Curtis Valentine is currently the Senior Program Officer and Governance Specialist for World Vision U.S. (WVUS). As Governance Specialist, Curtis is responsible for developing World Vision’s Grant Acquisition & Management (GAM) Africa Team’s governance strategy.

Most recently Curtis contributed to the Obama for America Campaign as an Obama Organizing Fellow in Fredericksburg, Virginia and, subsequently, as Regional Field Organizer/Get Out The Vote (GOTV) Coordinator for Prince Georges County, MD exporting Marylanders into Virginia. In addition, Curtis contributed to Senator Obama’s Foreign Policy Team as a Lead Drafter on African policy memos and talking points.

A native of Somerset, New Jersey, Curtis Valentine is a graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (HKS). While at HKS, Curtis specialized in Business-Government Policy receiving the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Public Service for his work with HKS in post-Katrina New Orleans, LA. While at HKS, Curtis also served as Co-Chief Editor of Harvard’s Africa Policy Journal and contributed to the renowned Mo Ibrahim Prize for African Governance as a Research Assistant.

Curtis and his wife, Daria, are the proud parents of their 6-month old son Curtis Mpho-Amir Valentine.

Alain Ebobissé is a Principal Investment Officer in IFC’s Infrastructure Department. He is also leading IFC’s efforts to establish IFC’s Global Infrastructure Project Development Fund (“IFC-InfraVentures”), which would provide early stage risk capital for the development of private and PPP infrastructure projects in IDA countries. He joined IFC in 1998. Alain has led a number of complex infrastructure transactions in Africa, Europe and Latin America. Prior to joining IFC, Alain was deputy head of Project and Structured Finance at Caisse des Depots et Consignations in Paris, France.

Jeff was appointed Chief Marketing Officer of GE Water & Process Technologies in 2006, after a two-year tenure as General Manager, Global Marketing. In this role, Jeff and his team are responsible for all global marketing activities including market segmentation, regional and product marketing, business analytics, commercial and technical training, marketing communications, product launches, events marketing, and strategic business planning, and for leading GE corporate marketing initiatives at Water, including ecomagination, branding and advertising.

After graduating from the Ohio State University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Jeff began a 26-year career in water treatment in Engineering, Sales and Marketing. In 1989, he joined Betz Laboratories, Inc. where he held various leadership positions in the sales and marketing organizations. Following the GE acquisition of Betz to create GE Water & Process Technologies in 2002, Jeff assumed several leadership roles in global marketing and product development, leading to his promotion to Chief Marketing Officer.

GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric Company, is solving some of the world’s most pressing water challenges by providing industrial, agricultural, potable water, and wastewater solutions that lessen the overall dependence on our world’s fresh water sources. Technologies to accomplish this include: advanced membrane-based separation solutions, specialty chemicals for water and process applications, thermal separation equipment, mobile water and advanced instrumentation and controls.

John Keenan is Professor of Electrical & Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Research areas include the biological and health effects of pollution, wastewater treatment, water resources engineering, environmental impact assessment, and hazardous materials in the environment. Recent research efforts include assessment and selection of waste heat utilization technologies focusing on steam electric power facilities; an analysis of water resources in selected countries of the Middle East; development of single sludge wastewater treatment technologies; production and control of landfill leachates; development of expert systems for remediation of hazardous waste sites.

Joseph S. Sun is Director of Academic Affairs at the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) at the University of Pennsylvania, were he also serves as Director of International Initiatives and Director of Community Technology and Outreach. Mr. Sun’s involvement with international and community technology activities spans over 20 years. He has lead the development and implementation of more than 20 international development projects in such locations as Ecuador, Honduras, Mali, Ghana, Cameroon, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and China. To date, local and global engagement projects and activities combined, work valued at nearly $3m has been implemented, having involved hundreds of engineering undergraduates and other students. Mr. Sun’s interests are in the impact of information and communications technologies in development and education, appropriate technology, biomass energy utilization, and rural development. He holds an M.Sc. in Appropriate Technology and Energy Management for Development/Planning (Penn), and a B.A. in Design (UCLA). Mr. Sun was previously Director of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the Wharton School, Interim Director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center, Assistant Dean of The College, and Assistant Dean for Residence, all at Penn.

