5th AFRICA WOMEN INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP FORUM (AWIEF)

Dr. Abdelkhalek assumed different posts in her career and is currently the Vice President of ECG Engineering Consultants Group in Egypt. Among her achievements is the design and development of the Professional Academy for Teachers and the initiation of two main sustainable projects: one in Upper Egypt in the field of Illiteracy “Eliminating the Sources of Illiteracy” and also University To Work (UTW) and School To Work (STW) Initiatives. She has also supported the initiation of UNICEF and Rotary District 2451 - Egypt - "Water for Life" Project that is being implemented in Upper Egypt since 2013.
Dr. Abdelkhalek was the organizing committee chair of the 1st Water Summit with the Rotary & UNICEF that was Under the Auspices of The Prime Minister H E. Eng. Ibrahim Mehleb in June 2014 entitled Water is Life. Among her achievements include the organization of the round table of Investment in Upper Egypt in Summer of 2015 focusing on Assiut and Sohag with the Egyptian Businessmen Association (EBA) as well as “Made in Egypt” Forum & Exhibition for Sohag Ethnic products.
Dr. Nevine Abdelkhalek holds a charter manager status with the Charter Management Institute at the UK. As well as a PhD in Human Resources and has a vast experience in the field of Education for Development and Continuing Education as she started her career in Education through her postgraduate studies in Boston University and teaching in the Edward Devotion School in Brookline, Boston. She worked for over 22 years with the development programs provided by the Canadian Fund, the USAID and the EU which gave first-hand experience with the actual needs of the deprived communities in Egypt. She’s also on the BOD of the Businesswomen club of Emirates-Egypt.
Dr. Abdelkhalek has always been known as the Philanthropist among her family, friends and colleagues from a very young age. She was elected lately as the Chair of the American University School of Continuing Education Advisory Board of 2015 – 2017 and had chaired the same board before during (2009-2012).

Vanessa Adams, Vice President Country Support and Delivery at AGRA, is a proven leader with strong private sector, investment facilitation and project management experience.
Ms. Adams has 25 years of progressive experience working in 42 countries, integrating over twelve agricultural and consumer goods value chains into regional and global markets. Previously, she served as Director of Strategic Partnerships for DAI. Prior to that, she worked in West Africa as the regional Export Business Development Director, Trade and Investment Director, and ultimately the Chief of Party (Regional Director) on the USAID West Africa Trade Hub program, Chief of Party in Ethiopia on the USAID flagship Agricultural Growth Program–Agribusiness and Market Development Program, and COP of the USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub, managing large multi-cultural teams and budgets.
She contributed to founding three pan-African nongovernmental organizations, including the African Cashew Alliance, Borderless Alliance, and Global Shea Alliance, as well as initiating the Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network in Ethiopia and has brokered numerous partnerships with African small and mid-size companies as well as Fortune 500 companies in win-win sustainable frameworks resulting in over half a billion dollars in exports from and investments in in Africa.
Vanessa holds an executive MBA from INSEAD.

Ms Angelic Appoo is the Chief Executive Officer of the Enterprise Seychelles Agency (ESA), which was created in August 2018 to replace the Small Enterprise Promotion Agency (SENPA).
Ms Appoo holds a Master Degree in Economic & Social Studies from University of Manchester, and has experience in Accounting, Administration and Management. She has been serving as the Deputy CEO of the Seychelles Licensing Authority since November 2016.
The objects of the Agency are to implement the policies and the strategies of Government relating to the micro, small and medium enterprises and to provide the micro, small and medium enterprises with the necessary services and support.

An expert in building Entrepreneurship ecosystems from the ground up, with 13 years track record of investment, mentorship, and training of startups and SMEs. Selma Bennis is a fervent serial entrepreneurship catalyser and economic and social activist in Morocco, who is always eager to grow and share her knowledge and experience. As the head of Education and Training in Entrepreneurship at UM6P (OCP Group), Selma is designing training programs for aspiring entrepreneurs amongst students, researchers and OCP executives.

Virginia Blaser arrived in Cape Town in August 2017 as the Consul General. Prior to arriving, she served over a decade as a three-time Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires in Mauritius, the Seychelles, Uganda and Tanzania. Since joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1989, CG Blaser has also served in Madrid, Brussels, London, San Salvador, and Washington, and in a range of political, management and consular positions. She graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a triple major in history, anthropology and Latin American studies. CG Blaser is passionate about women’s issues, trade and investment, and developing young leaders. She speaks Spanish and French.

Michélle Booysen, PhD founder, co-owner and President of the Pétanque NXT Group, is an economist with 30+ years’ experience in Business Development and Strategy Design and Implementation. Her focus is on simplifying complex business matters through the use of image-rich storyboarding techniques and 4th IR technologies to make it easy for all role players within an enterprise to understand who needs to do what and how to support business goals.

With training in law and economics, she is multi-skilled in process management, project management and enterprise development. As a creative and performance-orientated individual, Michélle believes that we can always do better than we think we can, and that enjoyment and having fun are key ingredients to success.

Michélle has received numerous nominations and awards, including the Technology and Women in Business (TWIB) Award for Top Entrepreneur in the Small Companies Category, the CEO Magazine Most Influential Women in Business and Government Award and the Enterprising Women of the Year Award in the small and medium business category.

Mr. Alan Boshwaen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH).
BIH is a state owned company with a mandate to develop and operate Botswanas first science and Technology Park in which it will promote and facilitate research, development, education and innovation activities and support start-ups and existing companies to grow. BIH attracts companies, universities, research institutes and advanced training institutes to establish in the Botswana Innovation Hub and also seeks to establish strategic joint ventures and collborations.
Alan has extensive experience in the Financial Services and Banking sectors having been CEO of the Botswana International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and held senior management positions with Standard Chartered Bank Botswana and Barclays Bank of Botswana.
Alan has also previously worked for Debswana (De Beers Botswana) Diamond Mining Company.
He holds BA Honors in Industrial Psychology and Business Administration from the University of Kent at Canterbury and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cape Town.
He is a non-executive Board Member of the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation –a Telecomms Utility and of Letshego Financial Services –a regional Africa micro finance listed company.
He also serves on the Advisory Board of the University Of Botswana School Of Business.

Francisco Campos is a Senior Economist for the World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice. Francisco’s main areas of interest are linked to private sector development, gender, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion. He leads World Bank projects in fragile countries in Africa and various research studies on gender and entrepreneurship. Prior to joining the World Bank, he has held a variety of positions on investment promotion and investment management.

Experienced Commercial Director with a demonstrated history of advising and closing complex consulting research projects for global and regional clients. I possess over 25 years of strategic sales and marketing experience, enjoying leading global and regional teams to achieve set goals and aspirations. Through my last decade with Frost & Sullivan, I am the last years focusing on Digital Transformation that disrupt technologies and industries. With my deep ICT background and experience, I am a regular speaker on events to share our research insights and trends, as well as give time back to start up entrepreneurs as a mentor.
I was born in Africa as Africa was born in me
Kwame.

