ENTERPRISE54 – Leti Arts, an interactive media studio developing mobile games and digital comics based on African history and folklore, has been invited to participate in the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, as part of President Obama’s U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit.

Starting from August 4 – 6, President Obama is hosting leaders from across the African continent for the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. The theme of the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit is “Investing in the Next Generation”.

Leti Arts has several international nominations including being a 2013 World Summit Award (WSA) Nominee in the e-Entertainment & Games category and a 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) Nominee in a new category, ‘Transform Today’, which seeks to honour innovative African entertainment businesses outside of the music industry.

The U.S.-Africa Business Forum on August 5 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C., is hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Forum seeks to create a new platform to promote trade, accelerate job growth, and encourage investment across the continent.

Leti Arts is participating through its CEO, Eyram Tawia, one of the next generation of business leaders in Africa. Eyram Tawia and Wesley Kirinya, Co-Founder and CTO of Leti Arts are the first African Speakers at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), presenting a talk titled, “The Emerging Landscape of African Game Development” in 2013. Eyram Tawia, also recently participated in the Deutsche-Welle Global Media Forum.

Eyram Tawia has also won several awards including the 2012 British Council Young Creative Entrepreneur and was also adjudged one of six Ghana Innovation Heroes, an initiative spearheaded by Google Ghana in 2013.

“ I am excited to represent young entrepreneurs in Ghana and Africa, who dare to make a difference through unbridled passion for big ideas, within one of the toughest business and investment environments. My goal is to show Africa is ready. We have the people, passion and skills and all we need, is the right strategic investments to complete the ecosystem,” Tawia said.

The list of other invited African guests include stalwarts like Dangote Industries, Orascom Telecom and The African Development Bank and also includes six Ghanaian businesses.

Leti Arts has a mission to leverage African talent to develop games, comics and mobile apps, with a vision to grow to encompass animated series, feature films, merchandise and theme parks, through partnerships and licensing of intellectual property.

Leti Arts produces in-house content based on their flagship franchise, Africa’s Legends, which reimagines African folklore and historic legends as elite superheroes fighting crime in present day Africa. Africa’s Legends content is delivered via their mobile distribution platform, Leti Center, available on Android, Windows Phone and Nokia Java devices.

Leti Arts also has a rich portfolio of projects executed for social activism, civic education, healthcare and corporate training. A typical example is a scenario based, role playing game called H.E.L.P., which helps simulate health emergencies as a knowledge testing tool for nurses in Kenya. H.E.L.P. was developed for Kemri-Wellcome Trust and their partner, Oxford University.