Emma Wade-Smith OBE 2019 Speaker

Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa

UK Department for International Trade (DIT)

Biography

Emma Wade-Smith is the first ever Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, representing the UK Government’s Department for International Trade.
Emma was appointed to this role in May 2018 having created and led the pan-African regional trade team since April 2017. She has lived and worked in South Africa since February 2016, having initially arrived in that country to be the UK’s Trade Director for Southern Africa.
Prior to her most recent experience working on trade and investment, Emma worked at the British Embassy in Washington DC as the UK’s Counsellor for Foreign and Security Policy. This came on the back of a two year stint heading up the Crisis Response Team in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty The Queen for her work helping British Nationals to safety from hot spots all around the world.
Emma has had a distinguished career as a British Diplomat spanning more than two decades, with postings to Mexico and Chile as well as secondments to the United Nations in New York; the European Commission in Brussels; and the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills where she worked on international trade.