CEO of African Brand Warrior

Fatima Alimohamed

Fatima Alimohamed, the CEO of African Brand Warrior, is an African and Kenyan. She is an advocate for Africa and African brands with a solid track record across African markets that lead her to change from boots to heels where needed. Fatima is a thought leader in Strategy, Brand Development, Consumer Relationships, NPD, Marketing and Communication. She believes that every contact she makes through her various African markets visit must educate, inspire, and help transform the lives of people. She believes that lifting the people through brands is the one way to grow both people and businesses.

Fatima was honored with the TOP 50 CMO’s Global award in Singapore and the TOP 100 Most Talented Marketers Global Award in India. She was handed a Citation for Leadership Excellence by the African Women Leaders CMO Asia in Mauritius. She was Stooled as a Queen Mother (Nkosohemaa) in Memia, Western Ghana, for her role in social development in the area of women and children. This has earned her the title of a Queen Mother and a Local name “Nana Nyanzu.”

In April 2019, the Women Economic Forum awarded Fatima with the prize of “Iconic Woman Building a better World” in Delhi, and again was awarded in Egypt in February 2020. Fatima is the regional director for Africa for “Nations of Women” and is the President of Women Indian Chamber Ghana.

Lead, Data & Innovation, Office of the Deputy President of Kenya

Philip Thigo

Philip Thigo is a technology, data & public policy expert. He is the Director for Africa for the Thunderbird School for Global Management. Mr. Thigo is also a technical advisor at the Office of the Deputy President on Data, Innovation and Open Government, recognized by Apolitical as one of the World’s 100 most influential people in digital government in 2018. He is currently a member of the newly formed World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Futures Councils on Global Public Goods for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Mr. Thigo has previously advised the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture in the Government of Kenya, key in developing the data aspects of the Joint Agriculture Mechanism, the Big Four Food and Nutrition Security Presidential Priority and the Agriculture Transformation and Growth Strategy (2018 – 2022). During this period, he was invited to the Global Futures Council on Food Systems Innovation (2018 – 2019). Mr. Thigo has previously held executive positions, notably Infonet Africa and Foundation El Taller with experience spanning across Asia, Africa, Arab World and Latin America. He has co-created unique technology driven initiatives such as Apps4Africa together with the US State Department, Uchaguzi to monitor Elections in over 9 Countries in Africa, Budget Tracking Tool for citizen engagement and Sauti Yetu (Huduma) on public service delivery monitoring and the State House Summit for engaging high level Government Officials with the public. Mr. Thigo has previously supported the African Union Commission, Bureau of the Chairperson & the African Governance Architecture (AGA) where he co-created the first ever AU digital engagement through #DGTRENDS. He currently serves as the Point of Contact for Open Government Partnership (OGP), is the national focal point for the Global Partnership on Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD)., which he co-founded with colleagues from Governments of the United States, Colombia, the United Kingdom and Private Sector. Mr. Thigo has worked to bring the Africa Regional Data Cube (ARDC), a founding steering committee member of Digital Earth Africa where he now serves in its Technical Advisory Committee. He is an Advisory Board Member of the Global Shapers Nairobi Hub and the Chair of the Board of Mtoto News, an award winning digital platform based in Kenya that uses technology to make children and their issues visible.

International Speaker, Leadership Expert, Award-Winning Author

Gina Kloes

ina Kloes is an International Speaker, Leadership Expert, Award-Winning Author and founder of the peak performance company, Inner Tech.  As a Peak Performance Strategist, she ignites the entrepreneurial spirit, unleashes passion and accelerates success for entrepreneurs, executives and teams around the globe. Gina is a recognized authority in personal development, Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship Mentor, Tony Robbins Trainer & Deepak Chopra Vedic Master Educator. She is a catalyst for exponential leadership, massive joy and creating lives and business enterprises to lead our future.

Gina has over 30 years of international experience speaking, training and educating through her high-intensity live events, immersive online training and focused one-on-one mentoring.  She takes you on transformational, unconventional and immersive journeys to supercharge your performance. Her interactive, unconventional style continues to captivate her audiences worldwide.  She provides not just a presentation but an impactful life experience.  Her audiences leave with a supercharged leadership mindset and breakthrough strategies to be truly inspiring game-changers in the 21st Century.  Her strategies and insights take you on a deep dive to breakthrough all that holds you back from the business, relationships and life you deserve and want.  She has a keen ability to simplify complex issues and help you create the roadmap for your future. Known by those who work with her as the “Game Changer”, Gina has the natural ability to inspire her audience to action while creating energy, depth and new perspectives in their business.

