FIRESIDE CHAT

Dr. James Mwangi,
Group Managing Director, CEO, Equity Group Holdings
Executive Chairman, Equity Group Foundation

Dr. James Mwangi is a champion for socio-economic transformation. The Kenyan born banker and leading businessman is a lifelong entrepreneur whose career has stood as an example of how a successful business can deliver value to its shareholders and create effective social impact. Dr. Mwangi’s conviction to uplifting lives, led to the establishment of the Equity Group Foundation (EGF) where he is currently the Executive Chairman. Set up in 2008 as the social arm of Equity Group Holdings, its aim is to transform the lives and livelihoods of the African people through the development and implementation of innovative programs that leverage the existing Group infrastructure and links partners to the bottom of the pyramid.

Dr. Mwangi holds 5 honorary doctorate degrees and is the current Chancellor of Meru University College of Science and Technology and is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford, Columbia, MIT, Harvard, IESE and Lagos Business School where the Equity Bank Business Model is a case study.

Dr. Latanya Mapp Frett,
President and CEO, Global Fund for Women

Latanya Mapp Frett is President and CEO of Global Fund for Women, which has fueled gender justice movements across the world for over 30 years, putting resources directly in the hands of courageous activists who are working to end oppressive policies and change entrenched norms. As a feminist fund, Global Fund for Women offers flexible support to a diverse group of partners—more than 5,000 groups across 175 countries so far—to create meaningful change that will last beyond our lifetimes.
Previously, Latanya was the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Global, the international arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Ms. Frett worked for eight years as a human rights officer for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and for 10 years with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

FIRESIDE CHAT

FIRESIDE CHAT

Peter Laugharn,
President and CEO, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

Peter Laugharn (pronounced LAW-harn) serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Peter is a passionate leader with 25 years of foundation and nonprofit experience internationally, with a focus on improving the well-being of vulnerable children. Previously, he was executive director of the Firelight Foundation, which identifies, funds, and supports promising African nonprofits serving vulnerable children and families in the areas of education, resilience, and health. Prior to Firelight, Peter served as executive director of the Netherlands-based Bernard van Leer Foundation, whose mission is to improve opportunities for children up to age 8 who are growing up in socially and economically difficult circumstances. Peter began his career at Save the Children, where he worked in a variety of roles.

A graduate of Stanford and Georgetown Universities, Peter holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of London. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco from 1982 to 1984. Peter was a co-founder of the International Education Funders Group and the Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS, and he is a member of the board of the Pacific Council on Institutional Policy.

PANEL

Sid Mofya

DIRECTOR\COO, DRAPER VENTURE NETWORK

MODERATOR

Sid Mofya is the Director / COO of the Draper Venture Network – a collective of 25 venture firms spread across the world’s key technology innovation centers and the world’s largest economies. He previously worked in Tanzania where he started up the country office of the Henry M Jackson Foundation, a Maryland-based healthcare organization; and in the UK, running energy programs for Royal Dutch Shell and the Ministry of Justice. A native of Zambia, Sid serves as on the Board of BongoHive Technology and Innovation Hub, and Kalene Education Fund. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.

Viola Llewellyn

PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER, OVAMBA SOLUTIONS

SPEAKER

Viola Llewellyn is the President and co-founder of award winning TradeTech company, Ovamba Solutions. She is globally recognized as an expert in African entrepreneurship, Trade, Banking, FinTech, diversity and digital transformation. Viola is one of the ‘Visible Figures’ referenced in Vanity Fair Magazine’s April 2018 piece on Black Female Tech Founders. Her 2018 TED Talk was part of the “Reboot” Series with Boston Consulting Group and she has been an Ambassador to the World Economic Forum as a Global Technology Pioneer. She serves on the board of a number of corporations and is respected for her support and promotion of women in leadership and STEM disciplines.

Hafeeza E. Rashed

SENIOR ADVISOR, COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH, KING BAUDOUIN FOUNDATION UNITED STATES (KBFUS)

SPEAKER

Hafeeza E. Rashed is the Senior Advisor, Communications and Outreach at the King Baudouin Foundation United States. At KBFUS, she is responsible for the outreach to individual donors and the development of our partnerships with African nonprofit organizations. Previously, she worked at Gbowee Peace Foundation USA, which was founded to support the work of Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee. Hafeeza has worked in education, law, social justice and philanthropy for the last 15 years. Hafeeza leads KBFUS’s efforts to increase and support direct resourcing of African-led organizations on the continent. She speaks regularly at conferences on African-led civil society organizations, and is published in the African Philanthropy Forum’s Toolkit for African Philanthropists. Hafeeza earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Spelman College, and her JD from the University of Richmond.

Andile Ngcaba

FOUNDING PARTNER AND CHAIRMAN, CONVERGENCE

SPEAKER

Andile Ngcaba holds a master’s in information systems from the University of Witwatersrand and an honorary doctorate from Fort Hare. Andile also serves as an adjunct professor at the Nelson Mandela University faculty of computer science. As a technologist he has been driving Pan African initiatives that are designed to build the digital Africa. He has been involved in the digitization of Africa through building submarine cable systems, satellites, wireless and most recently, cloud. In his quest for a digital Africa, Andile is involved in a Private Equity Fund, Venture Capital Fund and continues to work with social entrepreneurs. His drive of open source as a lever to change not only the balance of intellectual property in the digital space, but to prepare Africa as a center of innovation. Andile has invested in companies that operate in more than 20 countries around the African continent. During COVID-19, he has played an instrumental role in building an African platform that connects both the African diaspora with Africa. Andile spends a lot of his time teaching and coaching young people who want to specialize in threat intelligent platforms.