Aphinya Siranart is the Head of Exploration at UNDP Accelerator Labs in Thailand. She is responsible for providing technical advice to different stakeholders (e.g. government, academia, private sector, etc.) on integrating innovation and sustainability into their organizational strategies, developing innovative solutions for inclusive business and private social investment, and supporting companies to measure and manage their impact.
Aphinya is especially interested in business model innovation for sustainability and has worked extensively on exploring innovative solutions and alternative financing models to address development challenges.
Aphinya holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University, a Master of Laws (LLM) from University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Aphinya Siranart
Aphinya Siranart
Dagmar Zwebe
Dagmar Zwebe
Dagmar Zwebe is the Country Representative for the GGGI Uganda program. Dagmar is working closely together with the team in Uganda to support all stakeholders in achieving socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable and resource efficient green growth in Uganda.
She has a strong management background, and with a lot of Renewable Energy, Climate Change and gender and social inclusion experience specifically in the fields of the Green Climate Fund, Energy, Special Economic Zones, Knowledge and Capacity Development, and Communication.
Before joining GGGI, Dagmar was a Renewable Energy Sector Leader managing the quality and development of the Renewable Energy portfolio of SNV Vietnam existing out of multiple projects in the field of small and medium scale biogas, cookstoves, gasifiers and a number of other mainly biomass related projects and consultancies. Furthermore, she has also served at the Team Leader for a multi country (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam) ADB funded Climate Change Mitigation project focusing on gender inclusion in mitigation initiatives.
Dagmar feels very passionate about supporting young and upcoming individuals, either development professionals or entrepreneurs, giving them opportunities that others have given her in the beginning of her career (and still do). She mentors a number of both Ugandan and international individuals that she believes in, and tries to open doors for them where possible so they can advance their career, business or grow as a person.
Dagmar holds two MSc degrees; an Industrial Engineering and Management degree, from the University of Twente, the Netherlands and a Masters from SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London on Poverty Reduction; Policy and Practice with a specialization in Development Management.
Merriska Augustine
Merriska Augustine
Merriska is passionate about designing business & innovation with impact. Currently, she is running META Innovation Lab with a mission to create a safe space for leaders and organizations in exploring innovation and experimenting with new ideas through human-centered design. From 2019, she and her team has facilitated more than 100+ innovation workshops and reached 6700+ participants.
Her almost 10 years of work experience is all about social innovation & entrepreneurship, management consultant, and brand management. She led innovation & research projects for international government agencies, corporates, and NGOs. She also actively supports the entrepreneurship ecosystem by contributing to 40+ events as a mentor, speaker, facilitator, and judge around entrepreneurship and innovation programs. To date, she has provided 30+ consultations to startups and social enterprises in various sectors.
Back in 2016, she was selected as one of the fellows in Global Social Impact House by the University of Pennsylvania, when the workshop was facilitated by the IDEO Team. From that moment she believes that design thinking can create a positive change in the world. Stalk her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustinemerriska/
Obakeng Segwagwe
Obakeng Segwagwe
Obakeng Segwagwe
Mr Obakeng Segwagwe has been with the Botswana Innovation Hub for the past 5 years as the Programmes Manager for the First Steps Venture Centre program popularly known as FSVC, the flagship technology entrepreneurship development program established by the Government of Botswana
Before joining the Innovation Hub, Mr Segwagwe was with the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) as a Senior Manager. Driven by his passion for developing and growing entrepreneurship sector in Botswana and his hardworking ethics, he had worked for a period of 10 years occupying different managerial roles at LEA. His major role was to contribute to initiating, planning and developing policies and strategies for the divisional functions of the business services provided by LEA within the SME policy strategy in his National Branch Network Division.
Mr. Segwagwe has been a mentor and a coach in various programmes such as SLUSH, Female in Bio Sciences & SeedStars World. He has a total of 15 years working directly with SMMEs.Mr Segwagwe attained his Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Botswana in 2007.
Prof. Dawn Lyken-Segosebe
Prof. Dawn Lyken-Segosebe
Dawn Lyken-Segosebe is a Lecturer in the Department of Business, Management and Entrepreneurship at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology. She holds a Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies and M.A. in Economics, both from Vanderbilt University, USA.
