MOONSHOT 2026
speakers
We’re bringing together some of the most audacious thinkers and doers in African tech, working on everything from fintech to commerce, energy, Web3 and AI, telco, cloud and more.
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Dr. Emomotimi Agama
Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Dr. Emomotimi Agama is the Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a position he assumed in April 2024. With more than two decades of experience in Nigeria’s capital market, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s regulatory and market development landscape.
Since joining the SEC in 2004, Dr. Agama has held several key leadership positions, including Head of Registration, Exchanges and Market Infrastructure; Head of Public Offerings; and Special Assistant to the Executive Commissioner (Operations). Prior to his appointment as Director-General, he served as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Capital Market Institute (NCMI), the SEC’s training and research arm, where he led initiatives to strengthen capacity building and deepen capital market development.
As Director-General, Dr. Agama is focused on advancing market integrity, investor protection, innovation, and the growth of Nigeria’s capital market as a catalyst for economic development.
Dr. Emomotimi Agama
Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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Dr Karl Olutokun Toriola
Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), MTN Nigeria
Dr. Karl Olutokun Toriola is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria and Vice President, Francophone Africa at MTN Group. In his dual role, he provides strategic leadership for MTN Nigeria while overseeing the Group’s operations across its Francophone African markets. With over two decades of experience in the telecommunications industry, Dr. Toriola has held several senior leadership positions across the MTN Group, including Group Vice President for West and Central Africa, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Cameroon, Chief Technical Officer of MTN Nigeria, and MTN Group Operating Executive, where he oversaw operations across 13 African markets.
Prior to joining MTN in 2006, he served as Chief Operations and Regional Officer at Vmobile Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria). He has also served on the boards of several multinational companies, including MTN operating companies across Africa, American Tower Corporation, Jumia Africa, and UAC Nigeria Plc.
Dr. Toriola is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, a member of the Institute of Directors, and an alumnus of Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, London Business School, and IMD Switzerland. In 2024, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Obafemi Awolowo University. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University and an M.Sc. in Communication Systems from Swansea University, United Kingdom.
Dr Karl Olutokun Toriola
Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), MTN Nigeria
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Olugbenga “GB” Agboola is a visionary technology leader, institution-builder, and the Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company. With over two decades of experience spanning Africa, Europe, and the United States, GB has built and governed mission-critical systems that power digital commerce, financial inclusion, and cross-border trade at scale. A seasoned software engineer and serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, including the acquisition of his venture Pay with Capture by a leading Nigerian bank, GB’s career is defined by a sustained focus on enterprise payment infrastructure. His journey is grounded in senior engineering and product leadership roles at global institutions such as PayPal, Google, Standard Bank, and Access Bank, where he developed deep expertise in designing secure, compliant platforms for millions of users. Today, that foundation underpins his work at Flutterwave, where he is connecting Africa to the global economy through reliable, interoperable financial infrastructure.Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola
Founder & CEO, Flutterwave
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Jumoke Olaniyan is the Group Chief Strategy Officer of NGX Group, with over two decades of executive experience spanning capital markets, market infrastructure, institutional strategy, and financial ecosystem development across Nigeria and Africa. She leads strategy, revenue growth, market liquidity, digital transformation, and sustainability across the Group’s subsidiaries.
Previously, Jumoke spent over a decade at FMDQ Securities Exchange, where she led initiatives that strengthened Nigeria’s fixed income, currency, and derivatives markets, including the development of Naira-settled OTC FX Futures, which facilitated over $67 billion in transactions. She began her career as a Foreign Currency and Money Market Dealer at Guaranty Trust Bank.
Jumoke has held continental leadership roles, including Vice Chair of the ICMA Pan African Committee and Co-Chair of the SEC Nigeria Technical Committee on Enhancement of Market Liquidity. She holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.
Jumoke Olaniyan
Group Chief Strategy Officer, NGX Group PLC
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Odunayo Eweniyi is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of PiggyVest, Africa’s leading digital savings and investment platform, where she has helped shape the company’s operations and growth since its founding in 2016. Before PiggyVest, she co-founded PushCV, one of Africa’s leading job platforms.
She is also the Co-founder and General Partner of FirstCheck Africa, an early-stage venture fund investing in high-growth technology startups with at least one female founder and working to close the gender funding gap in African tech.
In 2020, Odunayo co-founded the Feminist Coalition, a collective advancing equality, financial freedom, and representation for women in Nigeria. She serves on the board of ChamsSwitch and has previously served on the board of Village Capital.
Her work has earned international recognition, including appearances on the TIME100 Next and Bloomberg 50 lists. She holds a first-class BEng in Computer Engineering from Covenant University.
Odunayo Eweniyi
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, PiggyVest
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Innocent Isichei
Managing Partner, ACIOE Associates
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Emmanuel Lubanzadio
Africa Lead, OpenAI
Emmanuel Lubanzadio is the Africa Lead at OpenAI, where he leads strategic engagement across the continent at the intersection of policy, partnerships, and ecosystem development.
Prior to joining OpenAI, Emmanuel built a global career spanning Africa, Europe, and the United States, working at the nexus of technology, public policy, and government relations. His experience includes senior leadership and advisory roles such as Head of Government Affairs for Africa at Twitter, Policy Advisor to the UNICEF–ITU Giga initiative, and Consultant to Block (Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and Afterpay). Earlier in his career, he held roles with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Fresenius Group, the Center for International Private Enterprise, and the U.S. Congress.
Fluent in English, French, German, and Lingala, Emmanuel has been recognized as an Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader, an Atlantik-Brücke Young Leader, a Congressional Black Caucus Emerging Leader, and a Schmidt Futures International Strategy Forum Fellow. Drawing on his experience across the global technology ecosystem, he is committed to empowering people and institutions to harness technology as a catalyst for inclusive growth and societal transformation.
Emmanuel Lubanzadio
Africa Lead, OpenAI
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Uche Ofodile is the CEO of MTN Benin and Chairperson of MTN Mobile Money Benin, with more than 20 years of executive leadership experience across Africa’s telecommunications and fintech sectors. She has led businesses across Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Benin, and has held leadership roles with global companies including Meta (formerly Facebook) and Vodafone.
Known for driving digital transformation, commercial growth, and customer-focused innovation, Uche has built a reputation for leading high-performing teams in complex and fast-evolving markets.
Beyond her corporate career, she is an author, speaker, and leadership advocate. She founded CEO of the Day, an initiative that has partnered with more than 100 companies to expose emerging women leaders to executive leadership, and hosts the Don’t Let the Smile Fool You podcast, where she explores leadership, growth, and personal development.
He joined Samurai Incubate in 2014, supporting startups and large corporations across Japan and Israel in launching and scaling new ventures. In September 2019, he founded UNCOVERED FUND, which now manages two funds with 36 portfolio companies. He also co-founded Zaribee in Kenya, a motorcycle-focused asset financing company, serving as a board director until the business was successfully exited to WASSHA Inc. at the end of 2025.
Uche Ofodile
CEO, MTN Benin and Chairperson, MTN Mobile Money Benin
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Idorenyin Obong, a Nigerian-born software engineer and entrepreneur residing in the US, is the CEO and co-founder of Grey, a Y Combinator-backed fintech company that is at the forefront of providing secure and convenient global banking solutions. Recognizing the growing demand for seamless international money transfers, Idorenyin and his co-founder, Femi Aghedo, identified a gap in the market and set out to revolutionize how freelancers, remote workers, and businesses manage their finances across borders. Grey’s innovative platform streamlines foreign payments, making sending and receiving money internationally easier and faster.
Prior to his entrepreneurial venture, Idorenyin honed his expertise in the fintech industry through a series of pivotal roles. His tenure as Senior Flutter Engineer at Busha saw him play a key role in developing cutting-edge financial solutions. This experience provided him with a deep understanding of building scalable and user-friendly financial applications. Previously, as an Android Engineer at Paystack, a leading Nigerian fintech company, Idorenyin gained valuable insights into the complexities of digital payments and security. He further solidified his technical leadership skills by serving as a Technical Lead at Yellowcard App, demonstrating his ability to manage and motivate engineering teams.
Idorenyin holds a Computer Science degree from the University of Cross River State, Nigeria, and is a football enthusiast.Idorenyin Obong
CEO and Co-founder, Grey
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Joseph Femi Aghedo, co-founder and COO of Grey, is a distinguished professional with over five years of experience in the fintech industry. His career journey includes pivotal roles at Arca Payments, Check DC, and Groove platforms, where he refined his expertise as an Android developer and engineer. Joseph’s technical capacity is complemented by his exceptional interpersonal and negotiation skills, which have enabled him to develop and sustain robust relationships with stakeholders, partners, and users worldwide.
Joseph’s leadership at Grey is marked by his strategic thinking and collaborative nature. He has a proven track record of optimizing processes, enhancing operational efficiency, and significantly improving customer experiences. His ability to navigate complex challenges and drive innovative solutions has been instrumental in Grey’s growth and success.
In addition to his professional achievements, Joseph holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Cross River State, Nigeria. As a digital nomad, he continues to be a key player in the global fintech landscape, contributing his vision and expertise to the industry.
