Speakers

• Benjamin Makai
  

  Benjamin Makai

  Benjamin Makai is the current Senior Manager- Technology for Development (T4D) at Safaricom Ltd
  where he leads a team of innovators responsible for leveraging on technology to create, develop,
  adopt and integrate new concepts, products and practices for public good. These innovations
  address social, cultural, economic and environmental needs. Formerly, he lead the social innovation
  unit at, which works with like-minded organizations to form partnerships aimed at identifying issues
  and finding solutions in areas such as health, agriculture, education, and disaster management. He is
  responsible for building and maintaining winning partnerships with ecosystem industry stakeholders.
  Mr. Makai has a B.Sc. in computer science from Egerton University, various developing leadership
  capabilities training from Strathmore Business School, and was recently awarded a certificate of
  completion for the Rethinking Financial Inclusion Program from Harvard Business School.

• Bridgitte Backman
  

  Bridgitte Backman

  Bridgitte Backman thrives on living her purpose. The golden thread throughout her life and her
  career has been to foster the greater good.
  Developing, harnessing and leveraging partnerships to assist in strategy execution / business growth
  is pivotal to her work ethos. She has the ability to work with stakeholders proactively to harness
  synergies, co-create leveraged opportunities to enhance an organization's growth path and its
  reputation. She is a seasoned senior executive who has excellent board experience (Social & Ethics
  and Risk Committees) She is looking for a challenging career opportunity globally or nationally. She
  would welcome a non-executive board opportunity in 2020.
  Bridgitte has the ability to conceptualize a compelling vision / strategy for an organization and to
  develop a tactical execution plan to achieve this. Designing and implementing successful turn-
  around strategies and creating order out of “chaos” is a key strength. She is a strategic thinker and
  self starter who can inspire a team towards a common goal and can align different business units for
  optimum delivery.
  She is an accomplished change executive that will deliver the strategic vision and objectives for an
  organization successfully with maximum people engagement and optimum results.

• Camila Swart
  

  Camila Swart

  Camilla’s career has spanned, roles in government, civil society and corporate. She has had a keen
  interest in innovation and enjoy bringing together local and global stakeholders to deliver on
  strategic goals. With a background in Social Innovation, she is a systems thinker, drawing on human-
  centred design thinking. Camilla is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship and technology
  and particularly the transformative role it can play in Africa. Growing a community for start-ups and
  helping them scale, in partnership with investors and the bank, is her current focus and she loves it!
  Core to this focus is driving digital engagement for our clients at Investec.

• Chipo Mushwana
  

  Chipo Mushwana

  Chipo is Divisional Executive of Emerging Payments at Nedbank Group. She has more than eight
  years’ experience in the technology and financial services sector, having previously served as Head
  of AlphaCode at the Rand Merchant Investment Holdings innovation center and, before that, as
  General Manager and Management Consultant for DOTNXT and FeverTree Consulting respectively.

  She is passionate about entrepreneurship and small business development, and is a founding
  member of MESH, a curated entrepreneurs club, as well as a coach for the Goldman Sachs 10 000
  women initiative and a sought-after speaker, particularly at entrepreneurship and business events.

  As an established trailblazer in technology and leadership, Chipo is known as a thought leader. She
  has contributed to multiple thesis projects and research papers on entrepreneurship, served as a
  judge for various entrepreneurial competitions, and offers advisory services to numerous small
  business incubators and accelerators. Her entrepreneurial expertise has seen her contribute to
  national dialogue and policy and regulation in support of collaboration between public and private
  sector.

  She is highly creative and has her own fashion label, CHIPO, which supports the establishment and
  development of micro-entrepreneurs by enabling them to source fabrics from across Africa and use
  them to produce unique women’s garments. She is married to Gilchrist Mushwana and is a mother
  to two boys, Zion and Nhlamulo Mushwana.

  Chipo has a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree, an Honours qualification in Development Studies,
  and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

• Lenin Oyuga
  

  Lenin Oyuga

  Lenin Oyuga is a Global Technology, Strategy & Business Leader with a passion for People , Purpose
  and Profit ; making ever-changing technology relevant and use my different positions of jurisdiction
  to influence actual policies and consequently, embrace the needed change.
  As a visible leader in the research, deployment, and management of Technology, across different
  Industries & verticals globally, his specialty in technology, multiple industry application and my
  generalization of understanding different Business processes has driven him to work across
  continents and for various industries where technology is applied.
  He is an Excellent communicator to CXO, Governments, Industry Leaders and Large audience on
  presenting Complex and Diversified Technology aligning to individual Business needs, helping
  companies to run faster , better and more efficiently through making technology and its application
  simple. He is also a Top 40 under 40 Men Business Leaders East Africa for the Business Daily in 2017
  and 2018.

• Saidah Nash Carter
  

  Saidah Nash Carter

  Saidah Nash Carter is a digital business native with a passion for value creation and the use of
  technology to create new opportunity for business and for humanity. She began her career with
  Reuters NewMedia during a period of profound digital transformation and went on to build and
  launch some of the first online news services for early internet sensations like Yahoo! and AOL.
  She thrives pushing the boundaries of corporate thinking and business development through
  emerging technology, co-creation, and a focus on sustainability. She has an eye for identifying
  opportunities to stretch businesses to new frontiers while remaining connected the company’s core
  DNA and value proposition. This strength led her to design one of the first customer co-creation
  programs in Thomson Reuters resulting in a new way of approaching partnership and IP ownership
  and creating a pathway for richer collaboration with both customer and partner ecosystems.
  As SVP- Africa Innovation, she launched Thomson Reuters data science and innovation lab in Cape
  Town, one of seven innovation Labs globally and the only one in an emerging market. She is
  particularly proud of her team’s work delivering Thomson Reuters successful Africa Startup
  Challenge, Africa's first Intrapreneurship Conference, and her flagship initiative to bring financial
  inclusion to Africa’s small scale farmers – Bankable Farmer.
  Today she leads Bright Insights Global (BIG), a boutique consultancy and expert network committed
  to helping companies do better business in Africa. BIG’s network expertise spans financial services,
  media, private equity, law, talent management, digital product and business development. BIG was
  formed out of a desire to design and accelerate forward thinking, purpose driven, globally
  competitive organizations that will drive sustainable economic development across Africa.
  She is also passionate about Africa’s Intrapraneur ecosystem and works to identify, connect and
  empower these thought leaders inside large corporations who are working to leverage innovation,
  inclusion and impact to make their companies more sustainable. She works in partnership with the
  global League of Intrapreneurs (https://www.leagueofintrapreneurs.com/), as League Catalyst for
  South Africa.
  Most Recent Awards & Recognition: 2017 Inspiring 50 Women in Tech, United Nations 2018 Voices
  of African Mothers Innovation Award, League of Intrapreneurs Global Fellow – 2019