Dawn has extensive teaching experiences in the Caribbean, Southern Africa, the Middle East, and the USA. She also coordinates a training course on "Starting Your Business" for aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs. She teaches Developing a Strategic Business Plan, Organizational Design and Change, Organizational Leadership and Engineering Economics to undergraduates. Her research interests include academic entrepreneurship, the scholarly and teaching role performance of college and university faculty, technology business incubation, and colleges and universities as organizations.
Andrew Kazilimani
Andrew Kazilimani
Andrew Kazilimani
Mr Andrew Kazilimani is the Chief Executive Officer for the National Advisory Board for Impact Investment in Zambia (NABII). The National Advisory Board for Impact Investment is an organisation with corporate mandate to catalyse impact investment in Zambia. Andrew joined the NABII in 2020.
He is a professional management consultant with a Master of Science in Project Management from Bolton University in the United Kingdom. He also holds a post graduate diploma in management, a diploma in project management from Cambridge and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Zambia. Andrew is also an accredited practitioner in a controlled environment PRINCEII project, practitioner in change management and a benefits management practitioner. He has extensive experiences in strategic management, project management and corporate change management.
Prior to joining the NABII, Andrew was Managing Partner for an organisation whose mandate was to help organisations to set up and optimise operations through effective strategic management, change and project management.
He has worked for the Zambia Revenue Authority as Director in charge of projects through the implementation of strategy at corporate level. Andrew has set up operations for ZRA for projects and change management in the institution. He has further worked in the financial sector where he also set up project management operations for some banks and implemented growth strategies and strategic operations for the same banks. He has over 25 years’ experience in working in the financial and quasi government institutions.
Ato Ulzen Appiah
Ato Ulzen Appiah
Ato Ulzen-Appiah is a (social) entrepreneur, consultant, social media influencer and blogger. He studied at MIT and Stanford in Civil Engineering and Management disciplines.
He is the Executive Director of the GhanaThink Foundation, a social enterprise which mobilizes & organizes talent. GhanaThink Foundation implements various programs in networking, mentoring, volunteering and training targeting youth. Ato’s main focus areas are youth, technology and agriculture. On top of his work at GhanaThink, he has consulted for various organizations, including the International Trade Centre and the World Bank. He is a Program Officer at the Kosmos Innovation Center (run by DAI Global for Kosmos Energy), mentoring and coaching incubated startups, amongst other responsibilities.
Prior to this, he worked at Rancard as product manager, building new revenue services for its platform. He worked at Google as a program manager building sustainable technology communities in Africa. Ato has given speeches at various international forums, including the World Bank Diaspora Trade Forum, African Business Conference at Harvard, and the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town. He is a member of the Global Shapers Alumni, part of the World Economic Forum community. He co-founded Museke.com - an African music website and blogs at mightyafrican.blogspot.com
Benedikta Atika
Benedikta Atika
Atika is the Impact Investment Lead at ANGIN. She is in charge of sourcing investment opportunities towards social enterprises and exploring impact investment scheme with clients. Atika has also involved in several research projects and delivering training with topics of social enterprises, angel investing, and gender lens investing.
Prior to ANGIN, she had worked in the corporate finance and capital market for 3 years, before moved to the SME development and impact space. In 2018, she worked with Solve Education!, an education technology organisation, and Wattblock, a Sydney-based clean energy startup in 2018. She earned a master’s degree in Business Strategy and Social Enterprises from the University of New South Wales, Australia, being funded by Australia Awards long-term scholarship from DFAT.
Chrispine Botha
Chrispine Botha
Chrispine Botha is a Conservation Enterprise Development Specialist at TechnoServe for the USAID funded Restoring Fisheries for Sustainable Livelihoods (REFRESH) project in Malawi. He is the subject matter expert and advisor to the Chief of Party in conservation enterprises and sustainable livelihoods; investment development and networking; business and entrepreneurship development; and business innovation and research. Chrispine leads project activities/results around the commercialization of conservation enterprises to counter unsustainable fishing. He provides leadership in the design, development and implementation of conservation enterprise development and sustainable livelihoods.
