2026 Conference Speakers

Magda Wierzycka is founder and CEO of Sygnia Limited, a JSE-listed South African financial services group and leading provider of passive investment solutions, savings products, stockbroking and administration services. She is also a partner at Braavos Investment Advisers LLP in the UK.

Recognised by Forbes as one of Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women in 2020, she is widely respected for her leadership and outspoken stance against corruption.
Magda held senior roles at Southern Life, Alexander Forbes and Coronation Fund Managers before founding hedge fund company IQvest, later acquired by African Harvest Asset Managers. She founded Sygnia in 2006.

Magda authored the best-selling autobiography Magda: My Journey. She has served on the board of the Actuarial Society of South Africa and the advisory board of Harvard’s Centre for African Studies and is a senior adviser to Atlas Merchant Capital LLC and a director of the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Adanma Onuegbu is the Group Executive Director of SATH, where she provides strategic leadership across corporate operations, finance, people management, governance, and organizational development. Over a career spanning more than three decades, she has been a driving force behind the transformation of Signal Alliance into a diversified technology holding group. Known for her commitment to operational excellence, leadership development, and business sustainability, she has championed initiatives that strengthen governance, build organizational capability, and position businesses for long-term growth. She is a respected executive, mentor, and advocate for women in technology-enabled business transformation in Africa.

Vanessa Adams is a thought leader in investment, agribusiness, and international trade with 25+ years of experience across 48 countries, including 30 African countries. She is founder and CEO of Level4International, a boutique consultancy bridging global markets and emerging economies through sustainable sourcing, investment facilitation, market linkages, strategic advisory, supply-chain development and business expansion.
Previously, Vanessa served as Vice President of Country Delivery, Strategic Partnerships and Chief of Party for AGRA’s $500 million Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa, reaching millions of farmers, SMEs, and agricultural stakeholders. She has also led USAID-funded regional trade, investment, and agribusiness programs across Southern and West Africa and Ethiopia.
Vanessa has championed women’s leadership and economic empowerment by establishing and strengthening platforms that connect women entrepreneurs to markets, finance, leadership development, mentorship, and networks. Her work includes the creation of the Women in Agribusiness Leadership Network in Ethiopia, Value4Her, Women Agribusiness of the Year Awards and Women2Women supply-chain initiatives, while she has also built industry alliances including the Global Shea Alliance, Ethiopian Women in Coffee, Borderless Alliance, and African Cashew Alliance. She holds a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD and speaks on Africa, food systems, investment, trade, women’s entrepreneurship, and inclusive growth.

Andrew Douglas is the Head of Strategic Alliances at RanMarine Technology, a global cleantech company developing autonomous robotic solutions that clean and monitor waterways. With more than 20 years of entrepreneurial and business development experience, he works at the intersection of climate technology, the blue economy, and strategic partnerships, helping governments, corporates, investors, and development partners scale environmental innovation. He specialises in building cross-sector collaborations, mobilising grant and corporate funding, and accelerating the adoption of technologies that deliver measurable environmental and social impact. Based in South Africa, Andrew is a strong advocate for the blue economy and regenerative investment, with a particular focus on developing practical, scalable climate solutions across Africa and other emerging markets

Peter Ndoro is an international broadcast journalist with more than 30 years of experience across television and radio. He is currently an Anchor and Producer with the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Channel Africa, covering the political, economic and social issues shaping the continent.
His career has taken him from Johannesburg to London, where he anchored and produced news for the BBC, specialising in African and international current affairs. He has also presented for CNBC Africa, Business Day TV and SABC Africa, and worked in radio at Talk Radio 702, Highveld Stereo and SAfm.
Peter trained as an accountant with Coopers & Lybrand, now PwC, and holds an accounting degree from the University of South Africa and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from Henley Business School.

