Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Adaora Ikenze is Meta’s Head of Public Policy for West Africa. She has worked across Africa, Europe and the US as a lawyer, development expert, political adviser and not-for-profit funder. Prior to joining Meta, she held senior positions with the Global Fund for Women in San Francisco, the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa in Nigeria.

She has also served as consultant to national and international agencies such as the Ministry of Petroleum Resources (Nigeria), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), UNIFEM and the World Bank.

She was a founding board member of Education as a Vaccine (Nigeria) and the African Women’s Development Fund (US) as well as a two-term board member for the Foundation for Sustainable Development (US). She attended the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom and Columbia University in New York USA for her undergraduate and master’s degrees respectively

Ade Adefeko is a commercial diplomat, visionary leader and a global executive. His lifelong ambition has always been to contribute to humanity and to development of mankind in his spheres of influence which span from agriculture and trade, policy development, investments, and sports.

He currently serves as Vice President – Corporate & Government Relations and also in charge of External Communication and Stakeholder Management at Olam NIGERIA, the largest Agribusiness and food company in Nigeria and a subsidiary
of Olam international of Singapore the parent company with a presence in over 60 countries.

His 30-year professional career spans diverse sectors which include Broadcast/Pay-Tv, FMCG and the Banking industry where he held senior management roles in Treasury, Credit and Operations. Prior to joining Olam, Ade played a pivotal role in broadcast policy advocacy as Head Corporate Communications and Public Affairs with Multi-Choice (Dstv) Nigeria.
Subsequently, he became the Area Head of Communication and Regulatory Affairs, British American Tobacco for Benin, Niger and Togo based in Nigeria where he managed core regulatory issues in the highly sensitivetobacco industry.

Ade is a polyglot, an avid writer, with a weekly column in Leadership Newspaper and a former football pundit on SuperSport.

He is Vice Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Group(MANEG) and member of the Industrial and Competitiveness Presidential Advisory Council as well as SYNERGOS Nigeria’s State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA) in non-executivecapacities. Additionally, Ade is the current Chairman export trade group NACCIMA and he is equally Honorary Consul of Botswana. He is also a member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and industry-LCCI Export Group

As a Pan Africanist, Ade strives to continually advance Africa’s cause and agenda. Ade is a distinguished thought leader and speaker in domestic and international fora. He helps to tell the African story and narrative through his prism.

Ade leverages his wisdom, experience and connections by serving on a number of Boards in executive and non–executive positions. He was recently appointed as a non-executive Director of MobiHealth a tele-medicine company based out of the
United Kingdom.

Adekanla is a development practitioner with over 20 years’ experience in nonprofit strategy and management, international development; programme design, management and Evaluation across North America, Europe, Bangladesh, and Africa. Her career spans various sectors – Education, Water supply and sanitation, conservation, alternative livelihoods and conflict resolution – across organizations such as European Union, UK Department for International Development (DFID), WaterAid Nigeria, British Council, USAID, CIDA, GTZ and Catholic Relief Services. Adekanla is currently the Head, Oando Foundation, a nonprofit, driving improved access to quality basic education in communities across Nigeria.

Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes is the Founder and Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital Management, one of the few women owned and led private equity funds in Africa investing into untapped investment opportunities in West Africa in the small to lower mid-market. Adesuwa launched Aruwa Capital Management with her own money in Lagos in July 2019 and left the comforts of a six-figure salary, in order to make an impact in society with her skills and track record and change the narrative for women and small businesses across Africa. Adesuwa is an entrepreneur, CEO, mother, investor and women’s empowerment advocate. She is one of the youngest female private equity fund managers in Africa launching Aruwa Capital at 29 years old. Adesuwa is a big believer that investing in women is not only the moral thing to do given the role women play in society and the multiplier it can have in terms of poverty alleviation for families but also because investing in women and for women has been proven to deliver outsized and superior returns. Adesuwa is focused on using Aruwa Capital Management’s investments as a case study to make the business case to invest in women as fund managers, entrepreneurs, consumers and stakeholders in society.

Aruwa Capital Management is a Lagos based, early-stage growth equity and gender lens $20 million fund that invests between $500,000 and $2.5 million in equity and equity linked instruments into established and rapidly growing  businesses in Nigeria and Ghana that are currently overlooked by other private equity funds and financial institutions. Aruwa invests in businesses that either provides goods or services that cater to the untapped $15 trillion female economy and improve women’s lives or businesses that are founded or led by women or employ women in their workforce or value chain due to the increased profitability of gender diverse teams. Due to its focus on the early-stage growth segment that is free of competition and its focus on showcasing the increased returns that can be generated when investing in women as consumers and entrepreneurs, Aruwa can successfully combine outsized financial returns with long lasting positive socio-economic development and women empowerment outcomes in Nigeria. Aruwa invests across rapidly growing and essential sectors such as healthcare, fintech, renewable energy, essential consumer goods and tech enabled B2B services. Aruwa Capital has successfully made four investments across multiple sectors since its inception and is one of the pioneers of early-stage growth and gender lens investing in Nigeria.

