Professor, Biomedical Scientist And Director: Technology Transfer & Innovation At The Durban University Of Technology, South Africa
Director Of Audit: Wealth, Investment Management And Insurance, Absa Group, South Africa
Chief Executive Officer, Hospitality EQ, Kenya
managing Director of Hotel Pearl Afrique, Uganda
Project Manager, Global Expo Botswana, BITC, Botswana
Senior Specialist Department Of Innovation, Education And Investments World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Spain
Project Lead, HTTPS, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Namibia
Tourism Expert, Fmr. FENATA Chairperson, Namibia
Lecturer, Coordinator & Learning Development Facilitator, University of Johannesburg
Founder, SMEs Compete, Namibia
Professor, Biomedical Scientist and Director: Technology Transfer & Innovation at the Durban University of Technology
Prof. Keolebogile Motaung is a Full Professor, Biomedical Scientist and Director: Technology Transfer & Innovation at the Durban University of Technology with more than 23 years’ experience in Higher Education. She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Global Health Biotech (Pty) Ltd. As a Professor, research scientist and entrepreneur, she trains her postgraduate students not just on how to do research, and become a scientist, but also on how to become entrepreneurs. By becoming entrepreneurs, they can create jobs for themselves after completing their studies at a time, when jobs are scarce, and unemployment is high.
Based on her own scientific exploration into the use of medicinal plants in tissue engineering of bone and cartilage, she founded a company called Global Health Biotech (PTY) Ltd in 2016. Global Health Biotech has developed a natural anti-inflammatory ointment named La-Africa Soother (LAS) from medicinal plants which helps relieve muscle and joint aches, thus offering athletes, sportsmen and women an alternative natural anti-inflammatory ointment. This is the first product of its kind aimed at preventative care, meaning it is applied ahead before and after physical activity to prevent anticipated muscle aches.
This product, packaged in a green and white tube, is already available on the market. Motaung has also licensed a technology from Stellenbosch University to develop a second product named pump protein shake (vegan friendly plant-based). The product simultaneously leads to decreased muscle inflammation which leads to accelerated regeneration and may be more effective as an anti-inflammatory agent than known non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and with less side-effect. She is an award winner and has received a number of accolades from far and wide because she has thrown the gauntlet in bridging the gap between science and entrepreneurship.
Director Of Audit: Wealth, Investment Management And Insurance, Absa. South Africa
He is the Director of Group Internal Audit: Investment Management and Insurance at Absa Bank South Africa and an academic with a vested interest in the Futures as a discipline. He has presented on this subject matter at several conferences and organisations and has received numerous accolades. He is a PhD Candidate (Wits) and holds an MBA (Stellenbosch), MCOM (Wits), BSc Hons Management (UJ), BSc IT & Mathematics qualifications.
With over 25 years of experience in the international Hospitality & Tourism industry, he has been a prominent presence in the field. He is currently leading the commercial activities for Portier Technologies, a company that provides the industry with technology which enhances the guest experience and enhances engagement with the hotel.
Barry was chosen as one of the Global 100 most influential leaders in the industry during the Global Mice Congress in Mumbai this year and has been a regular invited speaker at several international Hospitality & Tourism conferences around the world.
With proven commercial understanding, product, and business development skills, he has also been appointed to the adjudication panel for the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation competition. And will act as a mentor to one of the winners.
Caroline Amito,33 year old Ugandan. As the managing Director of Hotel Pearl Afrique that has existed for exactly 21 years now in Northern Uganda, Offering personalized services to our guests has been one of our greatest strengths in the hospitality business among others. I have worked here for about 7 years now since June 2015. I graduated with a bachelors in business and hospitality management from Nilai University Malaysia in affiliation with an Oxfords Brookes United Kingdom degree in 2013.My first job was at Nilai Springs Resort Hotel and Golf Country Club in Malaysia .Thereafter I worked at a Scicom Msc berhad-Malaysia as the Executive Customer care professional for about 2 years when I returned to work in my Home Country Uganda. I write,blog,vlog,read and sing in my free time .Iam a committed Born again Christian. I celebrate all my wins and this is definitely an opportunity to celebrate another milestone. I look forward to this great experience and opportunity to learn and hope my input makes a difference.
