Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie, co-founder of the African Foundation for development, has been honoured with a Member of the British Empire, MBE by Queen Eliza
Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie, co-founder of the African Foundation for development, has been honoured with a Member of the British Empire, MBE by Queen Elizabeth II. Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie is Director of Up!-Africa Limited, a consultancy with the purpose of using jobs to drive Africa’s development through private sector development, talent mobility, diaspora entrepreneurship, corporate strategy, and public policy.
He is co-founder of the London-based African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), an organization with a mission to expand and enhance the contribution that Africans in the Diaspora make to Africa’s development. He is of dual Nigerian/Sierra Leonean origin with family ties extending to Equitorial Guinea.
He has worked as a consultant for several international development donor agencies around engaging the Diaspora in development and has commented widely on migration and development issues in the media and in public fora. Chukwu-Emeka was educated at early primary school in Cheltenham, UK followed by later primary and secondary schools in Freetown.
His first two years of university were at FBC, Freetown with the remainder at Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology, Northeast London Polytechnic (now University of East London) the London College of Printing and Distributive Trades and City University.
His first job was ‘flipping burgers for MacDonald’s and working behind the bar at a seedy Cheltershire nightclub. He was the Senior Adviser to the Governments of Mauritius (2012) and Mexico (2010), Global Forum on Migration and Development.
