Speakers

MOONSHOT 2025

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.

Joshua Chibueze

Co-founder/CMO, Piggyvest Business

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Joshua Chibueze

Co-founder/CMO, Piggyvest Business
David Adeleke

Founder, Communiqué

CREATIVE ECONOMY

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David Adeleke

Founder, Communiqué
Chinedu Obidiegwu

Business Development Lead, Luno Nigeria

EMERGING TECH

Chinedu is the Business Development lead for Luno Nigeria. He is passionate about putting the power of Cryptocurrency in everybody’s hand by making cryptocurrency easily accessible to everyone, anywhere and whoever you are. He led Luno’s retail growth in Nigeria and is highly focused on increasing access to Cryptocurrency in the Nigerian market.

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Chinedu Obidiegwu

Business Development Lead, Luno Nigeria
Oji Udezue

Global Product Leader

EMERGING TECH

Oji Udezue is an experienced product management leader with a career spanning marketing, sales, engineering, and design leadership. He has a proven track record of building customer-centric products, scaling them to market success, and mentoring high-performing teams. He was formerly Chief Product Officer at Calendly, where he helped guide the company to unicorn status, and also led the Content, Creation, and Conversation team at Twitter, overseeing Tweets, DMs, Spaces, and the Creators Initiative. Oji previously served as Head of Product for Atlassian’s Communication division, where he launched Atlassian’s first post-IPO product, and has also held leadership positions at Spiceworks, Bridgewater Associates, and Microsoft, where he spent over a decade in product management.

In his free time, Oji mentors startups through ProductMind, focusing on diverse founders and B2B SaaS ventures. He is also co-author of Building Rocketships: Product Management for High-Growth Companies, a blueprint for scaling in the age of AI.

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Oji Udezue

Global Product Leader
Bolakale Mallick

CEO, Startbutton

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Bolakale combines a background in law, compliance, technology, and operations. With over seven years of experience advising and working with fintechs across Africa—including Paystack, Pagatech, Interswitch, Chipper Cash, and MFS Africa (now Onafriq)—he brings regulatory fluency and strategic clarity. His experience in structuring cross-border payment operations has been central to building Startbutton’s Merchant of Record (MoR) capabilities.

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Bolakale Mallick

CEO, Startbutton
Chimene Chinah

CEO, Dantown

STARTUP FESTIVAL

Chimene Chinah is the CEO of Dantown, a fast-growing fintech company committed to connecting the globe, financially. With over eight years of experience building products and scaling businesses from the ground up, Chimene blends strategic insight with hands-on executionto drive growth and innovation. He holds an MSc and an MBA, alongside globally recognized certifications including the Certified Product Manager (CPM, AIPMM) and Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA, CFI), reflecting his pursuit of excellence and adherence to international business standards. Chimene’s leadership philosophy is rooted in the belief that everything rises and falls on leadership. He leads with clarity and intention, developing people as much as he drives results. For him, true impact comes from empowering others and cultivating leadership at every level of an organisation.

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Chimene Chinah

CEO, Dantown
Ejike Egbuagu

Group CEO, Moneda

FUEL: THE INVESTOR CONFERENCE

Ejike Egbuagu is a Pan-African financier with over 15 years of experience spanning commercial banking, international trade, and alternative finance. He is the Group CEO of Moneda Invest Africa, a leading alternative funds firm providing innovative, no-collateral financing to SMEs in the natural resources value chain across energy, agriculture, minerals, and renewables. He founded Moneda in 2015 during Nigeria’s FX crisis with a bold vision to transform Africa’s natural resources into real wealth for its people. Since then, Moneda has deployed over $200 million in capital and execution support, empowering local contractors to scale and compete globally.

Ejike is a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Administration and an alumnus of Harvard Business School, Geneva Business School, the University of Kent Law School, and the Access Bank School of Banking Excellence. He is driven by a singular belief — that Africa’s future must be built from within, powered by capital, community, and creativity.