Ruby Gelderbloem is the Executive Director: Economic Growth at the City of Cape Town. With a multidisciplinary public service career spanning more than 20 years, she has built on her background in town and regional planning to lead work focused on economic expansion, innovation and development.
In her current role, Ruby contributes to establishing Cape Town as a hub for economic growth by strategically managing its immovable property asset portfolio and supporting an enabling environment for development. She is known for her straightforward, solution-oriented approach, her tenacity and her ability to bring people together in pursuit of meaningful outcomes.

Adeniyi is an experienced operator, entrepreneur, and investor with a deep background in mobility, energy, and edtech. He currently serves as the Chief Business Officer at Yango Ridetech, overseeing strategy and operations across 30+ markets.

Adeniyi is also a founder and investor. He co-founded ProctorEdu, a top-5 global proctoring solution, which has delivered over 2 million online exam proctoring sessions and expanded to 10 countries in a year. Additionally, he built Geeklama, an edtech platform, and has invested in multiple startups across Africa, LATAM, and MENA.

He has held venture roles as a Venture Partner at Starta VC (New York), a firm that has made over 220 investments in early-stage technology companies, and serves on the Academic Board of the Higher School of Economics’ School of Business.

Adeniyi holds engineering degrees from Skoltech and MIT, where he specialized in energy, sustainability, and venture development.

Adeniyi’s key areas of expertise:
* Mobility & Ride-hailing
* Fintech & Emerging Market Expansion
* EdTech & AI-based solutions
* Venture Capital & Startup Scaling.

Dr Diane Boorman is an international keynote speaker, executive leadership strategist and founder of The Diamond Academy™. She is the creator of the acclaimed Presence. Power. Poise.™ leadership methodology and The Diamond Model™, a transformational framework that helps business owners and executives become the kind of leaders that opportunities naturally seek out.
Combining strategic business expertise with executive presence, personal leadership and commercial growth, Diane delivers practical, high-energy keynotes that inspire audiences to think differently, challenge limitations and take meaningful action.
Audiences leave her presentations with practical tools, renewed confidence and a clear roadmap to build influence, strengthen their reputation and create lasting business success.

Ononuju is an Investment Management Professional with over 3 decades of experience in Financial Services specifically Wealth Management, Mortgage Banking & Personal Banking.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Directors Nigeria, ( F.CIoD) and was a member of the Ethics and Governance Committee of the Institute until 2024. She is a UK Certified Investment Adviser, Chartered Member, Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments (CISI) UK, and an Honorary Senior Member (HCIB) of the Chartered Institute of Bankers Nigeria (CIBN), the Assistant General Secretary of CIBN UK Branch , and the Chairperson , Women in Finance Nigeria, UK Chapter.

Ononuju is passionate about financial literacy and is committed to ensuring the investing public has access to the right information and guidance from qualified professionals. She wrote a Personal Wealth column with ThisDay Newspapers Nigeria for over 6years (2011-2017) and speaks regularly at seminars and conferences. In July 2022, she published her first book titled, The Habits of the Financially Wise.

Futurist, author, speaker and coach, Charlotte Kemp works with organisations to co-create preferred futures. She is a Past President of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA) and of the Global Speakers Federation (GSF) 2023/2024 and maintains membership of the Association of Professional Futurists (APF). She is also Senior Associate at the Stirling Centre for Strategic Learning and Innovation (Scotland). 

Having spent the last 7 months in South East Asia, Charlotte is interested in exploring what Africa and Asia can learn from each other in terms of entrepreneurship and innovation. 

Charlotte is the author of a number of books and posts regular videos and webinars on topics and tools for working with the future, exploring the philosophy of intentionally co-created a preferred future, and developing thinking that is F.I.T. for the future.

