Event Details
Africa's population is set to double by 2050 and the International Monetary Fund projects that Africa will be the world's second-fastest-growing region by 2020. Forecasts such as these suggest opportunity abounds for the region and for the rest of world.
Rapid urbanization, a large working-age population and accelerated technological change are creating new opportunities for consumers and businesses alike. Yet in order to drive sustainable growth two considerations are key: corporate Africa needs to attract investment to empower African citizens and social innovation must take hold.
Join us at the Chicago Booth London campus to gain knowledge and insight into this exciting emerging market. Listen to business leaders already orchestrating growth and business advancement on the Continent in the fields of media, private equity and banking, development and small business.
The evening will host a panel of Africa experts, keynote speeches and networking opportunities.
Program
18:30 Registration & Networking
19:00 Welcome remarks
19:10 Panel Discussion – Financing Africa's Long Term Growth
20:15 Closing Keynote Speaker - Amy Lehman, AB '96, MBA '05, MD '05
20:40 Networking Reception
Our leading panel of experts includes:
- Amy Lehman, AB '96, MBA '05, MD '05, Founder of Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic who delivers health care to more than 30 million people in remote central Africa
- Eric Malterre, MBA'16 (AXP-15) CUO at AXA Africa Specialty Risks
- Karima Ola, Partner at LeapFrog Investments
- Daniel Smaller, MBA'82, investor, banker and Managing Director of Emerging Impact
- Andrew Tillery, '03 (EXP-8) Chief Investment Officer, AgDevCo
- Onyekachi Wambu, Executive Director at AFFORD, the African Foundation for Development, and board member of ADEPT (Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform)
Partners of the inaugural Chicago Booth Africa Forum:
AVCA
AFFORD
AXA Africa Specialty Risks (Gold sponsors)
DixHuit
Movemeback
Join us for these influential game changers in Africa!
Speaker Profiles
Amy Lehman, AB '96, MBA '05, MD '05 (Speaker)
Founder, Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic
Dr. Amy G. Lehman is the founder of the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic/WAVE, an international organization whose mission is to address the problem of health care access for millions of people who live in the isolated, but strategically critical Lake Tanganyika Basin/Great Lakes region of Central Africa.
The Lake Tanganyika Basin is not only Africa's largest source of available fresh water (and the world's second largest), but is home to enormous mineral resources vital to next generation technologies, newly discovered fossil fuels, and hundreds of endangered species and unique biodiversity. Dr. Lehman and WAVE have thus become recognized and sought after as key experts, advisers and partners to actors as diverse as regional governments and local tribes, through to donor governments, philanthropists, non-profit organizations and multi-national corporations increasingly coming to understand the magnitude of importance of the Lake Tanganyika Basin across health, energy, environment and economic development disciplines.
Daniel Smaller, MBA'82 (Moderator)
Managing Director, Emerging Impact
Dan is a veteran Emerging and Frontier Markets investor and banker. For 20 years, he worked on the trading and sell-side around the world, and the next 15 years, on the buy-side in Asia and the Middle East. After a two year around the world trip that started in 1975 at the age of 17 which included living with the Ebon Tribes of Northern Borneo and the Pashto in Pakistan's Swat Valley, he decided he would turn in his backpack for a briefcase. A mistake that would cost him 40 years of grief, but meant that he could continue investigating new markets around the Frontier market world. Dan built and led Emerging Market Equity Sales and Marketing teams for Citibank, Lehman, UBS and DB where he was first to introduce investors to markets from Pakistan to Peru and Croatia to Egypt.
On the asset management side, he built Deutsche's AM arm in the MENA and later was instrumental in establishing the MENA region's first truly independent asset management firm - Algebra Capital.
He returned to London and joined Movement Capital to look after Partnerships.
Dan has a degree from the School of International Service from American University in Washington DC and an MBA from Chicago Booth. He sits on the Board of Pakistan's largest independent asset management firm as well as other boards in the media and FinTech spaces.
Dan is currently a resident in London although many wonder why he ever left his roots in Palo Alto. Now living in Soho, he enjoys political comedy, tennis, good movies and scuba diving. He lives for skiing, as long as it involves powder, bumps, speed and air.
Eric Malterre, MBA'16 (AXP-15) (Panelist)
Chief Underwriting Officer, AXA Africa Specialty Risks
Eric Malterre is the Chief Underwriting Officer and a member of the Executive Committee of AXA Africa Specialty Risks, a newly born Lloyd's Syndicate. Currently working out of London, Mr. Malterre has spent most of his career in emerging markets. He currently oversees the development of tailored risk mitigation and insurance solutions to support business growth across Africa. Prior to this, Mr. Malterre was in charge of the Strategic Partnerships for Marsh in Asia where he spent almost 10 years.
Mr. Malterre has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a Master degree from HEC. He also graduated from the French Military Academy of Saint-Cyr. As he spent several years in multiple territories in Africa growing up, Mr. Malterre is well familiar with African cultures and business environment.
Karima Ola (Speaker)
Partner, LeapFrog Investments
Karima is a Partner focused on African investments at LeapFrog Investments, the specialist investor in emerging markets. A deeply experienced operator and investor, she has significant experience working across the continent.
Karima is widely recognised for her work shaping the investment landscape in Africa and was recently named one of "Africa's women to watch" by Bloomberg.
Previously, Karima was Chief Investment Officer and a member of the board at ADC African Development Corporation, where she initiated the company's entry into Nigeria and ran a number of multimillion-dollar transactions. Prior to this, she was a Managing Partner at Chayton Capital LLP, where she led the creation of the company's first Africa Agriculture fund. Earlier, Karima was Executive Director, Global Equities, at HSBC in a role that spanned the UK, Hong Kong and South Africa.
Karima is a Member of UK Institute of Directors and holds aBachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a postgraduate diploma in Economics from the University of London. She speaks French and Yoruba and is learning Swahili.
Andrew Tillery, '03 (EXP-8) (Speaker)
Chief Investment Officer, AgDevCo
Andrew is responsible for the review and quality control of all investments across the business. He has 30 years of experience in agribusiness including as CEO of greenfield start-ups in Africa and as investment director of a large private equity firm based in Nairobi. He holds two Masters degrees from Oxford University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Andrew serves as a non-executive director on 3 African agribusiness boards and is a former adviser to several agribusiness investment funds in sub-Saharan Africa
Onyekachi Wambu (Panelist)
Executive Director at AFFORD, Board member of ADEPT (Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform)
Onyekachi is Executive Director at AFFORD (African Foundation for Development), a charity that seeks to enhance the contributions that Africans in the diaspora make to Africa's development and is a board member of ADEPT (Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform). He was educated at the University of Essex and completed his M.Phil. in International Relations at Selwyn College, Cambridge.
Before AFFORD, he worked extensively as a journalist and television producer, with periods at the BBC, Channel 4, PBS and as editor of The Voice Newspaper. Onyekachi's publications include Under the Tree of Talking: Leadership for Change in Africa (ed) and Empire Windrush: 50 years of writing about black Britain (ed). His previous positions at AFFORD, include head of communications, and Director of Strategy and Policy.