Careen Abb
SDGs and Impact Lead

Careen leads the SDGs and Impact team at UNEP FI. This initiative aims to catalyse the finance sector’s ability to finance sustainable development and the transition to a more inclusive and sustainable economy – as per the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015. At the heart of the Initiative lie the Principles for Positive Impact Finance and the belief that impact that impact-based business and financing models will be key to addressing the SDG financing gap.

This focus builds on close to 10 years at UNEP FI, during which Careen helped develop and expand the sustainable finance agenda in emerging markets, by supporting the development of strong in-country sustainable finance networks and the creation of a well-established training programme on environmental & social risk management. A strong believer in the need for simple communication tools for banking practitioners, Careen is also co-author of UNEP FI’s Guide to Banking & Sustainability.

Rachel A. Aron
Principal Social Development Specialist, African Development Bank

Rachel A. Aron is a Principal Social Development Specialist at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). She is responsible for mainstreaming social development concerns primarily in private sector operations and also in public sector operations. These operations cover diverse sectors, such as transport, energy, agriculture, mining, financial intermediation, etc.
Rachel co-managed AfDB’s Environmental and Social Management Training Program for Financial Institutions. She has actively engaged in innovative work related to environmental, social, and/or gender matters for the Climate Investment Funds, the Global Environment Facility, and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa on behalf of AfDB.
Prior to joining AfDB, Rachel worked for Africare, the League of Kenya Women Voters, the World Health Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and other organizations. She has a MA in International Development from American University (Washington, DC, United States) with specializations in community development and gender. She is fluent in French.

Gladys Awuku
Assistant Director, Bank of Ghana

Ms. Gladys Awuku is an Assistant Director with Bank of Ghana, which is the Central Bank of Ghana. She is the head of CSR and Protocol Division of the Secretary’s Department, and is responsible for managing the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility Fund and Protocol activities of the Bank.
She is the Coordinator of Sustainable Banking activities both in the Bank and the industry, and is instrumental in driving the Sustainability agenda in the Central Bank. She chairs the internal Sustainability Committee of the Bank which is working towards establishing a unique sustainability footprint for the Bank.

Winnie Badiah
CEO and Co-Founder, Grassroots Bima

Winnie Badiah is the CEO & Co-Founder of GrassRoots Bima, an insurtech startup established with the mission to narrowing the insurance protection gap through technology. GrasssRoots Bima’s solution, WazInsure, utilizes a user-centric approach for all insurance stakeholders, making insurance simpler, transparent and cost-effective.

Winnie is an actuarial professional and an advocate of inclusive insurance working closely with underwriters and aggregators across the industry. Before devoting her work full time to GrassRoots Bima, she worked with numerous clients serving in areas such as delivering risk assessment and management while at Deloitte Kenya and AON. Subsequently, Winnie worked as Business Innovations Officer at MicroEnsure involved in carrying out fieldwork reviews and creation of models for a wide range of microinsurance products. She is passionate about innovation and technology to impact people’s lives. Winnie holds an MSc Actuarial Management from Heriot-Watt University (UK).

Dolika Banda
Non-Executive Director of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated; Chair of the Board committee on sustainable banking business affairs and CEO of ARC Insurance Company

African Risk Capacity Insurance Company Limited (“ARC” Limited) uses modern finance mechanisms such as risk pooling and risk transfer to create pan-African climate response systems.
Dolika is an independent consultant, with over 25 years’ experience in banking and financial management and a recent focus on supporting banking and economic development of sub-Saharan Africa. From 2013 to 2015, she served as Regional Director and Private Equity Fund of Funds Director for Africa at the UK’s Commonwealth Development Company (“CDC”). Prior to this, she spent 16 years working as a senior advisor and director in the Financial Markets, Credit, Accounting and Treasury departments of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). She has also held senior roles in Corporate and Merchant Banking at Barclays Bank, Zambia, and in Financial Control, Credit, Treasury and International Relationships at Citibank, Zambia.
Dolika is a non-executive director of Harith General Partners, a pan-African infrastructure fund and DFID/UK AID’s Financial Sector Deepening Africa and Financial Sector Deepening Zambia. She chairs the Focus Investment Group, a SME financial services provider in Zambia.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Marketing and a Masters in International Business and Banking.
ETI Board Committees: Social, Ethics & Reputation Committee; Risk Committee

