This week we commemorate Africa Day across the African Diaspora. Reflecting on the journeys of liberation that Black people have endured in trial and triumph, I am ever reminded that those that laid the groundwork will never in my heart, mind or acts have done so in vain. As the pillars of imperialism are finally weakening--though, not without reverting to its tried and tested battle techniques--the new next is taking shape in all manner of action and practice across the globe. So today, as I do in some way every day, I salute us all for staying the course and redirecting the path as necessary on the #PanAfricanProgress mission that is imparative to human evolution and a sustainable existence here on earth.

Speaking of existence here on earth and the ways that we inhabit it, I came across my guest this week via a connection that I made last year at the Charter Cities Summit in Nairobi. Remi Adeleke, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and entrepreneur, serves as Chairman and Co-Founder of the Small Farm Cities Africa Resilience Fund, a for-profit venture developing sustainable, agricultural communities to combat poverty and human trafficking. He is actively scaling this model across Africa, including projects in Malawi, Zambia, and other regions, focusing on economic empowerment through infrastructure and land ownership for local farmers.

Following a successful career as a Navy SEAL, in 2016 he found himself pursuing a careers in writing, speaking, and acting, including the 2017 franchise film Transformers: The Last Knight, SEAL Team CBS, and the 2022 Universal thriller Ambulance. He served as a consultant on Netflix’s 6 Underground and Apple+ TV series Invasion.

As an educator he co-founded Muskegon Michigan’s OPS Academy which opened to inner city students K-8th grade in Fall of 2022. His story is captured in his HarperCollins bestselling autobiography, Transformed: A Navy SEALs Unlikely Journey From The Throne Of Africa, To The Streets Of The Bronx, To Defying All Odds.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Remi is also the founder of Kejo Wear a brand changing negativity to positivity one shirt at a time and where he is marrying this social entrepreneurial enterprises with activism; a portion of proceeds go toward supporting efforts to end human trafficking.

Where to find Remi?
Small Farm Cities
Civil Watch Technologies
On LinkedIn
On IMDB
On Instagram
On YouTube
On the Down Range Podcast

What’s Remi watching?
Bad Boys
The Rock
The Unexpected Short Film

Other topics of interest:
The Story of Banana Island and the late Chief Adebayo Adeleke
Victoria Island, Lagos
About San Diego, California
About the making or the Small Farm Cities Resilience Fund
What are Critical Minerals?
About the game of Monopoly

Special Guest: Remi Adeleke.

This week on the podcast I’m back in Accra, back on the Continent, just in time to commemorate African Liberation Day--Africa Day 2026. Last year around this time, my guest and I were preparing for our respective sessions at AfroTalks 2025 @ University of Ghana-Legon where we shared stories and proposed solutions centering the theme "HOW?" aimed at fostering critical introspection, sustainable community impact, and the amplification of African stories by Africans. I shared insights taken from our Future of Work salon series and featured Glocal Citizens specifically engaged in impact-driven solutions for us by us. My guest, Dr. Ashley D. Milton was part of a duo presenting The Triangle Offensive Policy. She joins us a year later to share how her work has progressed and her consortium prepares to release the The State of the Africa Diaspora Report, a first-of-its-kind continental grounding document examining how Africa and its global diaspora connect across mobility, investment, culture, skills, governance, technology, and development systems. The report brings together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, creatives, and community stakeholders across Africa and the diaspora to shape a more coordinated and regenerative future.

As a strategist, researcher, and systems builder working at the intersection of Africa, its global diaspora, and the future of regenerative economic development she is the Founder and Managing Director of She Grows It™ (SGI), a Pan-African consulting and investment migration advisory firm. Ashley leads work across green infrastructure, trade and industry, tourism and hospitality, diaspora engagement, governance strategy, and emerging technology systems designed to support long-term African growth and resilience. She has advised on projects ranging from IFC EDGE green building certification and sustainable development strategy to diaspora policy frameworks, investment positioning, and institutional ecosystem development. Her work consistently centers one core question: how do we build systems that allow African people, businesses, and communities to thrive across generations?

Where to find Dr. Ashley?
The Africa Diaspora Report
On LinkedIn
On Instagram

What’s Ashley watching?
The Eyes of Ghana
When Malcolm Smiled a film by Glocal Citizen Muhammida el Muhajir

Other topics of interest:
Africa Day
Accountability and the March 2026 UN Resolution
How the US justifies it’s denial of the gravest crime against humanity.
Kwame Nkrumah, books on Pan-Africanism
About the long history of smog in Los Angeles
About FAMU, a top ranked HBCU
About the book, White Malice by Susan Williams
Nautilus Diving - Dakar

Special Guest: Ashley D. Milton.