Talent Agenda Series Conference – London 2015: Speakers

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Keynote Speaker

Arnold O. Ekpe
Chairman, Atlas Mara and Former GCEO, Ecobank

Arnold O. Ekpe served as Group Chief Executive Officer (“GCEO”) and Executive Director of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (”Ecobank”) until 2012. Mr Ekpe re-joined Ecobank as GCEO in 2005 having previously been Ecobank’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) from 1996 to 2001. Between 2002 and 2003 he served as CEO of United Bank for Africa. From 2004 to 2005 he was a partner at Africa Capital Alliance. He was also previously a non-executive director at UAC Nigeria plc, Dorman Long Engineering and Virgin Nigeria Airways, and non-executive vice-chairman of ADC African Development Corporation AG.
He currently serves as non-executive director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and chairman of its risk committee, non-executive chairman of Cellular Systems International (trading as Wari), non-executive chairman of Africa Strategic Impact Fund, non-executive director of Dangote Flour Mills plc, non-executive chairman of Multiverse Plc, and Honorary President of the Business Council for Africa.
He has over 30 years of African and international banking experience, including serving as a vice president and head of Structured Trade and Corporate Finance for sub-Saharan Africa for Citibank. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration from Manchester University and Manchester Business School, respectively.

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Rubelyn Alcantara
Chief Marketing Officer, Head of Strategic Partnerships & Geographic Expansion
Homestrings

Raised to never forget where the heart truly lies, Rubelyn watched her family send money back to the Philippines and witnessed the impact these investments made in their provincial town in Batangas.  Ms. Alcantara is the Chief Marketing Officer, Head of Strategic Partnerships & Geographic Expansion for Homestrings, an investment platform that facilitates investments from the diaspora and impact investing to make a difference in the world.   In this capacity, Rubelyn works to build up the membership base of diaspora investors looking to invest in projects in frontier markets, facilitate an interactive experience for our members through the content, strategic partnerships and membership tools including news & analysis, webinars and events Homestrings provides, and seek out & develop new geographic areas for project offerings to the Homestrings platform. 
A Canadian native, Rubelyn’s background stems in business development,  marketing & sales strategy. Rubelyn most recently served as the managing director of Push Observer, a media technology start-up in Tanzania, making it the leading business and market intelligence source in East Africa. 
She brings her experience in uncovering global opportunities: over the past nine years, she’s lived in 14 different countries and traveled to 48 and counting, analyzing economies and producing country campaigns for executives and governments in Africa, Asia and Europe. These reports were distributed in various publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, FORTUNE and former The International Herald Tribune now know as the New York Times International.
She holds a Masters in Business Administration at IE Business School (IE), a BA in Communications and Political Science from Simon Fraser University (Canada) and a Diploma in Broadcast Performing Arts from Columbia Academy (Canada).

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Anisha Archary
HRD
Old Mutual Emerging Markets

Anisha Archary is the Human Resources Director of Old Mutual Emerging Markets. The Emerging Markets portfolio spans South Africa, the rest of Africa, Colombia, Mexico, India & China and has a combined workforce of 31 000 employees.   Previously Anisha held the position of Executive Vice President Global Passenger Services, Product & Marketing of SAA where she spent 12 years.   She holds a Masters Degree in Psychology and has completed Leadership Programmes in Switzerland, South Africa and Harvard Business School.   She has spent the last 28 years in the Corporate World learning & contributing across the Transport, Retail and Financial Services sectors.   She has lived and worked in South Africa and India and her work has allowed for extensive travel across the African continent where her passion for building teams across boundaries and integrating new acquisitions into the Old Mutual business can be seen.

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Kirstie Bean
HR Director South and Southern Africa
GSK

Kirstie graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1994 with a B.Soc.Science with majors in Industrial Sociology, International Politics and Industrial Relations. Kirstie has worked in the pharmaceutical sector since 1997 and for GSK for 10 years. Most of her career has been in the commercial sector and, more recently, in commercial HR, Learning and Organisational Development, before moving into her current role. Kirstie also sits on the Board of Directors for GSK SA PTY Ltd.
Kirstie has a huge passion for development and leadership capability within the organisation and plays an integral role not only in the roll out of coaching capability, but also by working as a Job+ Coach within the global GSK organisation. As an accredited facilitator for Insights Discovery, Kirstie does a lot of work within the organisation on behavioural preferences and understanding how to leverage greatness from individuals through adapting, connecting and flexing styles in the changing workplace.