Global Head, Corporate Citizenship, KPMG International

Lord Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE

Michael began his career as a teacher moving into government service in 1986 supporting policy initiatives to bring employment and development to Britain’s inner cities. In 1990 he started working for TVAM on education programming and then GMTV as its Chief Political Correspondent. In 1994 Michael moved to the BBC as a presenter on the weekly Around Westminster program before joining its Corporate Affairs division. In 1996 he became the BBC’s head of Public Affairs and then its first head of Corporate Social Responsibility in 2003 before becoming KPMG international’s Global Head of Citizenship in 2006. Michael has represented KPMG International on the Global Corporate Citizenship Committee of the World Economic Forum from 2008 to 2010. In 2009 he became a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Diversity and Talent, in 2010 served on the Global Agenda Council on the Next Generation, and in 2011 became a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Role of Business. In 2012-2014 he led the WEF Global Agenda Council, The Future of Civil Society, and in 2016 joined the WEF Global Agenda Council on Migration. Michael is also a Trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation and a Vice President of UNICEF and Tearfund. He was previously a non-executive Director of British Telecom (on the Board for Responsible and Sustainable Business) for nine years and was a Global Board member of Millennium Promise until January 2016. In 2010 he was a leading adviser to the Chatham House inquiry into the Future Role of the UK in Foreign Affairs. Michael also sat on the Council of the Overseas Development Institute in the UK and previously at the Centre for Global Development in the USA. Michael has also been a Board Director of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) from 2010 to 2012 and is President of ZANE – a development aid agency focused on Zimbabwe. He is also a Patron of Free the Children and a Director of Junior Achievement Worldwide. In 2003, Michael was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to crime reduction which includes 15 years as Chair of Crime Concern and nine years serving on the Commission for Racial Equality (1993-2001). In 2005, Michael was awarded an independent peerage to the House of Lords. In the same year, he received the UNICEF Award from the then UK Chancellor for his outstanding contribution to understanding and effecting solutions for Africa’s children. In 2014, Michael was conferred with a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury in recognition for his leadership at KPMG, the BBC, and for his work in international development and corporate responsibility. In 2017 Michael was installed as the second Chancellor of Regent’s University London.

Regional Advisor Africa and Country Director of Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda

Violette Uwamutara

Violette Uwamutara is a Regional Advisor Africa and Country Director of Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda, and a leader in bridging the digital divide in Africa. A former diplomat with the Government of Rwanda, Violette is committed to transforming Africa into a digital innovation hub with young women at the center. In partnership with the World Economic Forum’s Internet for All Initiative, Rwanda’s Ministry of ICT and Innovation, and DOT, Violette has led the launch of the Digital Ambassador Program, which places youth at the center of large-scale digital transformation in local communities; Violette also serves as regional advisor for the multinational expansion of the initiative. She sits on the YouthConnekt Africa and Girl Effect Rwanda committees and has been recognized with the prestigious Anita Borg International Change Agent Award, in recognition of her commitment to the role of women in Rwanda’s future as information technology and innovation hub in Africa. In 2016, Violette was named one of the top 25 Distinguished Women in Business Excellence in Africa.

Violette’s areas of expertise include empowering young women and men to bridge the digital divide, cross-sectoral partnerships for digital transformation at scale, and building the leadership capacity of youth.