Nigel Beck
Executive & Global Head Environmental and Social Risk and Finance, Standard Bank Group

Nigel is the Chair of the Global Equator Principles steering committee. Within Standard Bank, he provides an advisory role to clients, transactions and projects, around environmental and social risk mitigations and opportunities within transactions as part of the deal team. His responsibilities include the development, implementation and management of the Equator Principles and leads E&S risk and finance matters within the Standard Bank Group, as well as the development of ‘green products’ and services within business (CIB, PBB and Wealth).

He is a Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (MIEMA) and is a Chartered Environmentalists within the UK. Nigel has a BSc from the University of Cape Town, BSc (Hons) from Pretoria University, MSc & DIC (Environmental Technology) from Imperial College, University of London, and an MBA (Finance) from Wits Business School and Executive Leadership Programme from Duke Fuqua School of Business.

Kweku Bedu-Addo
Chief Executive Officer, South Africa & Southern Africa, Standard Chartered Bank

Kweku Bedu-Addo is the Chief Executive (CEO) of Standard Chartered Bank for South Africa & Southern Africa. Kweku was appointed to his role in August 2017.
Kweku’s career has spanned Public Policy, International Development, and Banking & Finance. He worked in the Ministry of Finance in the 1990s during the implementation of Ghana’s Structural Adjustment Program.
He joined Standard Chartered Bank Ghana in 2000 and rose to become the first Ghanaian Chief Executive in the Bank’s 121-year history in Ghana by 2010. During that decade, he held several senior Wholesale Bank roles in Ghana and West Africa, Zambia and Singapore. He is a recipient of the prestigious Wholesale Bank Global Star Awards in 2007 for his contribution to the global business.
His role as Chief Executive for Ghana was expanded in 2015 to include Gambia and Sierra Leone until 2017, when he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer for South Africa and the Southern Africa Region.
Kweku is the immediate past Chairman of the Ghana Stock Exchange and immediate past Vice Chairman of the Ghana Fixed Income Market Council. He was on the Global Investment Committee, Acumen Fund, New York from 2012 to 2016.
Kweku holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ghana and a Masters degree in Economic Policy Management from Columbia University, New York.
He is married with 3 children and his hobbies include astronomy and reading on politics and history.

Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi
Group Executive Managing Director of BMCE Bank of Africa and Chairman of Bank of Africa Group

Mr Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi is the Group Executive Managing Director of BMCE Bank. He is Chairman of the General Management Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Group Executive Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Senior Credit Committee.
As part of BMCE Bank Group’s overseas strategy, Mr Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi is Chairman of BOA Group, a banking group in which BMCE Bank Group has a stake of just under 73% with operations in 19 countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. He is also a Director of the Group’s European banking subsidiaries.
As for his other functions, he is either Chairman or Director of a number of Group companies in Morocco in the areas of investment banking, specialised financial services – factoring, consumer credit, leasing and loan recovery – and insurance brokerage. Within the framework of strategic partnerships with benchmark shareholders, Mr Benjelloun-Touimi is a Director of RMA Watanya, an insurance company and FinanceCom, its holding company.
Reflecting the Group’s commitment to corporate social responsibility, Mr Benjelloun-Touimi is a Director of BMCE Bank Foundation for Education and the Protection of the Environment.
He also sits on the Board of Proparco, the French development finance institution.
Driven by the belief that the financial sector has a fundamental role in the realization of a sustainable, positive and inclusive economy, Mr Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi plays a crucial role in the development of BMCE Bank of Africa Group’s leadership in Responsible Finance, on a regional scale
Born in 1960, Mr Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi is a Doctor of Money, Finance and Banking from University Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne. He began his career in financial markets in France and went on to become Head of Research within the Securities division at one of France’s leading investment banks. He joined BMCE Bank in 1990.