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Ejike Egbuagu

Group CEO, Moneda
Anita Eboigbe

COO, Big Cabal Media

CREATIVE ECONOMY

Anita Eboigbe is a media and operations leader working at the intersection of media, storytelling, technology, and organisational strategy design. She currently serves as Chief Operating Officer at Big Cabal Media (BCM) the parent company of TechCabal, Zikoko and TC Insights, where she drives operational excellence, general development, and long-term strategy.
At BCM, Anita has led transformative organisational changes that strengthened frameworks, scaled productisation efforts, and positioned the company for ambitious new ventures in content, data, and film. She also recently created and executive-produced Zikoko Life, an acclaimed anthology film series.
Her career spans organisation operations and strategy, editorial leadership, media product development, and African ecosystem-building. Anita is passionate about building resilient, creative organisations and expanding positive African narratives globally.

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Anita Eboigbe

Anita Eboigbe, COO, Big Cabal Media
Barene Jankovich-Besan

Independent Consultant

EMERGING TECH

Barene Jankovich-Besan is an independent consultant and self-described consumer behavior scientist. She helps businesses uncover growth opportunities by digging into what really drives user behaviour—and turning those insights into strategies that deliver on the bottom line. Having lived and worked across multiple African countries and industries, from financial services to FMCG and consumer tech, she brings a continent-wide perspective to her work. Most recently, Barene has been exploring the peculiarities of the AI ecosystem in Africa.

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Barene Jankovich-Besan

Independent Consultant
Ikemesit Effiong

Partner, SBM Intelligence

STARTUP FESTIVAL

Ikemesit Effiong is a lawyer and Partner at SBM Intelligence, where he manages the firm’s African research network and works with clients across Nigeria’s political, economic, and social sectors. His experience spans judicial administration, geopolitics, corporate communications, and political consulting, including serving as a consultant to four Nigerian governorship races and advising leading multinationals on compliance and CSR.

Since 2021, he has led projects on countering COVID-19 misinformation, shaping post-lockdown education policy, strengthening press freedoms, and improving democratic participation for vulnerable groups. Outside his professional role, he manages a 1,300-member finance professionals mentoring network, chairs the Technology Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Business Law, and contributes to West Africa’s first civil society self-regulatory framework.

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Ikemesit Effiong

Partner, SBM Intelligence
Dennis Da-ala Mirilla

Senior Editor, Zikoko

CREATIVE ECONOMY

Dennis Da-ala Mirilla is the Senior Pop Editor at Zikoko. His expertise spans across tech, media, style, digital culture, and pop culture. When he’s not working at Zikoko, he writes Afro Adulting, a Substack newsletter where he documents the lives and experiences of Nigerian men.

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Dennis Da-ala Mirilla

Senior Editor, Zikoko
Wilfred Alfred

Senior Strategist, FourthCanvas

STARTUP FESTIVAL

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Wilfred Alfred

Senior Strategist, FourthCanvas
Napa Onwusah

Ex Google, AWS, Microsoft

BIG TECH/ENTERPRISE

Napa Onwusah is a global business leader with over 25 years of experience across technology, finance, and consulting. She has held leadership roles at Amazon Web Services, Google, Visa, Microsoft, Cisco, and SAP, where she built a reputation for driving growth, leading high-performing teams, and advancing digital transformation. At AWS, she led startup engagement across the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, achieving 39% year-on-year growth and exceeding revenue targets. At Google, she headed sales for Sub-Saharan Africa, delivering record growth and earning the Google Leader Award. Napa is currently Managing Partner at PlacidCode Labs, helping founders build scalable products, and leads Built4Balance, a consultancy focused on revenue and business growth.

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Napa Onwusah

Ex Google, AWS, Microsoft
Babajide Duroshola

General Manager, M-KOPA

STARTUP FESTIVAL

Babajide Duroshola is a seasoned business management executive with over a decade of expertise in startups, technology, banking, and consulting. He is currently the General Manager of M-KOPA Nigeria where he leads strategic growth and operations. With a rich background in business operations, strategy, marketing, and community engagement, Babajide brings transnational experience across African and emerging markets. Before joining M-KOPA, Babajide was the Country Director at SafeBoda Nigeria, where he played a pivotal role in driving the overall growth of the business. His diverse experience also includes serving as the Community Manager for Technical Talent at Andela.

Babajide is a Limited Partner at Rallycap Global, an investment fund focused on high-potential startups in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, where he has championed investments in transformative companies like Risevest.