Adesuwa has over 14 years of investment banking and private equity experience from top global institutions. Prior to founding Aruwa Capital Management, she spent five years as Managing Partner of Syntaxis Capital Africa, a provider of growth capital to SMEs in Nigeria and across Sub Saharan Africa. Syntaxis Africa was part of Syntaxis Capital, a private equity fund active in other emerging markets with $300 million in AUM from global institutional investors. At Syntaxis Africa, she led transactions totalling more than $200 million across SSA. Prior to co-founding Syntaxis Africa in 2014, Adesuwa was in the Leveraged Finance and M&A teams at J.P. Morgan in London, where she was involved in $5.6 billion worth of transactions across emerging markets including Nigeria.

Prior to J.P. Morgan, Adesuwa worked in Africa-focused PE fund, TLG Capital as an Investment Professional, involved in transactions across Anglophone Africa including a very successful investment in Uganda, where she personally invested and generated a very attractive return which enabled her to launch her own investment fund. She was named as an Agent of Impact in 2019 by Impact Alpha and recognised as one of the Top 35 Women Moving Africa Forward for her commitment to gender equality in private equity and across the society through Aruwa Capital’s investments. In 2021, she was named as one of the Top 100 global leaders combining profit and purpose by Meaningful Business, an award sponsored by Ernst & Young and one of the 50 Most Influential women in Nigeria by BusinessDay in 2022. She started her career at Lehman Brothers and holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol. She currently sits on four boards in Nigeria across manufacturing, agriculture and hospitality sectors.

She is married with a son and enjoys travelling, tennis and cooking.

Adetomi Soyinka is the Director of Programmes and Regional Portfolio Lead for the British Councils Higher Education Programme in Sub Saharan Africa. She is a programme management expert with over fifteen years’ experience working in both the commercial and international development sectors with a demonstrated track record of achievement in the design and delivery of multiple youth centred projects across thematic areas in education, skills for employability and enterprise.

She manages the British Councils largest education marketing portfolio in Sub Saharan Africa and has developed innovative enterprise solutions aimed at supporting and facilitating improved access to education and skills for young people.

Bankole Eniola is an investor that wears many hats. After 12 years’ experience in investment banking and project financing in leading financial services organisations such as HSBC, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland. Bankole decided to take his expertise which includes Deal Origination and Structuring, Strategic Planning, Risk Analysis, Financial Modelling, Transaction Structuring and Deal Execution into identifying companies that can benefit from his experience and investments.

Bankole’s core deliverables over the last 15-years includes setting up several public‐private partnerships, design of public procurement processes in infrastructure financing, pricing and regulation of infrastructure services; public and private sector performance monitoring and macroeconomic and fiscal performance evaluation.

He currently serves as the Chairman of Tranzfar Group, the Executive Director for Project finance and Strategic Implementation at DFS Africa, Executive Director for Real Estate investments at BBE Consulting, and CEO of the newly incorporated B & O Partners.

Bankole is one of the experts on the African Economic Platform (AEP) working on the continent’s 10-year strategic plan for infrastructural development. He also consults for the African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and he is a regular contributor to infrastructure financing, policy implementation and business facilitation dialogues on the continent.

Bankole has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, a Master’s degree in Infrastructure Financing from University College London (UCL) and a MBA from Birmingham University.

Ben Llewellyn-Jones is the British Deputy High Commissioner (DHC) in Lagos, Nigeria. Ben Llewellyn-Jones, is an experienced diplomat who has worked in different parts of the world including Nigeria earlier in his career. He will be supporting all UK priorities in Nigeria but in particular economic development, trade and investment.

Previously he worked at the British High Commission in Abuja in the role of Political Counsellor from July 2014 to July 2017. He was most recently Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa from August 2017 to August 2020. He also worked as the British High Commissioner to Rwanda and non-resident Ambassador to Burundi from 2011 – 2014.

In London Ben Llewellyn-Jones has held a range of responsibilities including as the lead on the UK’s policy and programmes on climate change, business and investment, and policing and organised crime. He has also served as the Deputy Head, Climate Change and Energy Group, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (London) from January 2009 to November, 2010; the Head of Third Country Relations Team, UK Home Office (London, March 2006 to December 2006).

Ben Llewellyn-Jones has also held policy roles in Police and Organised Crime policy, UK Permanent Representation (embassy) to the EU amongst other roles. He is looking forward to using this wealth of experience across several fields to advance the UK-Nigeria relationship.