Doubell is the founder and managing director of Cenfri and theme manager to the FinMark Trust, responsible for their work in microinsurance and retail payment systems. He is a development economist by training, specialising in financial inclusion innovation, financial sector policy and regulatory strategy for development, access to financial services and supporting governments on making markets work for low-income individuals.

Doubell has extensive experience in microinsurance, AML/CFT, distribution of financial services, optimal regulation for market development and has worked across the developing world including Africa (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia), Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Mexico), South and Southeast Asia (India, Pakistan, Indonesia).

Previously, he was employed as a freelance consultant to the FinMark Trust and an engagement manager at Genesis Analytics.

Doubell holds a master’s degree in economics (cum laude), BComm honours in economics (University of Stellenbosch/Free University of Amsterdam) and a bachelor in mathematics (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa).

Dr Grieve Chelwa is a Senior Lecturer at the UCT Graduate School of Business in Cape Town. His areas of expertise include economics of tobacco control, health economics, development economics, econometrics and impact evaluations. He holds the following qualifications: PhD (UCT), MCom (UCT), BCom Honours (UCT), BA (UNZA).

Jillian Chothia has a career history in the International Logistics arena which spans over 20 years with some of the leading global multinational Freight Forwarders.
Jillian is a Certified Supply Chain Professional, with an accreditation with the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). Her experience and training in Supply Chain as well as International Trade, is an enabler to adding value to customer business at a differentiated level.
Jillian is presently in an Operational Management role with UPS Supply Chain Solutions, covering International Freight Forwarding, Customs Brokerage and Contract Logistics.

Pauline Christian is the Immediate Past- President of the Black Business and Professional Association (BBPA). She is also the Founder/President/CEO of Best Lifestyle Residence, a retirement home in the county of Simcoe, Ontario. Previous to owning her business, she worked at Bell Canada for over 25 years, mostly in various leadership capacities. She is passionate about using leadership to mobilize, harmonize and develop the Black community and to realize socio-economic improvement and advancement.

She has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 20 Women in 2010 by Women’s Post Canada as well as one of Canada’s Amazing Women by Women Alive and Maranatha News. She is an honoured member the Worldwide Who’s Who of Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs: the Heritage Registry of Who’s Who for Executives and Professionals.

Pauline’s awards stretch across various lines of disciplines within the community, i.e. 2010 Bob Marley Day Award for outstanding contribution to the City of Toronto as a leader and visionary; 2009 African Canadian Achievement Award for Business and Community Work; 2008 Black History Month Celebration Police and Community Award of Excellence for being a positive role model, enriching the lives of those in need; 2006 Gold and Dream “Each One Reach One” Award; and one of Bell Canada’s 5 Heroes in 2004, to name a few.

She sits on many boards, nationally and internationally and is also a motivational speaker who presents on over 20 different tops of which Networking is one of her favorites.

Chandré Conradie studied at the University of Pretoria and completed her BA (HED) degree in 1989, after which she taught English for senior learners across the country. In 2008 the opportunity arose to work for Registrar Corp, and after teaching for 18 years, she embarked on this new, exciting and rewarding journey of assisting hundreds of companies with FDA regulatory issues.
She has been employed as a Senior Regulatory Advisor by Registrar Corp, a US-based company, for 11 years, managing the Sub-Saharan office. She is based in Cape Town and has attended multiple trade shows in South Africa and some African countries. She has had training in the US office several times, as it is imperative that they remain informed and vigilant as many FDA regulations evolve, become more stringent and the need for accurate and informative assistance is crucial.
Registrar Corp was founded in 2003 to help businesses comply with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Since opening its headquarters in Hampton, Virginia, USA, Registrar Corp has expanded to nineteen international offices and has aided more than 30,000 companies across 160 countries. Employees include former US FDA officials, scientists, and industry experts. Registrar Corp offers FDA compliance assistance for the following industries:
Food and Beverages
Medical Devices
Drugs
Cosmetics
Supplements
Electronics
Tobacco

Bronwyn is the Chief Executive Officer of Grit Real Estate Income Group, the largest pan African focused real estate fund listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and in Mauritius. Bronwyn has significant corporate finance and deal making experience. She played an instrumental role in the JSE listing of Delta Property Fund Limited in 2012 where she held the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer prior to taking up the leadership role at Mara Delta Property Holdings.
During her tenure at Delta Property Fund Limited, Bronwyn spearheaded the diversification of the REIT’s funding sources into the debt capital markets, leading to the establishment of a ZAR2 billion Domestic Medium-Term Note Programme (DMTN programme). She led the team responsible for obtaining a national scale issue rating from Global Credit Ratings as part of the DMTN programme. In addition, Bronwyn co-headed the team responsible for growing assets under management from ZAR 2.2 billion at listing to ZAR 11.8 billion in May 2016.
Bronwyn is a founder member and served as non-executive director on the board of Mara Delta Property Holdings (now Grit Real Estate Income Group) where she played a significant role in the listing and conversion of the fund to its current pan-African focus, underpinned by dollar based leases. She assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in the lead-up to the fund’s merger with Pivotal to form Mara Delta. She has grown the portfolio from $220 million at inception to more than $800 million currently.

Alex de Bruyn is a seasoned blockchain and payments expert, who spent the better half of the past decade navigating the banking landscape and understanding the pitfalls of payments and banking. De Bruyn had a key focus on open-banking and PSD2, which naturally progressed to the inclusion of cryptocurrencies, blockchains and Bitcoin. This in turn lead to the birth of DoshEx, a specialized tokenized ecosystem developer and exchange with a key focusing on the development of smart contract to enhance current processes and procedures through transparency, accountability and distributed consensus rules.

De Bruyn is focusing on building distributed technologies into current business ecosystems and use cases, to further enhance adoption, usability and acceptance of cryptocurrencies, blockchains and more specifically smart contracts, in our everyday lives. De Bruyn, being supported by his Honours degree in Management Accounting, advises strategically with passionate insight as to how a distributed and tokenized future will look like.

Sabdiyo Dido is the Senior Programs Coordinator at CTA. Her role includes leading strategic processes and consensus, designing and overseeing implementation of global programs, building partnerships and managing relations. She is a senior professional with a demonstrated track record of working with market-based solutions to spur economic growth. A specialist in inclusive markets, Value chains, Entrepreneurship and Business Development, with extensive experiences working with smallholder farmers, rural communities, women and youth. She holds a Master of Business Administration (Strategic management) and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Economics.

