Marilyn is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, international trade and innovation specialist working in the area of advanced manufacturing and zero emission vehicle technologies.

She is also an experienced former BBC TV series producer and journalist and experienced African Trade and Investment specialist.

Honoured by HRH The Queen with an OBE for services to women’s enterprise in 2009 and awarded the prestigious Kofi Annan African Leadership Excellence Award.

Emma has lived and worked in South Africa since February 2016, following her appointment as the UK’s Trade Director for Southern Africa. She created, and has led, the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) pan-African regional trade team since April 2017.

Emma Wade-Smith was announced as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Africa in June 2018.

Emma has lived and worked in South Africa since February 2016, following her appointment as the UK’s Trade Director for Southern Africa. She created, and has led, the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) pan-African regional trade team since April 2017.

She has also worked on international trade at the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Prior to working on trade and investment Emma has had a distinguished career as a British diplomat, spanning more than 2 decades.

Postings include:

• the UK’s Counsellor for Foreign and Security Policy at the British Embassy in Washington DC
• 2 years heading up the Crisis Response Team in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
• the British Embassy in Mexico
• the British Embassy in Chile
• secondments to the United Nations in New York and the European Commission in Brussels

She was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen for her work helping British nationals to safety from crisis areas all around the world, as Head of the FCO’s Crisis Response Team.

Emma speaks reasonably fluent Spanish and is working on her French.

Adema M. Sangale has worked mainly in the private sector over the past 24 years, starting out at Procter & Gamble where, at 27, she became the youngest regional MD of a blue chip , and went on to work across Africa, Europe & North America. She has also worked with the public sector, most recently with UN Women New York.

Adema serves on the boards of various African-headquartered companies including the publicly listed Equity Bank in Kenya.

William launched Invest in Africa (IIA) in 2012 to provide small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Africa with better access to skills, markets and finance to improve their competitiveness and ability to participate in industry.

Working with leading corporate members (including BP, Tullow, EY, Vodafone & Safaricom, Stanbic and Equity Bank) and now also with development funders (African Development Bank, DFID, Mastercard Foundation), IIA runs programmes in in Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Mauritania and Zambia building local capacity and capabilities to ensure supply chains having a sustainable impact within local communities and economies. IIA works with over 5,000 African SMEs, linking them to contracts worth over $200mil, having trained over 2,000 and created 65,000 jobs.

www.investinafrica.com

A communication and engagement strategist supporting executive teams and unlocking new projects.

Founder and MD of GIIG Africa, a pan African innovation network focused on cross border collaboration and the cocreation of future markets. Founder and MD of Loudhailer, an African innovation engagement agency focused on raising visibility and building partnerships for next gen technologies.

Caitlin has over a decade experience in government and has worked in the epicentre of the innovation scene in Africa to elevate the African innovation brand, localise global innovation programmes and products into the continent and cross pollinate networks across multiple stakeholder sets to stimulate economic growth and social impact.

Currently Caitlin is leading the expansion of the Global Startup Awards in 55 African countries to identify and connect the top 1% of digital future shapers in Africa and support these future fit businesses with trade opportunities in both global and domestic markets with a direct link to the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Caitlin is known for bringing a level of ambition, creativity and cohesive thinking to projects and partnerships.

Alex has extensive experience of working across the continent having visited 14 African nations and joined Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to Africa in 2018.

Clarke Energy is an international specialist in distributed and flexible power generation systems.

Alex has an MBA from Manchester Business School. Is a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Alex participates in the UK’s African Investors’ Group. He is also Council Member of the World Biogas Association and is a Founder of the Cogeneration World Coalition.

Based in Cairo, Alastair leads on UK trade and investment promotion across the whole African continent having previously been the Regional Director for Trade & Investment for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan based in Dubai.

Alastair was also previously the Director for Trade & Investment for Saudi Arabia and Her Majesty’s Deputy Trade Commissioner for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan based in Dubai, and then the Director for Trade and Investment for Saudi Arabia and Her Majesty’s Deputy Trade Commissioner for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan. While Regional Trade Director he was at the same time Deputy Consul General in Dubai and before that the Deputy Ambassador in Oman. Alastair joined the UK Government at the turn of the century working in a number of Foreign Office and latterly Department for International Trade roles.

With nearly twenty years of expertise and experience in Africa and the UK, Bolaji has a proven track record of strategically positioning businesses—from start-ups to established corporates—to enter and thrive within complex African markets. Her focus has been helping these companies overcome the challenges of the unique business landscape of the continent; achieving scale while developing mutually beneficial relationships.

As co-founder/Managing Director of UK based ETK Group Ltd, Bolaji has led ETK’s consultants to help global companies make connections in 32 African countries to date. She holds a B.A in Languages and Linguistics and is currently working towards a Masters in International Business Leadership and Management at York Management School.

Bolaji was named by Her Majesty’s Government as an Export Champion, for her relentless contributions to UK-Africa Trade.

Bolaji enjoys travelling, reading and writing. She is fluent in French and English.

Jeremy has 20 years’ experience in financial services before taking up a promotional and policy post at the City of London Corporation, supporting the capital as a global business centre and a major contributor to the prosperity of the whole of the UK.

A specialist in encouraging and promoting mutual trade and investment especially between Britain and countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, Jeremy has a special interest in the part the Commonwealth plays in international cooperation. Jeremy previously served in the Army Reserve for 35 years and then was Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London as well as school governor. He is now closely involved in programmes developing the skills and talents of young people as well as championing environmental sustainability.

Terser Adamu is a qualified and experienced business analyst, who has specialized in procurement & supply chain management for 10+ years and has gained in depth experience working for several global countries. This has given him an in-depth understanding of global issues and business trends that are specific to supply chain management and international trade, but with a specific interest in emerging markets, specifically Africa.

Terser is an Africa lead at the Department for International Trade and is responsible for supporting UK businesses to expand into African markets by offering strategic support and expert advice about trade and investment opportunities in Africa.

Carol is a Royal Society of Arts Fellow and communications expert specialising in publishing, promotions and organising a variety of events from 8 to 8000 in the UK and overseas. As part of her extensive event portfolio, she has also developed and organised 5 Royal visits since 2004. Carol is the receipient of the Inclusive Companies Certificate of Excellence, European Publishing Institute accolades, several awards and is a recent addition to the Northern PowerWomen List 2021. She is also a UN Youth Association Action Partner of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Wiki Editor Improving Diversity on Wikipedia and Global Goodwill Ambassador.