Dr. Ayodele Odusola, Resident Representative for UNDP in South Africa

Dr. Ayodele Odusola is the Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa. Prior to this, he was Chief Economist and Head of the Strategy and Analysis Team for United Nations Development Programme’s Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA), where he coordinated economic, social and environmental dimensions of development in Africa. He led the preparation of regional flagship reports for RBA, including the Africa Human Development Report, the African Economic Outlook, Africa MDG/SDGs progress reports and the book Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, Determinants, and Consequences (which he co-edited) as well as strategic policy notes and occasional policy papers in such areas as fiscal space, youth employment, value chain development, renewable energy, and climate change. Dr. Odusola provides intellectual leadership to SDG acceleration frameworks in sub-Saharan Africa, managing the network of Senior Economists in UNDP Africa Country Offices and providing strategic advice on policy matters to the RBA Director.

As an economist, Dr. Odusola focuses on dynamics of macroeconomics and development economics pertaining to the African continent. In addition to being an African Visiting Scholar to the IMF in 2002, Dr Odusola had served as a consultant to many international organizations like the World Bank, UNICEF, WHO, the World Institute of Development Economic Research (WIDER), the Global Development Network (GDN), the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) and the West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management. 

Dr. Odusola is a Nigerian national and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Alloysius Attah, Co-Founder and CEO of Farmline

​Alloysius Attah launched Farmerline in 2013 to create lasting wealth for farmers through technology and sustainable farming practices. He currently leads the company’s vision, fundraising, and strategy. Farmerline’s partnerships with over 80 organizations across 26 countries have served and digitized one million farmers. TIME Magazine recognized its Mergdata platform as one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2019. Meanwhile, Alloysius has been lauded by organizations and world leaders such as former IMF boss Christine Lagarde, Echoing Green, CNBC Africa's Young Business Leader Award, and Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst for his work.

 

Pelkins Ajanoh, Founder and CEO of CassVita

Pelkins Ajanoh is the founder and CEO of CassVita. CassVita is an agribusiness in Cameroon that leverages proprietary technology to offer healthier and better-tasting wheat alternatives from cassava. Pelkins was born in Limbe, Cameroon, and immigrated to the US after high school. His deep-rooted curiosity for science and technology led him to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2018. 
 
Pelkins is an innovator and problem-solver. Before founding CassVita, he developed several solutions for multinationals including Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and General Motors. He holds two US patents. His work has been recognized with the Albert G. Hill Prize (at MIT), Suzanne Berger Award for Future Global Leaders (at MIT), and Harvard Innovation Labs Social Impact Fellowship Fund. Pelkins is currently pursuing a dual MS/MBA degree from Harvard School of Engineering and Harvard Business School, where he is a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow and an Adrian Cheng Fellow.

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Ndidi Nwuneli, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition

Ndidi Nwuneli is an expert on social innovation, African agriculture and nutrition, entrepreneurship, and youth development. She has over 25 years of international development experience and is a recognized serial entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and consultant. 
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Ndidi started her career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, working in Chicago, New York, and Johannesburg. She returned to Nigeria in 2000 to serve as the pioneer executive director of FATE Foundation, supporting young entrepreneurs to start and scale their businesses. In 2002, she established LEAP Africa to inspire, empower, and equip a new cadre of principled, disciplined, and dynamic young leaders in Africa. In the same year, she established NIA to support female university students in Nigeria to achieve their highest potential.

Over the past 14 years, Ndidi has focused exclusively on transforming the African agriculture and nutrition landscape. Through her work as the co-founder and the Executive Chair of Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition, she has partnered with a range of private and public sector organizations to implement ecosystem solutions in the African agriculture and food landscapes. As the co-founder of AACE Foods, which produces a range of packaged spices, seasonings, and cereals for local and international markets, Ndidi has propelled the growth of a catalytic business. As the founder of Nourishing Africa, a digital home for food and agriculture entrepreneurs operating on the African Continent, she is accelerating the growth of the ecosystem and supporting entrepreneurs in 34 African countries.  Her latest start-up is Changing Narratives Africa committed to changing global mindsets about Africa by showcasing the Continent’s contributions to the global food ecosystem through the pioneering work of her dynamic people, their innovations, and products.