Julius is a highly qualified and competent customer service champion and project manager who has led various projects or been part of project teams in the years that he has been in the project management field. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences majoring in Economics and Demography in 1999. Furthermore, he read for his Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a minor in Project Management through the National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) based in Chennai, India in 2015. Julius is also a fully qualified Prince2 Practitioner in Project Management and also possesses a Certificate of Proficiency (CoP) in Long Term Insurance from the Insurance Institute of Zimbabwe (IIZ).
Julius started his career as a Trainee Underwriter in August 1999 at the then Botswana Eagle Insurance Company. He then left the insurance industry in the year 2000 to join the University of Botswana as a Staff Development Fellow (SDF) within the University of Botswana Library. He later worked as a Sales Executive at Standard Chartered Bank Botswana Limited where his duties included preparation and submission of sales propositions to prospective clients, acquisition of new business, especially liabilities, and direct selling of both assets & liabilities to prospective clients. Julius’ next stop was at Metropolitan Life Insurance Botswana, where the insurance bug attracted him once again, to work as a Direct Writer. From Metropolitan, Julius joined Barclays Bank of Botswana Limited as a Personal Banker, Insurance. As one of the pioneers of bancassurance within Barclays, Julius performed amongst others, the following duties: recruited new customers to the Bank, advised customers on risk & insurance, assessing their insurable interest, pioneered “Montshegetsi” Whole Life Cover policy at Barclays Bank, and sold other assets & liabilities to existing Barclays Bank clientele.
After a short stint at Barclays, Julius left the bank to join the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) in March 2010 as a Market Access Specialist. The following year in 2011, Julius was promoted to the position of Market Access Manager, where he also helped to develop the “Market Access Operational Strategy for LEA” in 2012. During his tenure at LEA he also represented the Authority in a number of Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry (MITI) technical committees that included the Technical Committee on Market Access (TCMA), Technical Committee on Export Development & Investment Promotion (TCEDIP), Technical Committee on Services (TCS) and Technical Committee on Agriculture (TCA). All these technical committees reported to the main National Committee on Trade Policy & Negotiations (NCTPN). Julius also represented the CEO of LEA on various occasions at the NCTPN chaired by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry (MITI).
Julius has proven to be a customer service champion par excellence who was voted as a “Superstar” for the entire Department of Export Development and Promotion at Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) during the organization’s 2019
Christmas Awards. He also recently won the Mogaka Service Leadership Award as well as The WOW (Winner of Winners) Zebra Stripes Award during the 2020 Diamond Service Awards hosted by Service Bridges Consulting (SBC). The latter award is awarded to customer service champions that have consistently displayed leadership traits, are focused on service execution excellence and more importantly are a true cultural fit for their organization.
Senior Specialist Department of Innovation, Education and Investments World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
José Ricardo Díaz Ardila currently works in the Innovation and Digital Transformation team of the Innovation, Education and Investments Department of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). During this period, he has been in charge of the UNWTO Acceleration Programme, the UNWTO Rural Tourism Competition and the UNWTO Sustainable Development Goals Global Startup Competition.
His experience includes previous work for the Youth Chapter of the Hotel and Tourism Association of Colombia (COTELCO) and Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts in the Sultanate of Oman. Recently, he has collaborated as Mentor Coordinator for the EUvsVirus Hackathon, a project from the European Commission to find solutions for COVID-19 challenges.
For the past 17 years my career has been built around project and programme management, public health programming, community engagement and community development programmes. I have worked closely with Industry Partners, International donors, Civil Society and Governmental Partners and have successfully seen through the management and coordination of externally funded projects targeted at mainly socio-economic development. I also participated in the development of successful funding proposals with leading Industry Partners and International Donors such as USAID, the European Union, Comic Relief, the Big Lottery Fund in the United Kingdom, as well as the Global Fund.
I am currently responsible for Academia & Industry Partnerships at the High-Tech Transfer Plaza Select (HTTPS) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. The rationale of the HTTPS is to improve the industry’s competitiveness through research co-creation, co-development, open innovation and the application of specialised knowledge and technology and facilitating the seamless interaction between industry and academia in physical and virtual space to enable innovation.
