Speaker Group: 2022 Speaker

Ms. Wairimu Karanja is the Chief Legal Officer and Partner at Persistent and based in Nairobi. She is an international lawyer qualified in Kenya, with 12 years of legal experience. Wairimu has advised private sector and development organisations on various projects in Africa relating to renewable energy and climate change policy; power project development and… Read more »

Philippe Vogeleer leads a small, discreet, and highly skilled team acting as special envoy of Vodafone in the 125+ countries where the company delivers services; builds (public private) partnerships to deliver strategic projects; and manages partnerships between Vodafone and like-minded org. This notably involves negotiating with public authorities around the globe, and with intl. org…. Read more »

Ryan Levinson founded SunFunder in 2012 when he was inspired by the prospects for a global solar energy transformation and the need for new financing solutions to make this possible. Mirova SunFunder, formed by the acquisition of SunFunder by Mirova in June 2022, has closed more than $175 million in debt financing to 58 solar… Read more »

Emmanuel Ruhumuliza is the Partnership Manager for Visit Rwanda, the Rwanda Development Board’s commercial tourism brand, and oversees Visit Rwanda’s award-winning partnership with Arsenal Football Club as the club’s official tourism partner and first ever sleeve sponsor. Prior to this, Emmanuel Ruhumuliza was the Communications Officer at the Rwandan High Commission in London. With a… Read more »

Gillian Keegan was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on 7 September 2022. Gillian Keegan was previously Minister of State for Care at the Department of Health and Social Care between 16 September 2021 and 7 September 2022.

Brice Lodugnon is a Managing Director with Africa50 Infrastructure Partners (AIP), an affiliate of Africa50 devoted to private equity investments in African infrastructures. AIP is the Manager for the recently-launched $500M Africa50 Infrastructure Acceleration Fund. Prior to joining AIP in July 2022, Brice Lodugnon was Managing Director with Emerging Capital Partners where he covered the… Read more »

Matthias Papet is Chief Growth Officer at Autochek, an automotive technology company making car ownership more accessible and affordable across Africa. Before joining Autochek, Matthias Papet was a co-founder of CoinAfrique, the leading peer to peer mobile marketplace in French-speaking Africa, which was acquired by Autochek in July 2022. Matthias Papet is an international business… Read more »

Doye Ogionwo is an accomplished executive with experience establishing and scaling businesses across industries including energy, telecommunications and financial services. Doye Ogionwo has an established track record of building high performing organizations across Africa. Doye Ogionwo is currently Chief Commercial Officer at ZOLA Electric, where he oversees commercial functions including business development, sales and marketing… Read more »

Gabrielle Patrick is a UK & US lawyer with over 18 years experience at C-Level including running 23 territories of a large financial institution. Gabrielle Patrick led the International Bar Association’s work on virtual currencies for over a decade. Gabrielle Patrick is the CEO of Knabu, a fintech specialising in secure transaction settlement and becoming… Read more »