Founder and President of Ashesi University

Patrick Awuah Jr

Patrick Gyimah Awuah Jr is the Founder and President of Ashesi University, a private, not-for-profit
institution that in Ghana. Patrick was educated at Swarthmore on a near-full scholarship in 1985. In
2001, Patrick who was a Program Manager at Microsoft returned to Ghana to found Ashesi University.
He holds Bachelor degrees in Engineering and Economics from Swarthmore College; an MBA from UC
Berkeley’s Haas School of Business; and honorary doctorates from Swarthmore College and Babson
College. Patrick has won many awards including the Order of the Volta by His Excellency, President J.A.
Kufuor, the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, an Elon Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership,
the McNulty Prize and the MacArthur Fellowship and named one the 50 greatest leaders in the world by
Fortune Magazine. Patrick was recognized by Africa Leadership Initiative — West Africa (ALIWA) as a
“Genius Fellow” an honour reserved for only 20 people around the world. The Qatar Foundation named
Patrick the 2017 WISE Prize for Education Laureate. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named Patrick to a new 16-member International Commission as part of
UNESCO’s Futures of Education initiative. He is a Fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative; a member of
the Council on Foreign Relations; and a member of the Tau Beta Pi honor society for excellence in
engineering.

Managing Director - Partner, Fundraising Advisory

Carole Ramella

Carole has +22-year experience in financial analysis, fundraising advisory, company valuation, and mergers & acquisitions acquired in France (Paribas, Arthur Andersen, Gras Savoye, and Duff & Phelps).

Experience with SMEs and large multinationals on transactions representing more than 22 billion Euros in value and covering more than 15 countries on 4 continents.

Expertise in a large number of sectors: information systems, publishing, financial services, transportation & logistics, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, food & beverages, etc.

She is the founder and Managing Director of GFA Consulting, a corporate finance boutique based in Ghana and specialized in business support and fundraising advisory for SMEs operating in West and Central Africa.

INSEAD MBA (Fontainebleau, France) and graduate of Reims Management School in France (major in Finance).

Since 2016, Carole has been a Foreign Trade Advisor for the French Government.

Carole is also on the Investment Committee of Investisseurs & Partenaires (IPAE2), an international private equity fund based in France and which invests in businesses in West and Central Africa (http://www.ietp.com/en/content/impact-funds).

Proficient in French, English and Italian.

Founder, TRUE Africa

Claude Grunitzky

Claude Grunitzky is the founder of TRACE, a fast-growing media company, which was successfully sold to a French investor group in 2010, and TRUE Africa, a media-tech platform championing young African voices all over the world. In 2017, TRUE Africa was funded by Google’s Digital News Initiative. A graduate of London University and MIT, Grunitzky is also a trustee at MASS MoCA, a contemporary art museum in Massachusetts, and at Humanity in Action, a foundation that works internationally to build global leadership, defend democracy, protect minorities and improve human rights. Grunitzky is currently working with MIT on launching TRUE Africa University, an ambitious higher education project aiming to accelerate the continent’s development by enabling and empowering African youth.

Country Director, iDE Ghana.

Valerie Labi

Valerie Labi can be described as a social innovator, with a proven track record for nurturing growth strategies, and delivering shared value in emerging markets.

Valerie is making a significant contribution to SDGs. Her biggest accolade to date has been her efforts tackling the global sanitation crisis by pioneering new forms of household sanitation with the potential for widescale replication in emerging markets. She is currently Country Director of iDE and founder of the largest sanitation social enterprise in Ghana – Sama Sama; a business operating across eight regions in Ghana serving more than 60,000 customers. Not only is her work today establishing a robust sanitation market ecosystem in Northern Ghana. Valerie previously served as CEO of Clean Team Toilets, 2013 winners of the Dame Lesley Strathie Award for Operational Excellence at the UK Civil Service Awards.

Valerie is strong believer in entrepreneurship as a lever to unlock the potential of Africa and drive prosperity, even in underserved communities. Since 2015 she has established a series of partnerships, with other like-minded innovators, catalyzing as a co-founder a strategic ecosystem of social enterprises; focused on e-mobility (SolarTaxi & Cargo Bikes Africa), and foodtech (MenufinderAfrica). Her initiatives to date at driving social change has created sustainable jobs for more than 400 people across all regions and demographics in Ghana.

In 2014 Valerie was honoured by President Obama, being awarded the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders and further in 2019 when she was invited to become a member of the 12th class of the Harambean Entrepreneurial Alliance.

Valerie’s alma mater is that of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, where she studied an Mst in Sustainability Leadership. Since graduating she continues to contribute to thought leadership and has published a number of working papers, ensuring the

representation of African scholars in academia. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and watching cartoons with her two kids.

