Dk Osseo Asare
Architect and designer, Ghana
DK Osseo-Asare is a designer who makes buildings, landscapes, cities, objects and digital tools. He is co-founding principal of transatlantic architecture and integrated design studio Low Design Office (LOWDO) ; co-founder of Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform (AMP), an open-source maker tech project geared for Africa; and assistant professor of architecture and engineering design at Penn State University.
Salwa Toko
President of the National Digital Council P (CNNum) and founder & president of Becomtech association.
Women’s inclusion in the digital field has been Salma Toko's battlefield for many years. In 2014, she founded Wifilles, and four years later she founded Becomtech association, which broadened computer courses to high school graduate. Since May 2018, Salwa Toko has taken over CNNum’s reins
Jérôme Chenal
Architect and urbanist, EPFL, Switzerland
Dr. Jérôme Chenal is an urban planner, specialist in urban planning and restructuring of precarious neighbourhoods. He works currently as the General Secretary of the CEAT Lab of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and as expert on numerous development projects in Africa.
Marie-Yemta Moussanang
Curator Afrotopiques Podcasts
Marie-Yemta is currently a member of Génération Afrotopia collective which addresses major contemporary issues from an African perspective. As part of the collective, she hosts the Afrotopic Podcasts. Before that, she was regularly travelling between Africa and Europe for journalistic purposes, she created her own fashion brand, she has been active in the social and solidarity economy and she made her voice heard in industrial policies heading toward ecological transition.
Mehdi Kettani
President of Maroc Numeric Cluster, Morocco
Since 2011, Medhi Kettani is the president of Maroc Numeric Cluster, organization with mixed governance that has set itself the goal of promoting innovative projects in the 4 niches of excellence of the Cluster: mobile services, security, electronic banking, digital rights, the multimedia and software packages.
Patrick Coquet
CEO, Cap Digital, France
Patrick Cocquet is the Chief executive officer of Cap Digital cluster, an international cluster gathering more than 1000 innovative organizations, including 850 startups and SME and more than 70 research laboratories and universities, working in digital and ecological transitions. He is also member of Research Data Alliance (RDA) Council and President of GEmploi.
Ouattara Lacina
Mayor of Danané Commune, Ivory Coast
Dr. Ouattara Lacina is a farmer, graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Cocody-Abidjan and Mayor of the commune of Danané. Mayor Lacina and his council carry the first Agricultural FabLab Project in Côte d'Ivoire: an agricultural incubator based on the principles of solidarity and sustainable development. This initiative aims to strengthen skills and promote open research in the service of peasant agriculture.
Claude Borna
Managing Director and Chief Innovation Officer - Sèmè City
A graduate of Mc Gill University and UCLA, Claude Borna has held various positions in business strategy and innovation at Deloitte, Amazon and Sony Pictures and advised several startups in London and Paris. She joined the Presidency of Benin in 2016 to launch the flagship project Sèmè City, the International Knowledge and Innovation City.
Sename Koffi Agbodjinou
Architect and anthropologist, Togo
This rising star of the West Africa tech scene is also an architect and an anthropologist. His obsession? Apply the virtues of the traditional African village to create more responsible and inclusive cities with fablabs like WoeLab in Lomé and anthropology classes.
Stephan-Eloise Gras
Director Strategic partners in Africa, Openclassroom, France
Stéphan-Eloïse Gras holds a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences and Philosophy. She is also the co-founder of Africa 4 Tech, an international platform for African talents and digital innovation. Stephan-Eloïse is passionate about open innovation and she is particularly interested in the ethical and philosophical implications of artificial intelligence.
Omar Lahbabi
Partner, Technology & Digital @ Deloitte
Partner at Deloitte Consulting, in charge of French speaking African countries’ Technology and Digital Practice. Omar Lahbabi has supported several national and international clients in their digital transformation program in the agricultural, agri-food, energy and media sectors
Julie Repetti
Co-Founder SetTIC, Senegal
Julie is the co-founder of SetTIC, a company specializing in the recycling of electronic waste based in Senegal. She is a MINES engineer specialized in Environment, Industry and Strategic Management. It capitalizes nearly 10 years of experience in Environment and ICT.
Fanny Dauchez
Academy Manager, Seedstars
After spending two years meeting tech ecosystems and identifying the best entrepreneurs in more than 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with Seedstars, Fanny is now in charge of the Seedstars Academy program, which supports 60 young entrepreneurs in Abidjan.
Tarik Fadli
CEO Algo Consulting Group, Morocco
Tarik is an experienced technology leader with 20 years of experience. With several lighthouse projects as well as two patent pending inventions, Tarik is a proud Administrator and Expert Advisor at the National Agency for Digital Development and member of the Advisory Board at the First International Summit for Smart Cities in North Africa.
Martine Vullierme
Client Partner, Alexander Hughes, France
Martine has worked throughout her career in the field of environmental services, in France and internationally. In her last position, as Operations Manager for Veolia Africa-Middle East, she focused on developing inclusive models for essential services (water, waste, energy), particularly in Africa. She is now a consultant in the field of human resources.
Khaled Ben Jilani
Senior Partner AfricInvest, Tunisia
Khaled Ben Jilani is a Senior Partner and a member of the ExCom of AfricInvest. He oversees the Innovation team and the financial sector team. Khaled is also a startup ecosystem activist and an angel investor.
Reda Hamedoun
Executive Director, Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco
Reda is currently an Executive Director at Attijariwafa Bank in Casablanca. He previously served as an advisor to the President of Al Mada. Prior to this, he was based in Washington, DC where he was managing the China infrastructure portfolio at the World Bank, leading transactions on logistics, ports, highways and urban transport. Before joining the World Bank, he was a member of the Royal Cabinet of the King of Morocco in Rabat.
