Archives: Speakers

Julia Price is the co-founder and CEO of Linea Capital, a USAID-backed, Southern African investment company focused on building revenue-based finance as a financing alternative for growing African companies. Julia Price completed her CA(SA) articles and CFA exams at KPMG in Johannesburg, specializing in Audit and Derivative Advisory. She then spent 7 years at FirstRand… Read more »

Ned Rauch-Mannino serves as the President of Portsmouth Limited Company, leveraging strategic consulting and advice to advance natural resource and renewable energy development projects. He served as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Operations and Senior Advisor for Global Markets, International Trade Administration, providing visibility to U.S. policy, commercial diplomacy, and… Read more »

Michelle Haigh Osorio is an investor in emerging markets renewable energy since 2007, previously at Conduit Capital Partners and the Carlyle Group before joining KawiSafi Ventures in 2018. At KawiSafi, Michelle Haigh Osorio works across new and portfolio investments and serves on the Board of OPES Solutions and as a Board observer for SHYFT Power… Read more »

Michael Okaredje is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Pickmeup Technologies, a transport technology company redesigning the way people move around their cities. Michael Okaredje graduated from Ambrose Alli University in Nigeria with Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Prior to Pickmeup, Michael Okaredje has founded multiple companies in the IT and energy sector… Read more »

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir has been dedicated to the field of international development since he joined the Peace Corps as a volunteer in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco in 1993. In 2000, he co-founded the High Atlas Foundation and served as president of the Board of Directors until January 2011, and since has been leading… Read more »

Jonathan Johannesen has pioneer for the past 20 years, financial services initiatives for the unbaked in very difficult environments in the central African region. One of Jonathan Johannesen’s first achievements was the development of the Moneytrans network & brand in Africa, the first affordable remittance services in Africa. Following that he has joined the Millicom… Read more »

Michael Akampa an impact investment professional with over 13 years’ experience working in African and global financial markets. He was the Co-founder of RE Equity Partners and Traction Capital, Sweden based investment companies active in emerging and frontier markets. Prior to that, Michael Akampa worked in various key roles in the Treasury and Investment departments… Read more »

Jeff Stine is co-creator and co-Managing Partner of two venture capital funds focused on exceptional early-stage, mission-driven companies in East and West Africa. He serves on a number of startup Boards, and is co-owner and Managing Director at VestedWorld, a fund-management company. Previously, Jeff worked in investment banking at Lazard, and served in the United… Read more »

Ashish Patel has been involved with growth companies for over 20 years and has strategic, operational and investment experience. Before joining Aavishkaar Capital to lead Africa, he was the Managing Director for Sub-Sahara Africa at Abraaj, based in Nairobi. Prior to that, he headed Strategy, Emerging Markets and Corporate Development at AVG Technologies where he… Read more »

Leon Ayo – British Chamber of Business Southern Africa Leon leads the British Chamber in Southern Africa and is a passionate ‘Afri-Optimist’. He has consulted and led teams across four continents specialising in Leadership, High Performance Culture, Agile Thinking, Entrepreneurship and helping organisations navigate the 4th Industrial Revolution. He has been a visiting lecturer at… Read more »