Speaker Group: Business Leader

Grand Point is positioned as consultancy firm assisting select clients and project partners with their business development and expansion plans into emerging markets, focussing on high impact alternative investment sectors geared for growth. Expertise of the founding team offer decades of experience in deal origination, asset management, private equity and real estate. We engage with… Read more »

Bart van Liebergen is an Investment Officer in FMO’s Financial Institutions Africa team. He focuses particularly on southern Africa. Previously, Bart was an advisor at the Institute of International Finance in Washington, DC, where he focused on fintech and digital transformation in banking. He has an MSc in Economics from the University of Amsterdam and… Read more »

Francisco Machado leads our investment and portfolio teams, managing five assets across multiple geographies in a variety of sectors. He recently developed our strategic review and positioning, as well as implementing our refined investment strategy. Francisco Machado is skilled in identifying overlooked opportunities to solve critical challenges associated with the provision of water, food, healthcare,… Read more »

Yvonne Okafor is an Investment professional passionate about development and community in and around Africa. As an Investment Officer at Untapped Global based in Nairobi, she co-leads the CapEx Investment Fund which invests in small and medium-sized businesses using a specialized data-driven approach called Smart Asset Financing. She’s also the co-founder of A&A Collective, a… Read more »

Jim Chu is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist dedicated to creating opportunity in emerging markets. Jim Chu is the founder and CEO of Untapped Global, whose mission is to bridge the investment gap in emerging markets by creating alternative financing opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Through its Smart Asset Financing investment model, Untapped creates… Read more »

Nimrod Gerber is the Managing Partner of Vital Capital Fund and a member of our investment committee. He has over 15 years of ground-level operational experience implementing investments, partnerships and projects in Africa and emerging markets, that deliver environmental and societal impact at scale. Nimrod Gerber’s focuses on creating economic growth that has a direct… Read more »

Sven Rosenberg is an experienced business developer who has been working in the technology sector for more than 10 years. Has been through the building of startup cycle and currently working on another major one – Postnest.

Ria Papier is the Client Director of Old Mutual Private Equity, responsible for leading the fund raising and investor relations functions. Ria Papier joined OMPE in June 2021 from the Client Solutions team at Standard Bank Investment Banking. Ria’s investment banking career spans 17 years, where she has worked across diverse sectors, in the origination… Read more »

A versatile entrepreneur dedicated to creating a world of equal opportunity through financial inclusion. Clark Varin started his first business, Travel Young with a $700 loan on a credit card. That business opened so many doors for Clark Varin and accelerated his career as an international entrepreneur–making him passionate that everyone should have access to… Read more »

Mr. Thomson Nelson Kumwenda is a Growth Oriented Entrepreneurial Executive, Public Certified Accountant CPA (Mw), and Economist, with 15 years practical hands-on extensive experience in Corporate Finance, Accounting, Auditing, teaching, Financial Risk Management and Administration. Thomson Kumwenda is currently pursuing a PhD in Economics with Focus on Banking, Capital, and Financial Markets Developments in Malawi…. Read more »