Before joining TechnoServe, Chrispine was the Country Lead at United Nations World Food Programme for the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network, where he convened and facilitated a private sector engagement platform for scaling up business solutions to global nutrition challenges. In this role, Chrispine interacted with a diverse pool of inclusive business models designed to address malnutrition. Among other international NGOs, Chrispine has worked with Save the Children, the World Fish Center, Concern Worldwide and Project Concern International. His experience and interest include entrepreneurship, climate change/biodiversity conservation, women empowerment & gender equality, social protection, nutrition, sustainable livelihoods and resilience.
Chrispine holds an Advanced Master of Globalization and Development from the Institute of Development Policy and Management at the University of Antwerp, Belgium and is currently studying for an MBA. His work is driven by his passion to use sustainable and inclusive business solutions to create a shared value and address multifaceted poverty and inequality. Chrispine is excited to see that his work has contributed to increased private sector engagement in fisheries biodiversity conservation and nutrition.
Christopher Masara
Christopher Masara
Christopher Masara
Christopher, is a Private Sector Development Specialist with more than 16 years of experience in east and southern African region. Currently, he is working as a Senior Consultant in Malawi, for a GIZ and EU co-funded Private Sector Development Programme (KULIMA-MIERA), managing a portfolio of interventions in the rice, macadamia and chili/paprika value chains. Christopher has also provided consultancy services in designing and implementing of sustainable non-timber forests products and commercial agriculture enterprises programmes that were funded by a number of agencies that include, but, are not limited to GIZ, EU, USAID, DFID and DANIDA.
Christopher’s interest includes, understanding how people learn to use sustainable entrepreneurship skills, an area where, he has contributed by documenting some peer reviewed papers and also provided voluntary advisory services by sitting on boards of Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Partner for Integrated and Development (pigad) and Schools and Environmental Permaculture (SCOPE). Christopher, have also tutored a Rhodes University, Regional certificate in Environmental and Sustainability Education which was offered to Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member states.
Christopher, holds a full thesis Masters in Environmental Education from Rhodes University, South Africa and half thesis Masters in Agribusiness from Africa University, Zimbabwe.
Cuthbert Malind
Cuthbert Malind
Cuthbert Malind- B. Eng (Hons), FCCA (UK), ASIP/CFA is a Continental award-winning entrepreneur as well as a venture and growth capital practitioner. He has over 25 years’ work and consulting experience backed by a strong track record of success in private equity and venture capital advisory and fund management in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.
Cuthbert is a Chairman and member of Investment Committees of various investment funds in Southern Africa. He obtained expert knowledge in agriculture and food processing value chains, retail and franchising, financial services, education, gemstone and quarry mining, transportation and logistics, medical, packaging, and telecommunications industries. In addition, he has extensive experiences operating in international settings, having worked in England, South Africa, United States, Zambia and Botswana. Proven leader equipped with advanced business acumen as well as excellent interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills, he has been an entrepreneur for over 15 years and assisted other in scaling up financially and providing business services to enterprises from retail operation to a multi—location enterprises across the country. He holds non-executive director positions in numerous companies across Southern and East Africa over the last 20 years in the meanwhile built a well-connected private and public sector network in Zambia and Southern Africa in general. Cuthbert is well respected and a leading subject matter expert in the investment arena.
David Beckstead
David Beckstead
David is originally from Ottawa, Canada, and has lived in Asia for thirteen years, the last six of which have been in Thailand. He is a Counsel at the law firm Chandler MHM, based in Bangkok, where he regularly advises clients operating on energy and infrastructure projects. Much of David’s work focuses on renewable energy, including both small- and large-scale solar and wind power deals.
David has served as a director on the Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce for the past four years, two of which he served as a Vice-President. In his free time, he enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with his wife, Sara, and dog, Stevie.
Dr. Ari Margiono
Dr. Ari Margiono
Dr. Ari Margiono
Ari Margiono is the head of the Center for Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Research at Binus University – International in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Center provides entrepreneurship education and pre-incubation facilities for undergraduate students. The Center also conducts entrepreneurship research, particularly research into social entrepreneurship and social innovation in Indonesia.
Ari received a PhD in Management (Entrepreneurship) from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, researching into the business models of social enterprises; and he has been publishing a number of research on social entrepreneurship and digital transformation topics in reputable international journals.
Dr. Prasad Modak
Dr. Prasad Modak
Prasad Modak holds B Tech (Civil Engg), M Tech (Environmental Science and Engg) from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Doctor of Engg (Environmental Engg) from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok.
