An investment professional and global leader with over fifteen years professional experience in the financial services and technology industry. Ashim has worked in tech, banking and finance, leading multinational teams and organisations across Africa, Germany, the Middle East and Asia, giving her a global perspective and local insight into the opportunities and risks organisations face in a today’s quickly moving world. She is a strong advocate for equal opportunities and building a more diverse workforce, having championed the Diversity and Inclusion committee during her time at Standard Chartered Bank and also having led the launch and establishment of the Tek Experts Women’s Network in Nigeria.

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Bongani is a technology entrepreneur with 20 years in the industry. Over the years, he built 3 tech startups prior to starting at Founders Factory Africa and more recently UTOPIA. He holds a post-grad in Computer Science. He is a strategic thinker who helps African entrepreneurs to structure their ventures to find a global competitive edge through global distribution and capital raise to drive scale. His passion for driving prosperity through entrepreneurship in Africa is enabled by his experience of identifying innovation and working with corporates to bridge the gap of distribution to drive scale for ventures that are building local products for local challenges with a global mindset. 

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As the co-owner of the Grindstone Accelerator and the Grindstone Venture Fund, Catherine is deeply involved in incubation and acceleration programs and startups ecosystem development. Through her consultancy, she provides large corporations and digital tech entrepreneurs with high-quality consulting services leveraging her in-depth insight and expertise.

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Charnez Jacobs has had dynamic career spanning asset management, private equity, and venture capital. Beginning at Investec Asset Management and AlpInvest (Carlyle Group), he transitioned to venture capital at Seedrs (now Republic) and then onto Capital T a pre-seed and seed stage venture capital fund, showcasing adeptness in identifying promising startups. As a Included VC Venture Capital Fellow and Co-Chair of RiseinVC conference, he solidified his venture capital acumen and network across the globe. Currently a pivotal member of FMO Ventures, Charnez specializes in technical assistance, empowering startups towards growth and fund investees to thrive with a focus on institutionalizing.

Distinct entrepreneurial and innovation track record in Africa. Founder of multiple ventures including Methys, an international Technology Innovation firm, the French South African Tech Labs, and multiple startups such as AfricArena, Power time, PayGenius, Energy Intelligence, etc.

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Grégoire de Padirac, based in Cairo, EG, is currently a CEO at Digital Africa, bringing experience from previous roles at Youverify Inc., Africa's Talking and Orange Ventures. Grégoire de Padirac holds a 2005 - 2009 Master in Management, Economics, Finance, Strategy @ ESCP Business School. With a robust skill set that includes Entrepreneurship, Strategic Planning, Mobile Devices, Project Management, Business Development and more.

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Laurie is a Venture Partner, Strategic Advisor, Investor, Board Member and Certified Executive Coach. She is an accomplished leader who enjoys helping entrepreneurs scale by identifying growth capital, developing strategy and implementing operational models. She is skilled in working with entrepreneurs to hire, train, and manage diverse teams to achieve high performance. Her international work experience includes positions based in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. She brings a global perspective and builds strong partnerships that transform businesses.

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Mark Kleyner is a dynamic force in the African investment landscape. Mark is the co-founder and programs director at Dream VC, a specialist investor accelerator and venture institute for Africa, focused on providing knowledge-driven training programs for African-focused startup investors, upskilling African ecosystem builders and advising corporations on their investment activities across Africa. To date, under his leadership, Dream VC has catalyzed the creation of numerous funds, even as Dream VC fellows have gone on to join over 60 funds, launch 4x Angel Networks, and establish multiple syndicates. Collectively these initiatives now manage over $6.6 billion, fueling growth in Emerging Markets.

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Founder of Furaha Afrika Holdings, Chairperson of the South African Startup Act Movement and the Africa Lead for the World Climate Foundation based in Denmark. Matsi has more than 15years experience in building entrepreneurship ecosystems, focusing on investments, governance and startup policy reform. She is the Chairperson of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), a South African government entity responsible for technology  and innovation growth in the country.

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After 15 years working in strategy consulting, 12 years working across Africa, and 8 years as an angel investor, she moved into venture capital in 2021. Nneka is a General Partner and Managing Director at VestedWorld, a venture capital firm focused on emerging markets, and has served on the Investment Committee for four years. She is a Kauffman Fellow in Class 28.
Nneka believes deeply in business models that serve Africa's mass market. This means going beyond the top 5% of income earners to focus on underserved consumers. As such she is actively growing the impact investing ecosystem in Africa. She is a Board Member of the Impact Investors' Foundation of Nigeria and of the soon-to-be-inaugurated National Advisory Board for Impact Investing in Nigeria. 

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Co-founded, led, advised, and invested in disruptive companies including a pioneer online grocery service company, two venture capital funds, the first large-scale social networking site, and a New York-based property development firm.

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