All For For Africa’s Star-Powered Supporters

The goal is to create 700 oil palm plantations to villages, schools, clinics and non-governmental organizations to create self-sufficiency in communities across the continent of Africa.

[International: Africa]


 

All For Africa, a non-profit organization held a press conference at Sylvia’s restaurant September 18th to promote the “Knock Out Poverty” to help fight poverty in Africa.

The event is a fundraiser set to take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City September 23, which will feature an IBF title fight between Africa’s veterans Eromosele “Bad Boy”  Albert, a two time Nigerian Olympian, and former IBA Continental light middleweight title-holder who will tangle with Ossie Duran, who is from Ghana and the former Commonwealth light middleweight and welterweight champion.

They will fight a 12- round-main event for the vacant IBF All-African light middleweight title.

“I try to go to Africa twice a year to help the less privilege ones – like when I go back home, I try to help my fellow boxers, try to get my friends together to donate money; to do whatever we can help those kids and parents,” said Albert at the press conference. “It’s not all about the fight! It’s about our brothers and sisters back home that really need help.”

The Knock Out Poverty event is the first installment of a plan to host events annually in the coming years to support All For Africa’s Palm Out Poverty campaign. The goal is to create 700 oil palm plantations to villages, schools, clinics and non-governmental organizations to create self-sufficiency in communities across the continent of Africa.

With the income derived from these palm farms, experts projected that each farm would generate $35,000 of net revenue each year totaling of more than $25,000,000 annually with more than $750,000,000 in beneficiary funding over the life of these plantations.

Notables celebrities will take part of this extraordinary event, such as BET’s Jeff Johnson, investigative reporter, political correspondent for BET’s, The Truth, Grammy award winner Youssou N’Dour, Tony and Globe winner actor Jeffrey Wright, Gbenga Akinnagbe of HBO, “The Wire,” UNICEF Ambassador Angelique Kidjo, former Miss Universe Mpule Kwelagobe and African heads of state are schedules to attend.

“The way I got into the business is because Bruce Wroebel who is the chairman for ‘All for Africa’ helped me in my work. He’s been one of the most impressive folks that I had spoken with, and he’s also involved in the continent, in terms of his capacity as a businessman to think about the social development side of matters. It’s a rare combination from what I’ve seen,” said award winning actor Jeffrey Wright who lamented on the mystery and common sense of palm oil.

“Palm Oil has a deeply interesting history, in fact, it was the second most important export out of West Africa during the 19th century. The first being – human beings.  However, the infrastructure that supported the slave trade was transferred to the palm oil trade. The palm oil trade has multiple applications for food and industrial purposes. It greased the cogs prior to fossil fuel of the industrial revolution. So there’s a long history there, now it has the potential application as bio-fuel stock. There are a lot of exciting applications for palm oil and it’s indigenous to West Africa but it was taken to Malaysia and Indonesia and places like that, where the most advanced research has been done up to this point.”

Palm Oil was a sought after commodity by British trade during the Industrial revolution. It is the second-most widely produced oil, after soybean oil and is an important component of many soaps, washing powder, personal care products and is used to treat wounds.

“What we’re trying to do is help bolster the production in West Africa, where it is indigenous, where there is a history and a knowledge of the production of the tree, because it just makes perfect sense…West Africa shouldn’t be an importer of palm oil but should be an exporter of palm oil. It will be from that point on – local communities, local labor, local land and local resources that will be driving the revenues that will support various entities trying to do solid work on the ground,” said Wright, who is an executive board member of All For Africa.

The Knock Out Poverty event will be held at the Hammerstein Ballroom September 23rd which will have a live musical performance by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Grammy award winner Youssou N’Dour, plus a night of exciting boxing with celebrity guests, but the real action is what happens after the event which is only the beginning.

“We would like for you to come and experience this event from the very essence of what we intend to do – allow Africans an opportunity to be on the stage and reflect the largess and riches of that continent,” said Haskell Ward, senior vice president of Global Alumina,“ and go back and understand what genuine partnership really means, and that is – we all can be brothers and sisters in a process, in which African dignity is seen, appreciated and respected in the way we see it respected and appreciated in every day of our work.”

 

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