Africa-Europe Foundation

During his 30-year career, Tefera Mekonnen has served as Director-General of Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA), Vice-President of African Civil Aviation Commission and the Air Transport Regulatory Board of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. Mekonnen also directed the national aviation security programme, the separation of operational and oversight functions of aviation security and the establishment of an autonomous airport enterprise. He took part in diverse bilateral air service negotiations, including with China, Italy, India and the USA, and with several African countries, thus allowing for more liberalised air transport services.

Bruno Mettling is French entrepreneur who founded Topics, a consulting firm dedicated to developing smart social and digital transformation strategies. Mettling previously worked at the French telecom Orange Group as Director and Executive Deputy General Manager in charge of Human Resources and Internal Communication. He was eventually appointed CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, leading the consolidation of operations in both regions. In 2016, Mettling was also entrusted by the French Minister of Labour with the development of a seminal report studying the impact of digital technology on the future of work.

Dagmawit Moges Bekele is an Ethiopian politician who was appointed to her current portfolio in 2018. Prior to this, she worked in various positions in the city government of Addis Ababa, and the Chairperson of Addis Ababa Mass Media Agency Board. Moges is also a Member of the House of People’s Representatives of Ethiopia (HoPRE) and a Board Chairperson of the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), Woldiya University and Ethiopian Postal Service Enterprise. She is also a Board Member of Ethiopian Airline and the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise.

Mario is a Professor of Business Administration and Corporate Strategy at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, where he is also a Founder of ALTIS, the Graduate School Business & Society, which focuses on impact entrepreneurship and corporate sustainability. Mario also serves as Chief Executive Officer and an Ashoka Fellow at E4Impact (Entrepreneurship for Impact). Previously, Mario was the scientific director of ISVI, Institute for Business Values, a centre of research for corporate social responsibility promoted by important Italian universities, businesses, banks and associations. Passionate about corporate strategy and entrepreneurship, he has not only authored numerous books and scientific articles, but also founded the CSR Manager Network, the Italian association of corporate social responsibility and sustainability managers from the principal Italian businesses.

Aline Mosnier is an academic with a particular focus on agriculture economics, land-use change and deforestation. At FABLE, she works with 20 country teams to develop rigorous quantitative national pathways for food and land-use systems, and coordinates the aggregation of national pathways to the global level while ensuring consistent trade. Before joining SDSN, she worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), developing the global land-use model GLOBIOM with a focus on international trade and regional model applications (Congo Basin, Brazil, Indonesia, Ethiopia).

Helen Mountford is an environmental economist focused on helping governments, companies and civil society address climate change. Mountford previously worked as Deputy Director of Environment for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where she headed the work on green fiscal reform, climate change finance and economics, fossil fuel subsidy reforms, water pricing, biodiversity incentive measures, and economy-environment outlooks and modelling.

Lucy Muchoki is passionate about food security in Africa and the creation of small businesses around the food system. She believes that Africa’s economic transformation will be achieved through dedicated support with a special focus on agricultural small businesses and the youth through partnerships. She founded PanAAC, an organisation created to support African agribusiness through enhanced productivity and competitiveness in the regional and global market. Muchoki is currently a member of the recently-formed African Union Agribusiness Chambers, tasked with driving the Africa free continental trade area (AfCFTA) in Agribusiness and UN Food Security Champion.

In his current role at the Faith to Action Network, Peter K. Munene advocates for society’s most vulnerable groups, especially children and youth. During his tenure with DSW, Munene established strong partnerships with parliamentarians, especially the Tanzania Parliamentarians Aids Coalition (TAPAC) and within regional bodies such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Munene has also served as Kenyan delegate to the International Labour Conference (ILO) and participated in the drafting and negotiations leading up to the adoption of the ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

Elizabeth Nsimadala is a young Ugandan ‘agriprenuer’, currently heading PAFO and the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF). Nsimadala was also recently appointed on the advisory committee for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, and serves on the global steering committee for Forest Farm Facility (FFF) and is a governing council member for Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM), among others. As a result of her efforts in supporting farmers organisations, she was recognised by the World Farmers’ Organisation as one of the women contributing to sustainable development.

Paul Nugent is a specialist on a wide range of issues relating to international borders. Alongside his position at the University of Edinburgh, he is also Principal Investigator of the European Research Council Advanced project, “African Governance and Space: Transport Corridors, Border Towns and Port Cities in Transition” (AFRIGOS). He has worked extensively in West Africa and has researched the Northern Corridor in East Africa. Paul is the author of four monographs, including Boundaries, Communities and State-Making in West Africa (2019). He is the founder of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE) and has assisted the African Union Border Programme (AUBP).

Damilola Ogunbiyi is a sustainable energy advocate and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is also a Commissioner for the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty. Before joining SEforALL, Ogunbiyi was the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency, where she successfully negotiated the construction of solar mini-grids and the deployment of home systems across Nigeria. She also worked as a Senior Special Assistant to the Nigerian President Buhari on Power and was the first female to be appointed as the General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board.

Jehiel Oliver is a social entrepreneur responsible for managing Hello Tractor, an agricultural tech company that connects over 3,000 tractor owners with 500,000 small farmers. His organisation has been praised for unlocking investment in the tractor market. As a result, Oliver has been honoured with numerous awards, including a feature in Foreign Policy Magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers. He was also appointed as a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, where he most recently chaired the technology subcommittee.

Sheila Oparaocha has eighteen years of working experience in the gender and energy sector. Sheila is the International Coordinator and Programme Manager of the ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy. She manages ENERGIA’s international programmes, planning, monitoring, reporting and liaising with ENERGIA’s donors. Sheila also provides technical support to ENERGIA’s activities on women entrepreneurship development, gender mainstreaming in energy programmes, international policy advocacy, research and evidence development, network building and knowledge management. Sheila co-chairs the Sustainable Development Goal 7 Technical Advisory Group that has been convened by UNDESA to review progress on SDG 7 and it interlinkages with other SDGs for the 2018 High level Political Forum.

Björg Pálsdóttir is co-founder and CEO of the Training for Health Equity Network: THEnet, a global partnership of health workforce education institutions committed to reducing health inequities and increasing social accountability. She leads THEnet’s capacity development, evaluation, and advocacy efforts. Björg is the Technical Lead of a Working Group on Equity at the Data and Evidence Hub of the World Health Organization and Chairs an Innovation Collaborative at the National Academies of Sciences in the United States. Björg co-founded the Center for Global Health at New York University.

Ignacio Perez-Arriaga is a professor of engineering, economics and regulation of the electric power sector. He has worked in the design of institutions, market rules, transmission regulation, contracting and implementation of regional and multinational electricity markets. Perez-Arriaga is a consultant and lecturer in more than 40 countries, visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), professor at the Florence School of Regulation and Comillas University and founder of its Institute for Research in Technology (IIT). He holds numerous fellowships at engineering and energy commissions across Europe.