Adrian Bertrand
Head of Africa and Middle East, Principles for Responsible Investment

In this part time advisory role, Adrian is responsible for raising awareness about the materiality of ESG issues for investment processes among asset owner, investment manager and service provider signatories to the UN-supported PRI across the African continent.
Adrian supports new and existing PRI signatories in their voluntary implementation of the PRI Principles through best practice development and dissemination, and institutional shareholder collaboration opportunities in Africa.
Adrian also serves as a part time consultant to ASISA, with responsibility for providing executive resources to the CRISA Committee.
Adrian has recently partnered with Alternative Prosperity to launch Six Capitals ESG Advisory, a consulting firm providing ESG advisory support to South African institutional investors with a strong focus on trustee education and asset owner support with regards their responsible investment and active ownership commitments.
Prior to working full time for PRI as Head: Africa & Middle East (2015 – 2017), Adrian spent four years (2011 – 2015) working as the ESG Manager at the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), where Adrian was responsible for managing and implementing the GEPF’s Responsible Investment programme.

Brigitte Burnett
Head of Sustainability, Enterprise Governance and Compliance, Nedbank

Brigitte Burnett is the Head of Sustainability and executive member of Enterprise Governance and Compliance, Nedbank Limited.

Brigitte serves as the sustainable development strategy and positive impact finance advisor to the bank’s Executive Committee and the board’s Transformation, Social and Ethics Committee.

Brigitte acquired her knowledge in compliance, governance, risk and sustainability over some 16+ years in the banking industry.

Brigitte is also a member of Nedbank’s integrated reporting team responsible for the bank’s Integrated Report and the various supplementary reports. She manages the bank’s submissions to inter alia the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index, the JSE Responsible Investment Index and the South African Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

Brigitte is committed to leveraging the scale and influence of collective action to shape the pace and direction of sustainable development in South Africa to address the many socioeconomic challenges within planetary boundaries.

Jacques Celliers
CEO, First National Bank

Jacques has been part of FirstRand Group since 2001 holding various roles across consumer and commercial segments.

Jacques is especially proud of his 12-year track record in FNB where he has helped lift the bank’s performance through a series of innovations and revisions of existing business models.

Prior to the Group he worked at ABN Amro Securities and at a privately held diversified medium corporate. He is fluent in English, Afrikaans and Zulu. He holds a B.Eng (SU) and an MBA (UCT).

Denis Childs
Head of Positive Impact Finance and Environmental and Social Advisory, Société Générale

Denis Childs began his career at Société Générale in 1978 and spent his entire career in developing new areas of business. In 1981, he moved to Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking to develop Export Credit Department as a leader of the industry. In 1993, he created the Commodity and Trade Finance worldwide Business line and further on Mining Oil and Gas and Power Project Finance were added to his responsibility. During that period, he created the “Global Commodity Fund” (“Debt Fund”) and “Agrofinanzas,” a “Sofol” in Mexico (“Farmer Financing”).
End of 2008, he started a new challenge both heading the Emerging and Sustainable Development Department of the CIB. As a result he is now in charge of all CIB ‘Positive Impact Finance including Environmental and Social Advisory (Transactions & Clients). He is also member of the steering committee of the “Positive Impact Finance Initiative of UNEP-FI (United Nation Environmental Program Financial Initiative).
His main focus today is to develop:
– Impact based finance to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in such areas as Smart Cities, Energy Efficiency,, Mobility , Food Security, Healthcare and Social inclusion and.
– A Positive Impact Market Place and associated Services
On January 2015 Denis CHILDS joined the Board of the UNEP-FI Banking Commission.
Denis Childs holds a Master in Law from Paris I and an MBA from IV Universities

Siobhan Cleary
Head of Research and Public Policy, World Federation of Exchanges

Siobhan is currently Head of Research and Public Policy at the World Federation of Exchanges. In this role she coordinates the work of the WFE membership in areas of sustainability, emerging markets and SMEs and also drives research in these areas. Prior to joining the WFE, Siobhan published research on stock exchanges and sustainability for the UNEP FI Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System and was Director of Strategy and Public Policy at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (which included responsibility for the JSE’s sustainability strategy). Siobhan has an LLB and an MBA from the University of Cape Town and an MA in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She is also a Yale World Fellow of 2011.