Dr Natalie R (PhD), revered as a luminary in the business realm, stands tall as Mail & Guardian’s foremost businesswoman and a distinguished member of Forbes Africa’s Top 100 Innovators & Inventors. With over two decades of experience in the IT and technology space, she is the founder of “Robots Can Think,” a pioneering tech AI futurist company known for conceptualising, building, and commercialising groundbreaking inventions. Dr. Natalie’s visionary leadership has propelled the company to introduce the world’s first-in-class inventions, setting new benchmarks for excellence and transforming industries. She guides startups and major corporations in navigating the intricate realms of technology and AI. An avid investor in 32 startups(7exits) and an acclaimed International Keynote Speaker, Dr. Natalie’s impact transcends accolades as she diligently serves as Women in AI ‘s Head of Africa, educating marginalised communities, ensuring inclusivity and societal betterment worldwide

Carina Bruwer is an internationally recognised keynote speaker, entrepreneur, musician and one of
Africa’s most accomplished open-water marathon swimmers. Her career spans three decades and three
very different worlds: more than 2,000 performances across 20 countries as founder of award-winning
music group Sterling EQ; pioneering and record-setting marathon swims around the world; and
entrepreneurship across media, events, entertainment and technology.
Most recently, Carina led the complete rebuild of Gigster, a sophisticated technology marketplace serving
thousands of users, through an advanced AI-assisted development process. It is the latest chapter in a
career defined by stepping into unfamiliar territory, challenging perceived limits and continually
reinventing what is possible across sport, business, technology and the performing arts. Carina brings
these lived experiences to her work as a keynote speaker, helping organisations navigate rapid change
through resilience, adaptability, courage, innovation and high performance.

Follow her: https://carinabruwer.com/

Priscilla Menoe-Mtsi is a tech leader, speaker, and global product and UX strategist with nearly a decade of experience at global technology companies. She specialises in ensuring technology products are genuinely accessible, culturally resonant, and built for African women entrepreneurs. By design, not afterthought.
At the intersection of AI, localisation, and digital inclusion, her work is driven by a simple belief: that the tools shaping Africa’s digital economy must be built with Africans in mind, not adapted for them after the fact. She has championed this across product strategy, language localisation, and UX, ensuring that founders, creators, and small business owners across the continent can access world-class tools on their own terms.
She holds an international Master’s degree in Policy and is a passionate advocate for closing the gap between global technology and African economic empowerment

Commercial Counsellor Ehab Salaheldien
– 23 years in commercial Diplomacy. Working as Trade And commercial
representative for the Arab Republic of Egypt.
– 8 years as the Egyptian Commercial Representative to The Russian Federation.
– 2 years in Policy Formulation, Office of the Assistance of the President of Arab
Republic of Egypt for Mega projects.
– 1 year as Deputy Head of Egyptian Export Sovereign Council.
– 2 years as Deputy head of BRICS Unit, Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.
– Masters Degree in International Markets, and Bachelor degree in Economics.

Farai Ntuli is the Africa Partnerships Lead for Canva, where she leads strategic partnerships with Ministries of Education, teacher professional bodies, universities, and education partners to expand Canva Education across the continent. Her work focuses on strengthening teacher professional development, digital and AI literacy, and classroom innovation through national education partnerships that improve teaching and learning at scale.

Over the past year, Farai has led education engagements with Ministries of Education across Africa, including South Africa, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Eswatini. She is currently leading Canva’s flagship partnership with South Africa’s Department of Basic Education, while helping establish scalable government rollout models that can be replicated across Africa.

Prior to Canva, Farai held leadership roles focused on strategic partnerships, youth employment, and systems transformation, working with governments, corporates, and development organisations to create opportunities for young people at scale. She holds a MSc in the political economy of emerging markets and is passionate about building partnerships that improve learning outcomes, reduce teacher workload, and prepare young Africans with the digital, creative, and AI skills needed for the future.
Outside of her professional life, Farai is a proud wife and mother who believes that empowering educators is one of the most meaningful ways to strengthen families, communities, and the future of Africa.

Rene Anita, FCCA, PhD is a thought leader in African women’s entrepreneurship, digital leadership, and innovation. She is the Founder of Rene Anita Impact Consulting Services, Mustard Seed Impact International, and the African Diaspora Women Entrepreneurs Network (ADWEN). She holds a PhD in Leadership and Change and completed the Stanford LEAD Executive Leadership Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was recognized as a Stanford LEAD Distinguished Scholar.
With over 20 years of global leadership experience, Dr. Rene Anita has presented at the United Nations International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), the Academy of Management (AOM), the European Conference on African Studies (ECAS), and the Family Enterprise Research Conference (FERC). Her doctoral research, informed by collaboration with African women entrepreneurs in the United States, led to the development of the C.L.I.M.B Model, an evidence-based framework empowering women-led ventures to scale through digital leadership, innovation, and sustainable business growth across Africa and the global diaspora.