Dr Modak was a Professor at Centre for Environmental Science & Engineering and Professor (Adjunct) at the Center for Technology Alternatives in Rural Areas (CTARA) at IIT Bombay.
He is currently the Executive President of Environmental Management Centre LLP and Director of Ekonnect Knowledge Foundation.
Dr Modak has worked with almost all key UN, multi-lateral and bi-lateral developmental institutions in the world. These include the World Bank, IFC, Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, UNEP, UNIDO, UNDP etc and intergovernmental organizations such as the Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo. Apart from Government of India and various State Governments, Dr Modak’s advice is sought by Governments of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Mauritius, Thailand and Vietnam.
Dr Modak is currently member of Indian Resources Panel at MoEFCC and Member of Task Force on Sustainable Public Procurement at the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He is a member of the 3R expert committee of UNCRD as well as a member of the advisory committee of the Circular Economy Club and an Ambassador to the Circular Economy Institute.
Dr Modak has published several books on environmental management that include . “EIA for Developing Countries” for UN University and “Environmental Management Towards Sustainability” with CRC Press. Currently he is authoring a book on “Practicing Circular Economy” with CRC Press that should be available in the market by June 2021.
Dr. Rachna Arora
Dr. Rachna Arora
Dr. Rachna Arora
Dr. Rachna Arora is working as a Team Leader in the Resource Efficiency project of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH funded by the European Union on issues related to fostering resource efficiency and secondary resource utilization. She is also working as a Team Leader on the GIZ Circular Economy solutions project to prevent Marine litter, financed by the German Ministry of Environment, Nature conservation. She has been working with GIZ since last 13 years under the bilateral projects, combi-finance projects of the European Commission and the partnership projects with the private sector with relevant Ministries and government departments. She has been supporting the Government of India (GoI) on policy formulation and its implementation. She is a TEDx speaker on Circular Economy.
She holds a doctorate degree in environmental chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. She was a member of the Inter-departmental committee set up by Niti Aayog (Policy think tank, GoI) on Resource Efficiency strategy and Research and Development (R&D) committee set up by the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication (MeiTY), GoI on electronic waste management. She is also a working group member of the FICCI Circular Economy Group constituted in 2017 to support industry research and dialogues on Circular Economy.
Dr. Sunita Purushottam
Dr. Sunita Purushottam
Dr. Purushottam has over 20 years of sustainability strategy and environmental consultancy experience in the areas of environmental impact assessment; air pollution modelling and meteorology; GHG emissions inventory and carbon offsets; carbon neutrality strategy; waste management strategy; and water risk, technology solutions for sustainability and CSR. She is a physics postgraduate with PhD in environmental science and engineering.
Sunita has worked with regulatory bodies in UK and India in various infrastructure development projects, city planning and construction projects covering environmental impacts and mitigation. She is well versed with various reporting/disclosure frameworks such as SASB, GRI, CDP and GRESB and Integrated Reporting. She has helped large companies globally to streamline their sustainability strategy through a systematic process-oriented approach and enabled the selection of right tools for systematic sustainability disclosure management. She is well versed with the use of technology in Sustainability management and has been associated with a startup for creation of a platform on Sustainability data management. She has helped companies develop an understanding of ESG risks and the importance of embedding in enterprise risk management systems.
Sunita has executed over fifty engagements in sustainable business strategy, sustainable development and corporate social responsibility across the UK, United States, Mexico, South Africa and India. She has a deep understanding of Climate Change Science and adaptation and has driven sustainability strategies for companies in the construction, real estate, banking, telecom, automotive, steel and IT sectors.
During her career spanning 20+ years, she has served in Infosys, SENES Consultants and Casella Stanger; and as founding member of a startup in the area of Sustainability Tech Solutions. She has authored many white papers on Sustainability and is a speaker in national and international forums.
In her spare time, Sunita likes to bake, read, or tend to her garden. She is a perpetual cleaner and nature lover.