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Meryl Bengtsson
Human Resources Director, East and Southern Africa Region
Bolloré Africa Logistics

Meryl has a wealth of experience in Human Resources, having started her career working for Coca Cola Bottling Plant in South Africa.  Her travel lust has seen her travel and work in such far-flung places as Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Botswana. During her career, Meryl has had the opportunity to work in a variety of industries with human resource management responsibility of different countries – particularly in Africa. This experience has garnered her valuable insight into different cultural contexts and the challenges that industry faces regarding the recruitment and retention of key talent in an emerging continent. 
She holds a Master of Science Degree in International Human Resource Management from the University of Liverpool.

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Steve Brockie
GM Sub Saharan Africa
Johnson & Johnson

Steve joined Johnson & Johnson in 1999 and first started working with sub Saharan Africa in 2001. In the last 14 years, Steve has built up incredible knowledge of the continent’s healthcare sector and has overseen huge transformation of J&J’s business and go-to-market strategy.  Steve has led the sub Saharan Africa region for the last 6 years and during this period both the business and sales force have trebled in size. Steve takes pride in his commitment to on-going people development and the creation of a strong and diverse talent pipeline.

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Roberta Dutra
Client Services Manager
Global Career Company

Roberta has over 10 years’ experience in client management and support, headhunting, talent acquisition, talent mapping and various HR services to clients and candidates across a full range of sectors. She has been working at Global Career Company since 2010 and placed over 200 senior level candidates into multinational companies across Africa.

Virginie Fernandez

Virginie Fernandez
HRD Latin America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East & Canada
Möet Hennessy

Virginie Fernandez has 16 years of experience in Human Resources and Business development, a multicultural and multilingual profile, and a comprehensive experience in Europe and Latin America. She has spent 7 years in the Insurance Industry and 9 years in the Luxury Industry (Wines & Spirits, Perfumes & Cosmetics, Fashion Retail). She has extensive experience in the management of HR main processes (HR development, performance management, organization management review, budgeting and reporting), the coordination of the application of Group policies within a region, the recruitment of best talents internally or externally, the management of international transfers at regional or local levels, the definition of compensation policies, and the permanent coaching to executives and employees.

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Sipho Gumbi
HR Executive
Old Mutual Africa

Sipho Gumbi is a mature HR Business partner with over 20 years working experience in different
business sectors especially management consulting, telecoms and financial services.
He has 7 years experience at senior management in most African countries and the Middle East
focusing on building, shaping and embedding global HR capabilities and practices with emphasis on
HR business partnering, HR strategy management, organisational design, business transformation,
culture change, EVP and business performance management. Sipho holds an MSc in Innovation and Change, MBA, BCom and Diploma Journalism.

Fredrick Kanga

Fredrick Kanga
Head of HR
Exim Bank Tanzania

Frederick Kanga is a successful Human Resources Professional with over twenty years experience spent in various challenging assignments in Tanzania, and mainly focused in transformation of successful and fast growing organisations. His vast HR experience has been in Manufacturing, Airlines, Telecommunications and Banking. He is currently leading the transformation agenda of Exim Bank, the fifth largest Bank in Tanzania and the first Tanzanian Bank to acquire footprint outside Tanzania. He holds Bachelor of Arts (Public Administration) and a Master in Business Administration (Human Resources Management), both from the University of Dar es Salaam and he is a senior member of the Association of Tanzania Employers.

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Stephen Tio Kauma
Director, HR
African Export-Import Bank

Tio is an HR professional with 20 years of international business management experience. He has worked as a Business Advisor with KPMG, HR Consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Head of HR for Lafarge Cement (Hima Cement) in Uganda. Since 2008, he has been working as Head of HR for the African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) a Pan-African multilateral Bank Headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. He holds a BA and MBA from Makerere University, Uganda and a Diploma in HR from Uganda Management Institute.

