MOONSHOT 2025
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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Andrew Alli is a business leader, institution builder and adviser with 35 years experience, of which 25 years has been investing in, and managing businesses in Africa. He is a trained engineer, successful investment and development banker and investor that has been involved in well over USD10 billion worth of investments in Africa.
Andrew started his career in management consulting and investment banking in the UK. He joined the International Finance Corporation in 1996, where he worked for 11 years, gaining experience in energy and telecommunications investments at its headquarters in Washington D.C. In 2002, Andrew was chosen to lead the IFC’s operations in Nigeria. Four years later, he was appointed to lead the institution’s operations in Southern Africa.
In 2008, after a stint as the co-founder of a private equity fund, Andrew was appointed President and CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which he led for ten years. Under his leadership, the AFC delivered over $4.5 billion in investments across 30 African countries, becoming a leading African financier of infrastructure.
In 2019, Andrew joined SouthBridge Group, a pan-African investment bank, as Partner and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, which he left in 2022.
Andrew also has an extensive directorship experience, serving on the boards of several leading organisations across two continents. Since 2009, Andrew has been an angel investor, supporting many well-known startups in their earliest stages of growth.
Andrew Alli
Chairman, FirstBank UK
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Maxime Bayen
Operating Partner, Catalyst Fund
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Ebi Atawodi
Director of Product Management, YouTube Studio
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Odunayo Eweniyi is co-founder and General Partner at FirstCheck Africa, a pre-seed and seed fund that invests in high-growth tech startups with at least one female founder. She is also the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest digital savings and micro-investment platform.
Odunayo Eweniyi
Co-founder and General Partner, FirstCheck Africa
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Uyoyo Edosio
Chief ICT and Innovation Expert, African Development Bank
Uyoyo Edosio is the Chief ICT and Innovation Expert at the African Development Bank, with 14 years of experience in infrastructure finance, human capital development, and ICT for development. She leads the Bank’s Digital Transformation Action Plan for Africa and oversees its four-year ICT investment strategy. Her work involves structuring and leading large-scale investments, managing sovereign operations, and shaping digital policy for governments, the private sector, and Regional Economic Communities.
She currently leads a digital portfolio of over $850 million. This includes the $618 million Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) in Nigeria, the $60.8 million Rwanda Innovation Fund, and the $51 million Cabo Verde Technology Park. She also leads the Regional Fintech Sandbox for the WAMI region and the Bank’s partnership with Smart Africa to harmonise digital trade policy across ten countries.f Operations Officer of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest digital savings and micro-investment platform.
Uyoyo Edosio
Chief ICT and Innovation Expert, African Development Bank
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Alex Tsado
Co-founder, Alliance for Inclusive AI
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Jade Abbott (CTO) has over a decade of experience spanning the banking sector, non-governmental organisations, and startups. She is the co-founder of Masakhane, a grassroots initiative focused on advancing Natural Language Processing (NLP) research for African languages. Jade holds an MSc from the University of Pretoria and has received numerous accolades for her work, including being recognised by InspiringFifty, which highlights exceptional women in tech, and Mail & Guardian’s ‘200 Young South Africans’ list, which honours trailblazing young professionals. In 2024, she was named to MIT Technology Review’s prestigious Innovators Under 35 list, a global recognition celebrating the most promising young minds driving the future of technology.
Jade Abbott
Co-founder, Masakhane
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Kate Kallot is a technologist and deep tech founder recognised globally for pioneering equitable access to advanced technologies across emerging markets. She is the Founder & CEO of Amini, a data infrastructure company building sovereign data and compute systems for Africa and the Global South. Under her leadership, Amini is transforming fragmented analog systems into AI-ready digital ecosystems that power supply chains, climate intelligence, and government modernisation.
Previously, Kate held senior leadership roles at NVIDIA, where she led global developer relations and ecosystem expansion across underserved geographies, and Arm, where she was instrumental in scaling the TinyML movement, enabling machine learning on ultra-low-power edge devices. At Intel, she spearheaded the development of the Neural Compute Stick, the world’s first USB-based AI development kit, democratizing computer vision and edge AI for millions of developers worldwide.
Her work has been recognized by TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, the World Economic Forum as a Tech Pioneer, and One Young World as Entrepreneur of the Year 2024. A trusted voice in global AI policy and digital equity, Kate serves as Vice Chair of the ICC Global Environmental and Energy Commission and is a member of EY’s Global AI Advisory Council.