Joseph Femi Aghedo
COO and Co-founder, Grey(YC Wʼ22)
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Akeem Lawal
Managing Director, Payment Processing & Switching (Interswitch Purepay)
Akeem Olujinmi Lawal is part of the founding management team at Interswitch Group and currently leads the Transaction Switching & Payments Processing (Purepay) division of The Group. He is a first-class graduate of engineering with business degrees from the prestigious Lagos Business School and the IESE Business School of the University of Navarra, Spain.With over twenty-three (23) years’ experience in electronic payments, payments technology, strategy and business management, his experience includes the Financial Technology, Information and Communications Technology as well as Technology in the Oil & Gas industry. He was the head of the Engineering team that built the Interswitch Super Switch infrastructure, and as a business leader, has been responsible for building and managing several business lines in his career and the successful launch of several innovative products into the African Fintech Ecosystem.
Akeem is an enthusiast of the intelligent use of technology for the transformation of Africa. He has a passion for creative endeavour and ground-breaking innovation.
Akeem Lawal
Managing Director, Payment Processing & Switching (Interswitch Purepay)
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Vincent is currently the Managing Director for Verve International, which is Africa’s Premier & largest Domestic Payment Cards Scheme. He has over 20 years of industry experience in the electronic payment landscape, especially for markets in Africa.
His professional career has been dedicated to delivering top-quality fintech solutions and services to customers across West and East Africa.
He launched his professional career at Interswitch as a pioneer staff. He has worked in several solution-centric capacities, starting out as a Solutions Engineer and Solution Architect. Through diligence and dedication, he rose to become a member of the Senior Management Committee in diverse capacities, including Divisional Head of Systems Integration, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Group Head of Business Incubation and Chief Product Officer.
He had a four-year stint in The Gambia as the Chief Executive Officer of National Payment Switch of The Gambia (Gamswitch), where he led the execution of the payment transformation agenda of the Central Bank. During that time, he established a fully functional domestic switch and domestic card scheme for the country.
He is a technology enthusiast, motivated by the desire to explore new transformational initiatives and approaches for solving customer pain points and overcoming uncommon challenges.
Vincent Ogbunude
Managing Director, Verve International
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Richard Oyome is the Co-Founder & COO of Raenest, one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech companies.
Over the past decade, he’s helped build and scale some of Africa’s most impactful technology companies, with leadership roles at OPay, FairMoney, and LemFi before co-founding Raenest.
Today, he helps lead Raenest’s mission of giving Africans seamless access to the global financial system through modern cross-border financial infrastructure.
Richard Oyome
Co-Founder & COO, Raenest
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Shalom Osiadi is the Founder and CEO of Esca Finance, a Web2.5 financial infrastructure company helping businesses seamlessly move between fiat and stablecoins across Africa and global markets. With a background in technology, data analytics, and entrepreneurship, he is building infrastructure that enables businesses to manage currency volatility, access cross-border liquidity, and scale internationally with confidence.
Under his leadership, Esca has processed over $1 billion in cross-border payment volume and works with leading financial institutions and fintechs to power enterprise payments and treasury operations.
Backed by Techstars, Polygon, and Prime Video, Shalom is passionate about the future of digital assets, financial infrastructure, and Africa’s role in the global economyShalom Osiadi
Founder and CEO, Esca Finance
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Marlon Nichols
Co Founder and Managing General Partner, MaC Venture Capital
Marlon Nichols is the co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital, a seed-stage firm backing category-defining companies at the intersection of technology, culture, and global behavior. Under his leadership, MaC has grown into one of North America’s largest seed-stage venture firms, with more than $600 million in assets under management. In October 2024, the firm closed its third fund ($150 million).
Prior to MaC, Nichols was an Investment Director at Intel Capital, investing across enterprise software, infrastructure, and emerging technologies. His investment track record spans consumer, fintech, enterprise, and deep tech.
His investments include MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Thrive Market, Truebill, Gimlet Media, Pipe, Wonderschool, Seed, Janta Power, Arine, Powerline, among others.
Nichols is a board member of Kauffman Fellows, on the national advisory council for America the Entrepreneurial, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and NBC. He has also been recognized on Insider’s Seed 100 list, LA500, and ForbesBLK 50:Money Masters.Marlon Nichols
Co Founder and Managing General Partner, MaC Venture Capital
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Maelis Carraro is the Founder and General Partner of Catalyst Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in climate tech companies across Africa.
A venture investor and former technology founder, Maelis has nearly two decades of experience investing in and building businesses across emerging markets. She has managed more than $60 million across accelerators and funds, invested in and supported over 80 startups, and helped mobilize more than $800 million into emerging-market startup ecosystems.Her investment experience spans climate fintech, agriculture and food systems, energy, mobility, waste and circular economy, and other technologies addressing climate resilience and adaptation. She combines early-stage investing with hands-on experience supporting founders as they scale across African and other emerging markets.
Prior to founding Catalyst Fund, Maelis worked across investing and climate finance at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), OECD, Grameen Bank, and Global Partnerships. She was also a founder herself, co-founding RemitMas, a fintech company focused on helping migrant communities convert remittances into long-term savings and financial resilience.
Maelis Carraro
Founder and General Partner, Catalyst Fund
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Babacar Seck is the founder and Managing Partner of Askya Investment Partners, an investment firm dedicated to building a new generation of technology and artificial intelligence champions from Africa.
An experienced investor and operator, he has backed close to twenty startups, including two of Africa’s earliest unicorns. Since 2015, he has contributed to the development of Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, first as a founding member of Proparco’s $300 million venture capital program (the private-sector arm of the French Development Agency Group) and subsequently as Chief Executive Officer of Digital Africa. In these capacities, he supported the financing of iconic startups including Moniepoint, Jumia, Gomycode and Maad, and anchored the first generation of institutional venture capital fund managers on the continent.
He previously served as a board director of leading institutions and associations, including Bank of Africa, Sciences Po Alumni and Africa 2.0. He currently co-chairs the Investment Working Group of the Smart Africa AI Council and the Fintech Steering Committee of the Africa Financial Summit.
Babacar Seck today devotes his time to the building of a thriving Africa, driven by a new generation of visionary and responsible entrepreneurs.
Babacar Seck
Founder and Managing Partner, Askya Investment Partners
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Tracey Austin is an advocate and supporter of African tech. As an African, she has spent 25 years mobilising capital into the continent’s tech ecosystem across 24 African countries and the full finance value chain, from philanthropy to private equity and hedge funds. She is Principal at Tangerine Advisory, the firm she founded, with prior roles at British International Investment, BlueCrest Capital, Omidyar Network’s Luminate and Barclays. She led financial and professional services strategy for Africa at the UK’s Department for Business and Trade. Her views on funding African tech have featured in TechCabal, Semafor and CNBC Africa. She works across the African tech spectrum, focused on capital mobilisation at scale and solving ecosystem limitations. At Moonshot, she brings the view of someone who has built capital pathways into Africa from every angle — for founders and investors alike.
Tracey Austin
Principal, Tangerin Advisory
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Chude Jideonwo is Founder & Chairman of HBC Holdings, the parent brand of media groups RED
| For Africa and FourthMainland. He is also host of #WithChude, one of Africa’s most watched
talk shows and #WithChudeLive, Africa’s biggest talk concert. A lawyer, journalist and media
entrepreneur, he has worked across 23 African countries and advised governments and
presidents across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. He has been a
Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, CNBC Young Business Leader of the Year, an Archbishop
Desmond Tutu Fellow, a World Fellow at Yale University and Creative-In-Residence at the
London School of Economics. In 2020, he launched #WithChude, a viral podcast and
multi-platform talk show featuring intimate, transformative conversations with African leaders
and celebrities. Syndicated on four Pan-African TV networks, streamed on withChude.com, with
tens of millions of views on YouTube, it has become one of the continent’s largest IP libraries for
stories of healing and transformation. In 2025, he announced the FourthMainland Creator Fund
to invest in African creators as the future of independent media on the continent. An author of
four books, his writing and work have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian,
BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Huffington Post, and the Financial Times..
Chude Jideonwo
Founder & Chairman, HBC Holdings and Host #WithChude
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Gabriel Aïssou
VC Principal, Proparco
Gabriel Aïssou is a Pan-African equity investor with strong expertise across multiple investment phases from VC to PE. As Principal in the Equity Department, he has led significant transactions for Proparco across the continent, including Moniepoint’s Series C, while also helping shape the institution’s fund-of-funds exposure through Advisory Committee Membership mandates for funds such as Partech. Gabriel sits on multiple boards across African growth funds/companies, providing relevant insights into their strategic and governance frameworks.
Gabriel Aïssou
VC Principal, Proparco
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Dr Karl Olutokun Toriola
Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), MTN Nigeria
Dr. Karl Olutokun Toriola is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria and Vice President, Francophone Africa at MTN Group. In his dual role, he provides strategic leadership for MTN Nigeria while overseeing the Group’s operations across its Francophone African markets. With over two decades of experience in the telecommunications industry, Dr. Toriola has held several senior leadership positions across the MTN Group, including Group Vice President for West and Central Africa, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Cameroon, Chief Technical Officer of MTN Nigeria, and MTN Group Operating Executive, where he oversaw operations across 13 African markets.
