From Festivals to Boardrooms: The Women Turning Culture, Capital, and AI into Power

The Africa-American Women’s Economic Empowerment Forum, themed “Leading for Economic Impact,” was held at Rollins College, Crummer School of Business alongside the Zora Festival on Jan 30, 2026 convened women leaders, board members, institutional partners, investors, technologists, and community organizers from Africa and the African diaspora to examine how women can move from inspiration to ownership and governance in the global economy.

The Importance of Women's Economy and Empowerment

Speakers emphasized that when women have secure housing, access to capital, and seats at decision-making tables—including boards, investment committees, and city councils—they start businesses, educate children, and anchor communities. Investment professionals and institutional leaders described how targeted capital and board-level advocacy are already:

• Lowering interest rates on housing

• Expanding women-owned businesses

• Improving schools, infrastructure, and cultural institutions

AI for women is Access and Enablement

A central theme was the transformative role of AI. Participants stressed that, used wisely,

AI restores rather than replaces women’s leadership by:

• Reducing the cost of access to knowledge

• Removing traditional gatekeepers

• Enabling women to design solutions grounded in lived experience

Initiatives like the Africa Earth Micro Lending AI Fund ($1M Micro fund to be launched in the 3rd Quarter 2026 by Anna McCoy) are designed to pair funding and technical capacity—equipping women already serving their communities with AI tools that create multiplier effects in their businesses and local economies.

Ownership, governance, intellectual property rights

The forum also highlighted the importance of structural power: women must not only lead programs but also hold formal ownership and governance rights. That includes:

• Creating, registering, and protecting intellectual property

• Understanding and influencing local laws, regulatory processes, and municipal plans

• Securing institutional access to banks, development agencies, foundations, and corporate partners

Gaps in financial, legal, media, and board literacy were identified as barriers to fully leveraging funding and institutional relationships, pointing to a need for targeted training that prepares women to sit confidently in rooms where capital, policy, and culture are shaped.

Stories from Eatonville, the Zora Festival

Stories from Eatonville, the Zora Festival, and small towns in the U.S. and Africa illustrated how culture, history, and intergenerational leadership underpin economic strategies. Elders, mothers, and grandmothers shared how their “light” and resilience are opening pathways for children and grandchildren to access education, leadership roles, and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Women are poised to shape boards, institutions, AI, culture and capital

The gathering closed with a clear mandate: this is a generational turning point. Women—especially African and African-descended women—are poised not only to launch enterprises, but to shape boards, institutions, and funding flows, combining culture, capital, AI, and community to build sustainable, scalable models that transform local communities and help redefine the global economy.

Featured Speakers for Women Economic Empowerment Forum, Zora Festival 2026

Dr. Ajoritsedere (Josephine) Awosika

Dr. Ajoritsedere (Josephine) Awosika is an accomplished administrator with over three decades’ experience in public sector governance. She served as Chairperson of Access Bank Group. She was at various times, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministries of Internal Affairs, Power and Science and Technology. She is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacy. She is a transformational leader following the footsteps of her late father Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh who was a Nigerian politician and the finance minister of Nigeria from 1957 to 1966.

Anna McCoy

Anna McCoy is the Founder and Executive Strategist of Anna McCoy Global Ventures, LLC (AMGV), driving economic mobility through leadership and applied AI. She co-founded UrbanAmerica, securing $800M and helping create 27,000 jobs. Anna has strengthened women entrepreneurs in 30+ countries, building training platforms and advancing leadership through Empowering a Billion Women and Woman Act Now. Her firm, AMGV, helps non-profits and NGOs apply AI to work smarter—and trains corporate teams to integrate AI for improved operations. She develops AI-ready workforces and is leading the $1M Africa Earth AI Micro-Lending Fund, launching in 2026 to expand opportunity for women across Africa.

Irene Kakooza

Irene Kakooza is Brand Director for Range Rover, USA. Her extensive background at JLR included roles as Regional Business Manager, Franchise Manager, and Experiential Manager covering Sub-Sahara Africa. Through her leadership, Jaguar supports the campaign #GiveHerACrown, which amplifies women’s voices through fashion, storytelling, and education. In 2024 seven designers took the global stage at New York Fashion Week.

Muzinga Melu

Muzinga Melu is the Managing Director, CEO and Board Member of Absa Bank PLC Zambia. She is also an Author and Founder of When Females Lead. Muzinga served as the CEO of Barclays Africa Management. She was the first Zambian and the first woman to hold the position of managing director and chief executive officer at Standard Chartered Bank Zambia. She is a multi-award-winning business leader having been named frontier 100 CEO and recipient of the numerous business awards including nominated the 2013 Southern Africa Business Woman of the year by Forbes Magazine and CNBC and CEO of the year Zambia by Global Banking and Finance Magazine.

Dr. Diane Recinos

Dr. Diane Recinos is the President of Berkeley College located in New York. She served the College for 30 years in various leadership roles including Director of Financial Aid technology and analytics, Senior Vice President, Student Success and Senior Vice President, Enrollment Management. Berkeley College has a strong Fashion Merchandising and Management degree program focusing on the business side of the fashion industry including a prolific Designer-In- Residence Program hosting several African designers.

Happy Ralinala

Happy Ralinala is past Managing Executive of Private and Wealth Banking at Barclays Africa and Board Director at African Bank Holdings Ltd, South Africa. She has held various positions at Barclays Africa including Managing Executive of Business Banking South Africa. Happy won the Global Barclays Women of the Year Award in 2015. She is actively involved and engages at various business forums to drive the creation of platforms and opportunities for entrepreneurs to succeed through knowledge sharing, networks and financing options.

Valerie White

Valerie White is the Head of National Housing Strategic Initiatives & Senior Executive Director LISC, USA. She is a recognized decades-long leader in affordable housing, economic development and impact investing. She was recently appointed to spearhead LISC National Housing team—ramping up efforts to deliver more capital and community-based support to address the nation’s housing crisis. She will oversee LISC’s national efforts to build on its $30.4 billion in affordable housing investments.

Zienzi Dillon

Dr. Zienzi Dillon is Founder of Carmel Global Capital in New York. She has over 38 years Banking and Finance experience including central banking, retail, development finance corporate and investment banking and development finance. She has over 20 years board experience including past board member of a listed company in Zimbabwe and Audit Committee Chair of a number of South Africa government departments. She was appointed as goodwill ambassador for the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD to the US.