I’ll also share ways you can get involved to
align with your own goals and success aspirations.
2024 was a challenging yet transformative year. While we faced personal, professional, and
global adversities, these challenges made way for incredible growth, resilience, and clarity.
Movemeback thrived against the odds, with record achievements across membership,
opportunities, and connections that amplify progress across the Continent.
However, the work we do is multigenerational—it’s a marathon, not a sprint. With 2025 here,
the theme is acceleration. We aim to deepen engagement, scale our impact, and better
enable our community of nearly 100,000 influential Africans to achieve their greatest
aspirations. We’ll offer more comprehensive and tailored member support, expand access to
a significantly wider range of opportunities, and most importantly, empower the community to
connect and collaborate with one another. We’re also branching out with ambitious new
projects under our group including- “The Linkedin for Africa”, “The Continent Fund”, “The
Continent Stories” and perhaps even a new service to help our people find their life-partners
for the continued growth of our communities.
This year is about dreaming bigger and moving faster—together. It’s a time to build on past
victories while boldly tackling the opportunities and challenges ahead. As I look to 2025, I’m
reminded that every great story is powered by its people. Without the stories of individuals,
there is no story to tell.
Let’s make 2025 the year where our collective actions reshape narratives, unlock potential,
and drive lasting impact on the Continent, because we are the architects of the African
Dream. I promise to play my part in helping our people to gain access and to create, amplify,
and share these stories of hope and progress—taking the first bold steps toward realising
the Dream.
So strap in for the update! I’ve tried to keep it short, but there’s a lot to share. If you have
time to read to the end (or at least sections), that would be great. If not, perhaps listen to the
AI podcast summary of the update on Spotify — and don’t miss the calls to action below! A
pdf version is also available for download
Thank you for reading
Reflections on 2024
2024 was a tough year—personally, professionally, globally. I said goodbye to loved ones,
colleagues, bank balances, and even dreams. But loss made room for gains: learning,
resilience, new perspectives, and clarity. It was an exceptional year for growth.
Despite these challenges, Movemeback continued to thrive. In tough conditions for the
ecosystem, 2024 marked another record year of growth: new members, new opportunities,
enabling new connections, and amplifying impact on the Continent. Yet, amidst these
achievements, I’ve realised we’re only 5% of the way through our journey. We are engaged
in critical, multigenerational work: nation building; continent building; and its a marathon, not
a sprint. This understanding excites me but also highlights what’s needed: deeper resources,
bolder bets, more consistent storytelling, and better involvement of the entire community to
accelerate our progress.
Too often, we celebrate major successes quietly, operate in silos catering to subsets of our
community, or are constrained from achieving greater impact due to limited resources. As we
step into 2025, it’s time to shift the narrative for the remaining 95% of our journey. We must
open up access and create opportunities for our members, partners, and institutions to
engage more deeply, benefit more meaningfully, and contribute more boldly to our mission.
My commitment is to scale our efforts significantly: increasing financial investment,
amplifying our storytelling with greater transparency, and expanding community coverage
and access.
Together, we can accelerate our progress—and empower you to fully leverage
this journey for your growth, success, and impact.
2024: The birth of “Africa’s Accelerator”
2024 marked an inflection point: a year of listening, learning, growing, adjusting, and gaining
clarity.
With a community of nearly 100,000 influential Africans in 170 countries generating
combined personal incomes of over $5 billion and covering a diversity of skillsets,
Movemeback is effectively a small virtual nation-state with clout.
Our members share a
commitment to excellence and act as disproportionately large contributors to Africa’s
development through their actions, influence and vision.
We started the year embracing our identity as Africa’s Connector. As the year progressed we
realised our role was more involved - that of a well functioning government accelerating
social and economic development. We had become Africa’s accelerator — not a tech
accelerator but a pan-Continental, nation building accelerator; a vehicle for accelerating
economic development for an entire Continent. We’ve been accelerating jobs, market entry,
trade, skills distribution, innovation, policy development, investment, and nation-building. Put
simply, our mission is to enable the big moves of the individuals, organisations, and
institutions in our community for the greater good. We are achieving this today through three
core offerings:
● Access: Connecting members to the most powerful global network of Africans,
high-impact and bespoke opportunities and hidden intelligence.
● Credibility: Providing a powerful, trusted brand and community to vouch for
members and open doors.
● Know-How: Offering nuanced insights and expertise for success.
