Access to the internet has become a human right, but Africa is lagging behind.
In 2022, the Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI) has partnered with the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSMA), a global institution that represents the telco and digital services sectors, to bring together the Africa Shared Value Leadership Summit and the Mobile World Congress Africa (MWC Africa).
The alignment of the Summit and GSMA MWC Africa is a first for Africa, and for the global Shared Value community, assembling multisectoral players to discuss innovation, technology, inclusion, opportunities and solutions for Africa’s digital and connectivity challenges. This partnership creates opportunities for connection and networking to explore collaborations, partnerships, and client engagement.
The two events will take place concurrently, with interlocking programmes that demonstrate both the future of connectivity and how combining it with the Shared Value mind-set can enable economic growth and people-centric sustainability.
The Shared Value Africa Initiative and Shift Impact Africa will be hosting the 6th annual Africa Shared Value Leadership Summit in Kigali, Rwanda from 25 to 26 October 2022.
The Summit provides a platform for business leaders from across Africa to collaborate and discuss how Shared Value thinking can drive technological and business solutions to address Africa’s technology challenge.
Africa can leapfrog into the digital future and accelerate economic recovery and growth by intentionally and consciously providing access for all.
Creating shared value entails embedding a purpose and social mission in the corporate culture and channeling resources to the development of innovations and collaboration that can profitably address social and environmental problems…
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Harvard Business School – USA
Senior Lecturer
Mark Kramer is a leading researcher, writer, speaker and consultant on strategies for social impact. He is best known as the co-author of seminal articles on Creating Shared Value in Harvard Business Review and Collective Impact in Stanford Social Innovation Review.
He has also written extensively on impact investing, systems change, and strategic evaluation. His most recent research is on moving beyond Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) by communicating the economic value of corporate social impact to investors.
Together with Professor Michael Porter, Mark co-founded FSG which supports three communities of practice: The Shared Value Initiative, the Collective Impact Forum and Talent Rewire.
He is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, a member of the Aspen Philanthropy Group, and serves on advisory boards for Nestle and Kimberly-Clark. Previously, Mark served as President of the private equity firm Kramer Capital Management. He holds a BA from Brandeis University, MBA from The Wharton School, and JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Vitality Health International Africa – South Africa
Vice President
Jessica Chivinge is Vice President of Vitality Health International Africa, which forms part of Vitality Group, a subsidiary of global insurer Discovery Limited. Her current mandate is to drive the Group’s expansion into the rest of Africa, overseeing both the strategy and the operations for Vitality Health International (VHI) Africa. She has spent over a decade gaining expertise in strategy, operations and innovation and she is particularly energised by helping organisations deliver on their strategic objectives, introducing innovation into the process as required.
Jessica was previously Chief of Staff to the CEO and Deputy-CEO of Discovery Health, a Partner Market Executive for PingAn Health (China), and Functional Head of Healthcare Services.
As a proud alumnus of the Young Africa Leadership Initiative (YALI), Jessica identifies as an egalitarian who strives personally and professionally to help create a society that is just, equitable and inclusive. Having been born on the continent and raised in the diaspora, Jessica returned to the continent not only for her love of sunshine and tasty fruit (though that’s important!), but also because she wanted to play a meaningful role in learning and creating opportunities on the continent in an exciting era which is seeing many African countries realise their potential.
Jessica holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management & Business Administration (PDM-MBA) from Wits Business School (South Africa), a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from Nottingham Law School, and an LLB Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Surrey. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Law (LLM), with a focus on legal practice – healthcare and ethics – with Nottingham Law School.
She also serves as an advisory board member for two African start-ups and is a part-time lecturer in the field of Business Analysis (Digital and IT).
Smart Africa
Chief Strategy and Growth Officer
Didier Nkurikiyimfura is the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer of Smart Africa Secretariat, a pan-African organization mandated by African Heads of State and Government to create a single digital market for Africa. In his current role, He leads the organizational strategy, partnership development, resource mobilization, projects operationalization and scale-up.
Aside his official Smart Africa duties, Didier currently serves in as Chairman of the board of Directors of Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (www.rcaa.gov.rw) as well as Irembo Ltd (www.irembo.gov.rw), a Rwandan company that has deployed over 120 Government-to-Business and Government-to-Citizens eservices through a single portal since 2015. He also serves as a board member of the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (www.rba.co.rw).
Prior to his Strategy and Growth role. Didier was the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, leading a team in charge of policy and regulatory harmonization, programme and project management and Operations. He led the implementation of several cross-border tech projects in Africa, such as the intra-African cross-border fiber connectivity, increasing Africa’s Internet affordability and accessibility, regional Data Centers, Smart Cities, African entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems strengthening, interoperable pan-African Digital ID and the Smart Africa scholarship fund among others, with the ultimate goal of contributing to Africa’s economic growth and job creation.