Unleashing the Entrepreneur/ Developing Domestic Markets
Panel #2

Joanna Moresky is a developer working on water, renewable energy, transportation, and housing projects in Sub Saharan Africa. Prior to joining InfraCo, Ms. Moresky served as a project manager and management consultant. She has advised clients in energy, manufacturing, finance, apparel, media and technology industries and the United Nations on sustainability, international economic development and responsible trade practices. Ms. Moresky is currently developing a multi-sector infrastructure project in Uganda consisting of passenger and vehicle ferries, a hybrid solar PV power generation facility for domestic and commercial uses, and solar powered water supply systems. Ms. Moresky, a graduate of Cornell University, received a Master of International Affairs at Columbia University and an MBA at the Wharton School of Business.

Doughba H. Caranda-Martin was born in Liberia, West Africa. He immigrated to United States during the Liberian civil war. He comes from a political family (his paternal grandfather was Advocate General of Liberia, his maternal grandfather was a senator) and he was witness to the destruction caused by the civil war and the decimation of his homeland. Caranda-Martin studied at Columbia University, where he gravitated to the visual arts and completed a BFA program at the School of Visual Arts. He began showing his photographs, which are full of imagery depicting the difficulty of war and race, and soon achieved commercial success and critical acclaim. His work is in the collection of The Smithsonian Institute, has been shown at the Venice Biennale, the Istanbul Biennial, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Ringling Museum as well as featured on BET, in the New York Times, and numerous magazines, journals, and books.

Three years ago, after searching the markets for African foods reminiscent of his homeland, he noticed a shortage of these types of goods available. His memory of his grandmother’s bush tea recipes in Liberia gave him a starting point for this new venture. His training as a chef and life-long interest in food enabled him to found Caranda Fine Foods. This company was founded as an answer to the lack of quality African goods available and has gained an audience by referencing African recipes and food ideas and translating them for an American market.

Toks Abimbola has over 12 years experience in strategy and operations and was invited to join Shoreline Energy International (Shoreline) in 2006 as an advisor. He has successfully worked to build corporate strategy, origination and the development of the Shoreline Investment portfolio in various sectors and countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to founding Shoreline Infrastructure Investment Partners, Mr. Abimbola led Shoreline’s corporate venturing and co-investment program with leading European investors including Cheyne Capital and Goldman Sachs International. Prior to Shoreline, Mr. Abimbola led European M&A and partnering initiatives for FiNoble an Indian M&A boutique and Bridge Capital Realty, a real estate and investment and asset management boutique focused on India. Within Europe Mr. Abimbola was actively involved in turnaround management and market consolidation within the European Telecommunications Industry. He has previously led global corporate and business development at Hewlett Packard as a Global Principal where he advised leading corporates on strategy and operations. Mr. Abimbola brings a specialist understanding of operations and principal investment in Africa and has worked with leading financial sponsors and corporates to identify and execute investment opportunities across the infrastructure, real estate and energy sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Abimbola graduated from the University of Kent at Canterbury with a degree in Economics. He is Fluent in English and French.

Mrs. IbukunOluwa Awosika is a graduate of Chemistry from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. She is also an alumna of the Chief Executive Programme of Lagos Business School and the Global Executive MBA Programme of IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain. She started her working career with Akintola Williams & Co. as an Audit Trainee. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Alibert Nigeria Ltd, a furniture company, as Showroom Manager. It was from there she launched out to fulfill her entrepreneurial learning by establishing Quebees Ltd, a furniture manufacturing company, from which The Chair Centre Ltd later evolved.

She was the Managing Director of The Chair Centre Ltd, a market leader in the office furniture and banking security systems industry, until recently when she was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of Sokoa Chair Centre Ltd, a joint-venture company of Sokoa S.A of France, Guaranty Trust Bank, The Chair Centre Ltd, and some other local investors.

She is the host of the popular TV programme, BUSINESS—HIS WAY, where she teaches the business community ethical business principles based on the Word of God.

She is the Founder of Christian Missionary Fund, a non-governmental body dedicated to raising support for Christian missionaries across the country.She is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ), as well as the Chairman of Intermac, the organisers of SmartCard Conference in Nigeria.

She is married to Abiodun Oludola Awosika, and their marriage is blessed with three sons.

