Event contact: Eivind Fjeldstad
Join our webinar where we will take a look at the current African startup scene. Where should investors pay attention? And how is the startup community coping in the current situation?
Speakers
Ms. Savanna Wilson
Expansion, Norrsken Foundation
Ms. Savanna Wilson is the Expansion Lead at Norrsken Foundation. Savanna was born and raised in Zimbabwe and holds a Masters in Organisational and Social Psychology from London School of Economics. Her passion and experience are anchored at the intersection of entrepreneurship, technology and impact. Her past work experience includes consulting at Weber Shandwick a global PR firm in Switzerland, analysing investments at a family office called Rianta Capital in London, managing startup labs to member experience across EMEA at WeWork and finally to Expansion Lead at Norrsken Foundation. Savanna is leading Norrsken's first expansion to Rwanda where we are planning on building the biggest hub for entrepreneurship in East Africa.
Mr. Leonard Stiegeler
Pulse
Leonard Stiegeler is the Founder of Pulse, the leading innovative media company in Africa. He is backing & investing in media-/technology- & -enabled ventures/assets. Some of his interests include Business Insider Africa, Art News Africa, Digital News Africa. Carbon, Flutterwave, Paystack and more. Prior, he was the General Manager of Swiss Ringier Africa AG since 2016 – responsible for buiding up the group's business on the continent. Ringier is today active in 8 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and through its ROAM-holding leads brands such as Jobberman, Cheki, Private Property, BuyRentKenya, Pigiame, ZoomTanzania, and many more. Prior to his work with Ringier since 2013, Leo helped to establish Rocket Internet and other German investors in Africa. Leo is originally from Germany and has been based in different African countries since 2011.
Mr. Ashwin Sundar Ravichandran
MD, MEST Accra
Ashwin joined MEST in 2015 as a Technology Teaching Fellow and has since served as the Incubator Manager for MEST Accra and Director of Portfolio Support and Country Director of Ghana. With a background in Computer Science and Engineering and previous experience working in the innovation team at Honeywell and building startups in India, Ashwin brings extensive technical knowledge to his executive management experience at MEST.
Due to his incredible value and support which was evident in his invaluable mentorship in the career paths of the Entrepreneurs-In-Training and fellows, he climbed up the ladder to become the Managing Director of MEST Africa in 2019. Ashwin is greatly inspired to nurture and guide the African entrepreneurship Space with a talented team so that these entrepreneurs can take on new challenges.
Mr. Eric Osiakwan
Managing Partner of Chanzo Capital
Eric has worked in 32 African countries setting up ISPs, ISPAs, IXPs and high-tech startups. The digital business areas he is involved in include education, farming, health, as well as governance, corruption and cybersecurity. He Co-Founded Angel Africa List, Angel Fair Africa and currently serves on the board of Farmerline, SMS GH, Forhey, Teranga Solutions, SeeSayDo, Oasis Websoft, Siqueries, Amp.it, SameLogic, Bisa app, Wanjo Foods, Ghana Cyber City and WABco – some of which are his investments. He was part of the team that built the TEAMS submarine cable in East Africa and an ICT Consultant for the WorldBank, Soros Foundations, UNDP, USAID, USDoJ, USDoS as well as African governments and private firms.
He authored “The KINGS of Africa’s Digital Economy”, co-authored the “Open Access Model”, adopted globally by the telecommunications industry, “Negotiating the Net” – the politics of Internet Diffusion in Africa and “The Internet in Ghana” with the Mosaic Group. He was invited to contribute ideas to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa. Eric is a fellow of TED Global, Poptech, University of Maryland and Stanford University Stanford, MIT and Harvard fellow. As a specialist in African tech ecosystem, his specialities include business innovation, entrepreneur mentorship, community building, as well as business and strategy development.
Mr. Espen Moen Kvelland
CEO, Wakandi Group
Espen Moen Kvelland is an entrepreneur that founded Akeo AS in 2009, a concept- and software development company, specializing in Fintech and DLT.
After working closely with Wakandi as the technical supplier, he took the role as the CEO of Wakandi Group AS, and focus solely on building the company to its highest potential. The Wakandi network aims to change the life of millions of people by using modern technology. The company are currently doing pilots in two African countries and are getting the attention of everyone from banks to central banks and mobile network operators.