Simone Dettling
Co-Lead, Banking

Simone leads the Banking Team of the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), a global partnership between the UN and more than 200 banks, investors and insurers. As such she manages leadership initiatives with banks from over 60 countries around climate-aligned, sustainable finance. Formerly, Simone managed the German Government’s Emerging Markets Dialogue on Green Finance, under which she and her team worked with financial institutions from G20 Emerging Markets and Europe to integrate environmental costs into financial decision making and product development. As expert on green finance at the German International Cooperation (GIZ), she furthermore advised projects in emerging economies worldwide on renewable energy and energy efficiency financing, incorporation of natural capital considerations in financial decision making, as well as innovative approaches for green economic development. Simone holds an MA in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and during her career has lived and worked in various developing countries, such as Bangladesh, Lebanon, Syria and Malawi. Before joining UNEP FI she completed a half-year cycling trip from Germany to Iran.

Wendy Dobson
Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting

Dr Wendy Dobson is a Senior Managing Director in the Strategic Communications division of FTI Consulting. Wendy joined the financials team at the FTI Consulting Strategic Communications practice in July 2023. after 14-years at Standard Bank, Africa’s largest banking group.

Wendy was responsible for sustainability strategy, ESG, and climate policy in her role at Standard Bank, as well as ethics and conduct. Wendy has experience in navigating all aspects of sustainability from advising the Board, engaging investors, developing ESG and climate risk management capabilities, and managing ESG-related challenges and controversies. Wendy pioneered a commercial approach to sustainability and positive impact in the bank, integrating sustainability into the bank’s purpose and business.

Wendy also established the bank’s advocacy team in response to the changing regulatory environment for banks following the Global Financial Crisis, and led engagements with regulators, policy-makers and legislators.

Wendy played a leading role in the development of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and served as co-chair of the PRB Board until June 2023.

Wendy is an experienced public speaker on sustainable finance in emerging markets, just energy transition, responsible banking and related topics. Previous speaking engagements include panels and webinars hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, International Institute of Finance, Banking Association of South Africa, Sustainable Brands, and various events at COP27.

Jon Duncan
Head of Responsible Investment, Old Mutual Investment Group

Jon Duncan leads the Responsible Investment Programme at Old Mutual. The Programme is focused on driving the systematic integration of material environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues across the Group’s c£380 billion of funds under management. Jon also heads up the Sustainability Research and Engagement function at the Group’s South Africa-based asset manager, Old Mutual Investment Group, where he is involved in industry ESG research, the analysis of green growth opportunities, and engagement on regulatory issues and local industry initiatives, such as the Code for Responsible Investing South Africa (CRISA). Jon was involved in drafting CRISA and currently sits on the CRISA committee driving the application of the Code in South Africa. In 2015, Jon was appointed as Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, which brings together business, government and academia to find solutions to critical sustainability challenges. www.cisl.cam.ac.uk.
Jon has over 20 years of professional experience in the field of sustainability research and engagement. Previous roles included Partner at Environmental Resource Management and Senior Sustainability Researcher at Trialogue.

Jonathan Ferreira
Deputy Director, Financial Stability, National Treasury of South Africa

Jonathan Ferreira is a Tshwane-based economist, currently holding the position of ‘Deputy-director: Financial Stability’ within the Financial Sector Policy Unit at the South African National Treasury. Since Joining National Treasury in 2009 his areas of focus have included banking sector prudential regulation, market conduct and consumer protection (with a specific focus on long term insurance), insurance sector market development and most recently sustainable finance.
As part of the Insurance regulation team at Treasury, he is currently working on a green finance roadmap for South Africa, developing agricultural insurance products (in collaboration with SAIA) that are affordable for small-holder farmers, and implementing reforms to financial sector market conduct regulation. He holds a Master of Science (in Finance) degree from the University of London, a Master of Science degree (in Economics) from the University of Edinburgh, and Bachelor of Arts and Honours degrees from Rhodes University where he majored in philosophy, politics and economics. He is a Commonwealth Scholar and Mandela Washington fellow.

