Awief awards 2018 panel of judges

PANEL OF JUDGES

BISI LAMIKANDRA

Partner | Head of Advisory (Nigeria) & Financial Services (Africa) | KPMG | Nigeria

Bisi Lamikanra is the Head of Advisory Division of KPMG Nigeria, the Division consists of Risk Consulting, Deal Advisory, Technology Advisory and Management Consulting. Bisi is also the lead for the Financial Services Sector in KPMG Africa and also sits on the board for KPMG West Africa Region. Bisi has lead various high profile assignments in both the public and private sector in Nigeria and other posts of office. She is very well recognised in the Nigerian financial industry and she’s regularly consulted on growth and operational agendas. She’s an active member of the leadership of various professional associations, community-oriented charities and other non-governmental organizations.

ANNE-MARIE CHIDZERO

Principal Partner | Alitheia IDF Managers | South Africa

As a long time development financier, Anne-Marie has spent over 25 years working with development capital to build African financial markets and businesses for economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa. Her work has taken her to 32 African Anglo-, Franco- and Lusophone countries with the World Bank, UK-DFID, and on behalf of investors (based in USA and Europe). Anne-Marie is currently Principal Partner of Alitheia Identity, a pioneering private equity fund that identifies, invests in and grows SMEs led by gender diverse teams to achieve solid financial returns and tangible social impact for communities in Africa. Prior to this role, she established and led Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique (FSDMoç), and also managed a microfinance investment fund returning capital to investors. As a recognised thought leader pushing the boundaries of investing in Africa and in Women, she sits on the Board of Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa), the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund and the African Advisory Board of Women’s World Banking. She is a founding member of a Pan African network of Women in Finance, New Faces New Voices.

Anne-Marie holds a BSc Psychology, McGill University, Montreal and MA Economics, University of Toronto, Canada.

MOTHOBI SESELI

Founder & Chairman | Argon Financial Group | South Africa

Mothobi Seseli is the Executive Deputy Chairman & Founder of Argon Asset Management (Pty) Ltd as well as a Fellow at the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA)

His experience is broad and includes economic research, investment analysis and investment marketing, employee benefit plans, trustee training and post graduate economics lecturing. His trustee training experience was gained over 3.5 years within his own firm, this having been his first foray into the world of entrepreneurship. It was during the same period that he also acquired experience as an independent retirement fund trustee. Since co-founding an asset management business, his experience is considerably deeper across most business aspects – general management, business strategy, finance, marketing, human capital management & operations management. In addition he has strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Mothobi is a specialist in the Investment / Asset management industry, pension funds, investment opportunities, entrepreneurship.

DUNCAN ONYANGO

East Africa Director | Acumen | Kenya

Mr. Duncan E. Onyango is a Country Director at Acumen Fund. Mr. Onyango served as the Chief Financial Officer of Rift Valley Railways (Kenya & Uganda) Ltd. He served as the Managing director and Principal Consultant with Quantum Africa Limited from 2006 to 2010. From 1992 to 2003, he worked within the various subsidiaries of the Abbey National Group of London a public limited liability company incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Mr. Onyango has 15 years of cross-functional business experience working in both the retail and corporate arms of a major international bank in London. He worked as the bank’s Head of Training and Management Development, Wealth Management Division. He has expertise in strategic review; organizational alignment; business transformation; knowledge and content management methodologies; training and management development. His research and consultancy interest include value extraction through actionable knowledge management, strategy renewal, and innovative use of virtual and physical space for knowledge management. Mr. Onyango serves as a Director of Rift Valley Railways (Kenya & Uganda) Ltd. Mr. Onyango is a graduate of Oxford University and a Masters Degree from University of London.

ZIBU SIBANDA

Senior Communications Specialist | West and Central Africa | International Finance Corporation (IFC) | Senegal

Zibu Sibanda is a Senior Communications Officer, with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group supporting the Financial Institutions Group in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, sheled communications for the World Bank Group Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice in the region, as well as for IFC in West and Central Africa. She has a rich portfolio of experience, having been the Global Lead for IFC Internal Communications and Infrastructure Communications in Washington DC. She has also supported Western Europe Communications in the IFC Paris Office.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Zibu’s was at the United Nations Headquarters in New York,where she promoted coverage of human rights and development issues. She also worked with the German Agency for Technical Assistance (GTZ) on gender capacity enhancement in Mozambique, following the country’s devastating war.

Zibu holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University with a concentration in International Development and Business, and a Bachelor of Arts in French and Portuguese from the University of Zimbabwe. She also has a post-graduate Diploma in Portuguese Language and Culture from the UniversidadeClássica de Lisbõa.

In her spare time, Zibu enjoys biking, running and reading.

KATE HACH

Advisor | Private Sector & Entrepreneurship | African Union Commission | Ethiopia

Kate Hach, half South African half German entrepreneurship education expert, is an Adviser to the African Union’s department for Human Resources, Science and Technology. In that function, Kate has helped the AU’s Pan African University to set up its own entrepreneurship and leadership programmes and draw up a concept for a fully-fledged centre which will be constructed within the coming 2 years.

Kate previously worked in internationalisation at Europe’s largest university-based entrepreneurship centre, located at TUM in Munich, Germany. There, Kate ran a pan European exchange programme for entrepreneurs in which young founders joined forces with experienced entrepreneurs from different countries to learn the ropes and get to know each other’s markets. From this experience Kate took away a few insights that have become key issues in her mentoring: all entrepreneurs learn from each other, whether they have 3 or 30 years under their belt; despite apparent advantages in opening up to a larger target market, business is reluctant to cross borders, it needs to be actively promoted.

Kate is passionate about African integration. Through her work with the African Union she has seen the enormous potential for regional and continental markets as well as homegrown products instead of costly imports from abroad that are not adapted to local circumstances. To reach that goal, Kate tirelessly connects entrepreneurs with other founders, professionals and markets, especially across the continent.

Kate seeks to inspire young Africans to create jobs for themselves and become agents of their own futures. She hopes to empower young women entrepreneurs and help them persevere so that they can realize their professional dreams.

Kate has mentored over 20 young entrepreneurs so far and continues to do so via different international platforms.

REGINA GOUNDEN

Provincial Manager for Retail Relationship Banking | Small Business and Professional Banking | Gauteng North | South Africa

Regina is based in the Gauteng Province and her business unit services Sandton and North regions.

Regina has a degree in International Banking from University of Pretoria and has successfully completed various courses in Strategic Leadership, Marketing and Finance. She has completed the Strategic Leadership in Women course. Regina holds various other qualifications relating to leadership, marketing, public relations and financials. She is a member of the Business Women’s Association.

Besides having personal experience in the Franchise business she holds over 20 years of experience with small business covering all sectors. She is specialised and is qualified in Small Business Management/Mentorship and training. She has also been very instrumental in taking SME Incubation to all the Townships in South Africa.

Regina is also an Accredited Professional and Business Coach/Mentor and is registered with ICF (International Coaching Federation).

BEATRICE GAKUBA

Executive Director | AWAN Afrika

After a 20-year career in poverty alleviation and integrated development with various United Nations and other development organizations, Ms. Gakuba returned to her native Rwanda in 2004 where she started one of Rwanda’s most thriving businesses.

She has been hailed by international leaders as an example of the potential success of entrepreneurship in economically revitalizing economies in African countries.

Beatrice Gakuba is a successful entrepreneur and a senior adviser in entrepreneurship and social transformation. She works with various institutions as a Judge for business innovations and awards (UNCTAD EMPRETEC 2016), among others.