Remittances are a substantial part of support the African continent receives from its diaspora, but it’s a different type of input that holds the potential for even greater transformation across the continent.
Remittances from Africans abroad topped $90 billion in 2023, surpassing all forms of foreign aid and international investments. For context, this included nearly $20 billion for Nigeria, $4 billion for Kenya, and nearly a quarter of the entire GDP of The Gambia. Yet these funds, often regrettably called “the Black Tax,” are merely “the ears of the hippopotamus,” the visible tip of something much larger beneath the waters.
An even bigger, largely untapped resource is the expertise of diaspora scientists, innovators, and investors who are quietly rewiring Africa’s research and health care landscape. Beyond sending money for school fees, health care, food, clothes, housing and more, the diaspora can return home, physically or virtually, to confront Africa’s most pressing challenges.
About the author
Fredros Okumu
Fredros Okumu is a professor of vector biology (infectious disease ecology) at the University of Glasgow, U.K., and a science adviser for the African Diaspora Network. He was formerly the director of science at Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania, from 2016 to 2023, where he continues to work as a senior scientist. He serves in various international committees, including the World Health Organization’s Malaria Policy Advisory Group. The views expressed here are his own.