Uwem Uwemakpan
Head of Investments, Seed Fund II at Launch Africa
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Deepankar Rustagi
CEO, Omnibiz
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Ire Aderinokun is an investor, entrepreneur, and software engineer with a decade of experience building and backing technology ventures in frontier markets.
As an invited Google Expert in Web Technologies specialising in the core user interface technologies of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, Ire has authored widely-read technical content and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world. She co-founded Helicarrier, a Y Combinator-backed blockchain company for Africa that built some of the continent’s earliest crypto-fintech products, and is passionate about how technology can support global financial inclusion.
Ire partners closely with founders as an advisor, investor, and operator who understands the full startup journey. She brings a founder’s empathy and an operator’s discipline to early-stage investing, with a particular focus on mission-driven companies across Africa and other emerging markets.
Ire Aderinokun
Limited Partner, Angel Investor
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Tito Cookey-Gam
Principal, Partech Africa
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Jordan Belonwu
Creative Director, Belonwus
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Kate Kallot is a technologist and deep tech founder recognised globally for pioneering equitable access to advanced technologies across emerging markets. She is the Founder & CEO of Amini, a data infrastructure company building sovereign data and compute systems for Africa and the Global South. Under her leadership, Amini is transforming fragmented analog systems into AI-ready digital ecosystems that power supply chains, climate intelligence, and government modernisation.
Previously, Kate held senior leadership roles at NVIDIA, where she led global developer relations and ecosystem expansion across underserved geographies, and Arm, where she was instrumental in scaling the TinyML movement, enabling machine learning on ultra-low-power edge devices. At Intel, she spearheaded the development of the Neural Compute Stick, the world’s first USB-based AI development kit, democratizing computer vision and edge AI for millions of developers worldwide.
Her work has been recognized by TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, the World Economic Forum as a Tech Pioneer, and One Young World as Entrepreneur of the Year 2024. A trusted voice in global AI policy and digital equity, Kate serves as Vice Chair of the ICC Global Environmental and Energy Commission and is a member of EY’s Global AI Advisory Council.
Kate Kallot
Founder & CEO, Amini
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Roosevelt Elias is a visionary product technologist, entrepreneur, and the Founder & CEO of Payble, a pioneering fintech company dedicated to transforming financial access for micro and small businesses in emerging markets globally. With extensive expertise in AI, blockchain, and inclusive finance, Roosevelt has devoted his career to developing technology that uplifts underserved communities and fosters economic growth. While Payble is currently focused on the African market, the company’s vision is resolutely global, aiming to empower micro-entrepreneurs around the world with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy. Roosevelt’s mission is to create a more equitable economic landscape by harnessing the power of technology to unlock the potential of the smallest businesses, driving sustainable development and reducing poverty on a global scale. By focusing on financial inclusion and economic empowerment, he envisions a future where micro-businesses become catalysts for broader societal transformation. Roosevelt’s extensive experience in building tech solutions that are both innovative and inclusive makes him a leading voice in the push towards a more equitable global economy.
Roosevelt Elias
Founder & CEO, Payble
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Seyi Lasisi
Senior Staff Writer, The Culture Custodian
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Bernard Ghartey is a Principal at Norrsken22, where he leads West Africa investments for the African tech growth fund. With over a decade of experience in venture capital, investment banking, and telecommunications strategy, Bernard has been a key player in the African venture capital ecosystem since 2019. Prior to Norrsken22, he was Head of Investments at Acuity Venture Partners, an early-stage fund, and served as Senior Associate at I-DEV International in Kenya. His tenure at Vodafone as Senior Strategy Specialist saw him driving the company’s WIN-2020 strategy. Earlier in his career, he worked in investment banking at IC Securities, raising capital for blue-chip clients across multiple sectors. Bernard graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from Ashesi University.
Bernard Ghartey
Principal, Norrsken22
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Andrew Alli is a business leader, institution builder and adviser with 35 years experience, of which 25 years has been investing in, and managing businesses in Africa. He is a trained engineer, successful investment and development banker and investor that has been involved in well over USD10 billion worth of investments in Africa.