Judith McHale is the Managing Partner of the GEF/Africa Growth Fund. Until December 2006, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Communications, the world’s leading provider of factual media and entertainment, where she was responsible for the overall strategic direction, business development and operations of all Discovery resources and properties in the United States and around the world. Under her leadership, Discovery Communications grew from its core property, the Discovery Channel, operating exclusively in the United States, to a complex business enterprise with more than 100 networks available in over 170 countries and territories reaching 1.4 billion total subscribers.

Ms. McHale oversaw all of Discovery’s operations in Africa, from its extensive film production activities to its satellite distribution business. In addition, Ms. McHale directed the company’s African non-profit educational initiative which provided educational programming and resources to underserved areas in six countries in Africa. Prior to joining Discovery as General Counsel in 1987, Ms. McHale served as General Counsel for MTV Networks and was a key member of the original executive team and a principal architect of MTV’s strategy for global expansion.

Ms. McHale currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Polo/Ralph Lauren, Host Hotels & Resorts and DigitalGlobe.

Ms. McHale began her career as an attorney at the New York law firm of Battle, Fowler. Ms. McHale graduated from Fordham Law School and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Nottingham in England where she received a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, Politics.

Investing in Africa: Seizing the Opportunities and Mitigating Risks
Panel #3

Vincent Rague has over 20 years experience spanning investments, project finance and banking. Mr. Rague was until recently Chief Investment Officer and Global Head, Property Finance at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Washington, DC, with responsibility for directing strategy and investments in real estate. In 2005, Mr. Rague was asked to establish IFC’s real estate business as a new product line and has build up the business to a multi-million operation. Prior to that, IFC’s investments were ad hoc, primarily focused on investment in tourism and retail operation.

He has served IFC in a variety of progressively senior management positions, including: as Senior Manager, Financial markets and Advisory Services for Southeast Europe and Central Asia based in Istanbul, Turkey (2003 – 2005); Manager SME and Advisory Services Department (2000 – 2003): and from 1994 to 1998 was responsible for setting up and managing IFC’s office and operations in Southern Africa while based in Johannesburg, South Africa as IFC’s first Regional Representative to South Africa. During that time, he originated and structured IFC’s first investments in the new South Africa, including some of the pioneer empowerment transactions and South Africa’s first independent private equity fund, South Africa Capital Growth Fund, sponsored by Capital Partners (now Brait). Mr. Rague has been a Board Director of several companies in Africa, SE Europe and Central Asia.

Carolyn Campbell is the General Counsel of Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) as well as a Managing Director and Founding Partner. She oversees the management of five funds and engages in deal sourcing, negotiation, portfolio management, fundraising, fund structuring, reporting, investor relations, and structuring and monitoring.

Campbell is a member of the California and Washington, D.C. bar associations and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She serves on the boards of Air Ivoire, Hillside International N.V. (for Celtel), AIG African Infrastructure Fund Holding S.à.r.l and Société Générale Assurance Méditerranéenne. Her work has also been published in Oxford Analytica, East European Quarterly, the Harvard International Law Journal and the Michigan Journal of International Law. She is a regular lecturer at the Ford Foundation, Strategic Research Institute, and the American Society of International Law.

Campbell graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Connecticut with bachelor degrees in economics and French and an M.A. in economics. She received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a doctorate from Oxford University in politics and economics.

Arjuna Costa is a member of The Rohatyn Group’s Africa and Middle East special situations investment practice, and is instrumental in launching the OPIC-sponsored Africa Catalyst Fund. Prior to TRG, Mr. Costa was co-founder of Africa International Financial Holdings, a $115 million private equity fund focused on control investments in African financial institutions. The fund’s investors included HSBC, First Rand Bank, and bilateral and multilateral development finance institutions such as IFC,EIB, FMO and KfW. Mr. Costa began working in Africa as a U.S. government consultant developing programs in response to the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. Mr. Costa started his career at Lehman Brothers, where he spent five years in the power and transportation groups.

Mr. Costa received a BA from Columbia University in 1992 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2001.

Mr. Idris Mohammed is a Partner at Development Partners International (“DPI”), a pan-African private equity fund based in London. Prior to joining DPI, Mr. Mohammed was a Vice President at WPA, Inc, the fund manager for Africa International Financial Holdings, a $100 million private equity fund focused on the financial services sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Before that, Mr. Mohammed was a Vice President in the Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs where he focused on making principal investments in the energy, power, and infrastructure sectors. He executed over $250 million in equity investments and acquisitions for the firm and helped build the group’s project finance and renewable energy investment businesses.