Rechi Dlamini started as a high school science teacher and later changed careers to agricultural economics.
The work experience has ranged from economist to project accountant in a sugar mill and business advisor packaging land reform projects for funding approval. Intellectual versatility has allowed for transition from extensive regional sugar industry knowledge to the exciting arena of livestock production and agro-processing. Agro-processing was the focus until January 2019 with projects focusing on the agro-processing of vegetables, fruits, milk and bovine hides.

The work at ADA has afforded one the opportunity to achieve many firsts for previously disadvantaged persons in the Province. The firsts include a fully automated milk processing packing line, digital feeding of calves on a restitution dairy farm, and the first HACCP ready processing plant owned by two young women which was commissioned in November 2017. The young women supply most of their product to the hospitality industry within Durban.
The new focus of business supported has brought with its exposure to securing commercial scale supply contracts and the design of new programmes focusing on exports. The strongest attribute is the ability to develop solutions for complex agribusiness situations.

Some of Geraldine’s early achievements include working on the preparation of the African National Congress for its first democratic elections in 1994 as National Deputy Elections Coordinator of the African National Congress. She previously served in the leadership of the African National Congress.
Geraldine served as member of the South African Parliament for three consecutive parliaments (1994 through September 2008 when she resigned from parliament). She served in the South African Government as Deputy Minister of Welfare and Population Development, thereafter as Minister for Welfare and Population Development. Subsequently, Geraldine was appointed as Minister of Public Service and Administration, for two consecutive terms until her resignation in September 2008.
She was a Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), Mc Gill University Canada and served on the Africa Advisory Board of Women’s World Banking until December 2018.
Fraser-Moleketi was the former Global Director of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Democratic Governance Group (DGP) until end of August 2013; there after she joined the African Development Bank (AfDB) as Special Envoy on Gender (SEOG) at the level of a Vice President until 1 January 2017.
Geraldine serves on various boards across academia, she is the Chancellor to the Nelson Mandela University, Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA); serves as Chairman to the Committee of Experts in Public Administration (CEPA) by the United Nations Secretary General for the period 2018 -2021.
Geraldine Fraser Moleketi was named "2016 New African Woman of the Year", an award made by London-based magazine New African.
She is a Non-Executive Board Member of the Standard Bank Group (SBG) and Standard Bank South Africa (SSA) and Lead Independent Director of EXXARO.

Beatrice Gakuba is the executive director of the African Women Agribusiness Network Afrika (AWAN-AFRIKA), a nonprofit focused on providing women-owned agribusinesses access to sustainable markets, trade information, innovative financing solutions and technologies

As Mission Director for USAID/Southern Africa, John Groarke is responsible for all USAID programming in Southern Africa, including bilateral programs in South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, as well as regional programming. USAID’s programs promote trade and investment, combat gender-based violence, increase basic literacy, improve access to energy, combat wildlife crime, and confront the dual epidemics of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
As the USAID/Pakistan Mission Director from 2015 to 2017, Mr. Groarke led a $2.5 billion program promoting Pakistan’s development and the reconstruction of its conflict-affected border with Afghanistan. From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Groarke served as Mission Director for USAID/Haiti, leading a $2.2 billion program supporting Haiti’s recovery from a devastating earthquake. As Mission Director for USAID/Morocco between 2009 and 2013, Mr. Groarke led a program supporting the Government of Morocco's political and economic reforms during a time of regional transition. The son of immigrants and a first-generation college student, Mr. Groarke was born and raised in New York City and graduated from one of its public high schools. He thereafter obtained a bachelor’s degree from New York University, a master’s degree from The London School of Economics, and a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Groarke is a member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Career Minister in the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Lebo Gunguluza is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Gem (Gunguluza Enterprises and Media) Group established in 2002, an integrated media, hospitality and technology group. Gem Group has diversified to various portfolios within the media, leisure, hospitality and IT spheres which include publishing, television, communication technologies, eventing, hotels and resort, property and financial technologies.

Lebo Gunguluza, Entrepreneur, Turnaround Strategist, Inspirational Business Speaker and Dragon Investor - known as the "The Breakthrough Entrepreneur". A true trailblazer and leader in high technology innovation and great passion for FinTech and Cyber-Security. He is a pioneer in the 4th Industrial Revolution and has made investments in various financial technology companies and digital innovations. He is a Dragon investor from Dragon's Den Africa and a judge on SABC 2's entrepreneurship TV game show 'The Game Plan'. He is the Founder & President of SABEF (South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum) which was established 15 years ago and recently completed his 5-year entrepreneur mentorship program called '12-12-12', where he mentored 12 entrepreneurs, every 12 months who ran 12 companies.

Bea Hackula, founder and President of Africa for Africa Women Empowerment is a globally respected leader, strategist, a philanthropist and public speaker who has shared platforms with the likes of Dr John Maxwell, Dr David Molapo, Almas Jiwani, Dr Jessie Kwabila, Dr Namane Magau and others. Bea has positioned herself as a game changer in many aspects of entrepreneurial innovations and leadership.
A Forte’ University and Harvard Business School Alumnus, Bea has vast management experience from both private and public sectors. She is a respected visionary and strategist who has recognized locally and internationally as a thought leader and champion of transformation and women empowerment. These are some of her recent accolades;
• Business of the Year Award 2014 from BWASA
• Women Super Achievers Award at the 26th World HRD Congress in India in recognition of her professional achievement as a thought leader and a contributor of value on Women in Leadership, February 2019
• Inspiring Woman Leadership Award at the Africa Economy Builders Forum in Abidjan, Cote’ D’Ivoire, April 2019
• Nominated as the Chairman of PAN African CEOs Forum in Tanzania, September 2019
Her Motto is “Passion drives one to be the best - follow your passion”

Michael Hailu has been Director of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) since May 2010.
He has more than 30 years of experience in agricultural research, communications and development in Africa and Asia. Prior to joining CTA, he held senior leadership positions at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya and at the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia.
Mr Hailu has implemented major strategic realignment of the CTA refocusing the Centre’s work on promoting innovations and capacities to advance youth and women entrepreneurship, digitalization and climate resilience in agriculture.
He has degrees from the Universities of Pittsburgh, USA and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and has been trained in strategic leadership at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in the United States.

Lamia HOUSNI is the Head of P-Curiosity LAB at Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique / Ben Guérir, Morocco. The P-Curiosity LAB is an innovation unit commit to ensure a community-led transformation for Smallholder farmers across Africa, and this by providing inclusive, sustainable and innovative services. Services related to well-being (education, healthcare, transport, etc.), sustainable farm (water, energy, technologies, etc.) and environmental health (waste management in rural region, water sanitation, etc.). Her work includes Bringing research to go-to-market, providing facilities, tools and expertise network to idea-holder and addressing innovation Corporations prioritises.

The Prior to this, Lamia has held several seniors positions at OCP Group, including co-founding a business unit AgriEdge providing data-driven services to farmers to improve their yield, using technologies such as sensors, drones, etc. Algorithmic models and agronomic knowledge in order to provide recommendations to farmers.