Andrew started his career in management consulting and investment banking in the UK. He joined the International Finance Corporation in 1996, where he worked for 11 years, gaining experience in energy and telecommunications investments at its headquarters in Washington D.C. In 2002, Andrew was chosen to lead the IFC’s operations in Nigeria. Four years later, he was appointed to lead the institution’s operations in Southern Africa.
In 2008, after a stint as the co-founder of a private equity fund, Andrew was appointed President and CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which he led for ten years. Under his leadership, the AFC delivered over $4.5 billion in investments across 30 African countries, becoming a leading African financier of infrastructure.
In 2019, Andrew joined SouthBridge Group, a pan-African investment bank, as Partner and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, which he left in 2022.
Andrew also has an extensive directorship experience, serving on the boards of several leading organisations across two continents. Since 2009, Andrew has been an angel investor, supporting many well-known startups in their earliest stages of growth.
Andrew Alli
Chairman, FirstBank UK
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Maxime Bayen
Operating Partner, Catalyst Fund
-
Alex Tsado
Co-founder, Alliance for Inclusive AI
-
Jade Abbott (CTO) has over a decade of experience spanning the banking sector, non-governmental organisations, and startups. She is the co-founder of Masakhane, a grassroots initiative focused on advancing Natural Language Processing (NLP) research for African languages. Jade holds an MSc from the University of Pretoria and has received numerous accolades for her work, including being recognised by InspiringFifty, which highlights exceptional women in tech, and Mail & Guardian’s ‘200 Young South Africans’ list, which honours trailblazing young professionals. In 2024, she was named to MIT Technology Review’s prestigious Innovators Under 35 list, a global recognition celebrating the most promising young minds driving the future of technology.
Jade Abbott
Co-founder, Masakhane
-
Kate Kallot is a technologist and deep tech founder recognised globally for pioneering equitable access to advanced technologies across emerging markets. She is the Founder & CEO of Amini, a data infrastructure company building sovereign data and compute systems for Africa and the Global South. Under her leadership, Amini is transforming fragmented analog systems into AI-ready digital ecosystems that power supply chains, climate intelligence, and government modernisation.
Previously, Kate held senior leadership roles at NVIDIA, where she led global developer relations and ecosystem expansion across underserved geographies, and Arm, where she was instrumental in scaling the TinyML movement, enabling machine learning on ultra-low-power edge devices. At Intel, she spearheaded the development of the Neural Compute Stick, the world’s first USB-based AI development kit, democratizing computer vision and edge AI for millions of developers worldwide.
Her work has been recognized by TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, the World Economic Forum as a Tech Pioneer, and One Young World as Entrepreneur of the Year 2024. A trusted voice in global AI policy and digital equity, Kate serves as Vice Chair of the ICC Global Environmental and Energy Commission and is a member of EY’s Global AI Advisory Council.
Kate Kallot
Founder & CEO, Amini
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Uyoyo Edosio
Chief ICT and Innovation Expert, African Development Bank
Uyoyo Edosio is the Chief ICT and Innovation Expert at the African Development Bank, with 14 years of experience in infrastructure finance, human capital development, and ICT for development. She leads the Bank’s Digital Transformation Action Plan for Africa and oversees its four-year ICT investment strategy. Her work involves structuring and leading large-scale investments, managing sovereign operations, and shaping digital policy for governments, the private sector, and Regional Economic Communities.
She currently leads a digital portfolio of over $850 million. This includes the $618 million Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) in Nigeria, the $60.8 million Rwanda Innovation Fund, and the $51 million Cabo Verde Technology Park. She also leads the Regional Fintech Sandbox for the WAMI region and the Bank’s partnership with Smart Africa to harmonise digital trade policy across ten countries.f Operations Officer of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest digital savings and micro-investment platform.
Uyoyo Edosio
Chief ICT and Innovation Expert, African Development Bank
-
Kate Kallot is a technologist and deep tech founder recognised globally for pioneering equitable access to advanced technologies across emerging markets. She is the Founder & CEO of Amini, a data infrastructure company building sovereign data and compute systems for Africa and the Global South. Under her leadership, Amini is transforming fragmented analog systems into AI-ready digital ecosystems that power supply chains, climate intelligence, and government modernisation.