Co-founder of Afrobytes

Ammin Youssouf

Ammin Youssouf is co-founder of Afrobytes, an international Tech Marketplace connecting business and technology leaders, founders, investors, policy experts, and the media, with the African Tech Industry. In a short time, Afrobytes has become the largest and most influential African tech event in Europe. In 2018, both founders of Afrobytes entered the top 100 Fast Company’s Most Creative People and the top 50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs List of Entrepreneur.com

Before founding Afrobytes, Ammin founded the award-winning digital agency, Big Youth. He spent 20 years building digital platforms and operating digital marketing campaigns. His clients have included Ferrari, Kenzo, Mugler, Société Générale, NRJ, Citroën, and Kronenbourg. Ammin holds a Master’s Degree in International Trade from La Sorbonne.

Chief Strategy Officer, Founders Factory Africa

Alina Truhina

partners. Prior to FFA, Alina led corporate partnerships at SPRING Accelerator, which has scaled over 75 businesses in 9 countries across Africa and South Asia. She has catalyzed and delivered partnerships with companies like Deutsche Bank, Hogan Lovells, PwC, Merck, and Unilever. Before that, Alina spent seven years at the World Bank, where she built collaborations with corporations, international organizations, multilateral development agencies, and foundations.

Alina began her career in Australia, working at two international media companies of the WPP Group, with global clients such as British Petroleum (BP), Kodak, Ford, Miele, GE Money, and Fosters Group.

Founder, Founder and Director, Briter Bridges

Dario Giuliani

Dario’s interests meet the intersection of technology, socio-economic growth, and private sector development. His work spans from Southeast Asia to Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa and includes research for clients such as CDC Group, GSMA, Oxford University, MEST Africa, and the World Bank. In early 2018, Dario founded Briter to catalyse information on the innovative ecosystems across emerging markets. Briter recently launched its own intelligence platform.

CEO of Busy Internet Ghana

Rosy Fynn

Rosy Fynn is an award-winning business and change leader with over a decade’s executive level experience building and transforming organizations across Africa, the United States and the Caribbean. She has a wealth of experience in the technology, financial services, consulting and insurance industries. She is amongst Ghana’s marketing elite, having held the role of Chief Marketing Officer at three major telecommunications companies, and being voted in 2017 as one of West Africa’s top marketing and communications professionals at the Marketing World Awards.

Rosy is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Busy Internet, a leading internet service provider in Ghana. She brings to Busy expertise in areas such as marketing, customer experience and brand management, honed at multinational organizations mainly Airtel and Millicom International Cellular (Tigo). Rosy also played a key role in the successful launch of Surfline Communications, Ghana’s first and Africa’s largest 4G LTE provider.

Earlier in her career, she worked in the consulting and financial services industries in New York with Booz & Company, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

Rosy is passionate about unlocking the potential of African youth and women. She has served on the advisory board of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), an organization that provides superior educational and career programmes to promising youth and spends a lot of time mentoring students within the SEO organization. She is an advocate for women in STEM and in 2020, was named one of 30 Top women in STEM, by The Stem Woman Project.

Rosy is a member of the Archbishop Tutu Fellowship program, a program focused on identifying, nurturing and equipping Africa’s elite future leaders with tools to address Africa’s challenges.

She holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA (honors) in Computer Science and Mathematics from Smith College, Massachusetts, USA.

North American Changemaker Manager, Ashoka Changemakers

Marc A. Carr MBA

A native of the St. Louis region in the American state of Missouri, Marc has a passion for social entrepreneurship and community engagement. Currently, Marc is the Global Change Manager for Ashoka Changemakers where he engages a global network of social innovators on the development of groundbreaking work in education, urban sustainability, and economic inclusion. Previously, Marc served as the Program Director for Impact Hub DC, a community of social entrepreneurs and innovators. 

Marc has a plethora of professional experience, both domestically and internationally, from work with McKinsey & Company, the United Nations Foundation, and AVIS Ghana. Marc holds an MBA and a BA in International Studies.

Co-Founder, Young Kenyans in Tech

Esther Kinuthia

I am extremely passionate about growing people and businesses. Marketing is an important aspect of business. Products and services need to be advertised to consumers to achieve the following;

Create brand awareness

Increase brand consideration

Encourage brand loyalty

Increase both online and offline sales

I am more than happy to support you on Google Advertising Online Platforms.