A juggler of all processes and uncontainable doer. Renee says: "I thrive in environments that keep me moving. And as a pragmatic idealist, I enjoy the overlap between business and societal value, never forgetting or losing faith in the *people* behind the systems."

Chude Jideonwo is founder of Joy, Inc. (www.joyinc.xyz), a benefit corporation based in Miami, Florida and Lagos, Nigeria, which mainstreams the research and evidence on human flourishing and positive emotions to transform the culture and build a new generation focused on the greatest happiness for the greatest many. All of Joy, Inc.'s profits are invested in charities.
He has been a Forbes 30 under 30 honouree, a CNBC Young Business Leader of the Year winner, and a World Fellow at Yale University.
His writing and work have been featured on the BBC, CNN, the Guardian, Aljazeera, the Huffington Post and the Financial Times, and he is the author of two books, Are We The Turning Point Generation? and How to Win Elections in Africa: Parallels with Donald Trump.
He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Pan Atlantic University.
A former board member at Microsoft 4Afrika, he now sits on the boards of RED, and the Oando Foundation.
Before Joy, Inc., he led African media group, RED for 13 years achieving 100 percent team retention, a 94 percent trust rate and a 96 percent joy rate in his last year; and working on national elections and social movements in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Liberia.
He writes a daily newsletter via TheDailyVulnerable.com and blogs about the future of his region on WestAfricaIsACountry.com.

Chernay Johnson is an engagement manager at Cenfri, and insight2impact which is a resource centre focused on the smarter use of data, technology and behavioural interventions to advance financial inclusion. Chernay spends the majority of her time leading insight2impact’s digital platforms research portfolio which seeks to generate high-impact insights on financial and economic inclusion in Africa’s platform economy and digital ecosystem. In her personal capacity, she champions women empowerment initiatives to empower the next generation of female leaders in tech and advises research institutes on strategic and governance pathways.

Prior to joining Cenfri, Chernay worked as a professional economist at the South African Reserve Bank, Credit Suisse Securities and spent time consulting as a visiting researcher to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Rozetta (formerly known as the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre). In recognition of her impactful economic research on sub-Saharan Africa, The Financial Mail ranked her as one of the top three young analysts in South Africa in 2016.

Chernay holds a Master of Economic Science degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town with a dual specialization in Business Strategy and Economics.

Leslie 'Lee' Kasumba is a Pan African Broadcaster, Speaker & Moderator, Executive Producer, Host of Africa State Of Mind, Voice Artist, and Founder of ‘She Speaks Africa’

Jaana Keitaanranta is the Country Director/Zimbabwe & Eswatini for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and is especially interested in Rural Development and Poverty Reduction strategies, Territorial development, Targeting strategies and Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups, Women Empowerment, Enterprise Development, Market Access, Pro-Poor Value chains, Food Security and Nutrition, Natural Resource Management and Climate Change, Knowledge management, Systematization and Institutional Learning.

She lived for 13 years in Latin America (Panama and Bolivia) managing IFAD funded country offices and coordinating the country programmes and the related policy dialogue. Long experience in the poverty reduction and rural development programmes in Central America (mainly Panama, Belize and Honduras), in the English speaking Caribbean (Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Guyana), Suriname, Dominican Republic and in the Andean region (Bolivia). Since 2016 working at the East and Southern Africa Division (mainly Eswatini and Zimbabwe) first from Rome and since August 2018 from South Africa.

She has a solid background in macroeconomics and finance, as well as wide work-related training in gender, M&E and knowledge management issues.

During his career, Mr. Laperrière has led/managed numerous large scale projects on behalf of Private Corporations and subsequently, within the United Nations.
He has extensive work experience in the Americas, Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, in particular in developing countries and in conflict/post conflict environments.
Currently he is the first Executive Director of the Global Open Data initiative for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN), a global Secretariat conceived by the G8 to stimulate innovation and productivity in global agriculture and nutrition.
Prior to GODAN, Mr Laperrière has been Deputy CEO in the Global Environment Facility (GEF) at the World Bank, Director General of the Global Trust Council (GTC), a Sweden-based international organization and held various senior positions in the United Nations Common System.

In this context he played a senior role in the design and the implementation of major reforms in agencies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.

Among other positions, Mr. Laperrière has been the first Executive Director of the Trust Fund for Victims at the ICC, Director of the Administration and Finance Division in WHO, and Coordinator for all reconstruction and rehabilitation activities under the responsibility of UNICEF in Iraq.
Prior to his career in the UN, Mr. Laperrière was Director in the International Services of Price Waterhouse. In this position, he led numerous development, privatization, mergers and structural reform projects in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Caribbean.
Mr. Laperrière is an expert in international development. Spécialisations: International Development, Information Systems, Emergency, Policies, negotiation, organizational development, HR, Economics, International Law.

Wendy Luhabe is a pioneer in the Economic Empowerment of Women with her revolutionary ideas which enabled South African Women to become Investors for the first time in the mid ‘90s, after South Africa became a democracy.
She has chaired and served on a number of diverse Boards in South Africa and overseas over the past 20 years, including becoming the founding Chair of South Africa’s International Marketing Council founded by President Mbeki more than 10 years ago.
She is an Economic Activist, a champion for Social Entrepreneurship, a Mentor for younger generations and a recipient of numerous Awards and honors.
She is a recipient of three Honorary Doctorates for her work with Women, is a former Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg and was awarded the Lieutenant of the Victorian Order (LVO) by the British Royal Family in 2014.

George Makore has been the Director of AGOA & Export Competitiveness for the USAID Southern Africa Trade & Investment Hub since April 2018. He has over 25 years’ experience working on programs aimed at enhancing regional integration and strengthening the region’s competitiveness focusing on trade, investment, policy issues, standards, communication and project management including over 15 years’ senior management experience. Makore has successfully facilitated the development of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Utilization Strategies for Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Zambia to support increased trade and investment, including value addition, improved sector-wide business practices, and improved economies of scale. Makore previously worked as the Director/Team Leader for the Enabling Environment component of the USAID Southern Africa Trade Hub project, operating in eight SADC countries but based in Gaborone, Botswana. He was instrumental in helping SADC Member States implement their commitments to the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreements, including helping seven countries to set up WTO TBT National Enquiry Points for standards and technical regulations. During 2011-2012 Makore was a Partner/ Executive Consultant at Kaizen Business Consultancy in Harare, Zimbabwe. He joined them from the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) in Rome, Italy.

