Africa's secret weapon: The diaspora

By Amini Kajunju, Special to CNN

updated 7:06 AM EDT, Fri November 1, 2013

Amini Kajunju: Connecting Africa and the United States

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• African Diaspora can boost continent's prosperity, says Amini Kajunju
• They can dispel myths about Africa and help shape foreign policy, she says
• Skilled diasporan professionals are investing in Africa

Editor's note: A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Amini Kajunju is the first African woman to ever serve at the helm of The Africa-America Institute, the oldest nonprofit organization of its kind in the United States.

(CNN) -- Each year, bright, optimistic Africans leave home to earn an education or seek a better economic life abroad for themselves and their families. With fewer opportunities in their home country, many never return home.

The African Diaspora is broadly defined by the African Union Commission as "peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union."

Globally, Africans in the diaspora are spread out across the continents. In North America, there are 39 million from the African Diaspora; 113 million in Latin America; 13.6 million in the Caribbean; and 3.5 million in Europe, the World Bank estimates. Read more