He was awarded Order of the British Empire (OBE) by HM the Queen in 2009 for his service to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office).

Ben is married to Laura Llewellyn-Jones and together they have two children. He enjoys sport (rugby, boxing) and walking.

Bosun Tijani is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB); a pan-Africa innovation enabler that works at the forefront of accelerating the application of innovation and social capital for a better society. ‘Bosun is an innovation expert on a mission to drive the application of science and technology for enterprise and economic prosperity across Africa. He has been celebrated as the leader and initiator of the Yaba Technology Cluster.

‘Bosun is passionate about creating and leading platforms that have provided aspiring innovators the visibility and credibility they need to prototype, build and scale digital innovations across Africa. This has been acknowledged locally and globally with accolades including his inclusion in the list of 100 Most Influential People on the continent by New Africa Magazine. Under his leadership, CcHUB has driven the growth of social innovation and technology across Africa through support to ground-breaking initiatives and businesses including Lifebank, BudgIT, Taeillo, Drugstoc, CcHUB Growth Capital, the CcHUB Design Lab (Rwanda) and the recent acquisition of Africa’s first known tech hub, iHUB (Nairobi).

Prior to CcHUB, he honed his depth of experience by designing and managing profitable business models for high-end enterprise solutions working with the International Trade Centre (UNCTAD/WTO) and Hewlett Packard (Switzerland) on projects supporting African SMEs to leverage technology to grow their businesses. As European Innovation Manager at PERA; He led the networking and coordination of the largest European Innovation Agencies with the goal of standardising approaches to knowledge commercialisation across Europe.

‘Bosun Tijani holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a diploma in computer science from University of Jos (Nigeria), a masters’ degree in information systems and management from Warwick University and currently concluding a up a doctoral degree programme in innovation systems at the University of Leicester (United Kingdom). He is a Desmond Tutu fellow and a fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law at the prestigious Stanford University. He is happily married with two children.

Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima is a Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation Office for West Africa based in Lagos. He currently works at the intersection between gender and natural resources, and manages grant-making that integrates women and girls, disability and youth lenses across these two domains. This work actively promotes the inclusion of the voices of diverse groups and perspectives.

Dabesaki has had extensive experience working on youth issues from research, policy and program perspective across Africa and beyond. Prior to joining Ford, he was a policy consultant to various international non-governmental, governmental, and multilateral institutions. He was an embedded consultant at the African Union Commission for an extended period and supported the development of regional frameworks and strategies, as well as providing technical assistance to its member countries. He was also the executive director of Development Partnership International, a youth-focused organization that worked to promote youth leadership in addressing health and education challenges in Nigeria and Zambia.

Dabesaki holds a PhD in international development and MA in development studies from the University of East Anglia, and a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Psychology from the Rivers State College of Education. He was previously an external research associate at the University of East Anglia and is a visiting researcher to the University of Witwatersrand.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Emeka is driven by a passion to solve business challenges on a sustainable basis. A first-class scholar, trained in the United Kingdom (M.Sc. Corporate Governance) and Lagos Nigeria (MBA), he has developed competences and expertise spanning over 26 years in banking, corporate governance, research, negotiation, investment promotion, public policy development and strategic communications.

Prior to his current position, he has worked with leading banks in Nigeria at strategic levels where his contributions resulted in quantum leaps for the banks. He also worked in different capacities in the Public Service including Director, Real Sector; Director, Human Resources Development; Director, National Competitiveness & Policy Advocacy, Director, Investment Facilitation & Incentives Administration, and Director, Investment Promotion, as well as Director, Strategic Communications.

Emeka is also a conference speaker and a fellow of the Society of Project Management and Development Professionals International. Some of his scholarly papers can be found on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) author page http://ssrn.com/author=1292805. He has interests in nature watch and development issues.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Etemore is the Projects Lead for The Impact Investors’ Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded in partnership with The Ford Foundation, Africa Capital Alliance, BusinessDay Media Limited, Bank of Industry and Dalberg Advisors. She was previously the pioneer Executive Secretary of The Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC), a non-profit organization focused on bridging the skills gap for young unemployed graduates. While at KEC, Ms Glover was responsible for translating and implementing the five-year vision and strategic plan of the organization. She has worked on several youth development programmes with the government and has a wide range of experience in banking, research, monitoring and evaluation, project management, strategy and planning.

As the head of the Impact Investors’ Foundation, she is responsible for implementing its vision and strategies, and coordinating projects. In the last year, Maria established a task force consisting of private and public sector actors in Nigeria to set up a National Advisory Board (NAB) for Impact Investing, the highest national body responsible for promoting social investments in the country and building the market infrastructure. Etemore led the establishment of the Nigerian NAB, which will be under the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment, the umbrella body with 33 NABs across 28 countries and regions. She also engages with development finance institutions (DFIs), bilateral and multilateral agencies, local and foreign investors to grow impact capital and investment in Nigeria.