A mechanical engineer at Shell, managing a portfolio of downstream projects supporting Shell’s infrastructure investments. Ratanang is part of the Shell South Africa energy transition program. Ratanang is finalising her Masters in Technology Management focusing on SA’s adoption of maintenance technologies in the Fourth Industrial revolution (4th IR). With 12 years’ experience in the energy sector working for multinational and national energy and utility companies, including Shell, Sasol and Eskom. She is a member of the Institute of Directors of South Africa (IoDSA). Ratanang has lead multiple refinery shutdown with teams of 350+ and managed a portfolio of projects close to 1 billion rands throughout her career.

Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, a French national from Martinique, is the Country Director for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini.
Since joining the World Bank in 1994, Marie-Nelly has held a variety of positions focused on public enterprise restructuring, support to private sector development, regional integration, and management of the oil sector. Marie-Nelly has held several leadership positions, including Country Director in the Maghreb and Malta (20152019), Country Director for Nigeria (2011-2015) and Country Director for the two Congos (Brazzaville and DRC) from 2008 to 2011. Marie-Nelly was also Director of the World Bank Group Program for the Chad Petroleum and the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project (2004-2007) and Director of the regional integration program in Africa from 2000 to 2004.
Marie-Nelly is a Certified Public Accountant, a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Nantes (France) and Bowling Green University (Ohio, USA). She has also completed several management programs at Harvard University in the US, worked for many international firms and was advisor to several governments before joining the World Bank.

Ipeleng Mkhari established the first black woman-owned CCTV business and co-founded Motseng Investment Holdings in 1998. She is the CEO of Motseng today.
She holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree, has completed The Executive Development Programme at Wits Business School and is an Archbishop Tutu Fellow. Ipeleng has served on various boards of unlisted and listed businesses, public sector agencies and non-profit organisations. She is currently a non-executive director of Attacq*, KAP Industrial*, Nampak*, Revego and South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA).
She is passionate about transformation in the commercial property sector and has previously served as National Chairperson of Women's Property Network 2007, and Immediate President of SAPOA 2019.
Ipeleng has been recognised, nominated and won various business awards during her 20-year business career.
(* JSE Listed)

Hlengiwe Mkhize is the current Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities. Prof Mkhize previously served as the Minister of Higher Education and Training after a brief stint as the Minister of Home Affairs. She served as a Member of Parliament since 2009. She was a founding member and trustee of the Children and Violence Trust since 1995 and trustee of the Malibongwe Business Trust from 2005. Professor Mkhize holds a BA degree in Psychology, Social Work and Sociology (University of Zululand), BA Hons (Psychology) and a Master's in Clinical Psychology from the University of Natal. She was a senior lecturer and researcher at Wits from 1990 until 1995. She was a board member of the South African Prisoner's Organisation for Human Rights from 1994 to 1995, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Commissioner and Chairperson of the Reparations and Rehabilitation committee from 1995 to 2003. Prior to her appointment, Prof Mkhize was ambassador to the Netherlands

Uzo is a senior business professional who specialises in digital and emerging technology initiatives in industries experiencing disruptive innovation. She has a proven track record of applying data analytics to gain insights required to drive strategic business decisions, customer/product innovation and achieve profit targets. She is also experienced in post-merger integrations where she champions benefits realisation, alignment of processes, people & technology and operational excellence to achieve synergy targets.

Uzo holds an M Sc. in Information Systems & Technology from City University, London and an MBA from Cranfield University, UK.
She is a certified PRINCE2 and Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) practitioner and sits on the boards of a number of for-profit and not-for-profit organisations.

Lerato Molebatsi is the Managing Director for Adrian South Africa and a Non-executive Director at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). Her experience includes communications professional, with a broad knowledge of the financial services, labour, transport and mining sectors.

Esther Ndichu is the Managing Director for UPS in Southern and Eastern Africa based out of Johannesburg, South Africa since April 2018. In her current role, she is responsible for managing and growing the UPS business in the South Africa and managing the network of UPS Authorized Service Contractors in the Eastern and Southern region of the continent.
Most recently, Esther served as Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations for UPS in the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa, based in Dubai, since January 2016. In this role, she was responsible for public/government and customs affairs for the region. Her core focus areas and interests included increasing cross border trade and identifying ways to assist SMEs to access global markets.
Prior to this, Esther was responsible for The UPS Foundation’s global humanitarian engagements working with various organizations in the humanitarian space based in Brussels, Belgium. As a logistician, she has worked in various capacities at UPS and is able to lend her experience to the organizations she worked with. Her passion for working in the humanitarian sector was captured in TED Talk titled “Hunger isn’t a food issue. It is a logistics issue.”

Peter Ndoro has more than 25 years’ experience as a broadcaster in television and radio. He is currently a prime time news anchor/producer for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
His media career has seen him work in Africa and abroad, including a three-year stint as a news anchor/producer at BBC World Service in London. There, he specialised in Pan African news and current affairs.
Other assignments over the years have included anchoring leading business programme for CNBC Africa where he was also the director of corporate communications. He also spent some time at SABC Africa anchoring their flagship Pan African breakfast news programme that was broadcast across the continent.
Peter was also a prime time business news anchor at the business channel Summit TV (now Business Day TV). He also gained many years of experience in entertainment television as a presenter on the pay TV channel, M-Net.
Radio listeners have also heard his voice presenting programmes on Talk Radio 702, 947 and SAfm in South Africa and Radio One in Zimbabwe.
Peter trained as an accountant at Coopers and Lybrand and graduated from the University of South Africa with a degree in Accounting. Prior to entering the broadcast arena, he worked in accounting, advertising marketing and business management. Peter is currently in the final stages of completing his MBA with Henley Business School.
With his understanding of current affairs, particularly pan-African issues, and knowledge of business affairs he has become a sought-after conference

Benard Njoroge is a strategist, businessman and entrepreneur in
Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. He is the current Managing
Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Adrian Group of companies. Adrian is one of
the fastest-growing SME companies in building, integration, maintenance of
telecommunication and ICT infrastructure in the region. It’s also known for training of
fresh graduates thus bridging the existing technical gap in the emerging markets.
Bernard has played a key role in shaping the Telecommunication ICT and Energy industry as it is now if he is not engaging policymakers, he is in constant communications with other industry leaders, partners and stakeholders.

Tandokazi Nquma-Moyo, is a published scientist with a master’s in industrial biotechnology/Biochemical Engineering turned technology transfer and commercialization practitioner, Intellectual Property (IP) analyst and advisor, fund manager and business developer. Tandokazi started her industry career in 2010 as a Sector Specialist Graduate at the Coeca Industrial Development Zone, A special Economic Zone of the Department of Trade and Industry and provincially reporting to the Department of Economic Development, responsible for the development and implementation of the Renewable Energy Investment Strategy, being the IDZ supporting project manager of the first commercial wind turbine in SA (Electrawinds projects). She joined Innowind/EDF a French Energy company for a short period of time late 2011. From there, she then joined Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) as a Business Development Officer in 2012 and moved on to North-West University in 2014 as a Senior Specialist Commercialisation responsible for attracting funding of technology development and commercialisation, IP identification and commercialisation.