Experience

5 years at Google

 Started off as a Marketing Intern in 2014 for a year in the Kenya office, then relocated to Google Dublin where I was for 4 years and now moved back to Google Kenya as of January 2019.

Since 2015, I have worked with 4,000+ businesses in 63 countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa. This has given me an opportunity to gain invaluable experience working with different types of businesses from various backgrounds. I am excited to put that knowledge and experience into use for my country.

Masters in Digital Marketing Strategy from Trinity Business School, which is ranked 1st globally.

Capacity Development Specialist at African Development Bank

Foster Ofosu

Foster Ofosu is an economist with over 20 years of experience in researching, teaching, and practicing International Business and Innovation Management in Europe and Africa. He currently is a capacity development specialist at the African Development Bank (AfDB) with responsibility for leading the program development division of the African Development Institute. He is an innovation and technology driver with entrepreneurial instincts and training, supporting creative initiatives inside and outside organizations. Within the AfDB, Foster has championed internal innovation by staff in organizational transformation. He led the building of the eInstitute Portal of the AfDB using his experience in incorporating ICT and multimedia tools into training activities. Foster has an insatiable passion for developing the capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa, especially among the youth. 

Country CEO of Superfluid Labs Ghana

Winifred Kotin

Winifred, after a decade of working in banking, joined other co-founder to work on their passion for expanding economic opportunities through the power of data and artificial intelligence by incorporating Superfluid Labs.

We harness Data Analytics, AI and Machine Learning technologies to empower enterprises to leverage traditional and alternative data sources to provide new customer offerings for business growth and impact based on data-driven insights, predictive analytics, and business intelligence. Our mission is to be the preferred data-driven solutions partner for the most impactful organizations.

Before entrepreneurship, Winifred served in multiple capacities across technology, digital financial services, project management, and business development in the banking and technology industries. She has a BSc. In Computer Science, an MBA in Finance and multiple certificates in varied disciplines relevant to her career.

Other interest includes speaking and engaging on digital transformation, inclusive agenda, skills development for the future of work and financial inclusion.

Founder and CEO, Sahara Ventures

Jumanne Mtambalike

Jumanne Mtambalike is a Tanzanian-born entrepreneur and technologist. Jumanne is best known for champion building stable innovation ecosystems in Africa. He is a founder of Sahara Ventures, the parent company of Sahara Sparks event, Africa’s largest event on innovation and technology entrepreneurship,  Sahara Accelerator, a corporate-sponsored and venture-backed accelerator. He is mainly known in Tanzania as the first hub manager of Buni Innovation Hub and the champion of Silicon Dar, Tanzania first naturally formed technology district in the country’s financial capital Dar es Salaam. For two successive years 2017 and 2018 he was voted as the most influential Tanzanian in a science and technology on public voting facilitated by Avance Media. Jumanne is part of the St. Gallen Symposium, Leaders of Tomorrow and a judge of MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge. In 2014, Jumanne was selected by GeSCI as the best participant of the program Africa Leadership in ICT, a program that involved experts from across the African continent. Jumanne is also a blogger focusing on innovation, technology entrepreneurship and the future of Africa. He has written several thought-provoking articles about the innovation ecosystem in Africa.

Regional Manager, Microfinance and Small Loans center (MASLOC), Eastern Region

Alfrida Aboagye – Hagan

Alfrida N Aboagye – Hagan (Mrs) is the Regional  Manager of Microfinance and SmallLoans center (MASLOC)in the Eastern Region. She supervises the government’s small loan scheme across the region. Alfrida specializes in governance, finance, and client relationship management. She believes in discipline, trust, and integrity as her core values in career development and success. In addition, she demonstrates teamwork and determination. She is a multifaceted woman with an interest in women empowerment and youth development. She holds a Masters in Development Policies and Practices from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, an MBA in Finance from GIMPA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from  KNUST. Alfrida engages in coaching and mentoring of young girls across the Eastern Region to enhance their capacity to engage in governance and national development.

Human Resources Manager at Bank of America

Damilola Ashaolu, MBA

I am a Human Resource Executive with over 15 years of experience in Human Resource Management as well as internal communications and corporate strategy. My professional experiences include executive level management, strategic program management, employee and leadership development, recruiting, resource and budget forecasting, organizational development, and employee relations.