Eluphy Banda Nyirenda
Eluphy Banda Nyirenda
Eluphy serves as a Private Sector Team Leader at USAID, Malawi. She is an Economist and Policy Adviser with 15 years’ experience in the fields of private sector development, development economics and policy analysis. Ms. Nyirenda has worked extensively across the Malawi Government and USAID/Malawi. Eluphy joined USAID/Malawi as a Policy and Partnerships Specialist, and later promoted to lead the Malawi missions’ efforts to strengthen its strategic focus on Private Sector Engagement, as such she is currently serving as a Mission's Private Sector Team Leader. In her current capacity, Eluphy is responsible for providing strategic leadership to help the mission integrate the Private Sector across the mission’s portfolio of investments, in fulfillment of the 2020 - 2025 Country Development Corporation Strategy. She is responsible for coordinating and guiding mission efforts, aimed at identifying market-based solutions that would enhance sustainable development solutions in Malawi.
Prior to joining USAID, Eluphy worked as a Chief Economist to Malawi's Ministries of Industry, Trade, Agriculture and Food Security. She supported the Government of Malawi in bilateral trade negotiations, designing of private sector related projects and implementation frameworks that were funded through the WTO/ITC, World Bank, EU.
Eluphy holds a Masters in Economics and Policy Management and Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics.
Hastings Nhlane
Hastings Nhlane
Hastings is an Impact Investment enthusiast. He has spent the past 8 years managing impact investment programs in the areas of SME financing, access to markets and skills development. He is the Founder of ACADES Malawi, a social enterprise that is investing in youth and smallholder farmers through financing, provision of markets and skills development. ACADES has organized over 10,000 youth in agribusiness, provided financing through input loans to over 3,000 youth farmers and provided profitable markets to over 3,000 farmers and trained over 7,000 youth in agribusiness.
Hastings has also coordinated several entrepreneurship acceleration programs in Malawi and has lead/participated in several policy conversations in the areas of employment creation, entrepreneurship, youth economic empowerment and gender lens investing. He is a recipient of Planning for Impact Award by Segal Family Foundation which is given to local change makers for implementing high community impact programs. He is also a 2020 Africa Visionary Fellow under Africa Visionary Fellowship which is a community of African leaders that are providing sustainable solutions to local challenges.
Jackie Kitiibwa
Jackie Kitiibwa
Jackie Kitiibwa is the Head of Business Environment at FSD Uganda, working with regulators, policy makers and industry associations to formulate and enhance policies, laws, regulations and processes that enable and support inclusive financial services.
Jackie is a financial sector specialist with over 15 years’ experience in payments and market infrastructure. She was the Programme Manager, Payment Systems and Financial Inclusion at the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI), developing and implementing capacity building programmes in 14 countries. Prior to that, she was Head of the Central Securities Depository (CSD) at the Bank of Uganda (BOU).
Through her work, Jackie has supported countries in the region to formulate, develop and implement financial services policies, standards and technologies. She has also participated in regional payment systems harmonisation initiatives including the review and implementation of regional legal frameworks, oversight benchmarks and technical specifications
Jackie holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Financial Economics from the University of Nottingham, UK and a Bachelor of Statistics from Makerere University Kampala, Uganda.
Namita Vikas
Namita Vikas
Namita Vikas
Namita Vikas is the Founder and Managing Partner, auctusESG LLP & Global Board Member of Climate Bonds Initiative, UK. She is a senior business leader with 30 years of diverse global experience in climate change strategy and sustainability across sectors including Banking, Technology & FMCG.
Namita comes with an illustrious experience Sustainable Finance, ESG Risk Management, Climate Strategy and Disclosures. Ranked one of the “Leading Women in Business Sustainability” by the prestigious WBCSD, she was also globally recognized as “Sustainability Leader of the Year” by Ethical Corporation, UK.
Namita has introduced Responsible Banking to India, raised over USD 1 billion capital and credit lines towards mainstream green finance and issued India’s 1st Green Bond in 2015. She is one of the architects of UN Principles for Responsible Banking and served as Chairperson and member of global advisory bodies like United Nations Environment Program- Finance Initiative (UNEPFI), United Nations Natural Capital Finance Alliance and International Capital Markets Association. She is a prominent speaker at UN General Assembly and G-20 on Climate risks and sustainable finance.
Sepo Sitali
Sepo Sitali
Sepo Sitali
Sepo is a technical adviser in a GIZ regional programme that promotes mainstreaming of climate change in the management of transboundary protected areas in the SADC region. She is responsible for the dissemination of knowledge on climate-smart agriculture and climate-sensitive natural resource management and supporting resource mobilisation initiatives in selected Trans-frontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs). She has extensive experience in climate smart agriculture, access to climate finance, natural resources management, and community development.
