Afrifest Foundation Board Meeting, November 3

Today, the board of the Afrifest Foundation met at the Center for Families, in Minneapolis. Attending the meeting were--from left to right in the photo--Kechi Bisong, Joseph L. Mbele, Wycliff Chakua, Teddy Kobingi, and Beatrice Adenodi.

In the absence of Nathan White, Afrifest Foundation Executive Secretary, who is traveling around Africa,  Wycliff Chakua chaired the meeting.

Teddy is a new member of the Board, who brings much experience in the financial and non-profit world. Beatrice, CEO and chief marketing specialist of Mirror Ink Productions, joined the Foundation a few weeks ago, bringing valuable expertise in various fields, such as marketing, promotions, and fundraising.

Today's agenda centered on planning for the 2013 Afrifest Festival. We are starting the planning process earlier than in the past, and we want to do things somewhat differently. We are excited to have established partnerships with Carifest, the Duluth Reggae Festival and ACER Inc. We will work together in various ways, including jointly promoting our events and programs.

The Afrifest Foundation will conduct two fund-raising events before the main Afrifest festival, which we have scheduled for mid-August, 2013. One of these events will be held in March and the other one in June. Unlike in the past when members of the board did all the planning and implementation of the festival, now we will have a festival coordinator as well as a music coordinator.

With all the work that has been done to build the Afrifest Foundation to its present level, we are all excited about the Foundation's future. We look forward to very successful fund-raising events, the August festival and other programs.