Previously, Kate held senior leadership roles at NVIDIA, where she led global developer relations and ecosystem expansion across underserved geographies, and Arm, where she was instrumental in scaling the TinyML movement, enabling machine learning on ultra-low-power edge devices. At Intel, she spearheaded the development of the Neural Compute Stick, the world’s first USB-based AI development kit, democratizing computer vision and edge AI for millions of developers worldwide.
Her work has been recognized by TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, the World Economic Forum as a Tech Pioneer, and One Young World as Entrepreneur of the Year 2024. A trusted voice in global AI policy and digital equity, Kate serves as Vice Chair of the ICC Global Environmental and Energy Commission and is a member of EY’s Global AI Advisory Council.
Uwem Uwemakpan
Head of Investments, Seed Fund II at Launch Africa
-
Ire Aderinokun is an investor, entrepreneur, and software engineer with a decade of experience building and backing technology ventures in frontier markets.
As an invited Google Expert in Web Technologies specialising in the core user interface technologies of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, Ire has authored widely-read technical content and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world. She co-founded Helicarrier, a Y Combinator-backed blockchain company for Africa that built some of the continent’s earliest crypto-fintech products, and is passionate about how technology can support global financial inclusion.
Ire partners closely with founders as an advisor, investor, and operator who understands the full startup journey. She brings a founder’s empathy and an operator’s discipline to early-stage investing, with a particular focus on mission-driven companies across Africa and other emerging markets.
Ire Aderinokun
Limited Partner, Angel Investor
-
Tito Cookey-Gam
Principal, Partech Africa
-
Bernard Ghartey is a Principal at Norrsken22, where he leads West Africa investments for the African tech growth fund. With over a decade of experience in venture capital, investment banking, and telecommunications strategy, Bernard has been a key player in the African venture capital ecosystem since 2019. Prior to Norrsken22, he was Head of Investments at Acuity Venture Partners, an early-stage fund, and served as Senior Associate at I-DEV International in Kenya. His tenure at Vodafone as Senior Strategy Specialist saw him driving the company’s WIN-2020 strategy. Earlier in his career, he worked in investment banking at IC Securities, raising capital for blue-chip clients across multiple sectors. Bernard graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from Ashesi University.
Bernard Ghartey
Principal, Norrsken22
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Deepankar Rustagi
CEO, Omnibiz
-
Roosevelt Elias is a visionary product technologist, entrepreneur, and the Founder & CEO of Payble, a pioneering fintech company dedicated to transforming financial access for micro and small businesses in emerging markets globally. With extensive expertise in AI, blockchain, and inclusive finance, Roosevelt has devoted his career to developing technology that uplifts underserved communities and fosters economic growth. While Payble is currently focused on the African market, the company’s vision is resolutely global, aiming to empower micro-entrepreneurs around the world with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy. Roosevelt’s mission is to create a more equitable economic landscape by harnessing the power of technology to unlock the potential of the smallest businesses, driving sustainable development and reducing poverty on a global scale. By focusing on financial inclusion and economic empowerment, he envisions a future where micro-businesses become catalysts for broader societal transformation. Roosevelt’s extensive experience in building tech solutions that are both innovative and inclusive makes him a leading voice in the push towards a more equitable global economy.
Roosevelt Elias
Founder & CEO, Payble
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Ebi Atawodi
Director of Product Management, YouTube Studio
-
Odunayo Eweniyi is co-founder and General Partner at FirstCheck Africa, a pre-seed and seed fund that invests in high-growth tech startups with at least one female founder. She is also the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest digital savings and micro-investment platform.
Odunayo Eweniyi
Co-founder and General Partner, FirstCheck Africa
-
Ire Aderinokun is an investor, entrepreneur, and software engineer with a decade of experience building and backing technology ventures in frontier markets.
As an invited Google Expert in Web Technologies specialising in the core user interface technologies of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, Ire has authored widely-read technical content and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world. She co-founded Helicarrier, a Y Combinator-backed blockchain company for Africa that built some of the continent’s earliest crypto-fintech products, and is passionate about how technology can support global financial inclusion.
Ire partners closely with founders as an advisor, investor, and operator who understands the full startup journey. She brings a founder’s empathy and an operator’s discipline to early-stage investing, with a particular focus on mission-driven companies across Africa and other emerging markets.
Ire Aderinokun
Limited Partner, Angel Investor
-
Jordan Belonwu
Creative Director, Belonwus
-
Seyi Lasisi
Senior Staff Writer, The Culture Custodian