Highlights from 2024
We’ve achieved a lot over the last twelve months, and I believe there are six moments that
defined our year:
1. Introducing the Move Persona Framework
Over 10 years of real-life research and millions of data points culminated in the development
of the Movemeback Move Persona Framework. This groundbreaking tool was first
introduced at Harvard Business School and has since helped members identify their next life
move and plan their approach to engaging with the Continent. Standby for widescale rollout
in 2025.
2. Reconnecting with members
We connected with hundreds of members around the world to better understand their needs
through hundreds of hours of interviews. These conversations have directly inspired and
influenced our next iteration of products and services.
3. New regions & global member events
After a flagship event in Nairobi in 2023 attracting 500 members with just 24 hours’ notice,
we continued hosting inaugural MMB Connect events in new locations, including Saudi
Arabia, as part of our expanding Middle Eastern presence.
4. More public contributions
Movemeback’s voice gained recognition in global conversations. We were invited to
contribute at leading institutions such as the London School of Economics, Harvard
Business School, Imperial College and during the UN General Assembly and World Bank
annual meetings. Our contributions were featured by Reuters, the World Economic Forum,
and various other international outlets. I also shared parts of my story never told with the
likes of the How I crushed it Podcast and LSE Think Tank Podcast Part I & Part II
5. Introducing new opportunities
We piloted and rolled out new and exciting opportunity types, including paid expertise calls,
investments, short-term contracts, fractional roles, board positions, company acquisitions,
government contracts / tenders and partnerships.
6. Identifying areas for improvement
The most rewarding part of the year was gaining crystal clarity on the areas where we
needed to grow and improve; including:
● Communication: We aim to better share our story, achievements and involve the
broader community in the journey.
● Opportunities: We’ll expand our offerings to include more unique and hard to find
opportunities. This will include informal business opportunities, structured deals,
early-career professional roles and opportunities for creatives.
● Community: Our 100,000-strong network is underutilised. We want to enhance
visibility, connectivity and accessibility within the community.
● User Experience: Our digital platform, once cutting-edge, needs upgrades to deliver
on our goals; we’ll be launching a mobile app for members.
● Scaling: Balancing our ambitions across industries, countries and use cases proved
challenging. We’re refining strategies for better scalability.
The African Dream...
Nearly ten years ago, I began a journey to transform the African Continent. Naively, I
expected it to take five years. That would have been 2020; by which time we were all
gearing up for greatness - “this is going to be the year, I can feel it” - but nature had other
ideas. Dreams were put on ice as we were reminded of our humanity, frailty, and the
importance of patience and long-term thinking.
As we step into 2025, it’s time to reset and revive those dreams. At the heart of this reset is
the African Dream: a vision of a continent where every child born has the means to pursue
their purpose and realise their potential.
At times this year it has felt like that dream was over before it started. Headlines highlighted
Africans leaving the Continent en masse—whether by rubber dinghies across the
Mediterranean or business class flights to Canada.
Yet beneath these narratives lay an
alternate reality. At Movemeback in 2024, we saw a record number of applications, inquiries,
and interest in engaging with Africa. While more complex than five years ago, the interest is
undeniable.
The contradictions in current narratives suggest thinktanks, innovators, development
institutions and policymakers have long miscalculated. From the articulation of brain drain to
business progress defined by foreign investment, and success and / or talent measured in
accordance with western ideals, the evidence suggests we’ve been chasing someone else’s
dream. The metrics for African development and progress need to change.
Conversely, we’ve observed a significant shift in how people think about and engage with
Africa. Choices are no longer binary, predictable, or permanent.
Africans increasingly see
the world as theirs. As the New York Times aptly noted, the world is becoming more African,
and Africans are embracing their identity and dreams, wherever they may be. Today, the
African dream might mean living in Amsterdam while supporting a project in Harare; rolling
out a European franchise across Francophone Africa; splitting time between London and
Accra; or returning to Ethiopia to work remotely for a global tech company that actually has
no real African interests.
Nonetheless, the scale of the task must not be underestimated. A lot must be built, changed,
and learned for “the dream” to be realised. This is multigenerational work—work that
requires sustaining hope in an era dominated by short-term goals and instant gratification.
We’ve learned much from the victories and failed starts of the last decade. The key lesson is
that there are capable people ready and hungry to realise this dream. It only takes a few
believers to inspire and lead nations. Therefore, it follows that Movemeback’s mission to
connect and engage Africa’s brightest minds with the Continent remains central to realising
the African Dream. The idea of ‘moving back’ has evolved, but the trend endures. Africa’s
demographic momentum, connectivity, and youth make it an unstoppable force for global
impact.
The last decade has been a recalibration, a proof of concept, and a signal.
