Snapshot of Speaker Profiles: The SEED Malawi National Dialogue Forum 202

Nations Sungambuto Msowoya - Opening Speech

Nations Sungambuto Msowoya is the Director of Planning at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He is responsible for policy formulation policy review and implementation. Monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs. Prior to joining the Ministry of Trade, he worked as a Director at the Ministry of Finance where he was in charge of external financing for the Government.

Laurijn van Steenbergen - Keynote Speech

Laurijn van Steenbergen has served as the Deputy General Representative to Malawi for the Government of Flanders (Embassy of Belgium) since August 2023. In this capacity, he oversees diplomatic relations between Flanders and Malawi and facilitates the implementation of Flemish development support initiatives in Malawi. With a background in law and policy development, with a focus on European, international, and multilateral affairs, he previously held positions at the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Belgian federal parliament. From 2014 to 2018, he was also an advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Security and Home Affairs for the Government of Belgium.

Godfrey Byekwaso - Panel: Enabling Green Finance for SMEs in Malawi and Zambia

With over 26 years of progressive experience in banking and finance, Mr Byekwaso is a highly respected executive who is currently the Deputy Managing Director for Centenary Bank Limited in Malawi, and most recently served as General Manager - Finance, for Centenary Bank, Uganda.

He is an Accountant, a Fellow of Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA) and a member of Institute of Certified Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU). He holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting Degree and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) of Makerere University. He started his career as a Teaching Assistant at Makerere University Faculty of Commerce and taught accounting, finance, audit and quantitative methods. He was a Senior Lecturer and Head of Accounting Department, Makerere University Business School at the time of leaving my teaching career. He is proud to have groomed a number of prominent business executives and professional Accountants. He joined the financial services industry in 2004 and has worked with Centenary Bank for 10 years. He has served at executive level for 22 years and has been a teacher, coach, mentor, advisor and consultant for over 20 years. He aspires to create, protect and deliver value to stakeholders on an incremental basis.

Lynda Ndovie-Jere - Panel: Inclusion: Unlocking the Power of SMEs for Equity

Current Country Program Coordinator for United States African Development Foundation (USADF) Malawi since May 2014. USADF is an agency of the United States Government operating in 22 countries in Africa by awarding 100% grant funding to projects managed by cooperatives and SMEs in Africa worth $5000 to $250,000 per grant.

Lynda is a trained Economist with a BSc degree in Agricultural Economics from Bunda College of Agriculture, now called LUANAR. Lynda later obtained an MSc in Economic Policy for Developing and Transitional Economies from Bradford University in UK in 2003.

Lynda has worked as a civil servant in Ministry of Agriculture for 2 years then she moved on to a European Union funded project, a World Bank funded project then moved to the Development Fund of Norway and later to OXFAM Malawi as an M& E specialist before finally joining USADF as Country Program Coordinator in 2014. Under USADF, Lynda has overseen implementation of over 80 diverse projects.