She is currently employed at the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) as a Business Development Manager and is responsible for establishing and leveraging idea-to-market partnerships, opportunities and programmes to attract third party funding and market access/commercialisation opportunities and coordinating the National System of Innovation. Prior to her appointment at TIA, Ms Nquma-Moyo was employed at the South African Nuclear Energy Association (NECSA) as a Business Development Manager responsible for, amongst other things, IP identification, protection strategies and exploitation; technology and business commercialisation including fundraising; and support to the NECSA Group. In addition to her technical academic accolades, Tandokazi holds a Diploma in Business Management, certificates in Project Management from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Bio-entrepreneurship from UCT and IP & Technology Transfer Management from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Patricia Nzolatima has over 12 years of experience in entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment. She is the Founder and CEO of the International Working Ladies Group and Bizzoly Holding, a women-owned company and foundation. She is also the co-founder and managing director of EXP-Comunitcart, one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s first marketing agencies. She founded the first women’s economic empowerment hub in Kinshasa, an accelerator program for women entrepreneurs.
As a serial entrepreneur, Patricia is a sasoned Leader in market disruption initiatives on the continent. She is in the founder of Working Ladies Cabs/Ubizcabs, the first female-driven taxi company in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This transportation company includes “Ubizcabs,’’ taxis that are driven only by women ; Ubizdelivery, a courier and food delivery service ; and Ubizjet, a private, on-demand jet company. Patricia’s second company, Bizzoly FMGG SARL specializes in mineral water and local food transportation, packaging, and value chain Under the “Working Ladies’’ brand. In 2018, in partnership with UBA Group, she launched a visa prepaid card with the “Working Ladies brand’’ to finance women entrepreneurs’ projects through her women’s economic empowerment hub.
In 2012, she participated in the young African Leaders Mandela Fellowship program. Patricia is an active YALI alumna and has attended the G20 Young Entrpreneur Alliance summit with the South Africa delegation three times.
In 2013, Patricia was awarded the Woman of Yeear award by the Dutch multinational company Vlisco, and in 2016 she became the “muse’’ of the Vlisco Campaign. She is presently the DRC Ambassador for Women in Africa, L’oreal’s Women in Science, and UNESCO. In 2018, Forbes Afrique named her as one of the top 100 Leaders of Tomorrow. She has also been highlighted on the “Choiseul Institute 100 Africa Economic Leaders of Tomorrow Under 40’’ in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Patricia holds a master’s degree in law from the protestant University of Congo (DRC) and a master’s degree in business English and marketing management from the cape Studies Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition, she has earned several professional certificates including the President Program Certificate from Havard University’s Business School and the Havard Ministerial Leadership Program Certificate from Havard University’s Kennedy School. Patricia is currently pursuing the seed Transformation program at Standford University’s Business School.

Irene Ochem, founder and CEO of Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) is soft-spoken but compelling, of gentle approach yet radiating passion, firmly rooted in reality yet driven by a strength of conviction and determination that will bore their way through any opposing circumstances or situations. These are among the qualities that have brought her across countries and continents, through daunting obstacles and deep-seated prejudices to where she now stands, spearheading a highly influential pan-African women’s economic empowerment organisation and business network that she is determined will be the number one, globally recognised platform for female entrepreneurship in Africa.

The seeds of this ambition were sown many years ago when working as a young volunteer at The International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP-UNESCO) where she encountered the desperate need for female inclusivity in sciences. From there, extensive involvement in international organisations as conference organiser, administrative coordinator, research administration manager, international consultant and development specialist has steadily grown her vision to include the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem, from stakeholders and business experts to policy makers and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Highly qualified, holding bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees as well as an MBA in International Management acquired at the University of London, Irene holds postgraduate qualifications in project management, gender and trade-related issues. She speaks four languages and is a sought-after speaker and participant in international meetings on entrepreneurship, women and gender.

Irene’s focus is Africa’s most underutilised resource – women, some 50%+ of the continent’s population – and she is harnessing high-level, successful female entrepreneurs as well as young aspiring businesswomen to create the unique AWIEF platform bringing big and small together to connect and interface. Her programmes, including the annual AWIEF Conference and Exhibition, the AWIEF Awards, the AWIEF Growth Accelerator Programme to make companies “investment ready”, the AWIEF business networking breakfasts and her impressive profile as conference speaker have enabled AWIEF to enter into partnership reputable international and global institutions, including partnership with the Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio/NEPAD) as Country Coordinator for implementation of the FemBioBiz Accelerator Programme which focuses on women-owned businesses in the health and agriculture biotechnology sectors. AWIEF has recently partnered with Nedbank to implement the AWIEF Growth Accelerator Programme in South Africa in 2018 and 2019.

Arunma Oteh served as the World Bank Vice President and Treasurer from September 30th, 2015 to November 30th 2018.
As Treasurer, she led a team that manages assets totaling USD200 billion for the World Bank Group, 60 central banks, sovereign wealth funds and other official institutions. She and her team also maintained the World Bank’s global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower in over 50 currencies by executing well – prepared transactions and carefully coordinating credit rating and capital market relationships for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).
She was also responsible for an extensive financial advisory business for World Bank clients and cashflows of over $7 trillion.
Prior to joining the Bank, she served as Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. During this period, she rebuilt the Nigerian capital markets after the global financial crisis and served on Nigeria’s Economic Management team. Prior to joining SEC Nigeria, she worked at the Africa Development Bank for 17 years, including as Group Vice President, Corporate Services (2006 to 2009) and as Group Treasurer (2001 to 2006).
She started her career at Centre Point Investments Limited, Nigeria in 1985. She has served on several Boards during her 33 year career, notably, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (2010 to 2015), which regulates 95% of the World’s securities markets and the pioneer Board of the International Financing Facility for Immunization (2006 to 2011).
She has also previously served on the World Economic Forum Agenda Council on Institutional Governance, and the Africa Advisory Council for World Women’s banking.
She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a First Class Honors Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Nigeria Nsukka.

Daniel Plato is a South African politician who is the Mayor of Cape Town, after having taken office on 6 November 2018, a position he previously held from May 2009 until June 2011. He previously served as Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and Western Cape Provincial Minister of Community Safety.
Born in Cape Town, Plato was involved in political activities during his high school career. He was a community organiser and played a crucial role in mobilizing residents against the Apartheid government. He was elected a ward councillor in 1996. He served in various positions and internal Democratic Alliance caucus positions during his tenure as Cape Town city councillor. He was elected mayor in 2009, succeeding Helen Zille.
He left office on 1 June 2011 after the Democratic Alliance nominated Patricia de Lille to be the party's mayoral candidate ahead of the 2011 local government elections. Western Cape Premier Helen Zille reshuffled her cabinet and appointed Plato to the position of Provincial Minister of Community Safety, succeeding Albert Fritz. He was sworn in on June 2011.
In August 2018, he declared himself to be a candidate to replace Patricia de Lille, who announced in August 2018 that she would resign in October 2018. He was selected by the Democratic Alliance in September 2018. In late October 2018, Plato resigned as Provincial Minister of Community Safety and Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and was sworn in as Member of the Cape Town City Council on 1 November 2018. He was elected Mayor of Cape Town on 6 November 2018.