Credit Markets and Funding Sources
Panel #4

Professor Allen is currently the Nippon Life Professor of Finance, Professor of Economics, Co-Director, Financial Institutions Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has been with the Wharton School since 1980, named Nippon Life Professor of Finance, 1994; Co-Director, Financial Institutions Center, 2000-present. He has also held visiting appointments at University of Oxford; University of Tokyo; University of Frankfurt; and Princeton University. Professor Allen was the President of the American Finance Association in the year 2000. He has received many other recognitions for his research and teaching. His research areas include corporate finance, asset pricing, and economics of information.

Mr. Adisa’s career spans both the United States and West Africa. Mr. Adisa founded Oridun Capital Management, a frontier markets hedge fund with operations in the US, Ghana, and Nigeria, managing capital for investors from the US, UK, and sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to the launch of the Oridun Special Opportunities Funds, Mr. Adisa was a Staff Associate in Sprint Nextel Corporation’s Executive Leadership Development Program. He worked across the Sprint Nextel organization as a general manager with experience in sales, strategy, and innovation management.

Mr. Adisa received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2004, where he majored in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He received a B.S. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria in 1995. Abi Adisa is an alumnus of the Africa Venture Capital Fellows (AVCF) program, an initiative of the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow (GLT) program.

Ark Partners is an Africa-focused principal investment firm utilizing a multi-strategy approach and investing in both public and private equities. Prior to founding Ark Partners, Mr. Arkaah was the founding Portfolio Manager of the Renaissance Africa Fund, RIM (UK) Ltd., an open-ended Sub-Saharan Africa long-focused fund. From 1999 - 2007, he was a Senior Investment Officer with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), most of which was spent with the Global Information and Communications Technologies Department (GICT). In his primary role as GICT’s Regional Coordinator for Africa, he developed a strong business pipeline and strong relations with various government and industry stakeholders across all sectors. He successfully led a large number of equity, debt financings and restructurings in various regions including Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Kofi Arkaah holds a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University, an MBA, Finance from Clark Atlanta University, and a BA, Accounting from Morehouse College. Board Directorships: Golden Web Limited; Black Star Real Estate Investment Fund; Home and Consumer Finance Company.

Mr. Ayere has amassed years of solid corporate and structured finance plus banking and asset management experience working with HSBC London, NatWest Bank, The Sumitomo Mitsui Bank, Bank of Montreal - Nesbitt Burns, all in London; the International Finance Corporation (The World Bank Group) based in Washington D.C. and Johannesburg, South Africa and currently the UBA Group.

Mr. Ayere joined UBA Group as the pioneer Managing Director/CEO of UBA Global Markets, the investment banking arm of the group in August, 2005. Mr. Ayere is also a director of UBA Stockbrokers Limited, UBA Trustees Limited and UBA Registrars Limited.

Mr. Ayere is an individual member of the Nigerian Bond Steering Committee, the Vice Chairman of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria, member of the Steering Committee for the review of the Foreclosure and Securitisation Law of Nigeria, Chairman of the Committee to set up Qualified Institutional Buyers procedures and regulation to the Securities & Exchange Commission, and member of the FSS2020 Steering Committee. He is also an adviser to the Governor of Lagos State, Gov. Babatunde Raji-Fashola (SAN). He is an avid commentator on financial market developments in Nigeria and across the continent.

Mr. Ayere obtained an MA (Hons.) in Financial Economics from the University of Dundee—Scotland. He is an alumnus of Cass Business School London (MBA) and London Business School.

Mr. Colgazier is responsible for the management of the emerging market debt and emerging market debt/high yield hybrid portfolios. Previously, Mr. Colglazier was the Head of Global Fixed Interest for First State Investments in London. His initial role at First State Investments was Director of Fixed Income in Hong Kong in 1999, where he managed both global and Asian regional fixed income monies. Prior to joining First State, Mr. Colglazier was the Investment Director of Fixed Income for Global Asset Management (GAM) in Singapore and London. Before GAM, he was a Managing Director at Chase Manhattan Private Bank in Geneva and Vice President/Chief Investment Officer at Chase Manhattan Private Bank in Hong Kong. Mr. Colglazier has also been a fund manager with Guinness Flight Global Asset Management in London and started his career with Putnam Investments in Boston, USA. Mr. Colglazier has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Government from Georgetown University in USA and a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from Cambridge University.