Isabelle Hoyaux
Founder ScaleChanger, France
Isabelle is the founder of ScaleChanger where she supports the scaling up of impact proven innovations. With a background in statistics and social entrepreneurship, Isabelle has 20 years’ work experience in the inclusive economy. She is passionate about impact driven solutions that have the potential to address the size of current social and environmental challenges.
Filip “Keyser” Kabeya
Tech evangelist and Founder of Lumumba Lab, Democratic Republic of Congo
Blogger and passionate about African innovation, Filip is a specialist in Information and Communication Technology with more than 15 years of experience in different companies in the DRC and abroad as IT Manager. He is also the founder of the Lumumba Lab Foundation (LLab), the first and most active tech space in Kinshasa.
Ludovic Fokam
Chief Financial Officer, Save Our Agriculture, Cameroon
Ludovic is a young 28-year-old Cameroonian. Through his work and expertise he is keen to contribute to the development of agriculture and agritech in Africa, also the main mission of the startup which he now holds a management position.
Claude de Miras
Research Institut for development’s emeritus research director
He worked with the Ministry of the Interior Local Authorities General Directorate by supporting decentralized governance of public health. Then he joined the National Institute of Planning and Development. In 2015, he supported the project management of a study commissioned by the Local Finance Committee for the development of UCLG and participated in the COP22 summit
Ingrid PECHELL
Specialist in social policies in developing countries
In 1997, Ingrid joined Paris' territorial public service and worked in the social action field. In 2005, she joined Lydec, a subsidiary of Suez Group, and had for mission to launch the INDH-INMAE program. In 2013, she has joined Lydec Contract Management Department, where she continues her mission to expand access to basic services.
Kwame Yamgrane
Cofounder of Ecole 42
Kwame Yamgrane is the cofounder of EPITECH which is a specialized technology education institution in France. In 2013, he launched, with Xavier Niel, Ecole 42, fees free highly innovative software developer school. Since 2016 he has transferred to the United States and led the creation and expansion of Ecole 42 which serve over 1000 Americans each year.
Meriem Berrada
Art director, Culturals project manager - Alliances Foundation
In 2013, she co-created La Chambre Claire and in 2014, Passerelles. In 2016, she developped the Museum of Contemporary African Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) in Marrakech, which she ensures the artistic direction. Meriem Berrada led, in 2017, the fundraising, aiming to make Limidity Temporary Art Projects residence permanent, and from 2015 to 2019 she was part of the Roberto Cimetta Fund Evaluation Committee as an expert in visual arts.
Mo Laudi
COMPOSER, ARTIST, DJ, FOUNDER OF THE GLOBALISTO LABEL AND FASHION COLLECTION
Mo Laudi is a South African electronic music expert based in Paris. He was one of the first to start weekly club nights in London playing South African House music, Kwaito, Deep House and Afro House. Mo Laudi creates sonic landscapes, mixing archives, field recordings, vocals and rhythms. He is the founder of the multi-disciplinary platform Globalisto producing video, fashion, dance, design and music.
Hacina Py
Global Head of Export Finance and of Impact Finance Solutions
Hacina Py joined Societe Generale in 1995 and has held various positions both in commercial and transversal roles. In October 2015 , she was appointed Global Head of Export Finance and has in addition taken over the responsibility of heading the Impact Finance Solutions teams in July 2019.
Jean-Delmas Ehui
Founder of ICT4DEV
Jean-Delmas is the founder of ICT4DEV, a company specialized in the development and integration of ICT solutions and which has for mission to contribute to the improvement of African population living condition through digital. Jean-Delmas co-pilot the CIVAGRIHACK. He is in numerous organizations promoting digital use for development such as the UNBCI.
Fatima Arib
Professor, Sustainable Development Economist and Director of the African and Sustainable Solutions Center for Innovation (ACISS) at Cadi Ayyad University
Professor, Sustainable Development Economist and Director of the African and Sustainable Solutions Center for Innovation (ACISS) at Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech. Expert and consultant in sustainable development in several organization and development agencies in Morocco and other countries in Africa
Pierre-Yves DANET
Cooperative research manager, Orange, France
Pierre-Yves is in charge of FIWARE development in Africa and Asia through FIWARE Mundus initiative which aims to adopt the open source platform outside European borders. Pierre-Yves is also involved in many European organizations: he is the head of a working group on innovation at ETNO, he is a board member of 5GIA association, he is the representative of Orange at AIOTI (IoT), NEM (Media ) and NGI point of contact for France.
Nawal Chraibi
MASCIR Managing Director
Graduated from Paris Dauphine University, Nawal Chraibi started her career, in the 2000s, in prestigious cabinet firms based in Paris. In 2007, she joined Alcatel Lucent affiliate in Rabat before joining MAScIR foundation as Support Director in December 2009. Since 2018, Nawal is the Foundation's managing director.
Lucie Touya
Curator, Art producer
Lucie Touya is an independent curator and currently the producer of the Kampala Art Biennale in Uganda, as well as a member of Les Ateliers Sahm in Brazzaville. She has been involved in many artistic projects on the African continent, along with artists and cultural entrepreneurs. She looks forward to Performance Art in African urban spaces as one of the best way to share artists messages with a larger audience.
Abdelmoughite Abdelmoumen
Head of Strategy and Cooperation Department, Caisse Centrale de Garantie, Morocco
Abdelmoumen has over 17 years of experience in the financial sector and strategy and corporate finance consulting at Deloitte. He joined the CGC in 2016 with a mission to develop strategic plans and manage cooperation and partnerships, including with international institutions and foreign guarantee agencies.