One Africa One Voice

Sanda Ojiambo

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.

Maria Cristina Papetti

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.

Christelle Kwizera

Water Access Rwanda –  Rwanda
Managing Director

Christelle Kwizera is a Rwandan social entrepreneur. She founded Water Access Rwanda in 2014 to address water scarcity and youth unemployment in Rwanda one year before she graduated magna cum laude in Mechanical Engineering.

Under her leadership, Water Access Rwanda is recognized for being innovative in the water sector. It was the first from Rwanda to win the Africa Entrepreneurship Award, the EDF Pulse Africa Award, WeEmpower SDG challenge, INCO women Entrepreneur of the year. It is also recognized as a Youth SDG innovator by UNSDSN and was more recently dotted with the Jack Ma Africa Business Heroes Award and funded as a transformer through IsDB’s Transform Fund.

Christelle is a Resolution fellow, a Sierra Club GPEP fellow and a MILEAD fellow; all awarded on account of her leadership in addressing social issues, particularly those tied with environmental justice and Youth issues.

Mark Kramer

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.

Dr Amy Jadesimi

CEO LADOL

Dr Amy Jadesimi (MBA from Stanford University, MA (OXON) and BMBCh from Oxford University) is the CEO of LADOL, a $500 million Industrial Free Zone. Amy was a Commissioner for the Business & Sustainable Development Commission.

Amy got financial training at Goldman Sachs & Stanford Graduate School of Business & medical training at Oxford University. Her accolades include being voted the Young CEO of the Year (2018) by the African Leadership Forum. She is also an Archbishop Tutu Fellow, working to reduce maternal mortality. Amy was named a Young Global Leader (WEF), a Rising Talent (Women’s Forum for Economy and Society), she was included in The 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa (Forbes). Amy was named as one of top 25 Africans to Watch (Financial Times).

She was named as one of the 2018 Most Influential People of African Descent (Under 40) Worldwide. In support of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (UN IDPAD), she was named as one of 50 Influential Women in Business by The Africa Report, Jeune Afrique and the Africa CEO Forum, and she is a member of the Advisory Board of Prince’s Trust International, and a contributor to Forbes.

Amy is a founding member of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission, announced in January 2016 at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Patrick Bitature

Simba Group of Companies – Uganda

Ugandan entrepreneur and business thought leader, Chairman of the Simba Group of Companies

Patrick Bitature is a Ugandan entrepreneur and business thought leader. He is the Chairman of the Simba Group of Companies which he founded in 1998 with the flagship Simba Telecom.

Simba Group is now a conglomerate of East African companies spanning telecommunications, Hospitality, Real Estate, Education, Energy, Agriculture, Oil & Gas, and Healthcare products. He is also the Honorary consul, of the Australian Consulate in Uganda and is the newly appointed Chancellor of The Uganda Technology and Management University.

Patrick Bitature serves as the chairman board of directors Umeme Uganda Ltd, the country’s main energy distributor. He is the Chairman Uganda Tourism Board Steering Committee as well as a member of the Mulago National Referral Hospital Board. He also previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Private Sector Foundation (PSFU), Uganda Reinsurance, Ndege Premier Aviation Company, Traidlinks Limited, and The Presidential Investment Round Table.

He studied at the London School of Accountancy and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in the United Kingdom.

He currently serves as the Director of CURE Children’s Home Uganda and is a member of both the PSFU Advisory Council Board and Malaria-free Uganda. He is a Patron of the Alliance of Mayors & Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa (AMICAALL), The Australian Alumni Association Uganda, and the newly established Ibanda Community Organisation Network (ICON).
He is the Founder of the Patrick & Carol Bitature Foundation (PCB Foundation), a charity-based organization with a focus on education and lifesaving health care initiatives.

Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere

South Africa  Economic Integration Division at the African Union Development Agency

South Africa Economic Integration Division at the African Union Development Agency

Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere is head of the Economic Integration Division at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD). The Division spearheads flagship programmes and implementation frameworks that advance regional integration in line with the aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Towela is an electrical engineer and development practitioner with more than 20 years’ experience working in the private sector, academia and international development. She brings knowledge and experience in programme development, coordination, and implementation of cross-border infrastructure projects and is leading teams that are focused on infrastructure development, digitalisation & cybersecurity, trade and markets and private sector development underpinned by continental frameworks such as the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

She holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Networking and Telecommunications) from the University of Kansas, a Master of Arts in Contemporary Diplomacy (Internet Governance), an ACCA Diploma in Financial Management and is a qualified Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute (USA).

Towela is a member of the Malawi Institution of Engineers, the Internet Society (ISOC), the Project Management Institute and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She serves on the IEEE Ad-Hoc committee on Africa Activities and is a Trustee of the 5Rights Foundation

Kebour Ghenna

Entrepreneur and current Executive Director of the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI)

PACCI – Ethiopia

Kebour Ghenna is an Ethiopian entrepreneur and current Executive Director of the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI). He oversees a unique organization representing the interests of business and trade associations in Africa.

One of the well-known business men of Ethiopia, he has launched a number of successful business ventures and was actively engaged in the management of a number of businesses and non-profit organizations. He served as a non-executive director of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Abyssinia Bank, and the National Fertilizer Company.