Otu Hughes is Chief Operating Officer and Head of the Investment Banking Group of Oceanic Capital Company Limited, where he is responsible for the origination and structuring of capital transactions, as well as the Company’s financial and strategic advisory practices.

Mr. Hughes joined Oceanic Capital in 2007, from KeyBanc Capital Markets where he was in the Investment Banking Group focused on providing financial advisory services to companies in the healthcare and consumer retail industries. Prior to KeyBanc, Mr. Hughes founded Hughes, LLC a boutique financial advisory services company focused on small-cap companies in the healthcare and technology sectors. He also worked for Deutsche Bank.

Alex Brown (BT Wolfensohn) as a Vice President in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Mr. Hughes started his investment banking career as a corporate finance analyst in Lehman Brothers’ Natural Resources and Emerging Markets group.

Mr. Hughes holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Howard University (Honors Program) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Agriculture and Agribusiness
Panel #5

Amanda Hilligas is the Director of the Trade Competitiveness Program and the regional African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Trade Advisor for the Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub located in Gaborone, Botswana. She has 10 years of experience working on economic development and trade issues in Southern Africa. As Program Director, Ms. Hilligas oversees the AGOA Program and the Agribusiness work of the Trade Competitiveness Project.

Ms. Hilligas also works with governments on national AGOA export strategies, facilitates business linkages between private firms in Southern Africa and the United States, and provides trade capacity building for the public and private sector to promote trade between Southern Africa and the United States.

Ms. Hilligas received an M.B.A. in International Business and an M.A. in International Development Economics from the American University in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Music from Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ms. Hilligas was the Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar to Zimbabwe in 1997.

Dawn is Co-founder and Partner of Aventura Investment Partners, an early stage investment fund targeting the rural food-system value chain in Africa.

Prior to launching Aventura, Dawn worked for 7 years in the venture capital industry. She was an Investment Manager with Vanenburg Ventures and Fortis Group in the Netherlands, and went on to found a venture consulting practice, working with early-stage companies in Europe, the U.S. and Africa. Since 2000, she has been involved in various roles in technology and industrial firms, including fund-raising and international expansion for 10 companies, turn-around of a U.S. manufacturing company and acquisition and change management of a European IT services firm.

She completed an MBA at the Wharton School, including a semester at IESE Business School in Spain, and holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania. Languages spoken include: English, French, Spanish, Dutch and German.

Dawn sits on the boards of Hines Industries, a family-owned company in the U.S., OOIP BV, a Dutch technology firm, Agrina Senegal, an agricultural production and management company and Clinique Borom Daara-J, a maternity clinic in Senegal. She currently divides her time between Amsterdam, Dakar and various Air France/KLM flight lounges.

Mr. Lloyd Le Page is responsible for coordinating global sustainable development activities for Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business. Pioneer Sustainable Agriculture and Development (PSAD) program, which Lloyd leads, is focused on creating novel partnerships and innovative business approaches to reach previously under-served markets and to provide a foundation for sustainable business and community growth. Lloyd interacts at all levels with Private, Public, Non-profit and Academic sectors both in the US and in developing countries. These interactions are mainly focused on small farmer and sustainable development issues for Asia, Africa, Central America and Eastern Europe.

Lloyd serves as Vice President of the Iowa Council for International Understanding (ICIU) and board member for the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD). He participates on the advisory panels of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa (PCHPA), the West Africa Seed Alliance (WASA), and the Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

Although Lloyd is British, he spent his childhood in Africa. Prior to Pioneer, Lloyd’s career involved farm and livestock management, agro-processing and finally sales agronomy in Zimbabwe. Lloyd moved to Iowa with his family in 2004 and lives in Johnston, Iowa.

Foreign Partners
Panel #6

Lee Cassanelli teaches African history, oral history, and comparative world history. His research interests focus on the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia and Somalia) from the 18th to the 20th century. He has recently co-edited a book with an anthropologist on some of the social and economic forces behind the recent Somali civil war (Catherine Besteman and Lee V. Cassanelli, The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia: The War Behind the War, Westview Press, 1996.)

He is currently working on two chapters of a new book on social and cultural transformations in Somalia since 1890: one deals with the role of historical and contemporary diasporas in shaping Somali ideas about clan, state, and nationhood; the other examines the evolution of Somali political culture as expressed in oral poetic commentary and written political biographies. He has also been working on the role of “history and memory” in Somali refugee communities.