She is problem-solver, learning and development strategist and trainer with extensive knowledge and experience in development and management of capacity building programmes for youths; programme evaluation; budget; fundraising strategies; leadership; NGO management and consultancy, research, finance and impact investing.

Etemore is also an MSME Consultant with over 10 years knowledge in setting up and running startups. She is an Associate Member of the Learning and Development Network International. Ms Glover holds a double honour in Economics and Education from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Leicester. After transiting to the nonprofit sector, she further obtained a Post-Graduate Certificate in NGO and Development Management from the University of East London, UK.

Femi Taiwo serves as the Executive Director of LEAP Africa- one of Africa’s leading youth-focused and youth-led leadership development organisation. In this role, he oversees the organization’s administration, fund-raising, strategy implementation and programme delivery in six African countries. Prior to this position at LEAP, Femi was the founding Executive Director of Eagles HOPE Foundation (aka H.O.P.E- Helping Other People Excel), a non-profit initiated by the Covenant University Alumni Association. There, he led the organisation to create and execute award-winning youth programmes that reached over 12,000 youth in major cities in Nigeria over a five-year period. In these roles, Femi has facilitated several consulting and training interventions across Africa and in the United Kingdom. As part of his career journey, Femi also worked in GlaxoSmithKline implementing professional development programmes for young physicians and spent a year at a market research consultancy in the United Kingdom.

Femi advises several youth-focused social organisations across Africa and beyond. He also speaks internationally on themes relating to education and skills, social entrepreneurship, the SDGs, and transformative leadership. Femi is extremely passionate about leadership and enterprise development, youth development and youth-led development. He is on a personal mission of facilitating the  transformation of individuals, organisations and nations. Femi is an alumnus of LEAP Africa’s Social Innovators Program and has received various awards for Youth leadership and Community Development.

He is a 2018 Aspen Institute IdeasFest Scholar and is part of the inaugural class of the Obama Africa Leaders Programme. He seats on the Board of United Nations Global Compact (Nigeria Local Network), the Covenant University Alumni Association among others. Femi completed an Executive Education Programme at Harvard Business School. He holds a MSc degree in Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship from Manchester Business School, where he focused his research on Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He completed his Bachelor’s degree at Covenant University, where he earned a first-class degree in Computer Science.

Folawe Omikunle is a social entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience spanning Education, Development, Non-profit Management, Fundraising, and Sustainability.

Her degrees in International Law and diplomacy, Diplomatic studies, and Montessori Education from Babcock University, Nigeria, University of Westminster, and Modern Montessori International, United Kingdom prepared her to be a catalyst for change as she has revolutionized the education non-profit sector in Nigeria. She possesses Executive Certifications from Lagos Business School, Nigeria, and Harvard University.

Folawe Omikunle is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Teach For Nigeria, a non-profit organization that is focused on addressing educational inequity by recruiting university graduates and working professionals to serve as full-time teachers in Nigeria’s most under-served schools. Through her hard work, dedication and resilience, Teach For Nigeria was adjudged the Best Education Innovation of the Year at the 2018 Arclight Award.

As a visionary leader, Folawe has served in various leadership capacities including being the Pioneer Executive Secretary of the Association of Private Educators in Nigeria.

Folawe has served the nation and the world at large in various capacities, including Head, Basic Education Committee of the Human Capital Development Commission, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG); Committee Member, Education Transformation Committee, Ministry of Education, Lagos, and Board member, Vocational Training Center of the Blind Society, Nigeria; Board member, The Nigerian Breweries—Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund. She also sits on the Advisory Council of Teach For All, Africa, and Network Advisory Committee, Teach For All.

In 2016, Folawe was listed on the PowerList as one of the ten most influential Nigerians under 40 by YNaija. In 2018, She was listed as one of the 100 most inspiring Nigerian women by Leading Ladies Africa. She won the HER Network Education Woman of the Year award and the Arclight Foundation Woman of the year in education award. In 2020, in commemoration of Nigeria’s 60th Independence Day celebration, Folawe was listed as one of the 60 most inspiring and impactful women in Nigeria.

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Dr. Janet Byaruhanga is a qualified medical doctor and public health expert that obtained her postgraduate diploma in public health research from the University of Edinburgh and has over 14 years of experience in international development with special focus in human and social sectors.

Served as health policy officer at the African Union Commission since 2007 where she provided technical leadership and oversight in development and delivery of key strategic continental policy frameworks, programmes and initiatives geared towards strengthening the continent’s healthcare delivery system, food security and nutrition, and promoting the social well-being and rights of women and children.

