Tech and Innovation

In recent years, Africa has experienced significant technological advancement, with the emergence of groundbreaking start-ups that have helped accelerate growth in various countries across the region. This panel will discuss current trends and potential growth opportunities for technology and innovation, particularly in a post-COVID-19 world. Policymakers, tech-business leaders, and entrepreneurs will share what they believe are the biggest enablers for Africa's success and what future opportunities and challenges they see existing for technology’s ability to continue to transform the continent.

Hon. Paula Ingabire

Minister of ICT and Innovation,

 Republic of Rwanda

Rebecca Enonchong

Founder & CEO, AppsTech / Board Chair, AfriLabs

Ashish J. Thakkar

Chief Executive Officer, Mara Phones

Mariam Abdullahi

Africa Director, Android Platform Partnerships, Google

Private Equity and Venture Capital 

Africa continues to attract curiosity and capital from investors and entrepreneurs, both from the continent and from abroad. In addition to its many opportunities for innovation, the investing landscape also comes with its own unique challenges such as currency constraints and cross-border considerations. In this panel, we bring together a group of successful investors with decades of experience deploying capital across every stage and instrument. We will discuss the greatest opportunities for investment today, how regulation and other governmental factors influence their strategy, and their experience guiding firms and their portfolio companies through the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.

Eghosa Omoigui

Founder and Managing General Partner,

EchoVC Partners

Genevieve Sangudi (CBS & SIPA '04)

Managing Director, 

The Carlyle Group

Skander Oueslati

Senior Partner, CIO & Co-Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, AfricInvest

Social Movements and Citizenship

Social media and digital spaces were critical forces in the organization of social movements across Africa in 2020, including in Nigeria, Cameroon, Namibia, DRC, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, just to name a few. This panel will discuss the ways in which digital activism continues to be a transformative force in mobilizing social change agents, enabling faster and more effective communication as well as wider political engagement and increased coordination. We will speak with activists, policymakers, and political analysts to uncover the impacts of these shifting trends in activism and the future role of digital media on citizen movements in Africa.

Bertha Tobias

AU Youth Charter Country Representative, Namibia #ShutItAllDown 

Tomiwa Aladekomo

CEO, Big Cabal Media, Nigeria #EndSARS

Alhoussein Fadiga

Board Chair, Guinea Bloggers Association & Co-founder of #GuineeVote platform 

Ateki S. Caxton

Director, NewSETA, Cameroon

#EndAnglophoneCrisis

Healthcare

As we chart a path out of this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, this panel will discuss how the global crisis can spur health innovation and sustainable health reforms in Africa and how lessons learned from the continent's Ebola virus response can be applied in addressing the crisis. We will speak with health experts from the private and public sector on partnerships aimed at funding health intervention programs and mental health services, as well as gain insight from healthcare entrepreneurs on how they are contributing to improving the healthcare infrastructure on the continent.

Daniel Marfo

Senior Vice President,

Zipline

Dr. Paulin Basinga

Director, Health, Africa, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Dr. Joseph Lelo

Medical Director of Flying Doctors Initiative, AMREF Health Africa 

Trade & Economic Growth

This panel will focus on how trade flows have been affected by the current pandemic and the status of establishing trade links pioneered by the African Continental Free Trade Area. This panel will explore innovative ideas for intra-regional trade, which requires enormous investments into infrastructure, commercial relationships, industries and political substructures. Our speakers will share insights from a private, public and multilateral perspective on the key constraints as well as success factors required for Africa to become an integrated trade hub.

Scott Eisner

President US-Africa Business Council at the US Chamber of Commerce

Dr. Hippolyte Fofack

Chief Economist at Afreximbank

Marieme Niang Camara

Managing Director for Africa, Wilben Trade

Jemila Abdel Vetah

Senior Advisor to AfCFTA SecretaryGenral