Hafsat Abiola is the CEO of China-Africa Bridge (CAB), a company that facilitates business between China and Africa. CAB works on a diverse portfolio of projects including infrastructure and raw materials involving several African countries.
A noted speaker, Hafsat has been interviewed for the BBC, CNN, Voice of America, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, South African Broadcasting Corporation and numerous Nigerian programmes. She is also the author of many articles published in national and international media, including the New York Times, Time, International Herald Tribune and Nigerian newspapers. She is the assistant editor of Imagining Ourselves, an international anthology of young women, which was published in 2006.
An Ashoka fellow and a World Economic Forum ‘Young Global Leader’, Hafsat graduated with a Magna Cum Laude degree in Development Economics from Harvard in 1996 and holds a Masters in International Development degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Kadaria Ahmed is the Editor of NEXT and Vice – President at Timbuktu Media (Publishers of NEXT Newspapers and( 234next.com).
She has over 10 years experience as a journalist and has also worked in corporate communications in senior positions.
Ms.Ahmed is a Chevening scholar with an MA in Television Production from the University of London. Her early career was with the British Broadcasting Corporation where she worked as a journalist/senior producer reporting from diverse places including, Eritrea, New York, and South Africaamong others. She has interviewed notable figures such as Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria
Ms. Ahmed was also part of a BBC team of four that provided annual briefings on Africa to members of the British House of Commons as well as members of the House of Lords.
Leila Akahloun is the Integrator for Africa Programs of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, an international development organization that identifies and invests in social entrepreneurs known as Ashoka Fellows. She has 10 years experience in high net worth fundraising, program management, as well as design and implementation of organizational strategy. As Ashoka’s Integrator for Africa Programs, her work is at the cutting edge of a dramatic transformation in social development whereby she is helping leading social entrepreneurs who are advancing the fields of health, education, the environment, human rights, women’s empowerment and economic development establish themselves as a powerful force in improving lives on the African continent. Leila is based in South Africa and holds an undergraduate degree in International Politics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an MA degree in International Relations from the University of Chicago.