Magdi Amin is a Strategist and Sr. Economist for the International Finance Corporation in the East Asia and Pacific Region, the private sector investment/ lending arm of the World Bank Group.

Prior to this, Amin worked for nine years with the World Bank since joining as a Young Professional in 1998, focusing on Africa and East Asia. Most recently responsible for the World Bank’s private sector development programs in Ethiopia and Sudan, including Southern Sudan, and previously SE Asia (Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia).

Amin has also worked as a management consultant on turnaround management of industrial enterprises.

Tom Gibson has spent the past 20 years promoting risk capital investment for small and medium enterprises in developing market economies. After more than a decade spent in the creation and management of SME risk capital funds, Mr. Gibson now provides professional advisory services and training related to the capitalization, establishment, and investment operations of such funds. His clients include, inter alia, the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank (IBRD), the Asian Development Bank, USAID, and a number of private risk capital funds and developing market governments. Through the newly established smethink.org he also devotes substantial time to pro bono activities related to the gathering and dissemination of new thinking in SME development and finance.

Mr. Gibson is former president and chairman of the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF), and a current member of SEAF’s International Advisory Council. As founding president of SEAF, along with SEAF’s external legal counsel, Bert van der Vaart, Mr. Gibson designed, developed, and established SEAF as the only international development organization devoted exclusively to risk capital financing for SMEs.

Since establishing SEAF, he has worked in more than 75 countries, including such diverse venues as Armenia, Bolivia, China, Ghana, Haiti, Jordan, India, Liberia, Macedonia, Oman, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vietnam.

Mr. Gibson holds a B.A. from the University of the South; an M.A. from the University of Virginia, where he has also taught; and has studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. In addition to English, he speaks near- fluent French and is conversant in Spanish.

Cosmas Gitta is Chief, Division for Policy at the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation in UNDP. In this position, he oversees preparation of various reports and studies, including the biennial reports of the Secretary-General of the State of South-South cooperation.

He was for many years Managing Editor of Cooperation South, a print and electronic development journal promoting collaboration among developing countries. In 2006, he launched an e-newsletter Development Challenges: South-South Solutions as a medium to share information on development related innovations with partners around the world.

Mr. Gitta who holds a Ph.D. in International and Comparative Education has lectured on human rights education at Teachers College, Columbia University and at various campuses of the City University of New York.

Going Home: Afro-politans, Expatriates and the Diasporic Resource
Panel #7

Akinola Ayoola is the Group Head of Human Resources at Oando Plc and an accomplished Human Capital Manager with a proven track record and giant strides in Human Capital Development and Management in both public and private sectors. He is also a distinguished member of the Oando Group Leadership Council.

An SAP application Consultant with extensive experience having worked with Human Resources SAP System R/3, Akinola is a Political Science graduate of Nigeria’s Premier, University of Ibadan. Akinola is particularly known for his outstanding negotiation skills having led numerous negotiations in the oil industry where he brokered landmark agreements between the management and the oil worker’s unions.

An outstanding Human Capital Manager, Akinola is known as a dynamic leader and an achiever with great interpersonal skills, a long record of success in Human Resources Management across all sectors and industries. Due to his keen eye for top quality talent, Akinola played a key role in identifying and attracting top quality professionals to staff the exploration and production subsidiary company of Oando group, and have introduced key Human Capital Development initiatives that would help drive and sustain Oando’s remarkable growth.

Akinola is married with children.

Tokunbo Chiedu is the CEO Compass Consulting which specializes in Strategic Planning, Enterprise Development, Change and People Management. Tokunbo has a Masters in Development, and over 10 years experience of developing and managing services within the Local Government and Voluntary sectors, with a particular expertise in setting up Partnerships working arrangements between sectors. In recent times, Tokunbo has developed a strong interest in facilitating the entry of brands into new markets with a growing portfolio of Brands she is representing in Nigeria. Compass Consulting is the organizer of the Enterprise Exhibition aims to promote Trade, Development and Global Partnerships, an annual event the first of its kind to create a platform for UK-based African-Caribbean businesses to penetrate the global markets.

