Charles Murito is Google’s Regional Director, Government Affairs & Policy, Sub Saharan Africa. He leads engagement with governments and regulators to promote digital transformation through progressive policies that drive inclusive economic growth. 

Prior to this role, Charles served for nearly six years as Google’s Country Director for Kenya, and in 2019, also held the position of interim Country Director for South Africa. During his time in these roles, he led efforts to achieve ambitious sales and revenue targets while championing sustainable growth strategies across emerging markets. He also took on the role of Diversity and Inclusion Lead for Google’s EMEA Emerging Markets, collaborating with global teams to build a more equitable and inclusive organisation. 

With over 20 years of experience in technology, media, and entertainment, Charles has held leadership roles at major global companies such as MTV Base, Warner Bros., and Turner Broadcasting. 

In addition to his work at Google, Charles is a Non-Executive Board Director at Absa Bank Kenya, and a Co-Chair of the B20 Digital Taskforce. He previously served on the board of CSquared, a Google portfolio company focused on improving internet infrastructure in Africa. 

Outside the professional arena, Charles is passionate about art, food, farming, and using technology as a force for economic development and societal progress. 

Professor Fred McBagonluri is the Provost and President at Academic City University College in Ghana, with over 20 years of global experience in engineering, research, and business development. A former Siemens Medical program lead, Fred holds 22 US patents and was a finalist for NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Program.

His recent work focuses on building a STEAM-focused university in Ghana, driven by a mission to reshape Africa’s educational narrative. Fred is dedicated to creating future leaders equipped with the skills to innovate and contribute to the continent’s progress.

I have spent 35 years working with key players in the commerce industry, gaining extensive experience across various retail sectors in France and worldwide. 

My career began at Procter & Gamble France, where I spent 15 years in sales, marketing, and merchandising roles. I played a key role in developing Category Management within sales teams. My last psition was in the “marketing innovation lab”. I encountered many retail banners throughout Europe 

From June 2003 to December 2018, I served as General Manager of the French Institute of Merchandising (IFM), an association with over 300 members. In this role, I led and strengthened the Industry/Retail community through key initiatives such as IFM Annual Days, IFM Meters, and specialized intra- and inter-company training programs. 

Following this, I founded my own agency, 5.5Retail, where I leverage my 35 years of expertise and industry network to support companies in need of strategic guidance. 

I have also worked extensively across Africa, including: 

• Algeria, supporting a pharmaceutical laboratory.
• Senegal, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, assisting FMCG companies in market entry and expansion strategies. My mission is to develop and implement an efficient marketing strategy within the organization

My expertise lies in helping businesses navigate and succeed in both modern and traditional markets, ensuring a strong and effective go-to-market strategy 

Mr. Chris Wulff-Caesar is an accomplished International Business Executive with 25 years of FMCG experience gained across various countries. On 1st April 2024, he was appointed as the Managing Director of Unilever Ghana Plc, marking a return to the company where he began his career as a management trainee in 1999.

Chris joined Unilever Ghana Plc from Friesland Campina in Nigeria, where he was Marketing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, managing brands and marketing activities across 44 countries. Prior to this he worked for ABInBev as Marketing Director for West Africa (Ghana & Nigeria) and was a member of the Board of Directors for Accra Brewery Ltd. He joined ABInBev under the SAB Miller acquisition, where he led the establishment and growth of a portfolio of brands.

During his time at SABMiller, he worked as Africa Category Expansion / Innovation Manager, based in South Africa, and as Marketing Director for Ghana.

Mr. Wulff-Caesar is a fellow of the National Institute of Marketing Nigeria (NIMN) and an Associate member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). He holds a BA (Honors) Degree in Economics from the University of Ghana and an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School of the Heriot Watt University in Scotland, United Kingdom.

Mr. Wulff-Caesar is an Executive Member of the Unilever Ghana PLC Board. He is also a member of the Ghana Employers Association(GEA) Executive Committee and the Ghana Standard Authority(GSA) Technical Advisory Committee

Girish Sharma is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria Plc, a role he assumed in October 2024. Since stepping into this leadership position, Girish has spearheaded a bold transformation agenda that has stabilized business fundamentals, rejuvenated commercial execution, and reignited growth in one of Africa’s most dynamic consumer markets. Under his stewardship, Guinness Nigeria has not only recovered financial momentum but has also reasserted its place as a leading force in the Nigerian FMCG industry, a testament to his strategic clarity and operational discipline.