Dr. Byaruhanga since 1st September 2017 joined the African Union Development Agency- NEPAD as a Senior Programme Officer-Health. She is in charge of coordinating and facilitating development and implementation of policies on health and medical products and ensuring their alignment with industrial development; trade; science, technology and innovation polices in advancement of the African Union’s African Health Strategy and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA)

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Prof. Joseph Nnanna serves as the Chief Economist of the Development Bank of Nigeria PLC. In this capacity he leads the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation and Sustainability arm of the Bank.

A seasoned professional with numerous years of experience in the U.S. mortgage, banking, manufacturing, and telecommunication industry serving in managerial roles before joining academia. Prior to joining DBN, Prof. Nnanna was a tenured Professor of Business and Economics in Oklahoma State.

His scholarly works have been published in numerous academic journals suchas Economic Analysis and Policy, Journal of Public Affairs, International Journal of Public Administration, Politics and Policy, Foreign Trade Review, The CBN Bullion, The International Trade Journal, Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, The Journal of Chinese Economics and Foreign Trade Studies to name a few. Furthermore, he publishes an op-ed piece every quarter in Business Day newspaper.

He is also an editorial board member for the society for corporate governance of Nigeria and a member of the AfCFTA National Action Committee for Nigeria. In 2020, Prof. Nnanna contributed a book chapter in the European Investment Banks publication entitled “Banking in Africa: Financing transformation amid uncertainty with fellow economists in the (EIB) and in 2021, published a book entitled “Banking in Nigeria: Financing During Turbulent times”.

He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and MBA degrees in Accounting, a Master’s degree in Economics and a Doctorate degree in Business and Economics from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Florida Metropolitan University, The University of Oklahoma and Argosy University respectively. He is a member of the Nigerian Economic Society and the American Economic Association.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Kola is a seasoned Investor, Entrepreneur, Non-Executive Director and company Chair, passionate about seeing start-ups grow.

He brings demonstrable success from leading investment in over 70 companies in Africa, India and the US, including payments companies such as Paystack.

Recognized as an entrepreneur, technology operator and investor with vast experience working in Africa’s most significant economic market, he brings expertise across several sectors, including venture capital, technology, media, agriculture, infrastructure, publishing and real estate and a significant interest in the arts.

Through Ventures Platform Foundation, he works on advocacy, research and social impact initiatives that support youth entrepreneurship and innovation. He is the Chairman of the Board of Ventures Park – an artsy Co-working space, VP’s flagship Innovation Hub Campus. He is a mentor on XL Africa, the World Bank Accelerator and Google Launchpad Accelerator. He is also a board member and advisory board member of various organizations ranging from ARM Financial Advisers Limited, Reliance HMO and the Yemisi Shyllon Art Museum.

Kola studied Electrical Engineering and then secured a Master’s in Business Administration degree with a specialization in Finance. He has received further education from Berkeley University, Harvard University, and the Lagos Business School.

Kola is passionate about mentoring and advising young entrepreneurs who are creating solutions for mass underserved -markets. This has put him on many stages both locally and internationally, where he has delivered speeches, lectures, and talks on technology, entrepreneurship, social change, and various other topics. He gave a TED talk at TEDxEuston where he spoke on the topic “Who will own our future unicorns?”. He was also a speaker at Techcrunch’s first event in Nigeria, Techcrunch Startup Battlefield Africa 2019.

He has received multiple awards and has been featured in various lists such as The 20 most important people in Nigerian tech, The ten most influential people in Nigerian Tech and #YNaijaPowerList2018 for Technology and many more.

In his spare time, he enjoys writing on topics he’s passionate about in his blog or on Twitter, reading  books and spending time with his family.

Matthieu Seguin is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd. He was appointed to this position in October 2019.

An Alumnus of INSEAD, IMD & EM Normandie, Matthieu has over 25 years’ experience as a talented CEO, board member, inspirational and venerable leader across both developed and developing markets in Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa With a keen interest in sustainability and leading with purpose, Matthieu is currently the Chairman of the Food & Beverages  Recycling Association (FBRA) in Nigeria. He is also the Second Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) Governing Council and a member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

In 2020, Matthieu spearheaded the creation of the Nigerian Business League for Youths, a coalition of private sector organizations committed to youth development in Nigeria.

Prior to his appointment as the MD/CEO at NBC, Matthieu was the Managing Director of Coca-Cola HBC Ireland & Northern Ireland for about four years.

Matthieu has served as a Member of the Board of Repak Ireland, Member of the National Council of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC), and Chair of Food Drink Ireland’s Prepared Consumer Foods Council (PCF). He was also member of the Northern Ireland Governing Council of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

Matthieu joined Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company in December 2009 as the Group International Customer Director. In May 2011, he was appointed as the Country Commercial Director for Nigeria, a role he held for 5 years. Prior to that, Matthieu held different commercial leadership roles in Procter & Gamble for almost 18 years across Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Matthieu is a native of Normandy, France and is happily married with 4 children. In his leisure time, Matthieu enjoys sailing, running, and spending time with his family

Michael Ilesanmi is a Senior Social Development Specialist working in the Africa Region at the World Bank and based in Nigeria.

