Mamadou is the Founder and CEO of Ubuntu Group focused on Advisory and Investment activities across industries and aimed at supporting firms in Africa to achieve scalable and sustainable growth on the continent. He is also the founder and Chairman of Africa 2.0, a not-for-profit organization gathering a community of young Leaders from Africa and the Diaspora. He has worked in infrastructure, mining, banking, agriculture and technology projects exceeding a combined value of US$ 25 billion, thus creating opportunities and hope for many people in Africa. In 2014, Mamadou was ranked as one of the top 10 most Powerful men in Africa by Forbes Magazine.
Speaker Category: Speaker
Ellington Kamba
Ellington Kamba is an experienced market researcher and business unit manager, with emerging markets experience. He is a global consumer insights expert with high professional standards and extensive experience in consulting, research management and team building. He is currently a research Analyst at the United States Agency for Global Media. He has held various leadership positions over the years such as Managing Director at Research International and Senior Research Consultant at the Centre for Global Research.
Rijul Gupta
As the trailblazing CEO/CTO of DeepMedia, Rijul Gupta is a Forbes-recognized thought leader in DeepFake technology. With over seven years in AI, he has provided transformative solutions to giants like Nike and Nordstrom. A Yale graduate, Thiel Fellow finalist, patented inventor, and Forbes Next 1000 honoree, his work deftly combines innovative AI practices with a strong ethical backbone.
Bineta Diop
Madam Bineta Diop, is, since 2014, the Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace and Security.
She is the founder and president of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), an international NGO founded in Switzerland in 1996, that seeks to foster, strengthen and promote the leadership role of women in conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa.
In her role as the African Union Special Envoy for Women, Peace, and Security, Ms. Diop has been deeply committed to translating policies into tangible actions. She has focused on implementing accountability mechanisms and amplifying the voices of women, as well as fostering their leadership participation in peace processes.
Ms. Diop contributed in the shaping of Africa’s gender normative frameworks, such as the Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights and the African Union Convention on Human Rights. This engagement led her to set up the Gender is My Agenda Action Network (GIMAC) to promote gender equality in Africa.
Ms. Diop has led several initiatives driven by women, notably the Empowering Women in Agriculture (EWA) program, which seeks to enhance the skills of women farmers and ensure equitable access to agricultural resources. Additionally, she has championed the establishment of the Pan African Centre for Gender, Peace, and Development (PAC). This center is devoted to strengthening the capacity of women and youth in gender, peacebuilding, and development, including the development of a Master’s Degree program on Gender and Peacebuilding in collaboration with the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar and UPEACE of Costa Rica.
She co-convenes, the African Women’s Leaders Network, which comprises women elders, young women, and rural women, spanning 35 national chapters. Endorsed by the UN and AU, this movement aims to advance women’s leadership in the agendas for 2030 and 2063.
She studied International Relations and diplomacy and has received many honors and awards, including being named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2011. She holds special doctoral degrees from various institutions.
Ms. Bineta Diop’s passion and leadership have made a huge impact on women’s empowerment and peacebuilding in Africa and beyond.
Patrick Quarcoo
Patrick Quarcoo is a Ghanaian Kenya-based serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Radio Africa Group, which is an umbrella of Kenya’s leading media channels on print, digital, TV and radio. This includes KISS 100, Classic 105, Smooth FM, Radio Jambo, East FM, Gukena FM, the Star newspaper and KISS TV. Quarcoo also co-owns two radio stations in Uganda, Capital Radio and Beat FM. He started his career as a journalist when he was young and had dreams of owning his company. Quacco was awarded an international recognition award at Ghana –UK based achievement awards.
Serah Makka
Serah Makka is the Executive Director and has over 20 years’ experience in the global development and public sectors working in Nigeria, Afghanistan, and the United States. She currently leads ONE’s advocacy work across Africa guided by a passion to contribute to building an impactful Continent.
Current campaigns she is leading on includes, incorporating Africa’s perspective in the global financial architecture reforms, increasing financing for Africa’s plan on food sovereignty by identifying financing opportunities in the global north and advocacy and deepening attention on sectors for job creation in Africa by attracting investments from development finance institutions to also catalysing growth in the sectors. Her vast experience also includes managing a US$10 million grant Fund to develop low-income products and services (microinsurance, microloans, microsavings, micropensions) to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria while working as Policy and Innovation Fund Manager at Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access. She also worked as the Policy and Partnerships Manager at Indigenous African philanthropy in Nigeria, where she reformed several Federal Government policies including the National Youth Service Corps.
In honor of her work in the global development and foreign policy space she has been recognised in the ‘Global Top 35 Under 35 in International Affairs’ and is an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow. Serah holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Studies from the University of North Florida and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
H.E Getachew Reda
Getachew is currently the President of the Interim Regional Government of Tigray, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, having been appointed on 23 March 2023 by the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Before assuming this role, he served as a trusted advisor to the former president of the Tigray Region, Debretsion Gebremichael. Alongside his administrative responsibilities, Getachew is an executive committee member and the spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
On 2 November 2022, Getachew played a crucial role as the Tigray representative during the signing of a significant agreement that resulted in a permanent cessation of hostilities with the Ethiopian central government, contributing to peace and stability in the region. This achievement further solidified his leadership position, culminating in his appointment as the head of the Interim Regional Administration of Tigray.
Previously, Getachew held the position of Minister of Government Communications Affairs in Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s federal government of Ethiopia until 2016.
Dietmar Schantin
Dietmar Schantin is a digital media strategist and implementer who has helped to transform and digitise the editorial and commercial operations of media brands around the world: from the Telegraph Media Group, Handelsblatt Germany, Ringier Switzerland, the Hindustan Times, New Zealand Herald, to the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones. He is also a trusted voice on business strategy, audience and market insight, technology and organisational strategies. He founded IFMS Media LTD in 2012 and co-founded the AI Collective in 2023 after serving as Executive Director of WAN-IFRA, the global association of news publishers. At WAN-IFRA, Dietmar was as a board member responsible for the organisation’s world-wide consultancy, training and events programme geared to aid the media organisation’s integration and development of digital platforms. Based in the UK and Austria, Dietmar is a familiar face on jury panels of international digital media awards, writes regularly for industry publications and speaks at international media conferences about digital growth strategies and for the media industry.
Links to articles about him:
https://www.ifms-ltd.com/newsrooms-in-the-digital-age-are-traditional-news-sections-obsolete/
https://www.ifms-ltd.com/in-digital-news-operations-editors-drive-success-across-the-organisation/
https://www.ifms-ltd.com/content-strategy-sweet-spot-hits-4-key-pillars/
More articles can be found here: https://www.ifms-ltd.com/insights/
Dr Akinwumi Adesina
Often described as “Africa’s Optimist-in-Chief”, African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina (1960) is widely lauded for his visionary leadership and passion for Africa’s transformation. Formerly the Nigerian Agriculture Minister, Dr Adesina was first elected President of the African Development Bank Group on 28 May 2015. He was unanimously re-elected for a second five-year term on 27 August 2020. Dr Adesina graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria, in 1981. Dr Adesina holds a master’s degree (1985) and a PhD in Agricultural Economics (1988) from Purdue University, United States of America, where he won the Outstanding Ph.D. thesis award for that year. Dr Adesina won the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Social Science Fellowship in 1988, which launched him into his international career.