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Abdul Kibuuka
Group Competence Development Manager 
Tullow Oil

Abdul started his HR practice with The Royal Dutch Shell Plc in 2003 after graduating from The London School of Economics with a Master’s Degree in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management. His career at Shell spanned several roles that gave him opportunity to travel across Africa, Europe and The Middle East on various assignments. He headed the HR department at Shell Uganda until June 2008 when he joined Tullow Oil as the pioneer Head of Human Resources. He is currently Group Competence Development Manager for Tullow Oil Plc based at Tullow’s head office in London where is accountable for Tullow’s Group’s Talent Management, Performance and Training strategies. Abdul’s interests and strengths are mainly in the areas of Performance Management, Organizational Development, Pay Dynamics, Talent Management and Leadership Development.  He is a member of several local and international professional forums. Abdul was President of The Human Resource Manager’s Association of Uganda (HRMAU) for two consecutive terms between 2010-2014. He has spoken at various local, regional and international forums on varied people management subjects.

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Ghita Kittane Belmaachi
HR and Communications Director
Saham Group

Ghita Kittane holds a Master’s degree in management sciences from Paris I – Sorbonne university. She started her career in 1994 at the African Insurance Company where she created and developed the bancassurance business and also insurance for Individuals, supported by an innovative communication strategy oriented toward the wider public. In 2000, she joined the Royal Moroccan Insurance where she establishes the Communication Department. In 2004 she took charge of the communication of the new merged entity RMA Wataniya. Then she has been actively involved in the creation of the last telecom operator in Morocco, Wana. In 2007, with the wisdom that only comes from over 10 years of experience, she chose to break new ground to consult and assist large companies in the development of their communication and management strategies. Since late 2012, she joined SAHAM Group as the Group’s Director of Communications and Human Resources.

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Precious Murena
HRD
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe

Precious Murena has 10 years working experience in different industries: Mining, Manufacturing, Retail and HR Consultancy. She is known for her passion and drive for businesses to adopt workforce Diversity & Inclusion as a lever for competitive advantage. She focuses particularly on Gender diversity & Disability. She has addressed many leaders from various organisations at Key business forums in Africa around this topic. She is also known for her celebrated achievements in Talent management and people development at Lafarge. Her extensive work and focus on bringing value addition to the employee in Lafarge was what landed Lafarge Zimbabwe the prestigious Best Employer brand award in 2014.
Precious sits on the board of the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe. She has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Zimbabwe, a Bachelor of Science Honors degree in Psychology from the University of Zimbabwe and a Diploma in Personnel Management from the Institute of Personnel Management Zimbabwe (IPMZ)

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Aziza Mzoughi
HRBP Manager
Vistaprint 

Aziza N’zoughi advises leadership on key talent issues and strategies: creating cross-functional partnerships to drive better business results through a more engaged and strategic deployed talent pool; building strong employee value propositions that attract, develop, reward and retain top talent; providing organizational design leadership and change programs; analysing trends and metrics in partnership with HR group to develop solutions, programs and policies; managing and resolving employee relations issues; maintaining in depth knowledge of legal requirements related to day-to-day management of employees, reducing legal risks and ensuring regulatory compliance; providing day to day performance management guidance to line management (coaching, counseling, career development, disciplinary actions); working closely with management and employees to improve work relationships; providing HR Policy guidance and interpretation; providing guidance and input on unit restructures, workforce planning, succession planning; identifying training needs for units and individual coaching needs; and participating in evaluation and monitoring of success of training programs.

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Alex Mugan
Marketing Director
Global Career Company

Alex’s approach to the Marketing function centres on value proposition, the creation of a compelling story and the need to re-position Marketing at the core of the commercial approach in a changing sales environment.
Alex has led Marketing teams focused on B2B and B2C across a variety of sectors, and specialises in working across the strategic and operational, from positioning the Marketing programme within the wider business, to Marketing planning across digital and offline channels.
Alex heads up the team at Global Career Company, where his efforts support the delivery of Recruiting Excellence for Africa, by positioning the biggest brands to meet the brightest talent. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge with an MA in history.