Prior to joining MTN in 2006, he served as Chief Operations and Regional Officer at Vmobile Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria). He has also served on the boards of several multinational companies, including MTN operating companies across Africa, American Tower Corporation, Jumia Africa, and UAC Nigeria Plc.
Dr. Toriola is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, a member of the Institute of Directors, and an alumnus of Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, London Business School, and IMD Switzerland. In 2024, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Obafemi Awolowo University. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University and an M.Sc. in Communication Systems from Swansea University, United Kingdom.
Dr Karl Olutokun Toriola
Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), MTN Nigeria
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Uche Ofodile is the CEO of MTN Benin and Chairperson of MTN Mobile Money Benin, with more than 20 years of executive leadership experience across Africa’s telecommunications and fintech sectors. She has led businesses across Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Benin, and has held leadership roles with global companies including Meta (formerly Facebook) and Vodafone.
Known for driving digital transformation, commercial growth, and customer-focused innovation, Uche has built a reputation for leading high-performing teams in complex and fast-evolving markets.
Beyond her corporate career, she is an author, speaker, and leadership advocate. She founded CEO of the Day, an initiative that has partnered with more than 100 companies to expose emerging women leaders to executive leadership, and hosts the Don’t Let the Smile Fool You podcast, where she explores leadership, growth, and personal development.
He joined Samurai Incubate in 2014, supporting startups and large corporations across Japan and Israel in launching and scaling new ventures. In September 2019, he founded UNCOVERED FUND, which now manages two funds with 36 portfolio companies. He also co-founded Zaribee in Kenya, a motorcycle-focused asset financing company, serving as a board director until the business was successfully exited to WASSHA Inc. at the end of 2025.
Uche Ofodile
CEO, MTN Benin and Chairperson, MTN Mobile Money Benin
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Akeem Lawal
Managing Director, Payment Processing & Switching (Interswitch Purepay)
Akeem Olujinmi Lawal is part of the founding management team at Interswitch Group and currently leads the Transaction Switching & Payments Processing (Purepay) division of The Group. He is a first-class graduate of engineering with business degrees from the prestigious Lagos Business School and the IESE Business School of the University of Navarra, Spain.With over twenty-three (23) years’ experience in electronic payments, payments technology, strategy and business management, his experience includes the Financial Technology, Information and Communications Technology as well as Technology in the Oil & Gas industry. He was the head of the Engineering team that built the Interswitch Super Switch infrastructure, and as a business leader, has been responsible for building and managing several business lines in his career and the successful launch of several innovative products into the African Fintech Ecosystem.
Akeem is an enthusiast of the intelligent use of technology for the transformation of Africa. He has a passion for creative endeavour and ground-breaking innovation.
Akeem Lawal
Managing Director, Payment Processing & Switching (Interswitch Purepay)
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Vincent is currently the Managing Director for Verve International, which is Africa’s Premier & largest Domestic Payment Cards Scheme. He has over 20 years of industry experience in the electronic payment landscape, especially for markets in Africa.
His professional career has been dedicated to delivering top-quality fintech solutions and services to customers across West and East Africa.
He launched his professional career at Interswitch as a pioneer staff. He has worked in several solution-centric capacities, starting out as a Solutions Engineer and Solution Architect. Through diligence and dedication, he rose to become a member of the Senior Management Committee in diverse capacities, including Divisional Head of Systems Integration, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Group Head of Business Incubation and Chief Product Officer.
He had a four-year stint in The Gambia as the Chief Executive Officer of National Payment Switch of The Gambia (Gamswitch), where he led the execution of the payment transformation agenda of the Central Bank. During that time, he established a fully functional domestic switch and domestic card scheme for the country.
He is a technology enthusiast, motivated by the desire to explore new transformational initiatives and approaches for solving customer pain points and overcoming uncommon challenges.
Vincent Ogbunude
Managing Director, Verve International
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Soji Maurice-Diya
Managing Director and CEO, NatCom Development & Investment Ltd (Ntel)
Soji Maurice-Diya is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NatCom Development & Investment Limited, trading as ntel, the privatised successor to Nigeria’s legacy national carrier. Appointed in July 2025, he is leading ntel’s return to the market as a digital-first, infrastructure-light mobile virtual network operator focused on innovation and inclusion.He brings over 20 years of international experience across telecommunications, infrastructure, logistics and technology. Before ntel, he was CEO of American Tower Nigeria (ATC), where he previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Commercial Director, and he has held senior roles at Etisalat, ExxonMobil, IBM and EY. He also briefly led Vanu Inc.’s African services business and Beacon Infrastructure, an SPV targeting strategic telecoms and rail logistics assets in Nigeria.
He holds a BSc in Applied Mathematics (summa cum laude) from Saint Louis University, a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Florida, and an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Yale School of Management.
Soji Maurice-Diya
Managing Director and CEO, NatCom Development & Investment Ltd (Ntel)
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Eugene Uka
Interim CEO, Liquid Intelligent Technologies Nigeria & Africa Data Centres
Eugene Uka is a technology executive with nearly two decades of experience scaling digital infrastructure, networks, data centres, cloud services, and AI capabilities across Africa. He currently serves as Interim CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies Nigeria and Africa Data Centres, where he leads market operations, strategic execution, and stakeholder engagement for Cassava Technologies in Nigeria.
Eugene has played a role in shaping Nigeria’s digital infrastructure landscape, including contributing to the development of the National AI Strategy and the framework for the Sovereign Cloud Initiative. His expertise spans digital infrastructure, cloud adoption, digital sovereignty, enterprise transformation, and subsea and terrestrial connectivity.
He holds an MBA from the University of South Wales and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Statistics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Eugene Uka
Interim CEO, Liquid Intelligent Technologies Nigeria & Africa Data Centres
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Yewande Sadiku
Senior Banker, Investment Banking, Standard Bank Group
Yewande Sadiku is a Senior Banker in the Investment Banking division of Standard Bank Group, with more than 30 years of experience across investment banking, corporate finance, and investment promotion. She previously served as Executive Secretary and CEO of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), where she led transformative reforms that strengthened Nigeria’s investment climate, institutional governance, and investor engagement.
Prior to NIPC, she was Executive Director of Corporate and Investment Banking at Stanbic IBTC, leading strategic relationships with some of Nigeria’s largest corporate clients. She currently serves on the boards of Golden Penny Foods Limited and Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, and is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and an Eisenhower Fellow.
Yewande brings deep expertise in capital markets, investment, economic development, and business leadership, with a career spanning both the private and public sectors.
Yewande Sadiku
Senior Banker, Investment Banking, Standard Bank Group
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Maelis Carraro is the Founder and General Partner of Catalyst Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in climate tech companies across Africa.
A venture investor and former technology founder, Maelis has nearly two decades of experience investing in and building businesses across emerging markets. She has managed more than $60 million across accelerators and funds, invested in and supported over 80 startups, and helped mobilize more than $800 million into emerging-market startup ecosystems.Her investment experience spans climate fintech, agriculture and food systems, energy, mobility, waste and circular economy, and other technologies addressing climate resilience and adaptation. She combines early-stage investing with hands-on experience supporting founders as they scale across African and other emerging markets.
Prior to founding Catalyst Fund, Maelis worked across investing and climate finance at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), OECD, Grameen Bank, and Global Partnerships. She was also a founder herself, co-founding RemitMas, a fintech company focused on helping migrant communities convert remittances into long-term savings and financial resilience.
Maelis Carraro
Founder and General Partner, Catalyst Fund
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Lolade Awogbade
Green Growth Advisor, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
Lolade Awogbade is a senior climate finance and green growth expert and currently serves as Green Growth Adviser at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). She brings over 17 years of multinational experience spanning climate finance, green growth policy, sustainable investment, Net Zero, and ESG strategy.Previously, she led Sustainability at the Development Bank of Nigeria and held strategic and leadership roles at Accenture, Chams Plc, and Union Bank. Her experience spans policy, standards, development finance, commercial banking, and transaction-level delivery. She is a 2026 Yale Climate Fellow, a member of Sustainability Professionals of Nigeria, and co-author of Management and Leadership for a Successful Africa Vol. 2.
Lolade Awogbade
Green Growth Advisor, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
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Maxime Bayen is a Partner at Catalyst Fund, Africa’s leading early-stage VC fund and accelerator backing mission-driven founders building climate resilience solutions across Africa. He also co-founded Africa: The Big Deal, the leading database and insights platform on startup funding across the continent.
Maxime Bayen
Partner, Catalyst Fund
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Kola Masha is Managing Director and Co-founder of Babban Gona, an agricultural technology and impact company using finance, data, and technology to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers across Africa. Under his leadership, Babban Gona has served more than 500,000 smallholder farmers and developed an Agri-Finance as a Service (AFaaS) platform that combines AI, biometrics, credit scoring, enterprise resource planning, and predictive analytics to expand access to agricultural finance.An engineer by training, Kola began his career at 3M and General Electric before serving as CEO of a subsidiary of the Notore Group, where he led commercial strategy across West and Central Africa. He has also served as Senior Advisor to Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and was the first leader of a for-profit social enterprise to receive the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. He holds degrees from MIT and Harvard.