With over 20 years of progressive leadership experience across the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) landscape, Girish brings a unique blend of commercial acumen, entrepreneurial energy, and cultural fluency to the businesses he leads. He is widely respected for building high-performance organizations and scaling iconic brands across diverse geographies (particularly in complex, high-growth emerging markets).

Prior to joining Guinness Nigeria, Girish served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Colgate-Palmolive Tolaram joint venture in West Africa, where he achieved a remarkable 70% compound annual growth rate in top-line revenue over five years. During this time, he built a scalable, agile business model that blended global best practices with deep local insights, earning him recognition as a transformative leader in the personal care space. Prior to that, he played a foundational role in the meteoric rise of Indomie (Tolaram Group’s flagship brand) helping to entrench it as the number one instant noodle brand in both Nigeria and Ghana. His efforts in route-to-market optimization and consumer brand-building have influenced entire product categories and reshaped consumer behavior in West Africa.

Girish holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration (Marketing) from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in India and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Kent, UK. He has further enhanced his leadership capabilities through executive education at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions including Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the University of Cambridge, with a focus on corporate strategy, purpose-led leadership, and sustainable business practices.

Beyond the boardroom, Girish is an advocate for inclusive leadership and a firm believer in the power of mentorship and human capital development. He is actively involved in coaching the next generation of African business leaders and contributes thought leadership on topics such as innovation, ethical leadership, and business resilience. Known for his intellectual curiosity and strategic foresight, he combines rigorous thinking with a human-centered approach to leadership.

Outside his professional life, Girish is an avid reader, global traveler, and angel investor with active interests in consumer tech, fintech, and scalable impact ventures. He is also passionate about the arts, culinary cultures, and initiatives that foster cross-cultural exchange and global citizenship.
As a leader who consistently balances performance with purpose, Girish Sharma exemplifies the kind of values-driven, globally minded individual who would contribute meaningfully to any club or society that values integrity, leadership, and community.

Maggie is the Director of Qualifications & Partnerships at the Chartered Institute of Marketing which encompasses the development, delivery and awarding of the CIM Portfolio of professional qualifications which range for entry level to postgraduate level. Maggies role also creates and maintains a range of educational and global partnerships to ensure quality delivery of qualification content is available globally through a well-established network of Accredited Study Centres, Accredited Universities, Professional Bodies and Global Marketing Institutes.

Alongside the Executive team , academics and employers Maggie developed the Global Professional Marketing Framework (GPMF) which determines the skills, standards and behaviours which guide the development of the marketing profession through learning. Maggie’s passion is developing relevant and accessible routes to learning for all learners regardless of their start point.

Maggie has a 20-year career in education within the CIM and university sector. Prior to that Maggie worked as a Marketing Communications lead for organisations such as Cadbury , Boots and Coca Cola.

Ato Micah is the Founder and CEO of Maverick Research, the largest retail measurement company in West Africa. Under his leadership, Maverick Research has expanded across six markets, providing comprehensive measurement services covering 15,000 consumer SKU monthly in each market. As a technology-first company, Maverick Research boasts an impressive client list, including Unilever, Nestle, Promasidor, Wilmar, and Reckitt-Benckiser, World Economic Forum (WEF) and others.

In addition to his role at Maverick Research, Ato Micah serves on the Board of Credit Mall Limited, a subsidiary of the $1.4B Teachers Pension Fund of Ghana. He chairs the Business and Human Development sub-committee, contributing to the growth and development of the organization2. Ato also serves on the board of Freezelink, which is pioneering the first-ever cold chain supply chain across West Africa.

Ato Micah’s extensive career includes roles at Procter and Gamble, Nielsen, Henkel (Sun Products), and Millward Brown, spanning three continents. His expertise in market and social research, brand management, and general management has been instrumental in his success.

Ato holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Economics from Oberlin College.