Michael is passionate about unlocking the potentials of women’s collectives to address social, political and economic empowerment of women and girls in Nigeria and Africa and he currently leads the World Bank’s flagship women’s economic empowerment operation, Nigeria for Women Project which is aimed at improving the livelihoods of women in six states across the country. He is also co- Task Team Leader for the Sustainable Procurement, Environment and Social Standards Project, SPESSE aimed at developing sustainable capacity in managing procurement, environment and social risks in the public and private sectors.

Michael has worked extensively in Africa and Latin America and Caribbean Regions on broad ranging social development issues including women’s  empowerment, gender-based violence prevention and response, disability inclusion, community driven development, conflict sensitive development, social accountability, and development communications.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Dr. Mories Atoki (Hon) is the Chief Executive Officer for the African Business Coalition for Health (ABCHealth), a social equity organization focused on mobilizing private sector resources to improve health outcomes across Africa.

Mories’ career spans various industries and fields in both the private and public sectors where she has established herself as a skilled business strategist and an expert in organizational strategy.

With degrees in Law and Business Administration, Mories has led initiatives associated with project management in various institutions including  PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. She currently seats on the Boards of Partners for Review (P4R) A UN supported initiative for Sustainable Development reporting and on the Board of Association of Sustainability Professionals in Nigeria (ASPN).

She seats on several Boards such as the Board of the Sustainability Professionals Institute of Nigeria (SPIN) and the UN-German Partners for Review (P4R) on the SDGs. She is a fellowship member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), American Society of International Lawyers (ASIL) as well as Informal Sustainability Groups.

Mories is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School (HBS) as well as London School of Business & Finance (LSBF).

Mories is passionate about youth empowerment, career talk, sustainable development and service delivery.

Mories is an avid reader and a leadership coach.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Nneka Okekearu is a business development specialist who in the last 25years has delivered programs focused on deepening the leadership and management competencies of business leaders. She is the Deputy Director, Head of the Gender Desk as well as the Lead on the Business Ethics and Leadership Faculty at the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan Atlantic University.

An IFC master trainer and assessor, Nneka also leads the team at the Centre that certifies business development specialists in Nigeria and is a certified leadership instructor and online facilitator with the Learning Performance Institute UK.

She has worked on various platforms and programs all focusing on expanding frontiers for business leaders such as the Vital Voices GROW program USA, Federal Government of Nigeria’s YouWIN!, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women ‘Road to Growth Program’ focusing on deepening the financial literacy and management skills of women entrepreneurs, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 women project in Nigeria and Liberia as well as the World Bank’s WomenX program that focused on deepening exponentially skills sets of 500 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

A firm believer in the power of mentoring, Nneka mentors on different national and global platforms and has mentored over 300 business leaders. She sits on several boards and committees such as the Federal Government of Nigeria’s National Steering Committee for BDSPs, Foundation for Cancer Care, Recycle point, Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Arts, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s Mentoring committee.

Nneka’s research interests are in business ethics, women entrepreneurship and leadership. She has facilitated several strategy and management retreats for small and large corporates in Nigeria and Africa. She has a 1st degree in Banking and Finance, an MBA and is currently enrolled on a doctoral program in entrepreneurship at the SMC university. Nneka’s passion lies in helping professionals and business leaders clarify their position, profits and processes.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Olawale (Wale) Samuel currently works as Regional Africa Hub Coordinator, with the USAID Leading Through Learning Global Platform Project. He was an Education Program Manager with USAID Nigeria, overseeing multimillion-dollar education activities. He served as technical lead for USAID Nigeria’s Early Grade Reading and education crisis response predominantly in Northern Nigeria through activities such as: Addressing Education in Northeast Nigeria (AENN), the Northern Education Initiative Plus; and more recently, the successor activity, LEARN To Read. Further, Wale pioneered the Policy Linking initiative which linked the measurement of reading in Nigeria to the Global benchmark (SDG 4.1).

Dedicated to service, Wale served as the President of the USAID Nigeria’s Foreign Service Nationals (FSN), and one of the two FSN representatives for the Africa Bureau on the U.S State Department’s Locally Employed Staff Advocacy Council (LESAC), a global body representing 60,000+ oversees employees of the State Department. He was also recently appointed to the Steering Group of USAID’s Education in Crisis and Conflict Network (ECCN), working with other members to guide the activity of the network.