Kola Masha
Senior Reporter, Bloomberg News
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Kelvin Muriuki is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Taka Earth, a climate technology enterprise developing intelligent waste management infrastructure and advanced data analytics systems across East Africa. Under his strategic leadership, Taka Earth designs and deploys AI-enabled smart bin networks that monitor waste streams in real time. These solutions deliver critical circular economy analytics, verified ESG reporting, and comprehensive resource traceability to enterprise clients, educational institutions, and industrial partners.
Operating at the intersection of hardware engineering, climate innovation, and digital transparency, Kelvin focuses on transitioning urban and industrial waste operations from reactive logistics to data-driven resource recovery networks. His initiatives enable corporate brands and facility managers to fulfill statutory Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mandates, derive actionable consumer insights from waste patterns, and achieve measurable carbon reductions.
Kelvin brings over 15 years of technology and data leadership experience to his role. Prior to founding Taka Earth in 2022, he held key positions at prominent technology and media organizations, including Cellulant, Mdundo, Radio Africa Group, and Africori.
Kelvin Muriuki
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Taka Earth
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Ayo Arikawe is the Co-Founder of ThriveAgric, an agricultural technology company that is passionate about ensuring food security and productivity in Africa by empowering smallholder farmers through its flagship proprietary product: Agricultural Operating System (AOS).
To date, ThriveAgric has partnered with several organizations to unlock over $200m in financing for farmers, working with over 1 million farmers across 5 African countries.
Ayo serves as a mentor to Google Launchpad, was a top 10 African Business Hero by the African Business Heroes, and was the winner of the 2022 Visa Everywhere Initiative. He’s also a venture partner at Velocity Digital and Kaleo, two early-stage investment firms that have backed over 100 companies, including companies like Terra Industries and Chowdeck.Ayo Arikawe
Co-Founder, ThriveAgric
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Oluwakemi Olajide is a Principal at Africa Climate Ventures (ACV), where she leads fundraising, investment strategy, and portfolio value creation for ventures accelerating Africa’s green transition. With more than a decade of experience across private equity, venture capital, and banking, she has deployed nearly $100 million in catalytic capital to businesses driving climate resilience, financial inclusion, and sustainable development.
Prior to ACV, Oluwakemi led investments for the uMunthu Funds at Alitheia Capital, backing inclusive, technology-enabled businesses while championing gender-smart investing. She has served on the boards of companies across agriculture, logistics, fintech, and energy, and is recognised for her expertise in climate finance, impact investing, and venture growth.
A World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Oluwakemi is committed to leveraging finance as a catalyst for inclusive economic growth and Africa’s sustainable future.
Oluwakemi Olajide
Principal, Africa Climate Ventures (ACV)
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Seyi Oguntunde is the Co-founder and CEO of Swap Energies, an emerging African electric mobility company building battery-swapping infrastructure for two-, three-, and four-wheel electric vehicles.
As CEO, Seyi leads the company’s strategy, fundraising, investor relations, and policy engagement, working across the public and private sectors to accelerate the adoption of clean mobility. His work focuses on developing the infrastructure and partnerships needed to make electric transportation more accessible, scalable, and sustainable across Nigeria and Africa.
Seyi Oguntunde
CEO and Co-founder, SWAP
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Funto Boroffice is the founder/CEO of award winning Chanja Datti Ltd, a waste collection & recycling social enterprise dedicated to transforming the waste in her environment to value and creating jobs and positioned to solve the growing plastic waste and unemployment crisis in Africa. Chanja Datti’s 4-pronged sustainability model focuses on waste management solutions that reduce CO2 emissions, creation of economic opportunities through the circularity of plastics, engaging on principles of circular economy, and economic empowerment of women and youths via job creation. She started her career in the US, where she spent 17 years gaining global experience, 12 of which were with GE as an executive. In the last 10 years, her organization has successfully diverted almost 14,000tons from uncontrolled landfill and empowered 2,500+ women and at-risk youth. Her organization currently has 95 FT and 120 PT employees.
She is a founding member, former National VP and current BoT member of the Recycling Association of Nigeria (RAN), founder of Initiative for the Advancement of Waste Management in Africa (aka W.A.S.T.E Africa), a Fellow of the Waste Management Society of Nigeria, Institute of Environmental Practitioners of Nigeria (FIEPN) and Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC) and member of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) and Lifetime member of WIMBIZ. She is an alumnus of the several prestigious local and international programs and sits on several other boards including advisory board member for the Waste Pickers Association of Nigeria (WAPAN). She is a proud 2024 Alumni of the MIT Foundry and Stanford Seed Fellowship.
Olufunto Boroffice
CEO, Chanja Datti
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Sophie Mbugua is a Nairobi-based environmental journalist and media consultant, and the founder of Africa Climate Conversations. The media platform tells climate and environmental stories from an African perspective through a podcast, a YouTube channel and written features. She produces and presents the Africa Climate Conversations podcast, which pairs in-depth expert interviews with human-interest reporting from the field. She founded the platform to close the gap in African climate narratives, which she saw were too often shaped from outside the continent.Her reporting on climate change, energy, agriculture and the environment across sub-Saharan Africa has been published by the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Mongabay, The New Humanitarian, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Mail & Guardian, Radio France Internationale and the Nation Media Group, among others. As a climate communications consultant, she has worked on media relations at UN climate summits and coordinated press relations for the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change.
She is a former fellow of the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Future Climate for Africa reporting programme, and holds a degree in Communication.
Sophie Mbugua
Founder, Africa Climate Conversations
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Dieko is an Investment Associate at Novastar Ventures. Dieko began her career at Uber, supporting growth and operations across Sub-Saharan Africa, before joining Moove, where she led market expansion and supported capital raises from Global DFIs and VCs. She played a key role in Moove’s expansion into Ghana, South Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Most recently, she served as Technical Advisor to the CEO at MoMo PSB, a fintech subsidiary of MTN. Dieko holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics and International Economics from the University of Nottingham and is an alumna of the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Dieko Ojo
Investment Associate, Novastar Ventures
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Takunda Ndoro is a Zimbabwe-American climate-focused Investment Officer working with AfricInvest’s newest fund, The Transform and Adaptation Fund—a multi-sector private credit fund looking to invest $200M in sustainable ventures across Africa and Latin America.
Takunda Ndoro
Investment Officer, AfricInvest Group
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Ade is an investor at Autodesk Foundation, a corporate foundation backing climate adaptation and resilience solutions across emerging markets. She leads pipeline development and supports deal execution and portfolio management for founders working across energy, food resilience, water security, extreme heat, coastal resilience, nature-based solutions, and the built environment.
Prior to Autodesk, Ade was at BCG, where she built strategy and financial frameworks for global organisations. Her background spans climate-focused private capital, infrastructure, impact investing, management consulting, and board-level governance. Ade holds an MSc in Sustainable Energy from Imperial College London and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Covenant University.
Ade Jimoh
Investor, Climate Adaptation and Resilience, Autodesk Foundation
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Emmanuel Lubanzadio
Africa Lead, OpenAI
Emmanuel Lubanzadio is the Africa Lead at OpenAI, where he leads strategic engagement across the continent at the intersection of policy, partnerships, and ecosystem development.
Prior to joining OpenAI, Emmanuel built a global career spanning Africa, Europe, and the United States, working at the nexus of technology, public policy, and government relations. His experience includes senior leadership and advisory roles such as Head of Government Affairs for Africa at Twitter, Policy Advisor to the UNICEF–ITU Giga initiative, and Consultant to Block (Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and Afterpay). Earlier in his career, he held roles with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Fresenius Group, the Center for International Private Enterprise, and the U.S. Congress.
Fluent in English, French, German, and Lingala, Emmanuel has been recognized as an Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader, an Atlantik-Brücke Young Leader, a Congressional Black Caucus Emerging Leader, and a Schmidt Futures International Strategy Forum Fellow. Drawing on his experience across the global technology ecosystem, he is committed to empowering people and institutions to harness technology as a catalyst for inclusive growth and societal transformation.
Emmanuel Lubanzadio
Africa Lead, OpenAI
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Shalom Osiadi is the Founder and CEO of Esca Finance, a Web2.5 financial infrastructure company helping businesses seamlessly move between fiat and stablecoins across Africa and global markets. With a background in technology, data analytics, and entrepreneurship, he is building infrastructure that enables businesses to manage currency volatility, access cross-border liquidity, and scale internationally with confidence.
Under his leadership, Esca has processed over $1 billion in cross-border payment volume and works with leading financial institutions and fintechs to power enterprise payments and treasury operations.
Backed by Techstars, Polygon, and Prime Video, Shalom is passionate about the future of digital assets, financial infrastructure, and Africa’s role in the global economyShalom Osiadi
Founder and CEO, Esca Finance
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Babacar Seck is the founder and Managing Partner of Askya Investment Partners, an investment firm dedicated to building a new generation of technology and artificial intelligence champions from Africa.