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Babajide Duroshola

General Manager, M-KOPA
Emmanuel Nwosu

Junior Reporter, TechCabal

EMERGING TECH

Emmanuel Nwosu is a reporter at TechCabal covering crypto, blockchain, and the business of Web3 in Africa. He focuses on uncovering the stories behind how startups, regulation, and emerging technologies affect the experiences of everyday users, businesses, and governments.

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Emmanuel Nwosu

Junior Reporter, TechCabal
Jide Martin

CEO, Comic Republic

CREATIVE ECONOMY

Jide Martin is the Founder and CEO of Comic Republic, Africa’s first digital comic book company, and CEO of CR Motion+, its animation studio. Driven by a passion for African art, he built the continent’s largest comic publisher, reaching millions worldwide and pioneering innovations such as the world’s first crypto comic. Comic Republic became the first African comic brand to secure investor funding and recently signed a $4M licensing deal with Universal Studios Group. A lawyer, illustrator, and UNICEF changemaker, Jide empowers young creators to tell authentic African stories, advancing Africa’s cultural and creative industries globally.

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Jide Martin

CEO, Comic Republic
Boubacar Djiba

CEO, Senmixmaster

CREATIVE ECONOMY

Boubacar is a visionary entrepreneur bridging creative industries, AI, and communications. He has led major educational, entrepreneurial, and cultural projects across Africa with the British Council and UK Embassy in Senegal. Founder of Vazy Music, he discovered new talent and produced hits like Skyfall by Sprinoir & Black M. Recognized by Forbes, he also launched Africa’s first online academy for music producers during COVID-19. He is also Country Partner Manager at the Music Business Academy for Africa. He is also at the head of Africa’s first AI mastering and audio enhancement platform Senmixmaster championing sustainable growth in the continent’s creative economy.

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Boubacar Djiba

CEO, Senmixmaster
Rotimi Thomas

CEO, SunFi

CLEAN/CLIMATE TECH

Rotimi Thomas is the CEO and Co-Founder of SunFi, an Omnichannel platform unlocking Africa’s clean energy economy by empowering Solar Installer Sales agents with tools and infrastructure to transition end consumers to accessible and sustainable solar and clean energy solutions. With an extensive background in energy modeling, infrastructure finance, project development, and management, Rotimi has been instrumental in scaling SunFi’s impact. The company has exceeded 7MW of installed capacity, saving consumers over $2 million annually, and is impacting over 50,000 lives annually.

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Rotimi Thomas

CEO, SunFi
Sadaharu Saiki

Founder & GP, Sunny Side Ventures

BIG TECH/ENTERPRISE

Sadaharu Saiki is a venture capitalist with deep conviction in Africa and the Middle East, focusing on ESG-driven, impact-oriented investments across Japan, the U.S., and emerging markets. Before founding Sunny Side Venture Partners, he held leadership roles at McKinsey and Dentsu (HQ & India), blending strategic rigor with creative insight.
Saiki earned his MBA (with distinction) from Harvard Business School and holds a bachelor’s degree in Integrated Human Studies from Kyoto University. He is passionate about bridging capital, innovation, and social value to realize transformative growth in underserved regions.

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Sadaharu Saiki

Founder & GP, Sunny Side Ventures
Samuel Oladapo

Investment Officer, Proparco

FUTURE OF COMMERCE

Samuel Oladapo is a seasoned investment professional with over nine years of experience executing high-impact transactions across Sub-Saharan Africa. He has developed deep expertise in financial advisory, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, project finance, and valuation—supporting institutions across diverse sectors including finance, energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing.

He currently serves as an Investment Officer at Proparco’s Nigerian regional office, where he is responsible for sourcing, structuring, and managing high-impact investments across manufacturing, agribusiness, services, clean energy, natural resources, infrastructure, venture capital, and private equity.

Before joining Proparco, Samuel gained extensive investment banking and advisory experience with leading institutions, including Renaissance Capital, Vetiva Capital Management, and Cordros Capital. Across these roles, he provided strategic financial advisory and structuring support to clients pursuing growth and development opportunities across multiple African markets. His professional journey reflects a strong commitment to sustainable investment and private sector development on the continent.

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Samuel Oladapo

Investment Officer, Proparco