Jonathan First
Head, Syndication Finance, Development Bank of Southern Africa

Jonathan First is a lead specialist within the Structured Products Group and a member of the DBSA’s Innovation Hub. He works with the DBSA’s origination teams to conceptualize, develop, structure and distribute funding for large infrastructure projects in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa in the sectors of water, energy, ICT and transport/logistics. He is also leading the DBSA’s initiative that is working towards creating a Climate Finance Facility within DBSA to offer credit enhanced debt funding to catalyse blended finance in “green related” infrastructure projects and transactions.

Mr. First qualified as solicitor in South Africa and then spent 22 years in investment banking in Johannesburg, Toronto and the City of London. He represented the Canadian Banks on the Brazil, Argentina and Mexico debt restructuring committees during the 1980s South American debt crises. Mr. First originated several debt syndications for South African private and SOE enterprises post the 1994 elections when South Africa could once again access the Debt Capital Markets.

Louise Gardiner
Africa Coordinator for the Sustainable Banking Network, IFC

Louise Gardiner is a Sustainable Finance Consultant with IFC, part of the World Bank Group, and Africa Coordinator for the IFC-facilitated Sustainable Banking Network (SBN) (www.ifc.org/sbn) – a knowledge sharing platform for financial sector regulators and banking associations from currently 34 emerging markets. Since 2005, she has worked globally for IFC on projects supporting private and public sector initiatives in sustainability disclosure and sustainable finance.

Samson Gyamera
Chief Executive Officer, The Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive

Samson is the Chief Executive Officer of The Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE). Samson is a public transport practitioner, and Since 2007 he has been involved in the implementation of the Ghana Urban Transport project (GUTP) . The project is sponsored by the World Bank, AFD and the GEF with the aim of ensuring major reforms in the delivery of public transport services as part of improving mobility across the country.
The main deliverables of the GUTP are
1. Improving mobility in areas of participating local assemblies through a combination of engineering measures, management improvements, and regulation of the public transport industry and implementation of a BRT system.
2. Promote a shift to more environmentally sustainable transport modes and lower transport –related GHG emissions along the Pilot BRT corridor in Accra.
Samson and his team are directly responsible for ensuring the full participation of the informal sector in transportation reforms. As a result of their work, in December 2016, Samson and his team successfully ensured the commissioning of Accra’s first scheduled bus services, utilising dedicated infrastructure.

Geeda Haddad
Regional Coordinator for Middle East and North Africa, UNEP Finance Initiative

Geeda Haddad is Regional Coordinator for Middle East and North Africa at UNEP FI. For over three years, she engaged with industry leads and the finance sector in Africa and Middle East to assist in implementing banking, insurance and investment activities there. Her role consists of developing UNEP FI sustainable finance network with members in the region, facilitate knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning, support the sustainable finance agenda and addressing members requirements.
Geeda has over 6 years’ experience in political affairs, finance, business and economic development, and client relationship management. Prior to joining UNEP FI, Geeda worked at the Jordanian Government where she was responsible for managing projects under the EU-Jordanian Partnership and before that she worked at the European Investment Bank at Mobility Department.
She holds a Master Degree in European Affairs from the University of Maastricht and an Advanced Diploma in European Studies from the European College of Parma in Italy. She is fluent in English, Arabic and Italian.

Cassim Hansa
Group Head: Underwriting and claims, Continental Reinsurance Plc

Cassim Hansa is a professional civil engineer (Engineering Council of SA) and MBA graduate with experience in both the Engineering and Insurance Industries; in the USA and Southern Africa.
Over a period of thirteen years he worked for MunichRe in SA (as Chief Engineer for Sub-Saharan Africa) and its American subsidiary in Princeton, New Jersey.
In 2005, he started his own professional specialist engineering insurance consultancy.
In October, 2015 he was formally appointed MD – Continental Property and Engineering Risk Services (Pty) Ltd.
In December, 2016 he was formally appointed MD – Botswana Subsidiary – Continental Reinsurance Company Limited.