An experienced investor and operator, he has backed close to twenty startups, including two of Africa’s earliest unicorns. Since 2015, he has contributed to the development of Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, first as a founding member of Proparco’s $300 million venture capital program (the private-sector arm of the French Development Agency Group) and subsequently as Chief Executive Officer of Digital Africa. In these capacities, he supported the financing of iconic startups including Moniepoint, Jumia, Gomycode and Maad, and anchored the first generation of institutional venture capital fund managers on the continent.
He previously served as a board director of leading institutions and associations, including Bank of Africa, Sciences Po Alumni and Africa 2.0. He currently co-chairs the Investment Working Group of the Smart Africa AI Council and the Fintech Steering Committee of the Africa Financial Summit.
Babacar Seck today devotes his time to the building of a thriving Africa, driven by a new generation of visionary and responsible entrepreneurs.
Babacar Seck
Founder and Managing Partner, Askya Investment Partners
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Jessica Hope is the Founder and CEO of Wimbart, an award-winning London-based PR consultancy specialising in African and emerging market communications across technology and business. Since launching in 2016, she has grown Wimbart into a 15-strong team across London and Lagos, delivering media strategies for over 230 organisations, from high-growth startups to institutional investors and public sector bodies.
Wimbart operates in both directions, helping international companies enter African markets with credibility, while taking the continent’s most ambitious tech companies onto the global stage. With more than 15 years’ experience, Jessica is known for turning complex, high-growth market stories into narratives that actually land and cutting through noise; she is vocal about challenging outdated perceptions and ensuring African businesses are represented with the depth and accuracy they deserve.
Jessica is an international speaker and host of The Wimbart Way podcast, and mentors emerging talent across the PR and African tech ecosystem. She has been named in PRWeek’s UK Powerbook from 2019 to 2026 and was recognised as Founder of the Year at the 2023 BME PR Pros Awards.
Jessica Hope
Founder, WImbart
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Gillian Darko is a senior executive and strategist with extensive experience across fintech, blockchain, and financial services. She currently serves as Group Vice President of Strategy and a member of the executive team at Yellow Card, where she leads the company’s growth agenda across more than 20 markets, spanning revenue strategy, strategic partnerships, go-to-market, and market expansion.
Previously, she held senior leadership roles at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and JUMO, where she served as General Manager, Market Operations and concurrently as CEO of JUMO Ghana. Her earlier career includes roles at ICE Futures Europe and PwC, with experience advising major global financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, HSBC, RBS, Citigroup, and UBS.
A recognised voice in Africa’s fintech and digital asset ecosystem, she has spoken at leading global platforms including Forbes Leading Women’s Summit, GITEX Africa, Token2049 Singapore, and the Qatar Africa Business Forum. Her achievements include being named Fintech Personality of the Year (Female) at the 2026 Ghana Fintech Awards and serving on the Steering Committee of the Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS).
Gillian Darko
Group Vice President of Strategy, Yellow Card
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Stephanie David is a strategic Growth and Marketing Lead at Monica Technologies, where she leads strategic initiatives focused on business expansion, brand positioning, customer acquisition, and long-term market growth. With a strong passion for innovation and digital transformation, she specializes in creating impactful marketing strategies that connect technology solutions with real-world customer needs.
Having built her career through in-depth and practical experience in software marketing, Stephanie developed a solid reputation for understanding both the technical and business sides of digital products. Before rising into leadership, she worked extensively as a software
marketer, helping bridge the communication gap between users and development teams.Her ability to simplify complex software solutions into relatable customer benefits contributed significantly to improved product adoption, customer engagement, and user satisfaction. At Monica Technologies, Stephanie oversees growth-focused campaigns that strengthen brand awareness, improve customer retention, and position the company competitively within the fintech ecosystem. She combines data analytics, customer psychology, digital strategy, and product storytelling to drive measurable business results while ensuring the company maintains a strong and recognizable market presence.
Known for her strategic mindset and strong interpersonal skills, Stephanie is passionate about helping businesses scale through innovative marketing, effective communication, and customer-centered growth strategies. Her professional journey reflects a deep commitment to
connecting technology, businesses, and consumers through meaningful engagement and impactful brand experiences.Stephanie David
Growth and Marketing Lead, Monica
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For the past decade, Alex Tsado has championed initiatives making AI cheaper and accessible for innovators worldwide. He deployed the first Nvidia AI GPUs to the largest cloud providers globally, and now focuses on putting Africa on the AI innovation table. He currently works with key African governments to operationalise their AI strategies and has launched the Africa GPU Hub platform, where Africans can rent GPUs for their ambitious AI projects.
Alex Tsado
Co-Founder and Board Member, Alliance4AI
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“Mercy Emmanuel is the Stablecoin/Blockchain Commercial Lead at Flutterwave, where she leads the development and growth of the company’s stablecoin business. Her work focuses on identifying practical use cases for stablecoins, shaping go-to-market strategies, building partnerships, and driving adoption of stablecoin-powered payment solutions across Flutterwave’s markets.
With over eight years of experience across technology, fintech, blockchain, e-commerce, and financial services, Mercy has built a career at the intersection of growth, marketing, partnerships, and emerging technology. Her experience spans product marketing, business development, market research, and go-to-market strategy, with a focus on translating complex technologies into solutions that create meaningful value for customers and businesses.
Before joining Flutterwave, Mercy served as Growth and Operations Manager at Binance, where she oversaw market research and emerging market trends while supporting the company’s regional expansion efforts. She currently sits on the board of Sentz Global and has held leadership roles at organisations including CARS45, DealDey, and Xend Finance, leading growth initiatives, strategic partnerships, and marketing programmes across emerging markets.
With a background in law and a strong interest in technology and innovation, Mercy brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her work, combining commercial strategy and market intelligence to help build and scale products in rapidly evolving markets”
Mercy Emmanuel
Stablecoin/Blockchain Commercial Lead, Flutterwave
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Chukwuemeka “Emeka” Afigbo is the Convener of the Africa Deep Tech Foundation (ADTF), which builds structured pathways for African technologists working on frontier innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotech and robotics. Through the Africa Deep Tech Challenge, the Africa Deep Tech Conference in Lagos, and initiatives such as the Laptop LLM Challenge for offline AI, ADTF connects builders, researchers, investors and policymakers across the continent and its diaspora.He is also Senior Director of Developer Success at Okta, the San Francisco-based identity security company. He previously spent several years at Facebook (now Meta), driving its global developer community programs strategy and leading Platform Partnerships for the Middle East and Africa. Before that, he led developer programs across Sub-Saharan Africa at Google. He holds a degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, a Master’s in Technology Innovation Management from Carleton University, and an MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology.
Emeka Afigbo
Convener, Africa Deep Tech Foundation
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Adetayo is the CEO at MAX. He leads the team, sets strategic direction, and drives partnerships at MAX.
He studied Computer Science at the University of Ibadan, where he built one of Nigeria’s first mobility platforms. He moved on to build a stellar career as a Software Engineer, Product Manager and Management Consultant at leading companies such as the UAC Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, NLNG (a Shell subsidiary), Konga.com and Dalberg.
Adetayo previously delivered a Production Optimization Platform that generated $100M in revenue in Year 1 of operation. He studied for his MBA at the MIT Sloan School and London Business School from 2013 to 2015.
While at MIT, he co-founded MAX alongside Chinedu Azodoh. Adetayo is now focused on building MAX into a Unicorn.Adetayo Bamiduro
CEO & Co-founder, MAX
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Ife Johnson is the Founder and CEO of Juicyway, a cross-border payments company licensed in Nigeria, the UK, the US, and Canada, with infrastructure built on stablecoin rails.
Since launching in 2021, Juicyway has processed billions of dollars in payments for customers including Nigerian Breweries, Bolt, Geregu, and IHS..
Ife Johnson
Founder and CEO, Juicyway
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Jinmi O. is a global technology leader with more than 20 years of experience spanning telecommunications, connectivity, AI infrastructure, and large-scale technology delivery. He previously spent eight years at Meta, where he led infrastructure programmes across AI compute, data centres, connectivity, and platform-scale systems.
A pioneer in Africa’s digital infrastructure, Jinmi played a key role in delivering Nigeria’s first private submarine cable system, MainOne, and contributed to the country’s National Broadband Plan. His work has focused on expanding digital access and building technology infrastructure across Africa and global markets.
He is currently the Managing Director of Business Unusual LLC and Managing Partner at Naija Valley Ventures, where he invests in and supports founders building the next generation of technology companies while strengthening connections between Silicon Valley and Africa.
Jinmi O
Global Technology Leader
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Marlon Nichols
Co Founder and Managing General Partner, MaC Venture Capital
Marlon Nichols is the co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital, a seed-stage firm backing category-defining companies at the intersection of technology, culture, and global behavior. Under his leadership, MaC has grown into one of North America’s largest seed-stage venture firms, with more than $600 million in assets under management. In October 2024, the firm closed its third fund ($150 million).
Prior to MaC, Nichols was an Investment Director at Intel Capital, investing across enterprise software, infrastructure, and emerging technologies. His investment track record spans consumer, fintech, enterprise, and deep tech.