Now, it’s time for
the African Dream—by Africans, for Africans, measured on African terms. At the
forefront of this effort is the Movemeback community. Collectively, we are Africa’s secret
weapon: the architects of the African Dream.
2025 and beyond: Movemeback 2.0
Having built a formidable global network, influenced millions to consider investing their
energy in Africa, and enabled thousands of organisations to enter and grow in Africa, we are
ready for our next set of challenges! As we gear up for 2025, we’re evolving our model to
deepen our impact:
1. Membership plans:
We’ve received thousands of requests from members who want more from Movemeback
and I’m excited to share that we'll be launching long awaited membership plans.
Getting ahead in our world requires clarity of vision, understanding of the environment,
access to opportunity and demonstration of credibility. Nowhere is this more relevant than on
the Continent and so we’re taking membership to the next level. We will demand more of
you to demonstrate your credentials, alignment and commitment to our community, but in
return we will deliver tools and services for planning, credibility, access and intelligence on
an unprecedented scale to accelerate your path to building ‘you’ and the continent. Register
interest for our waitlist here
2. Enhanced opportunities:
Our members are demanding a more dynamic relationship with the Continent and with that
the demand for traditional jobs is being rivalled by other categories of opportunity. We’re
expanding our offering to include more complex and unstructured business opportunities and
deals (e.g. franchises, acquisitions), paid expert network calls, fractional roles, board
positions, partnerships, and more. As Nigerians would say, we'll be a place for “good
transactions”. Let us know what type of opportunities you’re looking for here
3. Community as a service:
In 2025 you will start to experience the community more actively. We have lots planned to
allow you to better leverage other members. New initiatives include:
● MMB Circles - join a life-long cohort with other members with whom you will
navigate life and the Continent
● MMB Connect - meet with members and ambassadors in your local city (or a city
you’re travelling to) every month
● MMB Collaboration - connect directly with specific members based on your needs
or interests
● Movemeapp - a new mobile app to bring the community closer together in real-time
Register your interest or share suggestions of services you’d like to see here
4. “Africa’s LinkedIn”:
While Movemeback has been curating the architects of the African dream (i.e. the big net
contributors of growth), we’ve noticed there’s less momentum around building the actual
workforce for the African dream.
I believe over 90% of Africa's talent is invisible because it
doesn’t present “well” in a western context and therefore as an entity is hard to measure,
appreciate and utilise. For that reason, we’re building “Africa’s Linkedin”, a new mobile first
platform - redefining the professional identity to make Africa’s talent visible across the
Continent and accessible to the world! Stay tuned for more and get in touch if you’d like to
get involved or share thoughts.
How can we help you?
2025 will be characterised by personalising Movemeback to you and your sub communities.
We want to better understand how we can help accelerate you toward your next big move
and the ones that follow. Whether you identify as an ‘African ambassador’ living overseas; or
you’ve sold the house and moved back to Kigali; or you’re in Timbuktu having never left - it
doesn’t matter - we’re relevant in all contexts. Specifically, we’re rolling out nine pathways to
cater to the differing personas and specific needs of individuals in our community.
To get a head start on setting you up for the year, below are some quick actions you can
take to help us to roll out new services to you. We’ll continue to be in touch throughout the
year to get to know you better and invite you to access tools and services catered to your
needs.
● Which service do you need - Quickly update us on your current goals and your
intended next big move to help us to better support you with bespoke access,
opportunities, and connections. Update your move persona here in a couple of
minutes
● What type of opportunities are you seeking - Tell us what type of opportunities are
most relevant to you right now: i.e. jobs, supplementary income, funding, looking for
a team, expertise, marketing, advisors, or brand building.
● Join our Africa Expert Network and earn sharing your expertise? - Let us know
your unique expertise so we can connect you to paid expert opportunities with
investment funds, corporates and policymakers etc. Register your interest and
expertise quickly.
● Want to share your story or project with our community - Let us share your story
and build your personal / organisational brand. Register your interest and story vision
● Get support for your startup / business / organisation - let us know about any
challenges or opportunities you have and how we can support your organisation
● Become a Movemeback City Ambassador - a highly visible member in your City
and lead community engagement, initiatives and events. Register your interest
● Do we have your correct contact details - help us to stay in touch with you with
opportunities, connections, updates and more by updating your contact details
We’re growing up - can you help us?
We’ve grown Movemeback to become one of Africa’s most recognised and cherished
brands, trusted by some of the world’s most renowned brands and institutions (e.g. Uber,
Meta, World Bank, McKinsey, BCG, UN) and a team spanning 15 countries backed by the
likes of Google, London Stock Exchange and the office of the Mayor of London. We’ve
achieved this with $0 of external funding.