Sepo holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Environmental Engineering and a Master’s in Energy and Environment from the University of Leeds, UK.
Stephanie Arrowsmith
Stephanie Arrowsmith
Stephanie Arrowsmith is the co-founder of Impact Hub Jakarta, a coworking innovation hub for purpose-driven individuals and entrepreneurs in Indonesia’s capital city, which is part of a global network of 100+ cities around the world. She also curated the first ASEAN Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, fostering partnerships among countries and sectors towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
With a background in international development, cross-sector partnerships and systems thinking, Stephanie has been active in strengthening support for social entrepreneurship in the Asia-Pacific region and is passionate about designing collaborative networks to catalyse action towards social and environmental justice. She is a proud member of changemaking communities including Impact Collective, Techstars APAC, DSIL & an Enspiral.
Surawat (Sam) Promyotin
Surawat (Sam) Promyotin
Surawat (Sam) Promyotin
Surawat (Sam) Promyotin is Director of the Sustainability and Entrepreneurship Center at the Sasin School of Management, Executive Director of Bangkok Venture Club, and former Board Member of the Thai Venture Capital Association. Managing Director of Sprint (DeepTech Accelerator) and Lead Instructor/Mentor for UTC MedVentures (Medtech Incubator)
He has more than 20 years experience as a high-technology executive in both Silicon Valley and Thailand. Along the way, he managed a $100M global semiconductor product line, Co-Founded Groupon Thailand, and won the global Sales Director award at a 27-country MNC.
He has advised, taught, and mentored at startup accelerators such as Sprint, DVA, Spark, KMUTT Hatch, Plug N Play, Topica Founder Institue, DTAC Accelerate, True Incube, and MIST, and in corporate innovation projects at SCG, Toyota, Mitr Phol, Bank of Thailand, Kubota, PTT, TMB, Tesco Lotus, CIMB, and more.
He graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and from Sasin Chulalongkorn Graduate Institute of Business Administration with an Executive MBA.
Wittawat Lamsam
Wittawat Lamsam
Wittawat Lamsam
Mr.Wittawat Lamsam has 19 years of experience in SME promotion. He is currently the Director of the International Cooperation Department at the Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP), Thailand, with main responsibilities to create and maintain bilateral and multilateral cooperation between OSMEP and foreign counterparts to promote Thai SMEs. He represents the OSMEP in various international forums, strengthening corporation with foreign dialogue partners to help SMEs tap on global opportunities, including ASEAN+8 markets. In addition, he works to deepen OSMEP’s engagement with foreign chambers of commerce in Thailand to create gateways for Thai SMEs. As a policy maker, he is responsible in making recommendations to support SME policy formulation with reference to international good practices.
He previously worked in the Project Administration and Coordination Department, OSMEP for 3 years to implement various schemes for the Office of the Royal Development Projects Board as well as One Tambon One Product (OTOP). During 2008-2012, he served as a supporting team for the Minister of Industry, Minister of Finance, Minister of Interior, and Minister of Energy, respectively.
Yame Nkgowe
Yame Nkgowe
Yame Nkgowe is the Founder of Sustainable Cities Africa, a Sustainable City Strategy Service Firm promoting an African context to integrated measurable urban development frameworks.
Yame has strong business management acumen, with over 12 years leading professional service oriented entities through development, operation, and optimisation with specialist focus in place and niche contextualisation and leading multidisciplinary teams towards developing scalable sustainable practices that are growth oriented and make measurable impact in the communities that they serve.
His main focuses are on sustainability practice, ecosystem building, nurturing linkages to impact investing, and various structured mentorship engagements supporting entrepreneurially driven individuals – development or sustainability professionals and (social) entrepreneurs; acting as a sounding board to imagine new possibilities or critically looking at underlying assumptions to make compelling shared value propositions for organic growth, and sustainable operation.
He is presently part of a global consortium of interdisciplinary experts who have been successfully awarded technical assistance support through the Global SouthPole/EIT Climate KIC City Finance Lab 2021 to deliver a design pilot linking city climate ambition and evidence of climate action to appropriate climate finance.