Samantha Pokroy is the founder and CEO of Sanari Capital, a private equity firm investing in the lower mid-market, with a specialization in founder-run, owner-managed and family-owned businesses. Samantha has fifteen years of private equity and venture capital experience in the South African and United States markets. She played a leading role in investments at Ethos Private Equity, prior to which she worked in private equity in Chicago and investment banking and consulting in New York.

Samantha holds an MBA (Hons) from the University of Chicago, a BCom and BA Honours degree in Industrial Psychology from University of the Witwatersrand and is a CFA Charter Holder. Samantha is a director on the board of SAVCA.

Franco-Gabonese entrepreneur Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard is the founder of the APO Group, a leading media consulting firm and press release distribution service in Africa and the Middle East. The company, which Pompigne-Mognard founded in 2007, employs close to 80 employees across its offices in Switzerland, Dubai, Senegal and Hong Kong, and has an annual turnover of several million dollars. APO’s bluechip clients include GE Africa, Dangote Group and DHL among others.

Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard recently stepped down as CEO of APO Group, and will now assume the position of Chairman, focusing on delivering high-level counsel for APO Group clients and developing his own investment fund dedicated to Africa.

He recently recounted the story of APO’s early beginnings and mused on the evolution of the media relations business in Africa.

Julia Raphaely is a majority shareholder in Associated Media Publishing (AMP) and CEO of the group.

As CEO of the company, she is responsible for setting the overall strategic direction and creating a vision for the group, improving business results and overseeing the group’s day-to-day operations.

Julia completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cape Town in 1987, after which she studied at the AAA School of Advertising (graduating with honours). She completed a Masters Degree in Interactive Telecommunication at the University of New York in 1993.

Since joining AMP full time in August 1993, Julia has played a significant role in establishing the company as one of the largest independent publishers of glossy women’s magazines in South Africa. AMP has steadily grown its reach, not only in print but now also as a multi-platform media house. Julia has not only embraced the significant challenges the print industry currently faces but continues to transform AMP into a business that will flourish in the years to come.

Julia is a decisive and determined leader with proven commercial management and operational skills. Above all, she is a true professional and team player focused on innovation and continually striving for a streamlined and successful business foundation. One of her biggest strengths is her ability to embrace change – a skill much needed in today’s fast-paced business environment.

Her experience covers a broad spectrum, including business development management, marketing, finance, digital media and sales.

Associated Media Publishing (AMP) is a multimedia company that reaches an estimated 20 million consumers each month in Southern Africa. With four prominent titles in its stable: Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, House and Leisure and Women on Wheels, AMP speaks to a wide variety of women in their various stages of life, mindsets, and across multiple platforms.

Nirmala Reddy currently holds the position of Senior Manager Enterprise Development at Nedbank. She is responsible for SME support and development within the Enterprise Development and Supplier Development space, including strategy and execution. Reddy joined Nedbank's Transactional Banking team in 2004 to focus on public sector business. Her exposure and experience across community development and the business arena has provided a valuable, insightful platform to her current sphere of SME, Enterprise and Supplier Development.

Mignon is a Marketing / Business Strategy Consultant with experience in the corporate and academic fields, both locally and internationally. Her corporate experience includes a range of different areas from retail to journalism, banking and advertising (Harrods (London), CNN (London), Investec (SA), Morgan Stanley (UK), Eliance Communications (SA).

She is Associate Professor of Digital Marketing at the UCT Graduate School of Business where she teaches on the MBA program and is also regularly involved with custom corporate training. She consults in the area of business and marketing strategy and the execution thereof across various industries.

She holds a B.Com degree (University of Pretoria), an MBA from the University of Melbourne (MBS) and a PhD in luxury branding from Lulea University of Technology (Sweden).

Tesi Rusagara leads Kigali Innovation City, whose mission is to nurture and accelerate Rwanda’s innovation ecosystem to position Rwanda as a pan-African hub. She was previously with Deloitte Consulting in San Francisco advising financial services clients on digital transformation, growth strategy and divestitures. Tesi has also worked in the President of Rwanda’s Strategy and Policy Unit where she focused on technology, urbanization and private sector development. Prior to this role, she worked for Bank of Kigali, Rwanda’s largest commercial bank. Tesi holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate school of Business and a Bachelor of Business Science in Finance from the University of Cape Town.

Rupert Scofield is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of FINCA International, author of “The Social Entrepreneur's Handbook,” and presenter of The Social Enterprise Podcast.

A pioneer in microfinance and life-long social entrepreneur, Mr. Scofield leads FINCA International, the majority-owner of 20-community-based microfinance institutions and banks across Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia. Through this global network—known as FINCA Impact Finance—FINCA International is enabling access to responsible financial services.

After more than two decades of growing and scaling a global microfinance network, Mr. Scofield is leading FINCA International on the next leg of its journey: supporting the rise of social enterprises delivering basic service and financial innovation. Combined, FINCA International’s work in microfinance and social enterprise helps low-income families achieve a better standard of living.

Mr. Scofield travels around the world meeting with microfinance clients, social entrepreneurs and commercial and philanthropic investors. He frequently serves as a keynote speaker on microfinance, social enterprise and impact investing.

Mr. Scofield holds M.A. degrees in agricultural economics and public administration from the University of Wisconsin, and a B.A. from Brown University. He also has an honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Roehampton in London.

Samantha Skyring brings diverse experience, from her entrepreneurial career from Aircraft Interior Refurbishment, to discovering Mumbo Island on Lake Malawi whilst on a kayaking expedition and starting Kayak Africa.

As well as extensive travel and adventure, one of which was her 5 month journey in Namibia which included a 120km walk through the Namib desert, from where Oryx brand originated.

20 000 Drums NPO ‘Transformation through Celebration’ followed implementing traditional African workshops and training in rural communities across South Africa. Her Desert Salt adventure started by packing bags on her dining room table. Oryx Desert Salt has exported to 23 countries 9 years later.