Teddy Ngu is a Director in the Performance Improvement Consulting and Head of the Strategy Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nigeria. He has over 13 years experience working in Strategy Consulting, Corporate Strategy and Corporate Finance. He has led and served on project teams in over 15 countries globally. Before joining PwC Nigeria, Teddy worked the Strategy in Pepsico Group Strategy in Purchase New York. Prior to Pepsico Dr Ngu was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) New York Office.

Teddy is a Wharton Alum. Teddy was a very active member of the Wharton community while a student – his leadership roles included President of the Wharton African Student Association. Before The Wharton School, Teddy worked with British Telecom and Ernst & Young UK. He is also a UK Chartered Accountant.

He is married to Pascaline and they have a daughter Jemimah.

A finance and business advisory professional, he has worked with clients in several African countries including Ghana, Mozambique, Togo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Egypt. He is currently leading a transaction advisory team on a $200 million financing mandate for a West African based client. Zemedeneh has also led an advisory team which repositioned Ethiopian Airlines to become the second largest airline in sub-Sahara Africa by generating a billion dollars annual revenue, from three hundred fifty million dollars, only four years ago.

Prior to moving back to Africa, Zemedeneh, who is an Ethiopian-American, had lived and worked in the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and the Middle East. His client service experience covered a wide spectrum, from Fortune 100 companies to medium sized Latina American firms to the U.S. government.

At Ernst & Young, Zemedeneh had served on the Africa board and was a member of E&Y’s Global Partner Council, between 2002 and 2007. He is frequently invited to speak at international business gatherings such as the recently concluded Africa IPO and Capital markets summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the US-Africa Transport Summit in Miami, the Air Finance Conference in Nairobi, Kenya and African Investor magazine’s Nigeria Infrastructure Summit in Abuja. Furthermore, Zemedeneh actively encourages investments into Africa, especially by the African Diaspora.

Zemedeneh has a bachelor degree in business administration from Howard University and received his CPA in Washington D.C.

Media
Panel #8

An alumna of the George Washington University in Washington DC, Chantelle Abdul added panache to her already glittering professional profile when she successfully secured the license for the African continent on the aegis of The Executive Group (the nascent international investment holdings firm). She acquired the rights to produce an Africa-wide version of the U.S. popular reality series, Donald Trump’s: The Apprentice, from Mark Burnett Productions, in the United States. Along with her partner, Michael, The Executive Group is seeking to re-define the African Business Landscape by creating value and investing in burgeoning sectors such as Media, Real Estate and hospitality.

Ms. Abdul brings a keen understanding of both the African and international business terrain to bear on her responsibilities as the show’s Executive producer. Her role included the origination and negotiation of the format with the format owners (Mark Burnett Productions), creating the consortium of stakeholders currently involved in the project, that includes engaging Storm Vision as Co-production partners. She is essentially the Executive Producer in charge of business and legal matters for the show. This includes origination, structuring, financing, and managing the project.

“The Apprentice Africa” is her debut in television—and, expectedly, one in a series of many to come.

Tope Esan is a Principal Partner at StatsMedia Group LLC (www.statsmediagroup.com), an independent company that acquires contents for television production. Coupled with original content development, StatsMedia Group acquires successful television programs to be reproduced and/or rebroadcasted in Africa. The company was formed in 2006 to concentrate on contents for the African market. StatsMedia recently acquired the franchise rights to ‘America’s Next Top Model’ for the continent of Africa from CBS Paramount and is set to start production on ‘West Africa’s Next Top Model’ early 2009.

StatsMedia also produces the Annual Nigeria Entertainment Awards (NEA Awards) – www.nigeriaentawards.com in United States. Tope serves as Executive Producer and Director for the show.

Mr. Walton is Executive Vice President for Sponsorship and Corporate Development at The Africa Channel, a new independent cable television network that brings television viewers around the world closer to daily life on the African continent.

In his role, Mr. Walton is responsible for all advertising sales and sponsorship activities as well as with developing relationships with key organizations operating in the African arena.

Prior to joining The Africa Channel, Mr. Walton was President and CEO of Onyx Media Group International, a New York-based advertising sales and program distribution company, he co-founded.

Among his other affiliations, Mr. Walton is an adjunct instructor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business and serves on the Board of Directors for both the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and Sister Cities International. He was recently named to the Board of Advisors at the Yale School of Management.

Mr. Walton holds a BS in journalism from Boston University and received a Master’s from the Yale School of Management. He has been traveling to Africa for leisure and business for the past twenty years.