He volunteers his time in various pan-African forums e.g. African Circular Economy Network, African Circular Economy Research Group, and providing technical advisory towards the design of a Global Compact Local Network for Botswana.
Santiago Sanchez Guiu
Santiago Sanchez Guiu
Santiago is the Deputy Country Director for the Ghana office of Innovations for Poverty Action, a research and policy non-profit that specializes in impact evaluations of social projects around the world, and is responsible for its entrepreneurship and financial inclusion project portfolio. In this role, he has led the evaluation of private and public projects aimed at increasing the human capacity of MSMEs, and their access to markets and finance. Santiago has developed deep and fruitful relationships with the implementing institutions of these projects, which include private banks, private companies, NGOs, the World Bank and the relevant government institutions in the sector, including the Ghana Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ghana Ministry of Business Development.
Previously, Santiago has worked in academia, coordinating the Dept of Economic Research and Analysis at University Carlos III in Madrid; finance, at the Research and Economic Analysis Dept of one of Spain’s largest banks; and project management and evaluation, for EuropeAid projects in Brussels and for UN agencies including UNHCR and UNFPA.
Betty Wilkinson
Betty Wilkinson
Betty Wilkinson is the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Sector Deepening Zambia, a development organization committed to expanding financial inclusion and innovation. She is an innovative leader in economic development and inclusive growth, with over thirty years of senior professional field experience worldwide building and managing high-performance multinational teams.
She engages regularly with ministers, central bank governors, and leaders globally, using a participatory, inclusive style to successfully engage reform champions and produce results. Ms. Wilkinson writes, speaks, and contributes internationally to work in financial inclusion, the digital economy, public management, pro-poor growth, client-centricity, and gender issues. She has worked as an entrepreneur, banker, donor representative, field researcher, policy advisor, CEO, and senior government official of a developing country, with significant depth in fundraising and understanding of the donor community. As CEO of Financial Sector Deepening Zambia she manages 26 staff to expand financial inclusion through learning/innovation with clients, regulators, and financial service providers.
Recent engagement areas include Making Money Work for the Poor approaches, gender and youth economic inclusion, biometric identities, multi-regulatory approaches to mobile money and fintechs, public-private partnerships for data, national digitization of G2P and P2G subsidies, weather-based crop microinsurance rollout to over 1 million smallholder farmers and use of chiefs and other traditional leaders (by their request) to create new options for financial inclusion, growth and social change.
Sifiso Ndwandwe
Sifiso Ndwandwe
Sifiso Ndwandwe is the Executive Director at Catalyst for Growth (C4G) which is a newly established NPC whose mandate is facilitating transparency within, and the development of the ED sector, to enhance its impact in the economy. Catalyst for Growth (C4G) is a JP Morgan initiative co-funded by USAID.
Sifiso has spent over 25 years in the enterprise development sector in the SADC including South Africa. He has held various senior roles in SEDA (formerly NEPA). He has served as the Group Business Development Manager at Mondi Limited, which was, at that time a fully owned Anglo American PLC subsidiary. More recently he served as CEO of the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA) for 10 years up to May 2013. His experience outside South Africa includes working at CARE International in a USAID funded project in Swaziland.
He has served on various Boards in the corporate and development sectors including: Business Skills South Africa, Corporative Banks Development Agency (CBDA), a statutory entity under the National Treasury, as Chairperson, and UBank (formerly Teba Bank). He currently serves on the HR and Ethics Board Committee of the African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC).
He has extensive experience in business skills training and mentorship and has been involved with ILO’s SYIB Programme for many years in the sub-region.
He has studied at the University of Swaziland, Graduate School of Business (UCT). Wits Business School, University of Singapore and Cranefield University (UK).
Sifiso is passionate about entrepreneurship and development.
Ernest Boateng
Ernest Boateng
Ernest Boateng is the Chief Operations Officer at the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship. He has extensive experience in entrepreneurship and enterprise development and sat on various NGO Boards. He has worked in education, agribusiness, forestry and cooperative sectors. He is a seasoned facilitator and organiser of school and adult entrepreneurship competitions. Ernest has solid knowledge of programme development and management, as well as development of training materials using different simulation methodologies. He has keen interest in developing programmes and projects, from start to finish, which lead to funding and business opportunities.