Prior to USAID, Wale worked with the World Bank (Nigeria Country Office), where he helped to drive the $100 million-dollar Global Partnership for Education (GPE) activity in Nigeria. Before his assignment in the World Bank, he had a stint in the private sector with Oando Foundation, where, as Education Manager, he co-led the Foundation’s CSR initiatives.

Between 2007 and 2012, Wale worked as a civil society specialist, serving as Policy Advisor to one of the largest civil society education coalitions in Africa. He was an influential frontline education advocate, advising world leaders on the implementation of quality and accessible basic education. He was also a member of the Nigerian Presidential Committee on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Olayinka Makinwa joined the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce as Head of the Competence Centre Agribusiness in February 2021, and became Head of the Abuja Office a year later. Previously she acted as Project Manager within the Competence Centre Skills Development, ensuring the preparation and implementation of dual vocational training schemes within various industry sectors. Prior to joining the Delegation, she acted as Expert Consultant for the Austrian Embassy – Commercial Section in Lagos.

She is a business development expert with over a decade of experience in networking and stakeholder engagement, identity and brand management, as well as market research and analysis.

Olayinka holds an MSc in Social Anthropology (University of Oxford, UK), MA in International Business and Export Management (IMC FH Krems, AT), MSc in Management and Leadership (Linnaeus University, SE), and a BA in Development and International Studies (Middlesex University, UK).

In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and occasionally playing tennis.

Olu Salami is the Head, Strategy, Investment Management and Corporate Performance at VFD Group Plc. His experience spans across trade management, strategy, research and development. Prior to joining VFD Group, he had worked in different capacities at First Bank Plc and Veritas Kapital.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Pearl Uzokwe is currently serving as the Executive Director, Sahara Foundation at Sahara Group Limited.

Pearl is a qualified solicitor and member of the Law Society of England & Wales. She is graduated with an LLB (Hons.) from the University of Bristol and is also a UK Chartered Secretary (ICSA). Pearl has over 17+ years of experience and currently spearheads corporate sustainability strategy and governance, social impact programming, stakeholder engagement and partnerships across four continents for Sahara Group. Her experience has previously included oil and gas, commercial law, corporate finance law, and international development.

In 2002, she began working at the Crown Agents UK with a primary role to provide legal advice and support to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in the set up and management of a number of notable funds such as the Private Infrastructure Development Group –which drove private investment in the infrastructure needed to reduce alleviate poverty in developing countries and the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIM) – a $4 billion investment facility designed to accelerate the availability of funds to be used for health and immunisation programs in 70 of the world’s poorest countries. She demonstrated a passion for international development and her development fund portfolio included working with country donors like the UK, French and South African governments, and private NGOs like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

After a period with City of London firms Denton Wilde, Sapte LLP and Stephenson Harwood LLP working within their corporate departments, she relocated to Lagos, Nigeria in 2009 and joined the Legal team at Sahara Group as the third member of the budding department. She performed exceptionally with a team to grow unit’s human capital and widen the remit of its function to the international energy group as it spread inexorably across the energy value chain in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Pearl’s vast professional experience within the upstream, downstream and midstream sectors of the oil and gas industry, corporate law and international development culminated in her appointment as the Group’s Director for Governance and Sustainability – a role which her professional pursuits and private passions seemed to have been leading up to in the period before hand.

Pearl has developed competencies in identifying and mitigating regional/global sustainability, climate, and ESG issues in close collaboration with senior management and business heads. She has proven expertise in executing sustainability strategies with a focus on driving positive change at large scale. She also possess substantial legal transactional and non-transactional work experience. An additionally notable aspect of her recent career is that she is instrumental at establishing media liaison by leveraging mass media and community advocacy for driving company coverage for key global news outlets.

Richard is a social development expert with a passion for developing innovative social and education programmes that empower youth and children.

Richard has over 20 years of experience working with CSOs in the Global South focused on building economically vibrant and sustainable communities where children complete their education, and where young people especially from marginalized and vulnerable communities, have equal economic opportunities to realize their full potential.

Richard has an excellent understanding of the education sector policy terrain especially in Sub Saharan Africa and MENA. Richard currently works at Oxfam as Regional Programme Manager for the Horn, East and Southern Africa- Education Out Loud Programme.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Profile will be updated shortly.

Dr. Tinuola Akinbolagbe MBBS, Msc.PH, INST.D

Dr. Tinuola Akinbolagbe is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN), an organization which leverages the capabilities, assets, and resources of the private sector to drive improvements in Nigeria’s health outcomes and achieve UHC.

She is an experienced, highly collaborative, team player with relevant board-level experience, and a demonstrable track record in the health and allied sectors. A healthcare administrator with over two decades of experience spanning across clinical medicine & health services, health insurance, health ICT, health diagnostics and the non-profit sector.