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Javier Panizo Del Valle
Global Head of Talent, Learning and Development
PUMA Energy

Javier Panizo Del Valle is a senior highly international Human Resources professional with over 15 years professional experience developed in multinational companies in industrial, IT and financial service sectors. Highly international with experience working on the arena in Western and Eastern Europe, US, LatAm, Sub Saharian Africa, SE Asia and Australia. Broad strategic HR management experience in key global roles, in culturally varied and international environments. Strongly customer oriented and results focused, with sound knowledge of multiple disciplines within HR. Accustomed to working in dynamic, ever changing environments, acting as a solid coach and advisor at senior executive level.

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Eric Pietrac
HR and Sustainability VP
Subsea 7

After 10 years as an engineer in France and in Argentina for Saint Gobain, Eric decided to make HR a second career. He has 15 years of experience in various sectors like manufacturing, professional services, real estates and oil and gas. Eric has written 2 books and numerous articles on employer branding and on emerging markets.

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Sarah Roe
Director and Co-Founder
Global Career Company

Sarah,  Director and Co-founder of Global Career Company, is a BA Honours graduate of Social Anthropology with African and Asian studies. Sarah has extensive international experience in both the recruitment and the marketing sectors.
Sarah also has a breadth of experience in recruitment advertising having worked on European and Global Graduate & MBA Campaigns.
Alongside her work at Global Career Company, Sarah is also Vice Chairman of Friends of Education Africa, a South African based charity which helps to bring education to some of the poorest children in the country.

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Anne Sefu-Kobai
HR Business Leader – Africa / Developing Countries
GSK

Anne is a result oriented & internationally experienced senior hr professional, with strong expertise in strategic HR business partnership, rewards management & change management.
Her specialties: HR Partner In Business Consulting, Rewards, Change & Talent Management; HR Experience In Mature & Emerging Markets Within A Global FMCG, Telecommunications; Strong Communication Skills, Able To Interface Well With Management; Project Management (Prince 2), HRIS (SAP HR); Experience In Working With And Leading Virtual & Geographically Dispersed Teams.

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Jean-Paul Thill
Head of Francophone Africa
KPMG

Jean-Paul has been Head of Francophone Africa since October 2012. Before then, between 2005 and 2012, he was Chief Executive Officer, KPMG EMA region. Chairman of the EMA Management Team, Member of KPMG International Global Executive Team. Jean-Paul is former Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of KPMG India, CIS/Russia and Turkey. He is an audit partner in KPMG’s member firm in France and based in Paris. He graduated in Business Studies from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Paris) and joined Peat Marwick & Mitchell in Paris in 1985, becoming a partner in 1995. Jean Paul has been the Lead Partner for some of the largest French companies. He was formerly Head of Global & EMA Industrial Markets and a member of the French Executive team.

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Asma Trabelsi 
Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant
Global Career Company

Asma has been part of the Global Career Company’s international team since 2014. She is responsible for the Maghreb and African attraction, for recruitment strategies implementations, for finding new attraction channels and for delivering African talent market analysis. Asma comes from a scientific background: she holds a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Pierre and Marie Curie (France). She has experience in technical and scientific recruitment within different international pharmaceutical and research institutions working with the African diaspora.

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Schéhérazade Zekkar
HR Director
Global Career Company

With a Masters in Human Resources from a London university and a Masters in Coaching and Change Management from a French University, Schéhérazade has spent many years working as an HR Professional and Talent Director in different places around the world. She has worked both in-house and as a consultant across industries and for organisations ranging from tech start-ups to large global multinationals. She has managed people from different cultural backgrounds across continents and helped companies succeed in their growth and international development by putting together talent strategies that are adapted to today’s globalised world. With Global Career Company, she brings together her passion for talent development and diversity by placing her skills and experience at the service not only of her internal clients but also Global Career Company’s client and candidate base.

 

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