He has managed various entrepreneurship and education projects on behalf of companies and organnisations such as Sappi ASSORE, ABSA, Santam, Coronation, Royal Bafokeng, Service Seta, Seda, Khumani Mines, Somkhele Mines and others.
He was born in Ghana, finished high school, and BA Honours degree in Social Sciences from the University of Ghana before settling in South Africa in 1993. He obtained his post graduate qualifications in Development Economics, Marketing Management and Advanced Business Management from the Universities of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa (Unisa) and North West (NW) respectively.
Richard Yeboah
Richard Yeboah
Richard Yeboah is the managing director of MDF West Africa limited, a management consulting and training firm operating in the West African Market. He holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Management with specialization Financial Engineering and International Management (Managing organisations in Developing Countries) and a MBA in Impact Entrepreneurship. He is an enterprising specialist in entrepreneurship development and SME support and enterprise creation services in industrialized and developing countries. He is serial entrepreneur, and has supported many entrepreneurs, companies, social enterprises and NGOs in their early start up to becoming sustainable entities.
Richard Yeboah has more than 15 years professional experience developing and managing programmes focused on (transnational) entrepreneurship, SME support network, and private sector development. He has acquired a unique expertise in institutional and organisational development of public and private lead as well as profit and non-profit lead organisations. As project manager of diverse transnational business creation and entrepreneurship programmes towards Africa and in specific in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia. He has supported several SME businesses to acquire investments from local and international financial institutions. In that capacity he was one of the lead consultants to raise 6.7 million Euro, for the set up of a waste to value business (organic compost and biogas) in Ghana, of which he recently was appointed managing director, with the task of making the company a commercial viable and sustainable business. Over the past 15 years he has been instrumental in raising more than 30 Million USD for NGOs and companies. Presently he is supporting several IT- based start ups, which include e-learning company, several FinTech companies and agritech business.
Wayne Miranda
Wayne Miranda
Wayne’s passion is to grow ventures to generate social and environmental impact. He spent a decade dedicated to poverty reduction, mobilizing US$21 million as Founder & CEO of Growth Mosaic, a “Best for the World” B Corp in West Africa. Wayne’s next decade is dedicated to global sustainability. After being Director of Growth at the Centre for Social Innovation and Managing Director of TechSoup Canada, he now leads McConnell Foundation’s social finance investment readiness program.
Sophie van den Berg
Sophie van den Berg
Sophie van den Berg
Sophie van den Berg is a International Solid Waste Expert and Plastic Recycling Business Adviser at WASTE. Sophie is a chemical engineer and holds an MSc degree in Environmental Science. She has more than 25 years of international experience in assessment of solid waste management systems, economic and environmental viability analysis of resource recovery systems, and marketing studies for recyclables. She has the following expertise in private sector development: implementation, financing, and coordination of productive micro-projects in solid waste management including training and coaching for income generating activities aimed at SMEs. Other experiences include business development of (plastic) waste recycling plants, participatory planning, environmental sustainability, and gender equality, in emerging and developing countries. Find more on her plastic waste experience here.
Her passion is to grow plastic recycling companies that generate social and environmental impact in Africa and Asia. She identifies early-stage impact businesses, supports them to be viable for scale and investment-ready and matches them with investment funds.
Saphira Patel
Saphira Patel
Saphira Patel
Saphira has a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning as well as an Honours degree in Environmental and Geographical Science both from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Saphira has worked in the development finance, environmental, and evaluation sector for over fourteen years and currently Heads the Operations Evaluation Unit at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Saphira’s areas of expertise include monitoring and evaluation for development impact, impact investment, environmental and social due diligence, and sustainable development. Saphira’s current focus is on using monitoring and evaluation to facilitate a just transition towards an economy that is inclusive and sustainable.
Shrashtant Patara
Shrashtant Patara
Shrashtant Patara
Shrashtant Patara, Chief Executive Officer of Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA), is an architect by training. He has been with the Development Alternatives Group since 1988, providing research expertise, management capability and strategic direction to teams of up to 60 persons engaged in the promotion sustainable technology, creation of green jobs and fulfilment of basic needs amongst the rural poor. His current work focuses on the incubation of new business models, enterprise packages and capacity building measures; foremost amongst which are initiatives aimed at taking green economy solutions to scale in the areas of renewable energy based rural electrification, affordable housing, clean drinking water and waste recycling.
