New France-Africa Summit: A New Beginning, A New Partnership

From Paris to Montpellier, France, it was a week of activities from October 4th to October 10th for our Founder/CEO, Marvella Odili, who was invited by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the French Embassy, Nigeria to participate in 3 major events: Ambition Africa, The Bpifrance Inno Génération (BIG) and The New Africa-France Summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron.

Entrepreneurs, artists, creators, researchers, captains of industry, technocrats, innovators, students, sports personalities and NGOs from France and all over Africa came together under one platform to brainstorm, share ideas and collaborate on the New France-Africa partnership where civil society will take centre stage.

For President Emmanuel Macron, France must assume its fair share of "Africanness" noting that nearly 7 million French people are intimately linked to Africa.

He reiterated France's pledge to return artworks that were looted from the Abomey Palace in Benin at the end of the 19th century.

During this working visit to France, Marvella talked about her work on the empowerment of marginalized women and the education of marginalized girls to people from all walks of life.

She was fortunate to meet the incoming France Ambassador to Nigeria who was gracious enough to take pictures with her.

It was also a time to rediscover Paris and discover Montpellier.

Suffice it to say, it was truly a great learning and exchange experience; an unforgettable one.