Ndidi serves on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), AGRA, Nigerian Breweries Plc. (Heineken), Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. India, the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum, Royal DSM Sustainability Board, Netherlands, and the African Philanthropy Forum. She previously served on the Boards of Nestle Nigeria Plc., Fairfax Africa, the World Vegetable Center and Cornerstone Insurance Plc.

Mrs. Nwuneli was recognized as a Young Global Leader and a Schwab Social Innovator by the World Economic Forum and received a National Honor from the Nigerian Government. She was listed as one of the 20 Power African Women by Forbes, on the 2019 100 Most Influential Africans List by New African Magazine and received the 2021 HBS Alumni Achievement Awards. She is a TED Global speaker.

Ndidi is the author of "Social Innovation in Africa: A Practical Guide for Scaling Impact," and "Food Entrepreneurs in Africa: Scaling Resilient Agriculture Businesses," both published by Routledge. She is also the author of “Working for God in the Marketplace.”

Ndidi holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree with honours from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She was a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and an Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow. She is currently the McConnell Visiting Scholar at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University.

Yuan-Ting Meng, VC Investor at SOSV

Yuan-Ting Meng firmly believes in the power of impact investing, innovation, and public policy towards sustainable prosperity. Operating at the nexus of digital innovation, agribusiness, financial inclusion, and partnerships across emerging economies, she currently leads frontier investment in Africa at SOSV, a VC firm with over $1.1bn AUM.Previously at the World Bank, Yuan-Ting advised Government strategies in digitizing the agriculture value chain and revitalizing smallholder farmers operations through digital technology; co-created the ecosystem for open innovation with global Telco/MNO, VC, agribusiness corporates, Agtech entrepreneurs, SMEs, farmers, academia and NGOs. She also co-authored technical reports and contributed to the flagship publication on client country’s Digital Economy.
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Most recently, she analyzed digital platforms and their business models on how they support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa for higher productivity, efficiency and employment in the agriculture and manufacturing sector, further identifying barriers/exploring solutions to technology uptakes throughout the value chains.

Yuan-Ting likewise thrived in the exuberance of the African tech ecosystems via her capacities across impact investment advisory, VC-backed Agri-Fintech startup and Technoserve. In her roles, she assessed clients’ credit risk, industry trends and profitability to inform business strategy; advised private sector players on assessing farmer credit risk via alternative data, and built public-private partnerships with the African Development Bank, AGRA, FAO, Commercial Bank of Africa, and at Intellecap-Sankalp Africa, the largest impact investment community worldwide.
Passionate about cross-border collaboration and venture investment with a keen focus on Africa and Asia, Yuan-Ting regularly writes column articles about the African digital tech ecosystem on DIGITIMES, a leading global tech-focused media platform headquartered in Taiwan.

She holds an M.A. in Development Economics and International Business from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and has lived and worked across four continents in Taiwan, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, the Netherlands, France, Russia, and the U​.​S​​​.​

Anne Maria Makhulo, Deputy Director at the Strategy Office of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Anne Maria has deep expertise in international development that has been honed through a career spanning over 15 years working across private sector, development advisory, non-profit and most recently with a major private foundation. Anne Maria works as a Deputy Director at the Strategy Office of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In this role she supports the Foundation leadership and various foundation program teams in the development and execution of their strategies. Prior to this, Anne Maria worked with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) whose aim is to catalyze African Agriculture transformation. AGRA works across a number of African countries supporting systems development in partnership with government, private sector and local actors. In AGRA, Anne Maria held various roles most recently in International Cooperation and Partnerships and previously in Strategy Development and supporting the Office of the President. In earlier roles, Anne Maria worked in development advisory and management consulting with Dalberg Global Advisors and as a Senior Actuarial Analyst with a leading life insurance company in East Africa. 

​Anne Maria is driven by a vision of “development as dignity” in which poverty is drastically reduced and the dignity of those affected by poverty is upheld and their voices included. Anne grew up in Nairobi and holds a BSC in Actuarial Science from the University of Nairobi.