts towards seeking foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country.

Transnational migration means a loss of human resources for many developing countries. However, migrants in the diaspora contribute to the economic development of their country of origin. They set up new business relations, investments and know-how transfer. Sometimes thus the "brain drain" is followed by a "brain gain".

A two-day workshop designed to create a framework for exploring ways of promoting the contributions of Ghanaians in the Diaspora for sustainable national development took place in Accra on May 14 and 15. Organised by the Social Enterprise Development Foundation (SEND) in collaboration with the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), the forum examined ways through which to maximise resource mobilization from Ghanaians abroad for execution of projects back home.