Quinton Coetzee is an international speaker, entrepreneur, naturalist and adventurer with a deep passion for wild creatures and wild places. Raised on the fringes of the Namib Desert, he has spent most of his life living
close to nature in the African bush.

From the bitter cold of sub-Antarctica, the scorching deserts of the MiddleEast and the highest ice-peaks in Russia, he has spent time with ‘vanishing’ tribes in Africa, in the frozen wastelands of Outer Mongolia and in the

sweltering jungles of the Amazon basin.

He was a director of one of the largest Zoological Gardens in Africa,
committed to the conservation and breeding of endangered species from
around the world.

Quinton is a frequent resource in print and on radio. He is well known as a
television presenter of popular wildlife programs including “Aardwolf” and
50/50 “Veldfocus”. He is also a published author and classical pianist.
Quinton’s unique presentation style has universal appeal. 

He links personal and business success with ‘Lessons from the Wilds of Africa’ in a way that
will not easily be forgotten. In over 3 decades he has appeared before more
than 3,500 audiences… in over 40 countries… on 5 continents worldwide.
His talks inspire people to tap into their natural potential, to improve their
business skills and performance, and to gain a better understanding of
themselves and others.

Quinton has been inducted into the “HALL OF FAME” of the South African
Professional Speakers Association.

Professors Douglas Boateng (MSc, EngD, FCILT[1], FSOE, FIPlantE, FCIPS[2]FCMI[3], FIC[4], Finst.D[5] FIOM[6], FCIPS[7], F-GHiE FloD, CDir), is an international chartered director, industrialist, business strategist, industrial and operations engineer, adjunct academic, and a seasoned social entrepreneur. He holds a Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction, a master’s in industrial and manufacturing Logistics Systems and a Doctorate in Engineering.

He was Africa’s first-ever appointed Professor Extraordinaire for supply chain management, governance, and Industrialisation. With extensive experience and expertise in corporate governance, Director development, strategy, supply chain management and procurement, value chain relationships and trade development, he has successfully held several multi-sectorial C-Suite and chairmanship positions in various industries and government sectors. Prof. Boateng is a former non-executive chairman of Ghana’s Mineral Income and Investment Fund (MIIF). Under his supervisory leadership, the fund has grown from Assets under Management (AUM) $180m to over $1 BILLION* within 22 months. He is also a former non-executive chairman of Labadi Beach Hotel, a state-owned 5-star hotel currently one of the most profitable and admired for service quality in the ECOWAS sub-region. Under his guidance, the hotel continuously declared record dividends to the state.

Prof Douglas Boateng has been inducted into various global institutional and organisational Walls of fame. Among them is the Institute of Directors Southern Africa (2008) for his worldwide contribution to logistics, supply chain governance and management. For various ground-breaking awareness campaigns, leadership roles, mentorships, public speaking and thought-provoking publications and books on supply chain management governance, strategic sourcing and its inextricable link to industrialisation and long-term economic development, he has also been honoured with over six (6) independent lifetime achiever’s awards from various global organisations including Hewlett Packard(2018)

He is the Founder of PanAvest International, the founding non-executive chairman of MY-future YOUR-Future and OUR-Future (“MYO”) and the originator and wordsmith for the highly popular daily NyansaKasa (“words of wisdom”), which has over a million global daily readers and followers aiming to inspire themselves and others for mindset change in support of the UNSDGS and long-term inclusive development. Other notable roles include an adjunct industrialisation and supply chain governance professor at the University of Mines and Technology (UMAT).

He is also an elected FELLOW of the Institute of Directors – UK & South Africa; Society of Operations Engineers – UK; Institution of Plant Engineers – UK; Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport – UK & South Africa; Chartered Management Institute – UK; Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply – UK; Institute of Business Consulting – UK; and the Institute of Operations Management – UK.

Prof Boateng has authored over 90 publications, including (1) Ground-breaking French and English manuscripts on (1a) Supply Chain Management, (1b) Strategic Sourcing and Industrialisation, (2)

Pioneering, easy-to-digest and practical perspective books on (2a) Boardroom Dynamics and Governance, (2b) UNSDGs, and (2c) Negotiations.