Felicity Nelson is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Operations) of the Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC), entrepreneur and board director of Labadi Beach Hotel.

Her work focuses on investment ecosystems, enterprise development, public-private partnerships and inclusive economic growth. Drawing on experience across entrepreneurship, public sector leadership and corporate governance, she speaks on women’s economic leadership, regional value chains, market access and building environments where women can influence capital, scale competitive businesses and shape economic decision-making across Africa.

Dr. Utchay Odims – Leadership Coach, Visionary Mentor &
United Nations Youth Ambassador
Dr. Utchay Odims is a multiple award-winning international speaker, leadership life coach,
and consultant, renowned for his dynamic approach to personal growth and organizational
leadership. With an unwavering commitment to empowering people and shaping the next
generation of leaders, he has become a trusted mentor and advisor to executives, entrepreneurs,
and young changemakers across Africa and beyond.
As the convener of the Africa Ambassador Economic Forum, Dr. Utchay uses his platform to
advocate for youth empowerment, purposeful leadership, and sustainable development. His
influence extends through his role as President of the Global Initiative for the Advancement of
Africa (GIAA), a visionary platform dedicated to redefining Africa’s future through leadership,
entrepreneurship, inter-trade business relationships, and the promotion of unity in diversity.

Dr. Tana M. Session, JD, PHR, GPHR, SHRM-SCP, is an international keynote speaker, author, and CEO & Founder of TanaMSession.com and TMS Legal Advisory. With over 30 years of Human Resources experience, she is a recognized cultural transformation architect specializing in leadership and organizational development, workplace civility, and navigating polarization. She has served as the top HR executive for domestic and international organizations and advised leading corporations, government agencies, nonprofits, and high-growth companies, including McDonald’s, Spotify, and NASA.
Dr. Session has spoken throughout the U.S. and internationally and has delivered keynote addresses to audiences of more than 7,000. Her recognitions include Forbes Next 1000 and CORE 100 Most Influential Blacks Today. She holds an MBA in Organizational Psychology & Development and a Juris Doctor focused on Employment Law and Civil/Human Rights Law. She is also the bestselling author of Get Your Career Life in Order.

Mrs. Diguera Azoura is a Chadian civic leader and strategic communications professional committed to advancing women’s and girls’ empowerment. With more than ten years of experience in community engagement, public relations and advocacy, she has supported initiatives that promote education, health, mentorship and economic inclusion for young women in Chad. She is the Founder and President of JELAF Chad – Young Leaders for Women’s Empowerment – a nonprofit platform that helps girls and young women access economic opportunities, build confidence and develop leadership skills. Through her work, Azoura combines practical field experience with a strong understanding of institutional communication, partnership-building and social impact. Passionate about inclusive growth, she continues to champion locally driven solutions that enable women and girls to participate fully in their communities and contribute to sustainable development across Africa.

Ibrahim Mulushewa Eshete (PhD) is an Ethiopian historian, academic, and nonprofit leader specializing in regional integration, peacebuilding, inter-religious dialogue, and geopolitical dynamics in the Horn of Africa. He holds a PhD from Ibn Haldun University (Türkiye) and History degrees from Addis Ababa University. As cofounder and Executive Director of the Center for National and Regional Integration Studies (CeNRIS) in Addis Ababa, he leads research and policy initiatives promoting peace and multilateral cooperation. He serves on the board of the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia and is a frequent commentator on East African geopolitics. His scholarship includes the book *Urban History: A History of the Haräri Community in Addis Ababa (1917–1991) and co-authored works on religion-state relations in Ethiopia.