His investments include MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Thrive Market, Truebill, Gimlet Media, Pipe, Wonderschool, Seed, Janta Power, Arine, Powerline, among others.
Nichols is a board member of Kauffman Fellows, on the national advisory council for America the Entrepreneurial, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and NBC. He has also been recognized on Insider’s Seed 100 list, LA500, and ForbesBLK 50:Money Masters.Marlon Nichols
Co Founder and Managing General Partner, MaC Venture Capital
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Tracey Austin is an advocate and supporter of African tech. As an African, she has spent 25 years mobilising capital into the continent’s tech ecosystem across 24 African countries and the full finance value chain, from philanthropy to private equity and hedge funds. She is Principal at Tangerine Advisory, the firm she founded, with prior roles at British International Investment, BlueCrest Capital, Omidyar Network’s Luminate and Barclays. She led financial and professional services strategy for Africa at the UK’s Department for Business and Trade. Her views on funding African tech have featured in TechCabal, Semafor and CNBC Africa. She works across the African tech spectrum, focused on capital mobilisation at scale and solving ecosystem limitations. At Moonshot, she brings the view of someone who has built capital pathways into Africa from every angle — for founders and investors alike.
Tracey Austin
Principal, Tangerin Advisory
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Shayo Olumide is an infrastructure investment professional with over 15 years of experience originating, structuring and executing more than US$4 billion of investments across large-scale oil & gas, industrial, telecommunications and technology transactions. He currently serves in the Heavy Industry, Telecommunications & Technology team at Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), where he is responsible for originating and developing AFC’s pan-African investment pipeline, evaluating transactions, structuring bankable financing solutions and deploying capital across the continent.
His recent work has centered on standing up AFC’s technology and venture capability — anchoring direct equity positions in Moniepoint, MKOPA, and Lula Lend, alongside fund commitments to Lightrock, Future Africa, and Accelerate Africa — positioning him at the center of AFC’s diversification beyond traditional heavy-asset lending.
Prior to joining AFC, Shayo worked at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) on the Oil & Gas Support Services desk, where he managed and expanded the bank’s multinational client portfolio, structured tailored financing solutions and deepened strategic client relationships.
Shayo’s investment experience spans project finance, corporate finance, principal equity investments, trade finance and venture capital fund investing. He holds a degree in Geology from Imperial College London and a master’s degree in international finance from Newcastle University, both with honors.
Shayo Olumide
Vice President, Africa Finance Corporation
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Mike is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Enza Capital, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is an experienced venture investor and entrepreneur focused on high-growth technology and AI businesses solving problems across Africa, and he is a Kauffman Fellow. Mike has worked across 4 continents and sits as a Director on the boards of multiple venture-backed technology companies across East, West, North, and South Africa.
Mike Mompi
Co -Founder and Managing Partner, Enza Capital
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Kartik is an experienced venture investor focused on building secondary infrastructure for African VC. He served as Head of Investments for Launch Africa Ventures before progressing to Head of Exits, where he built out the fund’s exit function and delivered its first distributions back to investors. He has also worked with Five35 Ventures and authored “Rethinking VC in Africa,” examining how the continent’s venture model needs to evolve. He is now developing Clearflow, a platform building a regulated trading venue to make secondary transactions accessible, compliant, and efficient across the continent.
Kartik Sharma
Co-founder & CEO, Clearflow
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Tolulope Omoleye-Osindero
Founder and Managing Partner, Fluxis Capital
Tolulope Omoleye-Osindero is Founder and Managing Partner of Fluxis Capital, a venture credit firm providing non-dilutive debt financing to revenue-generating technology companies across African markets. She brings over 16 years of experience in structured finance and law, with expertise spanning private credit, venture finance, digital banking, risk and compliance, and cross-border growth.
Previously, she served as Head of Legal, Risk and Compliance at Branch International, where she supported expansion, debt fundraising, and risk and compliance across the US, India, and African markets. Earlier, she led structured, corporate, and venture finance at Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, advising DFIs, funds, and banks on large-scale financings. She holds an MSc in Law and Finance from Queen Mary University of London and is completing an Executive MBA at London Business School.
Tolulope Omoleye-Osindero
Founder and Managing Partner, Fluxis Capital
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Biola Alabi is a Partner at Delta40 Venture Studio, an African venture studio and fund that builds and invests in early-stage climate innovations across energy, mobility, and agriculture. She is also a General Partner at Acasia Ventures, a VC fund investing in fintech, SaaS, and e-commerce enablers across North and Sub-Saharan Africa. With over 20 years of experience as an investor, venture builder, founder, and media executive, she has backed more than 50 startups across climate tech, fintech, health, and the creative economy. She also serves on the boards of Pulse Africa, Akili Network, and the Lagos Angel Network, where she is Deputy Chair.
Biola Alabi
Partner, Delta40 Venture Studio
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UNCOVERED FUND is an Africa-focused venture capital firm. As a university student, he interned at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, where he worked on microfinance and subsidiary businesses, gaining firsthand experience in impact-driven business and venture creation in emerging markets at the Nobel Peace Prize–winning institution.
He joined Samurai Incubate in 2014, supporting startups and large corporations across Japan and Israel in launching and scaling new ventures. In September 2019, he founded UNCOVERED FUND, which now manages two funds with 36 portfolio companies. He also co-founded Zaribee in Kenya, a motorcycle-focused asset financing company, serving as a board director until the business was successfully exited to WASSHA Inc. at the end of 2025.
Takuma Terakubo
CEO & General Partner, UNCOVERED FUND
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Idris Bello is the Managing Partner of LoftyInc Capital, a Pan-African venture capital firm, and a prominent angel investor and startup advisor. An advocate for African entrepreneurship, he founded the Afropreneurs Angels Group, a global network of more than 100 African executives across health, financial services, energy, agriculture, technology, and venture capital.
Recognised by CNN as one of Africa’s Top Ten Technology Voices, Idris is also a Singularity University Impact Fellow and serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited.
His career spans technology, energy, consumer goods, and healthcare, with experience at organisations including Procter & Gamble, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. He is an alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University, the University of Houston, the University of Oxford, and Rice University.
Idris Bello
Managing Partner, LoftyInc Capital
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Jordy Kiange Beni leads Venture Capital and Alternative Investments at Octerra Capital, an African investment fund investing in bold, disruptive tech solutions for emerging markets. Congolese and French, based in Lagos, he covers all of the fund’s markets and leads deal flow management, portfolio management, and value creation across the portfolio. He holds an MSc in Corporate Finance and Innovative Investments. With 7+ years of experience and knowledge across several key emerging market sectors, including fintech, digital lending and credit, compliance and digital identity infrastructure, healthtech, edtech, energy, mobility, logistics, and retail technology, spanning Africa, Latin America, and South-East Asia, Jordy is committed to solving the structural pain points holding the continent back, and to building African companies that meet institutional standards of governance and capital discipline from the earliest stage.
Jordy Kiange Beni
Investment Principal at Octerra Capital
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Abraham Augustine is a Kigali-based digital economy researcher and writer and currently the Ecosystem and Marketing Manager at Norrsken East Africa, working out of Norrsken House Kigali, the foundation’s East African hub for founders and funders building impact-driven companies.He is also Principal Consultant at Aperçu, a research and advisory practice focused on private technology companies, capital and market structures in emerging markets, and writes Money Myths Africa, a newsletter that interrogates popular narratives about markets and venture capital on the continent.
Before Norrsken, he was a Senior Reporter at TechCabal, covering startups, investors and regulators, and authored the Next Wave, the publication’s weekly op-ed newsletter. His writing has also appeared in Rest of World and through the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In 2022, he was one of 35 journalists worldwide selected for the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
Abraham Augustine
Ecosystem & Marketing Manager, Norrsken
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Olugbenga “GB” Agboola is a visionary technology leader, institution-builder, and the Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company. With over two decades of experience spanning Africa, Europe, and the United States, GB has built and governed mission-critical systems that power digital commerce, financial inclusion, and cross-border trade at scale. A seasoned software engineer and serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, including the acquisition of his venture Pay with Capture by a leading Nigerian bank, GB’s career is defined by a sustained focus on enterprise payment infrastructure. His journey is grounded in senior engineering and product leadership roles at global institutions such as PayPal, Google, Standard Bank, and Access Bank, where he developed deep expertise in designing secure, compliant platforms for millions of users. Today, that foundation underpins his work at Flutterwave, where he is connecting Africa to the global economy through reliable, interoperable financial infrastructure.Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola
Founder & CEO, Flutterwave
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Jumoke Olaniyan is the Group Chief Strategy Officer of NGX Group, with over two decades of executive experience spanning capital markets, market infrastructure, institutional strategy, and financial ecosystem development across Nigeria and Africa. She leads strategy, revenue growth, market liquidity, digital transformation, and sustainability across the Group’s subsidiaries.
Previously, Jumoke spent over a decade at FMDQ Securities Exchange, where she led initiatives that strengthened Nigeria’s fixed income, currency, and derivatives markets, including the development of Naira-settled OTC FX Futures, which facilitated over $67 billion in transactions. She began her career as a Foreign Currency and Money Market Dealer at Guaranty Trust Bank.