Prior to joining Smart Africa, Didier served as Director General in charge of ICT at the Ministry of Youth and ICT of the Government of Rwanda from 2012 to 2016, Head of ICT Security at the Rwanda Development Board, Director of the National Computing Center (NCC) and Director of the National Data Center (NDC) at the Rwanda Information Technology Authority.
Didier has more than 19 years of experience in the ICT Sector. A national of Rwanda, he holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science and a Master of Science Degree in Software Engineering.
MTN Group Limited – South Africa
Group Chief Legal & Regulatory Affairs Officer
Lele Modise is the Group Chief Legal and Regulatory Affairs Officer (CLRO) at MTN Group Limited (MTN), and was previously the MTN Group Chief Legal Counsel, having joined MTN Group in August 2019. Lele is a member of the MTN Group Exco, as well as the Enterprise Risk Management Committee. Lele also reports to Group Board subcommittees on legal and regulatory risk, which include the Group Risk and Compliance Committee, the Group Audit Committee and the Group Social and Ethic Committee.
Lele also reports to the MTN Group Board on certain key matters arising from both the legal and regulatory aspects of MTN across its markets. Lele is the chairman of the Group Legal Executive Committee, as well as a member of the MTN Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Lele leads the legal and the regulatory function across the various markets that MTN operates in across Africa and the Middle East. She also leads MTN’s industry advocacy programmes and participates in various industry committees including the GSMA, Smart Africa, ITU and ITA. Lele is also a member of the GC50, which is an organisation of general counsels in World50.
United Nations Global Compact – USA
CEO & Assistant Secretary General
Sanda Ojiambo is the Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact.
As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change.
With more than 15,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative — one Global Compact uniting business for a better world.
Ms. Ojiambo brings 20 years of experience to lead the UN Global Compact. She has served as Head of Sustainable Business and Social Impact, Safaricom Plc, Kenya since 2010. Ms. Ojiambo was also the Senior Manager of Safaricom and MPESA Foundations, Kenya from 2008 to 2010, during which she led the implementation of several public-private partnership initiatives between Safaricom and UN organisations.
Throughout her career, she has cultivated and managed relationships with key business entities and civil society organizations, including her capacity development work in Somalia with UNDP and CARE International.
Ms. Ojiambo holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Development from McGill University, Canada.
Visa Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa – Dubai
VP: Inclusive Impact and Sustainability
Carl Manlan is Vice President, Inclusive Impact and Sustainability for Visa Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
His focus is on enabling community impact with local, regional and global partners, co-creating partnerships that support Small and Medium Businesses, Individuals and households to thrive in the CEMEA region.
Prior to Visa, Carl served as the Chief Operating Officer at Ecobank Foundation where he led the bank’s social impact work in 33 markets in Africa. Before Ecobank Foundation, Carl held various leadership roles at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Economic Commission for Africa, The Global Fund and UNDP. Carl holds an undergraduate degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Cape Town and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. He is a Mo Ibrahim Foundation Fellow and an Aspen Institute New Voices Senior Fellow.
Enel Grids – Italy
Head of Sustainability
Since March 2020, Maria Cristina Papetti has been nominated Head of Sustainability at Enel Grids. Previously, in 2014, she became Head of CSV, Sustainability Projects and Practice Sharing Unit at Enel Holding where she led the CSV deployment throughout the business value chain of the entire Group: a sustainability model that matches business opportunities while tackling social needs.
In 2012 she was appointed Head of External Relation of Enel Green Power. Before joining Enel in September 2007 as Head of Executive Education and Cross Cultural Center, she worked for Edison, Ferrovie dello Stato and Trenitalia.
She studied Foreign Languages and Literature, first at Silvio Pellico School for Interpreters and then at IULM University in Milan.
Smart Africa – Rwanda
Director General and CEO
Mr. Lacina Koné, is the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of Smart Africa having joined the organisation in March 2019.
He oversees the process of defining and advancing Africa’s digital agenda and has overseen the development of continental blueprints for Africa on Digital Identity, ICT Start-ups and Innovation Ecosystems, Smart Villages and the definition of Africa’s Smart Broadband 2025 Strategy in addition to advancing additional key continental initiatives. In recognition for this work, Mr. Koné has been recognized in 2021 as 12th among the 50 personalities advancing Africa’s digital transformation.
Prior to that, Mr. Koné was the advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (2017-2018), in charge of Digital Transformation and Public Reforms, and was also the advisor to the President from 2011-2017. Mr. Koné is a professional of ICT industry with over 25 years experience in the telecommunications, satellite and intelligent transport system.
Mr. Koné is a graduate of three continents. United Arab Emirates, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering, in the UK, it has validated its Polytechnique rank at the University of Brunel, and the United States, his MBA from George Washington University.
He also sits on the advisory boards of Benya Capital in Egypt and Townlabour Technologies in the USA.
As with previous Summits,
purposeful alignment with the UN Sustainable
Development Goals will be a major theme.