Marianna Smith (nee Steenkamp) holds a PhD in Botany at Free State University in Bloemfontein. After a short academic career as a sub-Antarctic Ecologist her interest moved towards natural products. At the Agricultural Research Council she was responsible for the natural products gene bank, commercialization of natural products and research coordination of the natural products projects.
A natural outflow of commercialization is value adding. She established a small rooibos-based cosmetics business with a few rural women, which is still going after 16 years.
The next logical step after commercialization is establishment of a niche in competitive markets. Marianna saw the certification world as the tool to access that niche. She did organic and Fairtrade inspections on a freelance basis for seven years. Simultaneously she was the certification and quality control manager for PhytoTrade Africa. In 2013 Marianna moved to ECOCERT as Certification Officer and General Manager for ECOCERT Southern Africa. She recently retired from ECOCERT to continue as freelance auditor and consultant.
Marianna Smith lives in Stellenbosch, South Africa, was project leader for several USAID and Winrock projects and is the author and co-author of 18 scientific publications, ranging from sub-Antarctic ecology, climate change to commercialization of medicinal plants and herbs.

Vera Songwe is the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Previously Songwe was Regional Director Africa covering West and Central Africa for the International Finance Corporation, and Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania at the World Bank. Her main areas of interest are fiscal policy, innovative financing mechanisms for development, agriculture, energy and economic governance.
She is a member of the African Leadership Network, a member of the World Bank Group team that recently raised a historic US$49.3 billion dollars in concessional financing for the low income countries of the World as part of the International Development Association (IDA) 16th replenishment. Prior to this, she worked in the East Asia and Pacific Region’s - Poverty Reduction and Economic Management unit, as Country Sector Coordinator and Senior Economist for the Philippines, where she led the dialogue on macroeconomic, fiscal policy and governance issues.
She has worked in Mongolia, Cambodia and Morocco managing different World Bank programs and the economic and growth policy dialogue. Prior to joining the Bank, Dr. Songwe was a visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, USA.
She has published several articles on governance, fiscal policy, agriculture and commodity price volatility and trade.
Dr. Songwe holds a PhD. in Mathematical Economics from the Center for Operations Research & Econometrics and from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. She holds a BA in Economics and a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Michael Sudarkasa is a US-trained attorney and African economic development specialist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Michael has experience and expertise in facilitating economic development, trade and investment projects involving business expansion within Africa, as well as between Africa and other parts of the world. He has sector expertise in agriculture/ agribusiness; energy; broadcast media; infrastructure; healthcare; tourism and oil and gas.

Karen Teoh is the COO and Crypto-economist for Kommerce, a trade finance platform for emerging markets. She has diverse experience in Tech Product Management, Law, Venture Investing and Executive Search. Kommerce enables an ecosystem for small and medium-size importers in emerging markets to access trade credit for commodities imports. The aim is to create a broad base of prosperity with a mix of legal structuring, game theory and blockchain to create the incentive system for all participants – financiers, importers, exporters and logistics players.

A graduate of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, the 2014 alumni studied Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA. Lerato Tshabalala was voted by the Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa as one of the 200 Young People to watch in the Media category in 2013.
With almost 20 years’ experience in the South African print publishing industry, she has moved between newspapers and magazines in the country (including Oprah (SA) and Marie Claire (SA) as a senior writer). Her first management position was at the age 22 as a women’s editor at South African weekly publication, Drum magazine. Since then she has moved up the management ranks at different companies, including South Africa’s largest Sunday paper, Sunday Times, where she edited SA’s largest Lifestyle supplement for five years. As the editor of South Africa English women’s title, True Love magazine (a position she left in April 2014 to take part in the Mandela Washington Fellowship, formerly known as YALI) she oversaw the day-today as well as a strategic running of the magazine. Lerato currently works in digital and social media as a creative director, having established content studios for SA’s biggest telecoms company, Vodacom (2017) and the world’s biggest brewer, AB InBev (2019).

A fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and founding Senior Faculty of the Lagos Business School -Pan African University, he was Director of The Centre For Applied Economics at the Lagos Business School. He has served in Senior positions in government, as an Adviser to the President of Nigeria; the Private Sector, as Chief Operating Officer for Volkswagen of Nigeria, and in academia. He is the author of several Management and Public Policy books including the Award Winning Managing Uncertainty: Competition and Strategy in Emerging Economies, 1998 and the 2006 book Why Nations are Poor.. His academic background covers a range from Policy Economics, Business Administration, and Political Science to Mass Communication. As an entrepreneur he has founded or co-founded companies that are active in fields including financial services, ICT, Media and Agriculture.
Appointed Professor of the Social and Political Economy Environment of Business, the pioneer Entrepreneurship teacher at LBS has been a scholar-in-residence at the Harvard Business School and the American University in Washington DC. As leader of Civil Society, he is the founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership; The Widow Support Centre and the Concerned Professionals, which was bulwark against-military oppression, among numerous other social enterprise initiatives.
He has served on the key apex private sector associations, including the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, The National Council of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA). He is active on the International speaking circuit, especially on the subjects of Growth Economics, Comparative Development Economics, Leadership, the Curse of Oil and China’s Economic surge and growing influence in Africa.
He has collaborated fairly frequently with the center for strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington and Chatham House in the UK. He has also written commissioned papers for the UK’s DFID including the latest collaboration with Colleagues from Oxford on the Political Economy of growth in Nigeria. He is a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins School of Advance International Studies (SAIS).
He has studied and written about the Political economy of growth in Latin America and Asia, particularly Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Hong Kong, countries in which he is much traveled. Utomi who was voted one of the top 10 Nigerian Living Legends in the Vanguard Newspaper/Silver Bird Television poll in 2009.
As a Business Angel he has helped found such companies as Linkserve (Nigeria’s first ISP), Socketworks (Pioneer e-government systems developer in Nigeria, and Business Day (Nigeria’s first daily business newspaper) He created the iconic LBS monthly executive briefing breakfast and hosted it for its first 10 years, and inspired the founding of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Studies of LBS (now EDC) after a 1996 visit to the Sole C Snyder Centre at Wharton, in Philadelphia. His other books include Critical Perspectives in Political Economy and Management; To Serve is to Live; Business Angel as a Missionary and four other books that are collections of his published opinions. He has written dozens of chapters in edited volumes. Conversations with him have also been published in books of interviews with Utomi.

Tanya van Lill joined SAVCA in March 2017, after a rewarding 10-year career at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) with her last role being Director of Academic Programmes where she also served on the board of the Executive MBA Council (EMBAC), an international academic association that represents the Executive MBA industry.

Tanya is passionate about human and organisational development. During her time as a learning and development specialist focusing on management and leadership development, Tanya gained valuable experience working with various companies across a wide range of sectors. She holds an MBA and Post-Graduate Diploma from GIBS where her MBA research focused on methods to develop a global mindset. Tanya also holds a BCom Informatics and Honours in Business Management from UNISA.

Tanya is also passionate about developing the private equity and venture capital sector in Southern Africa. Through personal experiences, Tanya understands the complexities entrepreneurs face during the various stages of their business lifecycle and is a regular contributor at various events to help entrepreneurs, and investors, understand the value and impact of private equity and venture capital.