Jumoke has held continental leadership roles, including Vice Chair of the ICMA Pan African Committee and Co-Chair of the SEC Nigeria Technical Committee on Enhancement of Market Liquidity. She holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.
Jumoke Olaniyan
Group Chief Strategy Officer, NGX Group PLC
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Odunayo Eweniyi is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of PiggyVest, Africa’s leading digital savings and investment platform, where she has helped shape the company’s operations and growth since its founding in 2016. Before PiggyVest, she co-founded PushCV, one of Africa’s leading job platforms.
She is also the Co-founder and General Partner of FirstCheck Africa, an early-stage venture fund investing in high-growth technology startups with at least one female founder and working to close the gender funding gap in African tech.
In 2020, Odunayo co-founded the Feminist Coalition, a collective advancing equality, financial freedom, and representation for women in Nigeria. She serves on the board of ChamsSwitch and has previously served on the board of Village Capital.
Her work has earned international recognition, including appearances on the TIME100 Next and Bloomberg 50 lists. She holds a first-class BEng in Computer Engineering from Covenant University.
Odunayo Eweniyi
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, PiggyVest
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Idorenyin Obong, a Nigerian-born software engineer and entrepreneur residing in the US, is the CEO and co-founder of Grey, a Y Combinator-backed fintech company that is at the forefront of providing secure and convenient global banking solutions. Recognizing the growing demand for seamless international money transfers, Idorenyin and his co-founder, Femi Aghedo, identified a gap in the market and set out to revolutionize how freelancers, remote workers, and businesses manage their finances across borders. Grey’s innovative platform streamlines foreign payments, making sending and receiving money internationally easier and faster.
Prior to his entrepreneurial venture, Idorenyin honed his expertise in the fintech industry through a series of pivotal roles. His tenure as Senior Flutter Engineer at Busha saw him play a key role in developing cutting-edge financial solutions. This experience provided him with a deep understanding of building scalable and user-friendly financial applications. Previously, as an Android Engineer at Paystack, a leading Nigerian fintech company, Idorenyin gained valuable insights into the complexities of digital payments and security. He further solidified his technical leadership skills by serving as a Technical Lead at Yellowcard App, demonstrating his ability to manage and motivate engineering teams.
Idorenyin holds a Computer Science degree from the University of Cross River State, Nigeria, and is a football enthusiast.Idorenyin Obong
CEO and Co-founder, Grey
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Joseph Femi Aghedo, co-founder and COO of Grey, is a distinguished professional with over five years of experience in the fintech industry. His career journey includes pivotal roles at Arca Payments, Check DC, and Groove platforms, where he refined his expertise as an Android developer and engineer. Joseph’s technical capacity is complemented by his exceptional interpersonal and negotiation skills, which have enabled him to develop and sustain robust relationships with stakeholders, partners, and users worldwide.
Joseph’s leadership at Grey is marked by his strategic thinking and collaborative nature. He has a proven track record of optimizing processes, enhancing operational efficiency, and significantly improving customer experiences. His ability to navigate complex challenges and drive innovative solutions has been instrumental in Grey’s growth and success.
In addition to his professional achievements, Joseph holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Cross River State, Nigeria. As a digital nomad, he continues to be a key player in the global fintech landscape, contributing his vision and expertise to the industry.
Joseph Femi Aghedo
COO and Co-founder, Grey(YC Wʼ22)
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Iheakachi Nwabueze is Vice President of Global Marketing and Growth at Grey, the Y Combinator-backed fintech building financial infrastructure for the borderless generation. She drives Grey’s global brand strategy, market expansion, and commercial growth as the company scales to serve millions of users across 70+ countries.
Since joining Grey, she has led the company’s expansion from its West African roots across Africa, into Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas – launching in India, Morocco, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the EEA. She also oversees Grey’s social impact initiatives, including the UpGreyed Her grant program, which empowers women entrepreneurs across emerging markets.
Iheakachi is a recognized voice on building global fintech brands from emerging markets, go-to-market strategy for underserved regions, and the future of borderless banking. She is a frequent speaker at several leading industry events.
Her perspective: You don’t need Silicon Valley resources to build products that serve the world; you need proximity to the problems you’re solving.
Iheakachi Nwabueze
VP, Global Marketing and Growth, Grey
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Tayo Oviosu is the Founder, Group CEO, and Executive Chairman of Paga Group, one of Africa’s leading financial technology companies. A serial entrepreneur and investor, he has led Paga’s mission to simplify payments and expand financial access for millions of individuals and businesses across the continent.
Before founding Paga, Tayo held leadership roles at Travant Capital Partners, a West African private equity firm, and Cisco Systems in Silicon Valley, where he focused on corporate development and strategy. His work has earned global recognition, including CNBC’s West Africa Entrepreneur of the Year, and he is an Endeavor Entrepreneur.
Beyond Paga, Tayo is an active angel investor and co-founder of Kairos Angels, supporting the next generation of African entrepreneurs. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Tayo Oviosu
Founder & Group CEO, Paga
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Dayo Odulate-Ademola is the Managing Director of Branch International in Nigeria, where she leads the company’s operations, growth, and market strategy. Since taking on the role in 2021, she has driven Branch’s growth towards profitability and sustainability while overseeing teams across key business functions.
Prior to Branch, Dayo was Head of Innovation at EFInA, where she managed a multi-million-dollar innovation fund supporting financial service providers and fintech startups working to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria. She has also held roles at Union Bank, MainOne, and Rosetta Stone.
With more than 15 years of experience across technology, fintech, banking, and financial inclusion, Dayo specialises in business strategy, innovation, product development, customer segmentation, and performance management. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Economics from Temple University and a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD.
Dayo Odulate-Ademola
Managing Director, Branch International in Nigeria
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Ezinne Nwazulu is the Managing Partner of 234Finance, where she supports African entrepreneurs through capacity building, mentorship, and access to finance. With over 13 years of experience across energy, finance, and digital innovation in Africa and Europe, she brings a strong track record of turning strategy into growth and building high-impact partnerships.
Through 234Finance, Ezinne has disbursed over $150,000 in grants and leads initiatives including a Pan-African SME Bootcamp, mentorship programmes, masterclasses, and the AfroTradeHQ Community, focused on strengthening entrepreneurship and cross-border trade across Africa.
She began her career at Mercuria Energy Trading in Geneva, executing energy trades worth $5 million–$30 million, before returning to Nigeria to launch Sterling Bank’s Private Banking unit. Ezinne holds a Bachelor of Commerce in International Business from Dalhousie University and is pursuing a Global Executive MBA at IESE Business School.
Ezinne Nwazulu
Managing Partner, 234finance
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Tatiana Ndlovu is Executive Head of Marketing and Communications for Nedbank Africa Regions. She leads marketing for the Nedbank Group’s banking operations outside South Africa, which include Namibia, Mozambique and other markets across the region. A marketing executive with close to two decades of experience across South Africa and the rest of the continent, she has worked in banking, ICT, insurance, research, FMCG, media and telecommunications.
Her expertise spans e-commerce, digital and performance marketing, data and analytics, brand management, customer experience and agile ways of working, and she is a certified Product Owner. Earlier at Nedbank, as Head of Group Media, she pioneered a partnership-driven approach to working with South Africa’s media owners. She also contributes to the wider marketing industry through lecturing, facilitation and published research.
She holds a Master of Management in Strategic Marketing and is a regular speaker at pan-African customer experience and digital commerce forums.
Tatiana Ndlovu
Executive Head of Marketing, Nedbank Africa Regions
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Dr. Emomotimi Agama
Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Dr. Emomotimi Agama is the Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a position he assumed in April 2024. With more than two decades of experience in Nigeria’s capital market, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s regulatory and market development landscape.
Since joining the SEC in 2004, Dr. Agama has held several key leadership positions, including Head of Registration, Exchanges and Market Infrastructure; Head of Public Offerings; and Special Assistant to the Executive Commissioner (Operations). Prior to his appointment as Director-General, he served as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Capital Market Institute (NCMI), the SEC’s training and research arm, where he led initiatives to strengthen capacity building and deepen capital market development.
As Director-General, Dr. Agama is focused on advancing market integrity, investor protection, innovation, and the growth of Nigeria’s capital market as a catalyst for economic development.
Dr. Emomotimi Agama
Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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Innocent Isichei
Managing Partner, ACIOE Associates
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Ikechukwu Ofuani is a lawyer, public policy strategist and government affairs leader with over
two decades of experience working at the intersection of business, government and social
development across Africa.
He is a Partner at PV Advisors and an Executive Director at Policy Vault Africa where he advises
organisations on government engagement, regulatory strategy, market access and policy
advocacy across multiple African markets. His career spans the healthcare and medical
technology, FMCG, technology and other highly regulated sectors, including senior leadership
experience at Procter and Gamble and Johnson & Johnson, where he led Global Government
Affairs and Policy across Africa.
