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Africa was the winner in Manhattan recently, when almost 600 people gathered for a glittering event in Chelsea Piers to support entrepreneurship across the continent.

The event – held to support Self Help Africa – attracted a host of celebrities, including noted restaurateur and author Marcus Samuelsson (pictured), who was the inaugural recipient of the Spirit of Africa award at the event.

Top endurance athletes from the United States, Australia, South Africa, Canada and from across Europe are lined up to compete in ‘The Race’, the inaugural day-long 260km challenge in aid of Self Help Africa, next Spring. 80 of the world’s top competitors have signed up, including some of the world’s best known ultra-runners, ironmen, cyclists, marathon runners and triathletes.

Agricultural development programmes that succeed in achieving a fair share of resources for women will see food production and profits increase by up to 20%. That’s according to Self Help Africa’s inclusion advisor Mary Sweeney, who is developing systems to fully integrate gender equality into development projects across sub-Saharan Africa.

Up to 6,000 smallholder farmers are set to supply mango to a new processing plant being built on the shores of Lake Malawi, in an exciting new public-private partnership for Self Help Africa. The initiative, which sees Self Help Africa recruiting, training and supporting the organizational development of smallholder out-growers across Malawi’s Central Region, is projected to earn each farmer up to $600 per annum from the sale of fruit.

Self Help Africa commenced work late last year on a major new development programme designed to improve the livelihoods of 16,000 households in Zambia’s remote Northern Province. The Irish Aid funded project will establish an integrated livelihood programme that addresses agricultural production, crop diversification, production and marketing, as well as health and nutrition.

Beer and hard work don’t often go hand in hand, but for Ethiopian Almaz Tadsaa they are the essential ingredients of her farming success.A small-scale farmer close to Galema mountain in Southern Ethiopia, Almaz is expecting to sell four and a half tonnes of malt barley, when she harvests her crops this Autumn. She is hoping to earn more than €1,000 from the transaction – a record for this hard-working mother of four.

25 year old Lennart and Patuma Kamwesa (22) smile when they think about the unusual origins of the ‘chilli club’ that they are members of in their small village of Kalimwi in Balaka, Malawi.

Self Help Africa is involved in an innovative new programme that is leading the promotion and implementation of global citizenship education in Ireland, on behalf of the Irish Government. A new programme for post-primary schools across Ireland, ‘WorldWise Global Schools (WWGS) is tasked with increasing the number, spread and mix of schools engaging with quality development education activities.