He presided over the Addis Ababa and Ethiopia Chambers of Commerce, the Ethiopian Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society. Next to his business experience, Kebour Ghenna has extensive knowledge in organizational development having been involved in the design and execution of numerous development projects and programs working as expert and consultant for UNECA, UNDP, the WBI, IDRC and various other national and international organizations.

Kebour Ghenna has post graduate degrees from SUNY at Stony Brook. He lectured at the Addis Ababa University and played a key role in the establishment of the School of Information Sciences. He is a regular contributor to Capital, a weekly newspaper in Addis Ababa he launched in 1998.
Biography Rev – June 2020

Lindi Dlamini

GBVF FUND1 – South Africa

Lindi Dlamini has 25 years financial services experience spanning short-term insurance, health insurance and medical scheme administration, life insurance, financial planning, fund administration and investments. She has also worked in financial services legal advisory services, compliance and risk management and has served on several Boards of Trustees and corporate boards.

She holds BA and LLB degrees from the University of Swaziland and an LLM in tax law from Wits University. She has undergone senior leadership training at Manchester Business School and participated in a Global Leadership course at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona.

She is a Fellow of the sixth class of the Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI) South Africa and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN). She is CEO of the GBVF-Response Fund 1, a private sector led fund set up as part of the national response to gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa.

Titilope Oguntuga

Nigeria – Lafarge Africa Plc

Titilope Oguntuga has been at the forefront of positioning organisations for competitiveness for almost two decades, leveraging resources, reputation and relationships to create positive financial as well as environmental. economic and social impact.

Titilope brings to bare multi sector experience, delivering progressive performance while building credible partnerships that strengthen opportunities for positive impact. To date, she has implemented over 500 successful projects in corporate social responsibility, strategic partnerships and alliances, human rights and impact assessments, environmental and economic sustainability, business recapitalisation, product development, culture transformation, communications and branding.

Titilope is currently Head, Sustainable Development and Corporate Brand at Lafarge Africa Plc –responsible for implementing its sustainability strategy and Economic, Environmental, Social and Governance (EESG) ambitions. She is passionate about various areas of sustainability such as circular economy, climate and the environment, gender diversity and inclusion as well as impact monitoring and evaluation.

Titilope has a first degree in the Arts and Humanities, a Masters’ in Business Administration and is a member of several professional institutes in Nigeria. She is a member of the Project Management Institute USA, an associate of Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK), obtained the highest professional marketing qualification in the UK. She has also studied at the Lagos Business School and the prestigious Harvard Business School, USA.

She is a facilitator/faculty member/teacher with many sides. She is a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council. She has served as judge for Junior Chamber International ‘The Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) Awards and is also a tutor for Chartered Institute of Marketing UK accredited study centre in Nigeria. She is also a member of the Sustainability Policy Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.

Titilope mentors and coaches younger people, especially woman. She is also a committed volunteer on several humanitarian causes.

Richard Lubira

South Africa – Absa Bank Plc

As Head of Enterprise & Supply Chain Development (ESD) for the Absa Bank Plc, Kenya, Richard is responsible for defining and implementing the ESD strategy, which looks to leverage corporate partnerships to improve access to finance for suppliers in corporate value chains.

This strategy has a particular focus on financing Small and Medium sized entities with corporate offtake agreements while also ensuring the SMEs develop adequate skills to manage and grow their businesses sustainably.

Before his current position, Richard held various roles in Retail, and Business Banking This included Branch managerial roles in various regions in Kenya

Richard holds a B.Sc. Business Administration (Finance) Degree, qualifications in Structured Trade, Retail Banking certification from Retail Banking Academy UK and a certified Commercial & Advanced lending professional from London institute of Finance.

Mamadou Biteye

VISA – United Arab Emirates

Mamadou Biteye is Vice President, Inclusive Growth at VISA, based in Dubai. Mamadou is responsible for Visa’s Global Inclusive Growth Strategy, the global social impact programming, stakeholder engagement, measurement and thought leadership.

Mamadou has over 25 years of experience in strategic leadership, advocacy and campaigning, community development, and capacity building with extensive field experience in Africa and around the world. He joined Visa in 2019 as Regional Head of Social Impact for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Prior to VISA, Mamadou served at The Rockefeller Foundation as Managing Director for the Africa Region, leading programs such as the Digital Jobs Africa initiative, Global Impact Sourcing Coalition, as well as developing partnerships with key institutions, including the African Development Bank, the Gates Foundation, and USAID to support the Foundation’s work.

Prior to the Foundation, he held various leadership roles in Oxfam including Regional Director for West Africa Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam America, leading the development of regional strategies and programs. Mamadou also currently serves as an advisor and board member for various international organizations such as the World Bank’s S4YE, the African Women Impact Fund, the Centre for African Philanthropy and Social Investment and myAgro.

Mamadou holds a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Ohio State University. He is an Honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), and he was also recognized as a 2019 Top 100 Most Influential Africans by The Africa Report for his work. Originally, from Senegal, Mamadou speaks English, French, Russian, Portuguese, and Wolof.