Ikechukwu has worked extensively with governments, regulators, development partners and
industry leaders to translate complex policy challenges into practical pathways for investment,
innovation and sustainable impact. He was recognised in The Legal 500 GC Powerlist Nigeria
2024 and has contributed to high-level conversations on healthcare access, regulatory
strengthening and economic development across the continent.
Beyond his corporate and advisory work, Ikechukwu serves as a Trustee of Stockport Advocacy
in the United Kingdom, reflecting his longstanding commitment to inclusion and social impact.
At the heart of his work is a simple conviction: Africa’s biggest opportunities will be unlocked
when policy, innovation and investment move together..
Ikechukwu Ofuani
Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Leader
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Ayomide ‘Aday’ Sami-Orungbe
Senior Service Designer for the Government of Alberta
Ayomide (Aday) Sami-Orungbe is a strategic design leader with over a decade of experience operating at the intersection of human-centered design, policy, and systems thinking. Currently a Senior Service Designer for the Government of Alberta, Aday has spearheaded large-scale digital transformations across immigration, justice, and public services—drastically streamlining service delivery for complex user bases. With an educational background spanning Industrial Engineering (University of Toronto) and Strategic Foresight & Innovation (OCAD University), Aday specializes in helping leaders move past pilot projects to build scalable, resilient technology designed for population-level impact.
Ayomide ‘Aday’ Sami-Orungbe
Senior Service Designer for the Government of Alberta
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Ikpeme Neto is a distinguished internal medicine physician turned health technology
entrepreneur with a global perspective on healthcare innovation. His journey began with a
Medical degree from Ireland, and further enriched with postgraduate medical and business
training in both Ireland and New Zealand.
In 2023, he won the prestigious Africa Business Heroes award ahead of 27,000 businesses.
His remarkable track record includes the creation of companies and products that have
significantly enhanced the health and well-being of millions of individuals. At the heart of his
achievements is the groundbreaking startup, Wellahealth. This data-driven health company
has introduced a myriad of products that cater to consumers, governments, businesses, and
health providers. Its work has seen it participate in several global accelerators such as
Techstars, Google and Norrsken Impact, among others.
Today, Wellahealth boasts of an expansive network of over 2500 health providers across
Nigeria, in addition to a substantial user base driven by its industry-defining health micro
insurance product..
Ikpeme Neto
CEO / Founder, Wellahealth
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Richard Oyome is the Co-Founder & COO of Raenest, one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech companies.
Over the past decade, he’s helped build and scale some of Africa’s most impactful technology companies, with leadership roles at OPay, FairMoney, and LemFi before co-founding Raenest.
Today, he helps lead Raenest’s mission of giving Africans seamless access to the global financial system through modern cross-border financial infrastructure.
Richard Oyome
Co-Founder & COO, Raenest
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Chude Jideonwo is Founder & Chairman of HBC Holdings, the parent brand of media groups RED
| For Africa and FourthMainland. He is also host of #WithChude, one of Africa’s most watched
talk shows and #WithChudeLive, Africa’s biggest talk concert. A lawyer, journalist and media
entrepreneur, he has worked across 23 African countries and advised governments and
presidents across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. He has been a
Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, CNBC Young Business Leader of the Year, an Archbishop
Desmond Tutu Fellow, a World Fellow at Yale University and Creative-In-Residence at the
London School of Economics. In 2020, he launched #WithChude, a viral podcast and
multi-platform talk show featuring intimate, transformative conversations with African leaders
and celebrities. Syndicated on four Pan-African TV networks, streamed on withChude.com, with
tens of millions of views on YouTube, it has become one of the continent’s largest IP libraries for
stories of healing and transformation. In 2025, he announced the FourthMainland Creator Fund
to invest in African creators as the future of independent media on the continent. An author of
four books, his writing and work have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian,
BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Huffington Post, and the Financial Times..
Chude Jideonwo
Founder & Chairman, HBC Holdings and Host #WithChude
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Rukky Ladoja is the Founder and Creative Director of Dye Lab, a contemporary Nigerian fashion brand redefining African fashion through sustainable design, low-waste production, and modern retail. With over 15 years of experience in the creative industry, she has built one of West Africa’s most influential emerging fashion brands, known for its distinctive aesthetic and innovative approach to craftsmanship.
Before launching Dye Lab, Rukky founded Grey Projects and consulted for global and regional brands including Nike, ART X Lagos, Lagos Fashion & Design Week, and Homecoming Festival. Under her leadership, Dye Lab has expanded its global presence through pop-ups across 15 cities in 11 countries while championing sustainability and contemporary African design.
Rukky is widely recognised for her expertise in fashion entrepreneurship, creative business strategy, and building sustainable brands with global relevance.
Rukky Ladoja
Founder, Creative Director, Dye Lab
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Kene Okwuosa is Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of the Filmhouse Group, which spans Filmhouse Cinemas, FilmOne Entertainment and FilmOne Studios. He is also CEO of KAVA, a global streaming platform for African films that he launched with partners. With over 20 years in cinema exhibition, distribution and production across the UK, US and Nigeria, he co-founded Filmhouse and led its growth into West Africa’s largest cinema chain, launching over 20 locations and building West Africa’s first IMAX cinema. FilmOne distributes titles for major Hollywood studios alongside Nollywood releases. As a producer, he has made more than 30 films, including box office hits such as The Wedding Party and King of Boys. He began his career at Odeon Cinemas in the UK and was a founding employee of Genesis Deluxe Cinemas. He studied at London Metropolitan University and sits on Nigeria’s Official Selection Committee for the Academy Awards.Kene Okwuosa
Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer, Filmhouse Group
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Temilade Salami
Founder and Creative Director, Tuntunre | Climate and Sustainability Expert
Temilade Salami is a climate education and sustainability expert, author, and the Founder and Creative Director of Tuntunre, a circular fashion brand transforming discarded denim into functional, long-lasting clothing and accessories. Through Tuntunre, she is working to build one of Africa’s leading circular denim hubs while creating practical solutions to textile waste.
With nearly a decade of experience in climate education, communications, and youth engagement, Temilade has led projects across 26 African countries and worked with organisations including UNESCO and the Global Partnership for Education. Her work sits at the intersection of sustainability, enterprise, storytelling, and African innovation.
Temilade Salami
Founder and Creative Director, Tuntunre | Climate and Sustainability Expert
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Wonuola Okoye is the Managing Director of Ashluxury Fashion and Beauty Limited, where she leads the strategic direction and growth of the luxury retail business. With over 16 years of experience across sales, strategy, finance, marketing, operations, and business transformation, she specialises in scaling businesses and driving sustainable growth in complex markets.
Previously, Wonuola served as Chief Commercial Officer at Persiana Retail, overseeing an international portfolio including Puma and Lacoste. She was also CEO of Brandco, where she led global brands including Skechers, Adidas, Reebok, and Havaianas. During her tenure, she accelerated the company’s shift to e-commerce and conversational commerce, growing revenue from ₦600 million to ₦3 billion and expanding its retail footprint across Nigeria and Ghana.
She also served as Consulting Head of Retail at Alara Multiconcept Store, advising on business transformation, commercial operations, data systems, and team development. Wonuola brings a practical, experience-led perspective on building resilient businesses, leveraging technology, and navigating Africa’s dynamic consumer markets.
Wonuola Okoye
Managing Director, Ashluxury Fashion
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Joy Sani is a Programme Manager and ecosystem builder working at the intersection of Africa’s creative economy, innovation, social impact and behaviour change. She builds and leads multi-country programmes and communities of practice designed to support African talent and drive ambitious social and behavioural change goals. At Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), she currently leads programmes across Nigeria and Kenya spanning research, professional learning, grants, creative infrastructure and ecosystem development, working with funders, partners, multidisciplinary teams and communities to turn ideas into programmes with meaningful impact.
She is particularly interested in how stronger ecosystems, technology and creativity can create meaningful opportunities for African talent and contribute to inclusive social and economic development.
Outside of work, Joy is a mother of two, a poet in hiding, and a singer who is happiest when there is a microphone and a stage nearby. She is deeply curious about people, ideas, and the possibilities that emerge when creativity, technology, and human connection meet..
Ujenyu Joy Sani
Programme Manager & Ecosystem Builder
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Nnenna Onyewuchi
Founder, The Barefoot Strategist
Nnenna Onyewuchi is the Founder of The Barefoot Strategist, a strategy and marketing consultancy, and a fractional Chief Marketing Officer with more than 27 years of experience helping businesses and institutions drive growth through strategy, brand, and innovation. She previously co-founded Yellow Brick Road, one of Nigeria’s leading creative agencies, where she served as Executive Director, Strategy & Innovation.
Her work spans technology, financial services, consumer goods, and the development sector across Africa, North America, and Europe. She has advised and built technology-enabled businesses, working with leading organisations including Carbon, Paga, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, ARM Group, Coronation Group, and the Mastercard Foundation.
Nnenna also serves on the boards of Ellah Lakes Plc, iFitness, and Lynden Farms, and is Co-Chair of the Africa Soft Power Summit. A globally recognised marketing strategist, she has been a juror for Cannes Lions, the Loeries, The ANDYs, and the Gerety Awards.
Nnenna Onyewuchi
Founder, The Barefoot Strategist
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