Today March 25, 2022 is MIPAD 5th Anniversary 

5 Years of Telling YOUR Stories! 5 years down, Forever to go! 🙂

Please don’t forget to Join MIPAD as we kick off 5th Anniversary Global Celebration by following these 3 steps…

For more info on these steps please visit https://mailchi.mp/mipad.org/march25th

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in its resolution 68/237 declared 2015 to 2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent. The resolution provides a solid framework for the United Nations, member states, civil society and all other relevant actors to join together with people of African descent and take effective measures for the implementation of the resolution, in-line with its three pillars; recognition, justice and development. During the week, honorees and guests are recognized and honoured on that exalted platform.

The Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) recognition initiative, riding on the 1^st pillar of this historical resolution, to address the issues of racism and inequality impacting the people of African descent worldwide and to subtly achieve the objectives of the resolutions especially in the areas of:

• promotion of respect, protection and fulfilment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by people of African Descent, as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
• Promotion of a greater knowledge of and respect for the diverse heritage, culture and contribution of people of African descent to the development of societies.

The Organisation has, since its inception, been lifting up people of African descent worldwide using every opportunity that comes its way. It has been crafting new and factual narratives about people of African descent worldwide. This, it does by identifying high achievers of African descent in public and private sectors from all around the world and building them into a progressive network of relevant actors that will bring about recognition, justice and development of Africa and its people – both on the continent and across the diaspora.

In the bid to rewrite the Black narratives, MIPAD has been creating global 100 lists to recognize excellence to inspire others into the pursuit of excellence. MIPAD intends to leverage the ‘1 percent’ of people of African descent who have achieved excellence in the things they do to motivate the remaining ‘99 percent’ others into achieving excellence in their chosen fields.

These unique global 100 lists identify outstanding individuals or groups of African descent worldwide across four core categories; politics and governance, business and entrepreneurship, media and culture, and activism and humanitarian endeavors.

To make the global lists, the person must be using his or her creativity to uplift the African/Black image, to amplify the African/Blacks voices & narratives, or using creative solutions and access to resources in solving problems unique to the African/Black communities worldwide.

The essence of these lists is to highlight the positive contributions made by people of African Descent in public and private sectors and to show that, despite the adversity they face, these people have gained strength and resilience and have brought real change and impact in the society.

So far, MPAD has identified over 800 Most Influential People of African Descent Worldwide in its five years of existence. Each year, since its inception, the Organization has hosted the annual Most Influential 100 Recognition Week, following the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York City. During the week, those who made it to that year’s Global 100 lists are recognized and honoured on that exalted platform.

Going beyond honouring the excellent achievers, MIPAD has gone into training and development to create more excellence-driven achievers. It has partnered with Training & Development Initiative, a Kenyan-based Consultancy Non-Governmental Organization, to help people and organizations with building better personal and professional relationships.

The partnership has amplified the main core of MIPAD and third pillar of the decade; DEVELOPMENT where individuals are guided by seasoned facilitators towards becoming a better version of themselves.

The fifth anniversary or quinquennial jubilee of any Organization calls for celebration. Just as in human life where the fifth birthday is regarded as milestone mainly because it marks the age the child moves from toddling years into childhood, fifth anniversaries for Organizations show that they have overcome those teething challenges that tend to dog newly formed Organizations. It is no different for MIPAD.

The Organization has moved from a mere dream to a renowned body, earning the recognition of many international and multilateral agencies, including the United Nations, as well as commanding the respect and admiration of a great number of people of African descent globally. The release of the Global 100 Lists has come to be a much-anticipated global annual corporate event among blacks.

Also, MIPAD, over this short period, has built an ecosystem and global network of civil society actors who have come together to support the implementation of International Decade for People of African Descent and partnered with WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent company.

Overall, the Most Influential People of African Descent is far from achieving the objectives its founding fathers and their partners set for it – to uplift people of African descent – but it has, no doubt, begun the journey towards the achievement of this noble objective.

Ad multos annos!

First published on 25th March,2022.