She holds a degree in Medicine & Surgery, from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos and a post-graduate diploma and master’s in public health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London.

She is actively involved in mentoring students and young professionals and works with several charities and non-profits to raise funds for community health initiatives.

Victor Mark-Onyegbu has an enviable track record in arts and culture leadership and international development, enabling livelihood opportunities for young people across Africa. Over the past 15 years, he has acquired cognate knowledge in program management, research and strategy, grant making, public sector operations and stakeholder management. He obtained his first-degree honours in Applied Biochemistry from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu State in 2005, finishing cum laude on a Federal Government of Nigeria presidential scholarship.

He possesses a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Nigeria and several certifications including in Policy Making from the Moller Institute, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, a certificate in Intellectual Property Law from the Harvard Law School, Massachusetts and is currently enrolled in the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, for an executive program in policy making.

After the mandatory national service, he commenced his career with the public service in 2007 and until 2009, served as a protocol officer to two Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) in the Federal Government of Nigeria (Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai and Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar). Within the same period, he had a stint as a protocol officer at the ECOWAS Commission, Nigeria.

For the next 6 years, between 2009 and 2015, he held several leadership positions at the Arts Council of Nigeria including as a principal cultural officer and got a ministerial award as the best staff of the organization in 2013. Between 2012 and 2015, he represented the Nigerian Arts Council at the UNESCO experts’ consultation on national budgets and programs and at the World Crafts Council and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies. Within the same period, he also led the Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU), both at the chapter level and as an Executive Member of the North Central Zonal body of the Union. He participated and led several negotiations with both State and Federal Government Institutions on behalf of workers in the cultural sector.

He joined the British Council in 2015 as the Project Officer for the Arts and Creative Industries. In this role, he supported the delivery of the UK-Nigeria season of arts programs with an overall outcome of strengthening connections between the creative industries of the UK and Nigeria. He also participated in the design and execution of a 3-year MoU between the British Council and the Federal Government of Nigeria between 2016 and 2019. In 2017, he was appointed Program Co-ordinator at the British Council Cultural Skills Unit in London, where he supported the delivery of upskilling projects for the heritage sectors of 4 major European cities – Manchester, London, Cardiff and Athens.

In 2018 he was appointed Manager, Higher Education and International Education Services at the British Council, where he facilitated high level engagements between the UK and Nigeria higher education sectors, designed new business strategies, delivered tailored marketing services for UK institutions and facilitated collaborations between UK and Nigeria higher education sectors. Working with higher education leaders in Nigeria including the Minister of Education, heads of education agencies and Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, he also participated in several country delegations to international education forums like the Going Global Forum, Malaysia and the World Education Forum, London in 2018.

In 2019 he was appointed Arts and Creative Industry Manager at the British Council where he worked primarily across the West African cluster and the Sub-Saharan Africa region to manage the design and delivery of the organization’s regional arts offers including a multi-year West African Festivals Grant cycle of about £500,000. He was also a member of the Creative Industry sub-working group of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group in 2016 where he participated in the review of public sector interventions in Nigeria’s creative sector.

Also, as a member of the Africa Tech and Creative Group, a continental network of tech and creative industry professionals, he has also supported advocacy of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), for the creative sector through contributions to think pieces, research and insight sharing. He, at various times led several cross-functional projects and activities at the British Council, working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and other UK Government departments, including activities marking the royal visit to Nigeria, of The Prince of Wales in 2018 and other visits of senior UK Government officials, members of parliament and Cabinet Secretaries to Nigeria.

In 2020, he was appointed to the position of Program Manager at the British Council, Sub-Saharan Africa to lead an ambitious cross-regional and cross-functional program to contribute to updating UK-Africa engagement post-BREXIT. As part of his role as program lead, he supported with partnership development and advised the program board on resourcing and program design. He also led on budget management, management controls, information governance and compliance as well as supported with high profile advocacy campaigns with the All-Party Parliamentary Group of the UK Parliament and other similar bodies. In the wake of the Black Lives movement he joined the global anti-racism challenge team of the British Council and was also a member of the Sub-Saharan Africa Arts leadership team.

In 2021, he resigned from the British Council to take an appointment with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors’ sponsored project – Africa No Filter as the Head of Grants. Africa No Filter is a pan-African non-profit donor collaborative comprising several big non-profit donors including the British Council, Ford Foundation, Conrad Hilton Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Luminate, Open Societies Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropy, the Skoll Foundation and Comic Relief. The donor collaborative is aimed at shifting stereotypical narratives about Africa by supporting storytellers across the continent and Africans in diaspora. As Head of Grants, he sits on the organization’s Senior Leadership Team with oversight on operations and strategy. He also oversees the arts and culture portfolio, and advises on grant making in media, research, arts and culture as well as community building activities of the organization.