Ali is currently the Chairman & CEO of Akufai Capital & Equities, LLC, an Angel Investing, Venture Capital, and Private Equity firm, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is a highly accomplished executive, with over 44 years of experience in the financial services industry, spanning development banking, investment banking, commercial banking, insurance, financial advisory, and wealth management. Before founding Akufai Capital & Equities, he worked for over 10 years as a First Vice President and Portfolio Management Director with Morgan Stanley, USA. Before Morgan Stanley he worked as First Vice President & Portfolio Manager at Wells Fargo, USA. And before Wells Fargo he worked as Vice President at several other investment and banking institutions in Nigeria and in the US. Alongside his main job in the financial services industry, up until 2016, Ali also taught for 12 years as an adjunct Professor of Finance & Economics, in the Lubar School of Business, at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (WI), USA. Intermittently, he also taught MBA classes at Concordia University, Milwaukee, WI, and Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI.

Ali’s extensive education includes a Doctorate in Business, an MBA (Finance), a Bachelors of Business Administration (Finance), and held several licenses required to work in the Securities Industry. He was also a holder of several professional certifications, including Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), and Life Underwriters Training Council Fellow (LUTCF).

When not traveling to educational and professional conferences, Ali loves golfing, fishing, traveling, aviation, philanthropy, and reads widely on different subjects and fields.

Stanley Mukasa is the Associate Director of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU-Africa), where he leads the Industry Innovation Lab and advances the university’s mission to strengthen Africa’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Stanley oversees a portfolio of pan-African Tech programs, including tech incubators, accelerators, and the Tech Skills Marketplace Internship Program, all focused on equipping entrepreneurs and students with the skills, funding, and mentorship needed to build scalable, technology-enabled solutions. His work supports early-stage founders and ecosystem partners in driving inclusive digital transformation through entrepreneurship. Stanley bridges academia, industry, and policy to catalyze inclusive economic growth across Africa. He also serves on several boards, such as the Global Entrepreneurship Network in Rwanda.

Michael is the founder of Periodic Element LLC, a consultancy focused on creating social impact and improving employee job satisfaction through purposeful support of social startups. In 2023, Michael retired from Johnson & Johnsen, after 28+ years in Research, Development & Engineering, both in North America and Germany. He is a business strategist with expertise in product development and implementation, technology transfer and adaptation as well as environmental sustainability and footprinting for the consumer healthcare sector. His last position was focused on social innovation, finding and incubating healthcare related startups in Africa. Michael is continuing to support startups in sub-Saharan Africa, and he is currently a member of the Executive Advisory Council of the African Diaspora Network. Michael holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Elizabeth is an entrepreneur and the founder of Lelapa. In 2015 she founded LelapaFund, an equity crowdfunding platform focused on East Africa. LelapaFund’s regulatory challenges led her to establish the African Crowdfunding Association (ACfA) along with other platforms and drive the regulatory agenda. She also founded Women in African Investments (WAI Group), an influential network of over 280 female investment professionals. Prior to that, she worked in academia and private sector in risk management and financial economics. Elizabeth holds several Board member and Advisory Board member positions in the industry and is a Council Member of Advancing Women in Investing (AWI). She holds a Masters in Economics from Sciences Po Paris, a B.Comm Honours in Economics from the University of Cape Town and a Certificate of Entrepreneurship from Stanford University. Elizabeth is a dual citizen of South Africa and France.

Tabitha Arenson Abimiku is a microbiologist with over 5 years of experience building organizations , designing and implementing social impact programs and products targeted at promoting development, education and health outcomes for women and girls in underserved communities.

She has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology, a master’s degree in Medical Microbiology. She is a social entrepreneur, a menstrual health advocate, development catalyst driving inclusion and sustainability through product innovation, education, policies and evidenced based solutions.

She actively and intentionally taking actions and initiatives that promote and accelerate positive changes, growth and progress in the Sustainable development goal, SDG 4 quality education, SDG 3 good health and wellbeing, gender equality and climate change.

She leads the team at virtuous pads where she designed, created and deployed one of Africa’s pioneer reusable pads called virtuous pads a company that produces low cost, ecofriendly and sustainable reusable menstrual products to end period poverty and reduce menstrual waste while raising awareness about menstrual health through education. She believes that Virtuous reusable pads is a last mile integrated solutions in menstrual health management for women and girls leading an innovative role in developing a comprehensive and holistic approach to address the menstrual health needs of women and girls particularly in undeserved or remote areas.
Through her sheer hard work and innovation, more than 500,000 women have been able to access the low cost, hygienic sanitary towels produced by Virtuous Reusable pad which has led to a reduction in the rate of school absenteeism, hygiene-related health infections and poverty rate.

Among other achievements, Tabitha Arenson Abimiku was awarded, Recipient of the 2020 Builders of Africa’s future (BAF) by African Diaspora Network in San Francisco, California, Recipient of the 2019 Tony Elumelu Foundation African Entrepreneur Fund and her business (Virtuous Pads) won the first-place prize at the 2019 AGS (Herconomy) Enterprise Challenge, Recipient of the 2019 Funding space grant, Nigeria’s 100 Most Inspiring Women by Leading Ladies Africa, Nominee for the start-up woman off the year (2019) by Her Network Nigeria and recipient of Certificate for the winning presentation 2017 United Nations Youth Assembly Social Venture for Sustainable Development seminar, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey, USA.
She is also recognized for her work as a team lead at Girls dignity foundation a non-profit organization that is challenging every barrier that prevent girls from accessing quality education she has implemented Dignity for Project and the Spark Project, a comprehensive program designed to tackle the multifaceted challenges faced by girls regarding menstrual hygiene.

She is also recognized for her work as a host of The Real period talk a digital platform created to empower girls and girls by reframing menstruation as a blueprint, not just a few days of bleeding. She is also recognized with her work to promote Gender Equity and economic empowerment for girls through Her Bloom Technologies whose mission is to promote gender equity and empowerment for girls in Africa through research, data –driven solutions and policy Advocacy for Sustainable Development.

She believes firmly believes that by addressing menstrual hygiene issues with sustainable practices, evidence-backed solutions, and technology, they are not only improving the lives of girls but also contributing to a more sustainable and equitable future for all.