I am currently a Human Resources Manager at Bank of America. In this role, I am support employees in the organization’s Global Technology and Operations unit. Prior to my role At Bank of America, I served as an HR Program Manager for Xerox supporting 7000+ employees in North America. During my time at Xerox, I worked on the separation of Xerox into two separate publicly held companies – Xerox and Conduent. This year-long project involved collaborating with Mckinsey, Ernst and Young to design both organizations and identify necessary talent for leading both firms.  I started my professional career at Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria where I was a relationship manager for multinational accounts such as Diageo, CocaCola, Nigerian Breweries/Heineken, etc. I have an MBA from the College of William and Mary.

I am a new mom with a beautiful 8-month-old daughter. I and my partner moved to Charlotte NC a few years ago and while we miss the vibrant New York area, we are loving all the greenery and space Charlotte has to offer.

Community Outreach Assistant, IOM

Collins YEBOAH

Collins Yeboah holds a double Master degree in Development Management, from Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany and in Development Studies, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He had his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Geography and Resource Development with Sociology from University of Ghana. He is currently the Community Outreach Officer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM-Ghana) and has led several awareness activities to promote safe and legal migration and highlighting alternative livelihood options in Ghana to effect a behavioral change on the risks of irregular migration to more than a million Ghanaians. He has held this position for over 3 years. Until his appointment, Collins was the Research Uptake Officer/Administrative Support Staff for Migrating out of Poverty Research Consortium at the Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana where he was responsible for Planning, Implementing, Monitoring and Evaluating the research uptake strategy for the research program, training and facilitating communication between the various stakeholders of the research amongst others.

Public Policy Analyst and CEO, Desert Bloom Advisory

Ides Ofune

Ides Ofune is a Public Policy Analyst and a Development Consultant with over ten years professional experience that cuts across the financial and education sectors. She is the CEO & founder of Desert Bloom Advisory, an organization dedicated to transforming the African continent by equipping its youth with the right knowledge and skills to excel. She is also the Editor of the Desert Bloom Advisory online platform where she is in charge of curating and editing articles on the development sector in Africa. Through the Desert Bloom Initiative, the platform also supports small outstanding NGOs doing great work in communities by hosting their content and amplifying their voices online. Ides is currently undertaking a Ph.D. at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, the United Kingdom where her research focuses on improving the education system through the social accountability actions of civil society organisations.

Fundraising Advisory Professional

Selassie Tay

Selassie comes from a professional background in Financial Inclusion, Fintech, Consultancy, and Social Entrepreneurship within multicultural settings. He’s held management roles in Business Development, Commercial Operations, Finance, and Administration. An extremely goal-focused person, he has expertise in Business Strategy and Coaching, Negotiation, Partnerships Building, Market Research and Diagnostic, Product Development and Management, and Policy Influencing. He has a positive approach to work, often seeing new ways existing opportunities could be developed to grow market share and profitability. Selassie studied MBA in Finance; BSc in Banking and Finance; and Certificates in Microfinance and Social Change leadership. He is currently pursuing professional certifications in Digital Finance and PMP. He’s a Fellow of the Dalai Lama Fellowship; YALI; Emerging African Leaders’ Program; and the Emerging Leaders’ Program by Mohammed VI King of Morocco. Selassie is passionate about solving social problems with business and technological innovations.

Strategic Marketing and Finance Executive

Clara Nyame-Addo

Clara Nyame-Addo is a Strategic Marketing and Finance Executive with over five years’ experience in varied industries. She is currently the Marketing and Communications Associate at EDC Investments Ltd, the investment banking subsidiary of the Ecobank Group, where she coordinates the marketing, communications, and promotions function of the company. Before joining EDC Investments Limited, she worked in the Internal Audit unit of Newmont Gold Company Limited. In 2019, she founded Peaches Global, a feminine aspiration lifestyle brand to empower women of all races, especially in Africa, to embrace their bodies and love it regardless of societal standards.

Clara holds an MSc in Industrial Finance and Investments from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School.

