Wanjiru Mukoma

Wanjiru Mukoma has spent most of her career working to improve health and wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in HIV prevention and care, and cross-cutting issues of human rights, sexual, and gender-based violence. She was formerly Executive Director of LVCT Health, a Kenyan NGO and one of the country’s leading implementers of HIV and gender-based violence programs. A researcher, program implementer, and advocate, she has worked in academia and the non-profit sector for the past 15 years. Wanjiru is as comfortable working at the grassroots community level as she is in policy advocacy, championing the rights of the vulnerable and marginalized, especially children, adolescents, young women, and sexual minorities. She…

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Beatrice Mategwa

Beatrice Mategwa is a broadcast journalist with Pan-African experience currently covering South Sudan, a country where a sudden eruption of conflict in mid-December 2013 cast a shadow on the potential for positive growth. In her job at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, where she heads an Audio Visual team of videographers and photographers, her expertise lies in how conflict impacts communities. Beatrice previously worked in Sudan, covering the North-South Peace deal, before a referendum led to the split of the country and the formation of South Sudan. She was Producer and Head of Television for the United Nations Mission in Sudan from 2005 to mid-2011. In this capacity,…

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Chude Jideonwo

Chude Jideonwo is Co-Founder of the media group RED | For Africa, and human flourishing company Joy, Inc. Chude's work centers on storytelling from across disciplines, to inspire new, human-centered narratives about politics, markets, faith, identity, and society in Africa. He is also host of #WithChude, a TV and podcast network syndicated across Africa, telling stories that enable and strengthen the mind, the heart, and the spirit. He also hosts #ChudeExplains with documentaries focused on social justice, true crime and culture from the Black African perspective. RED, one of Africa’s leading media content and consulting companies, has worked on national elections and social movements in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone…

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Hauwa Ibrahim

Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L., is an internationally known human rights lawyer, currently serving as President of The Peace Institute, who was awarded the European Parliament Sakharov Prize for freedom of thoughts in 2005. She has defended over 150 cases involving women sentenced to death by stoning and children sentenced to amputation of limbs under Shariah law. Brought up in a small village in northern Nigeria, Hauwa was born into a culture that did not encourage schooling for girls beyond elementary school. Through sheer persistence and the gracious support of others, she attended teachers’ high school for women, the local university in Jos, Nigeria and continued to law school. Prior…

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Fauziya Ali

Fauziya Ali is the Founder and President of Women in International Security (WIIS) Horn of Africa (HoA). She is an expert in governance, gender and human security. She is currently serving as the steering committee member for the inaugural Paris Peace forum under the leadership of President Emanuel Macron of France and an evaluating Judge for the Larsen Lam Iconiq impact awards under MacArthur Foundation. She also chairs a regional network of women peace builders in the Horn of Africa. She is currently working on a e-photo book dubbed “faces of resilience” as part of the 20th commemoration of women peace and security agenda. Prior to establishing WIIS-HoA, Fauziya served as…

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Lai Yahaya

Lai Yahaya is a lawyer, political economy analyst, and public policy policy advisor with more than 20 years’ experience advising development finance institutions, senior government officials, and leading corporatations in Sub-Saharan Africa on infrastructure development, public private partnerships, and energy sector reform. He is currently Senior Special Assistant (Planning and Strategy) to President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria and was most recently Senior Policy Advisor to Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, in his role as African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa. Lai previously led the Senior Advisors Group of the Power Africa Initiative, working with a group of former Heads of State and industry leaders, advising them on how…

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Akisa Omulepu

Akisa Omulepu is an Emmy-nominated documentarian, director, and producer. She is the founder of Emerge Omnimedia. Emerge’s mission is to create and tell stories that explore, investigate, and celebrate the experiences of people from the African Diaspora. Most recently she directed and produced a documentary short for PBS. 'A Dream Deferred, The Broken Promise of New York City Public Housing' was nominated for two Emmys. Her documentary short, ‘Crowned,’ debuted and had a limited engagement at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City. The film explores the lives of three young African-American women navigating their way from high school to college. A native New Yorker to Panamanian and Kenyan…

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Henry Njoroge

Henry Njoroge works to expand Kenya’s information technology sector. He currently runs Xtranet Communications which aims to capture the growing opportunities arising out of the rapid growth of mobile telephony and fiber optic cable technology on the East African Coast. He hopes to provide employment to hundreds of jobless youth in Kenya through initiatives including call centers, outsourcing and business process engineering. He is also Chairman of the Kenya Youth Business Trust, a non-profit organization affiliated to Youth Business International, whose aim is to empower the poorest of the poor through entrepreneurship by giving microloans. Henry was previously CEO of UUNET and Openview Business Systems, and he has established and…

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Wanja Muguongo

Wanja Muguongo is a queer African feminist, social justice activist, and movement builder. She is Founder and Executive Director of UHAI East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative, Africa's first indigenous activist-led fund supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and sex worker activism in Eastern Africa with funding, capacity support, research, and convening. Passionate about work that supports social justice, equality, non-discrimination, and a respect for human rights, Wanja has worked within East Africa's civil society, and in India and Pakistan. She has edited and collaborated on various publications and papers, and she is a Synergos Senior Fellow (2014).

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James Irungu Mwangi

James Mwangi is the Executive Director of the Dalberg Group, a global collection of impact-driven businesses that work to build a more inclusive and sustainable world where all people, everywhere, can reach their fullest potential. James joined Dalberg as a founding member in 2002, started Dalberg’s first Africa office (Johannesburg) in 2007, and subsequently served as Global Managing Partner of Dalberg’s consulting business, guiding the formalization of its structure and governance as a global firm. Since 2014, James has served as Executive Director of the Dalberg Group, supporting the growth of new businesses and coordinating the efforts of all Dalberg entities in pursuit of a shared mission. He has led…

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