Project Lead, Academia & Industry Partnerships at the High-Tech Transfer Plaza Select (HTTPS) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.
Netumbo Velile Nashandi is an eclectic Pan-African Namibian Social Entrepreneur, with over 15 years of hands-on experience in the tourism, management, manufacturing, marketing and mobile technology sectors in advisory and executive capacities respectively. By definition, a social entrepreneur is a person who pursues novel applications that have the potential to solve community-based problems. Netumbo is an individual who is willing to take on the risks and efforts to create positive impact in society, through her initiatives.
Netumbo’s creativity, passion for working with people, and her strategic leadership skills led her to pursue work in the hospitality sector. Add to that, her formidable linguistic prowess in 6 languages – fluent in English, French, Ndebele & Oshiwambo: and conversant in German & Russian. She pursued a BA (Tourism) from the University of Namibia (2006) to that effect. Marketing, public relations, networking, team mentoring & training, and executive management skills were acquired and honed during her time as Senior Sales Consultant at Namibia Wildlife Resorts Limited – a state owned Hospitality Organization that is tasked with the local/international marketing and management of 26 resorts nationwide.
In 2011, Netumbo co-founded Lex Travel & Tours (PTY) Ltd and was instrumental in resuscitating the Emerging Tourism Entrepreneurs Association (ETEA), with two other formidable emerging female tourism entrepreneurs. Through her dedicated efforts at ETEA, she was part of Team Destination Namibia – whose task was to ensure Namibia won the bid to host the Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) in 2013, which Namibia hosted with great aplomb.
Netumbo took advantage of her acquired skills and linguistic talent to broaden her net of impactful activities and initiatives, and founded Opulent Investments (PTY) Ltd in 2011, with the intention of attracting FDI to Namibia as per Namibian government priority sectors. In 2012 she founded Opulent Travel & Tours; and in 2015, through collaborative partnerships, Opulent Investments (PTY) Ltd co-hosted a trade delegation led by former Finnish President & Nobel Prize Laurette Martti Ahtisaari. This inspired her to pursue a Certificate in Economic Diplomacy from the Diplo Foundation (accr. by University of Malta, 2016).
With a deep passion and understanding of tourism in Namibia, Netumbo continues to engage with ETEA, and is its representative on the NTB Marketing Advisory Committee, which advises the NTB on private and public sector’s expectations relating to international, regional and domestic marketing. Her latest achievement, encapsulates the plethora of passion she has for the Namibian tourism sector. Netumbo was elected to serve as the Federation of Namibian Tourism Associations’ (FENATA) 1st chairperson from ETEA – a symbol of hope and inclusivity from a previously disadvantaged Namibians’ perspective. She has been invited to speak on Tourism in the African context at various fora; including the Emerge Conversation Series (Namibia), Olupale Summit (Namibia), South African Tourisms’ Africa Travel and Tourism Summit, DRC’s Office Nationale de Tourisme, Senegalese Tourism stakeholders, just to mention a few.
In addition to organic cosmetics manufacturing, she has done consultancy work for WWF Namibia, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry & Tourism of Namibia, and is currently co-producing a documentary TV series aptly named In Pursuit of Magic.
Family and friends describe Netumbo as a sophisticated straight-talker, driven, leader, team player, strategic, steadfast, go-getter, that she diligently applies herself in whatever she does – be it with people, work, or environment.
Lecturer, Coordinator & Learning Development Facilitator, University of Johannesburg
Maipato Caroline Mmako is a lecturer, Coordinator and Learning Development Facilitator at the University of Johannesburg. Passionate about student success and student development, she has worked on an initiative called Africa by bus where she planned, organized, and facilitated 3 trips across 3 African countries with more than 250 students by bus. She presented at the South African National Resource Center (SANRC) on how the Africa by bus initiative encourages experiential learning and affords young people the opportunity to experience the different cultures in Africa while exploring the beautiful continent.
She forms part of the first cohort of fellows who were part of the Tennessee State University Research programme with a focus on student learning and adaptation; looking at the Nashville Next Plan. She loves working with young people and that saw her working in collaboration with a youth organization in Soweto where she led, collected, and donated over 250 books for the Nelson Mandela Day book drive.
She is also an avid reader and loves traveling.
