Senior Nigerian diplomat who served as the Executive Secretary of the Committee of Intelligence & Security Services of Africa (CISSA) between 2019 and 2024. Through a long and ongoing career, she has led initiatives on continental intelligence-sharing, capacity-building, and security cooperation. With a robust background in multilateral executive leadership and coordination, she advances Africa’s security architecture by forging strategic partnerships and advising on existing and emerging threats, and institutional resilience.

Sudanese diplomat and international cooperation specialist. He previously served as Sudan’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he advanced bilateral relations, aid, humanitarian and economic coordination. He now serves as International Cooperation Advisor at the Arab Tourism Organisation, promoting inter-Arab partnerships and sustainable tourism development through diplomatic engagement, institutional capacity-building, and multilateral collaboration across the GCC, the Middle East and Africa.

A seasoned development finance and venture ecosystem leader with over 20 years of experience mobilizing capital for startups, banks, and infrastructure projects across emerging markets. As Managing Director at CrossBoundary, he has raised millions in debt and equity for high-impact ventures in Palestine and MENA. Formerly Executive Director of Gaza Sky Geeks, he scaled the region’s leading tech accelerator with partners like Google and Stripe. Ryan holds graduate degrees from MIT Sloan and Harvard Kennedy School.

Brings extensive experience in multilateral and investment forums: after ten years at the World Economic Forum, where he managed East & Southern Africa government-relations, he joined the African Development Bank in 2017 to help design and launch its flagship Africa Investment Forum. His focus spans structuring public-private cooperation, investors-relations and mobilising capital for African greenfield and brownfield projects, and convening high-level stakeholder platforms across all regions of the continent.

An accomplished youth-advocacy expert and Founder/Executive director of YouthHub Africa, headquartered in Abuja, he has spent over 15 years designing and implementing programs on education access, gender parity, employment, and civic engagement. He has influenced policy frameworks at subnational, national, and international levels, working with the African Union, United Nations agencies, global foundations, and development funds focused on Africa.

A former senior advisor at Prosper Africa/USAID, a project manager and partnerships expert. Vance has 20 years' experience in investment and trade deal sourcing, due diligence, de-risking finance, and transaction delivery across Africa, LATAM and Caribbean. He leverages commercial diplomacy and his extensive networks in government, private sector, multilaterals/DFIs, commercial banks, impact investors and sovereign/private wealth.