Erwin Knippenberg

Erwin works for the Ministry of Finance in Liberia. He has experience launching startups, both for profit and non-profits, and has an extensive background working and living in SSA, including Kenya, Rwanda, and Ivory Coast. Erwin has an Msc in Economics for Development from Oxford, and an MA/BS in Economic and International Relations from Georgetown.

Kwadwo Addai-Mensah

Kwadwo works as a Technology Consultant for Chevron. Prior to that he worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte and Capital One Bank in a similar capacity. Kwadwo has an MSc/MBA from Carey Business School at John Hopkins University and BSc from Univ of Maryland. His personal interest includes sports, travel and music of all kinds especially hilife music.

Andra Ofosu

Andra works at Credit Suisse in London, raising capital for Hedge Funds. She previously worked at Lehman Brothers in a Structured Products team. Andra graduated summa cum laude from Colby College in Maine, US, and also attended the London School of Economics. Andra enjoys travel and afrobeats music.

Bala Liman

A graduate of Economics, Bala also has a post graduate degree from the London School of Economics. He has worked in both the public and private sectors in Nigeria and has experience in industrial development financing.

Kwame Marfo

Kwame most recently worked in strategy and business model analysis at the Bank of England.

He previously worked at Deutsche Bank and Wachovia Securities (now Wells Fargo) in New York. Kwame has an MBA from University of Michigan and an MSc from the London School of Economics. He enjoys travel, jazz and slam poetry.

Kweku Egyin

Kweku works in Corporate Compliance at the Silicon Valley Bank. Prior to that, Kweku held various roles within the RBS Group including as a Regulatory Risk/Compliance manager within the Corporate Banking Division. Kweku also worked briefly at TLT Legal within the Real Estate Compliance, Employment Law and the Banking & Lender Sales dvisions. Kweku holds a law degree from the University of Bristol School of Law. He is an observer of life and enjoys reflective and mindfulness meditation.

Yaa Kumi Boatema

Yaa Kumi Boatema works in retail banking at Santander UK PLC, having previously worked for the UN on projects in Ghana, Zambia and Uganda. Yaa has a BA in Sociology at the University of Ghana and holds certificates in project and investment management at the London School of Business and Management Studies.

James Woods

James is a Malawian national who has several years of communications experience working for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, in promoting achievement in Africa leadership. He has developed and executed strategic communication plans to enhance the Foundation’s reputation, overseen internal relations, and supported communications for key executives.

Jimmy Song

Jimmy works in economic development consulting as an infrastructure analyst in Washington, DC. He has previous work experience in management consulting, non-profit strategy, and on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, carrying out policy research. He also worked as a corporate finance legal assistant in New York. He holds an MSc in Global Politics, with a focus on International Development, from the London School of Economics, and he double-majored in History and Political Science at Carnegie Mellon.

Amandeep Dhillon

Amandeep (Aman) has an MBA from the University of Michigan, a BSc in Economics and Business Finance, and is also a professionally qualified accountant. He joined Barclays as part of the MBA Global Leaders Programme and has worked in several areas including Leveraged Finance. Before his MBA, Aman worked at Marriott as the Regional Controller for the EMEA region. He has extensive finance, marketing, business development, restructuring and turnaround, and entrepreneurial experience. His personal interests include sports, politics and astronomy.

Pius Afriyie

Pius is a former US Air Force Lieutenant. He participated in the Iraq and the Horn of Africa in 2003. He is a graduate from Howard University in Washington DC, and works as a physician assistant at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the department of hematology where his primary focus is sickle cell disease. Pius has a special interest in science, geography and politics. He enjoys travel, dancehall music and family time.