We have built, and learnt (+ made mistakes) on our
own money and time, but now it’s time to grow up and invite others to join and support us on
various parts of the journey. Our plans for the next 10 years are audacious and we believe
we are on track to disrupt the way emerging economies accelerate economic growth while
also redefining how the entire world understands and measures talent, putting Africa and
Africans at the centre of the future workforce.
Here are a few ways you can get more
involved and help us in 2025
1. Refer new members: Help us create the most powerful community on Earth and
ensure every African of excellence who aligns with our values (do well, do good,
make a move), is part of our community. Connect us via email to
referrals@movemeback.com or share your personal invitation code {{user_referral}}
with your prospective member to use during registration at https://mmb.africa/join
2. Help write the next chapter of our story: Are you a storyteller, creative director,
designer or influencer? Would you like to help us redevelop our brand, and or help us
communicate what will be one of the stories of the decade? Get in touch with us at
brand@movemeback.com
3. Introduce us to organisations: We would love to talk to organisations or institutions
you are affiliated with that align with our vision and would be good partner members
and bring value to our community, while benefiting from access to the network. Get in
touch with us at partners@movemeback.com
4. Support us financially: Donate to our cause of driving social and economic
development in Africa. If you believe in a healthy, prosperous and united Africa where
young people are given the opportunities to progress and you see merit in our unique
approach, we invite you or your organisation to consider supporting our non-profit
agendas via donations. Register your interest here
5. Invest: Own a part of our movement and share in our future success. We’ll be
fundraising across our various initiatives, including Movemeback, “Linkedin for
Africa”, Continent Stories, and our Executive Search and Expert Network platforms.
Register your interest here
6. You tell us: If you have any other ideas of ways you can support or collaborate we’d
love to hear from you. Share your interest and ideas here
Continuing the Mission - Other Projects
In true African fashion, whenever there’s 24 hours in a day, there’s room for a side hustle.
We’re obsessed with transforming the continent from all angles and here are a few projects
that connect with our mission that you might also be interested in.
The Continent Group
The Continent® and The Continent Group is our new brand space and corporate group
within which much of our broader work transforming Africa will reside. We are building a
mega brand Africans everywhere will be proud of.
The Continent Stories:
As our parents’ generation ages, we risk losing their invaluable stories and cultural context.
We’re launching the largest-ever drive to empower young people to document the stories of
their elders, creating a digital Pan-African archive. This work is critical for protecting African
history, culture and operating practices. Let us know if you’re interested in supporting or
contributing to this work?
The Continent Fund:
With our combined community income projected to hit $10 billion in the near future and our
close proximity to African investment opportunities, we see too many high-potential
unfunded opportunities to not take action. Our goal is to deliver African capital for African
ventures in areas that have been overlooked due to a lack of local understanding. We’re
piloting community angel investments before rolling out a structured fund.
Register your
interest if you’d like to explore investing with us
The Continent Forum
A curated annual retreat for the foremost architects of the African Dream. Bringing together
pan-African and diaspora leaders of today and tomorrow from entrepreneurial, business,
development, policy, and creative sectors to unwind, build connections, and collectively
shape the future of the Continent. Know someone who should be part of this Forum?
Nominate them here
“MoveMeTogether”:
Just a code name for now! Are you looking for a husband, wife, or life partner? Many in our
community believe we are well-placed to solve this challenge.
We’ve resisted but now
recognise it’s an important and failing part of our Continent’s longevity. Do you think we
should pursue this? Are you interested in the curated Movemeback life-connections
initiative? Let us know your thoughts / opinions
Final Thoughts
2024 was a year of recalibration. It has set the stage for 2025 to be a transformative year for
Movemeback, our community and our shared aspirations.
In 2025 you can expect bigger,
faster, closer; and you should hold us to account on community, communication, opportunity
and scale! With your support, we can accelerate the realisation of the African Dream—not
just for us but for future generations.
Connect with me / us
I’d love to stay better connected over the course of the year. Feel free to reach out via this
email if you need anything.
I’ll also be sharing more on public platforms over the year so also
connect / follow on social platforms
Connect Chale on Linkedin
Follow Chale on Instagram
Follow Movemeback on Linkedin
Follow Movemeback on Instagram
Thank you for your belief and commitment and for being an integral part of our journey to our
shared vision. Here’s to moving forward boldly into the new year and building the future on
the Continent together!
Warm regards,
Charles Sekwalor
CEO & Founder |
Movemeback & The Continent Group
“Manufactured in the UK, sourced from Ghana, distributed Globally”
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