She is the voice on YFM’s daily #MoneySense segment; a partnered daily investment education with EDC Investment Limited that broadcasts across 3 regions in Ghana and available on digital platforms for a wider reach. Through #MoneySense, listeners have been educated on key themes in wealth creation and financial management.

Voluntarily, she serves as a unit coordinator for the Planeteers Movement of Ghana; the local chapter of the Worldwide Planeteer Environmental movement founded by renowned environmentalist and UN Sakasawa prize winner; Barbara Pyle.

Partnerships Development Team at Google

Nyasha Duri

Nyasha Duri has recently been headhunted for Google to focus on the UK and Africa, from civic technology social enterprise mySociety in the transparency team: running the world’s largest open-source freedom of information database used by millions worldwide – including in a number of African countries. She also serves as Chair of the Board at do-tank the Policy Centre for African Peoples. Additionally, she developed curriculums and delivered classes for a programming bootcamp with Coding Black Females and Niyo Enterprise. Among other roles, she worked for the British government, the EU, led a project for Switzerland based diplomacy & peacebuilding nonprofit the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and assisted an Australian CS education company with 500,000+ students. At the California Clean Energy (VC) Fund, using her experience working in startups, she contributed to gender equity across Asia, LG’s Battery Challenge, and Global Climate Action Summit.

A keen social entrepreneur, her first venture won investment from Nominet Trust and the Royals via the Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA) in 2015, and invitations to Founders Forum for Good and the Founders of the Future Fellowship. After representing the UK at the 2019 G(irls)20 Summit in Japan and joining the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society delegation, she founded a social enterprise: yourcareer.site with a mission is to provide professional development support with foresight. Later, she won a Foundervine competition and was asked to be a UN G7 Rapporteur. 

Coupled with completing Bain, Apple, and Samsung training & mentoring programmes, Nyasha took part in Chatham House advisory working groups and supported the core team behind crowdsourced COVID-19 resource coronavirustechhandbook.com. Nyasha studied MA Quantitative Politics, Social & Public Policy, Economics and Environmental Science alongside Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese with Software Engineering, then a Health Sciences MSc International Humanitarian Affairs with Human Rights Law plus sustainable development. Most recently, she has received a scholarship to study a medicine course at the University of Cambridge. In addition to her native Shona, she has learnt Zulu, French, German, Spanish, and Swedish too. Thanks to a love for the arts as well, she collaborated with the National Gallery, House of Illustration, Lyrix Organix, Battersea Arts, ERIC Festival, Academy of Music & Sound, tvebiomovies for the Environment, YOUYOU Mentoring, Library and Keats House.

Her multifaceted advocacy, activism, and ambassadorship encompass UNICEF Uganda, Theirworld (and its Global Business Coalition for Education), Youth Employment UK, Stemettes, Beyond Suffrage, and FORWARD – Foundation for (African) Women’s Health Research and Development. She has also conducted research with ClearView Research, Bite the Ballot, and You Press – for the Mayor of London as well as UCL, the universities of Peking (China) Gothenburg (Sweden), and Katowice (Poland). Previous efforts have reached thousands alongside leading to recognition through: multiple UN organs, World Bank, WWF, EU, ITC (WTO/UNCTAD), International Gender Champions, US State Department, Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Government, Unilever, Google, HP Enterprise, Accenture, Salesforce Foundation, Channel 4’s 4Talent, The Economist, Freeformers, YMCA, Women in Science & Engineering, Women Who Code, CodeFirstGirls, and Jo Cox Foundation. Nyasha’s solo and joint endeavors were covered by The Guardian, The Independent, BBC, Daily Mirror, HuffPost, Dazed, London Live, Cyber Salon, Silicon Republic, Computer Business Review, The Irish Times, New Zimbabwe, The Herald, Ham&High, Women Shift Digital, and Brazil’s Globo Media. 

Wellbeing Coach

Araba Ofori

Araba is a holistic healer, coach and writer based in Accra, Ghana. She is also the founder of Ashe Wellness, an organization dedicated to creating African wellness experiences, and Self-Care Sunday, a wellness festival in Accra. Araba swapped corporate life for the world of wellness after experiencing first hand the effects of poor mental health, and the healing power of talking therapies, yoga and meditation. She is now committed to supporting people in improving their wellbeing and realizing their incredible potential.