Tom Herbstein
Secretariat, ClimateWise

Tom Herbstein is a Senior Programme Manager for Sustainable Finance at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. His primary role is leading ClimateWise, a global network of almost 30 global insurance companies responding to the risk and opportunities the industry faces from climate change. Tom has a background in oceanography, international environmental and marine law and a PhD in Environmental Criminology from the University of Cape Town. His work has focused on new green economies, emerging economy development, sustainable finance, insurance and environmental governance. His current focus is on the challenges that physical and ‘transition’ risks of climate change present the finance sector and how insurance risk management expertise can support governments improve physical resilience to climate risks.

Karin Ireton
Director, Sustainability Matters

Karin Ireton is an independent sustainability consultant working internationally. She has previously held executive sustainability roles in the financial services, mining and energy sectors. While Head of Group Sustainability Management at Standard Bank she was the bank’s representative on UNEP FI and served in various capacities including the Banking Commission and the Climate Change Working Group, Africa Task Team and briefly on the Global Steering Committee. In 2013 she coorganised and co-hosted a China-Africa banking forum in Beijing with WWF China and the Chinese Banking Regulator

Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga
Head, UN Environment Office in South Africa

Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, Head of the UN Environment Office in South Africa, is an Economist/Urban and Regional Planner with over twenty five years of progressive experience in sustainable development. During the last nineteen years, Cecilia has been working with the United Nations, leading regional and global programmes on sustainable development and promoting partnership building and inter-agency cooperation.  Cecilia has played a coordinating role for various initiatives including Financing Urban Development, innovative financing of Ecosystem Based Adaptation and Public-Private Partnerships in Service Delivery. In the last six years Cecilia has been tasked with establishing the strategic presence of UN Environment in the South(ern)Africa.  Her role has entailed not only developing a country programme but also leveraging partnerships with private and public sector.

During her free time, Cecilia is a lover of classical music, theatre and art.

Kipkorir Koskei
Senior Technical Advisor, African Risk Capacity Agency

Mr. Kipkorir Koskei is a Senior Technical Advisor to the African Risk Capacity Agency (ARC) with extensive experience in financial risk management, financial underwriting and country risk assessment from a number of global financial institutions.

Before joining ARC, Mr Koskei was an underwriting analyst at Bank of America with specific coverage of corporates and financial institutions in South Africa, Turkey, Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to this, he worked at Deutsche Bank developing risk strategy within the Transaction Banking division developing product and regional strategy to help drive growth within the business. Kipkorir’s experience spans across corporates, government entities, sovereign wealth funds, supranationals and banks across various geographies having worked in London, Tokyo, and Singapore.

Kipkorir holds a Masters in Law (Finance Concentration) from University College London (UCL) and an undergraduate degree in Law from University of Warwick.

Myles Kritzinger
Senior Deal Maker, International Housing Solutions (IHS)

Joined IHS in 2014. Myles Kritzinger is a senior deal maker at IHS. Myles completed his articles at Deloitte in 2011 where his major assignments included the Mpact (Mondi) and Unitrans Toyota audits. Following the completion of his articles he undertook a secondment position at Deloitte Stamford, USA, and subsequently remained as Manager in Deloitte Consulting (“AFA”), Johannesburg. During his time in AFA he worked as a financial analyst for Absa Capital and Absa Retail banks. Following his employment at Deloitte, Myles was with the Nimble Group where he was in the Business Rescue and Financial Restructuring and Credit Services Group. He attended University of Johannesburg and is a Chartered Accountant (SA). He has also earned a Diploma in Insolvency Law (SARIPA) through TUKS and is a FAIS representative.

Dr Aisha Usman Mahmood
Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Banking, Central Bank of Nigeria

Dr Aisha Usman Mahmood is the Special Adviser to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Sustainable Banking tasked with the responsibility of driving the sustainability agenda within CBN and the Financial Industry since the launch of the transformative Nigeria Sustainable Banking Principles in 2012.

She has held several key positions in both Federal and Bauchi State governments between 1984 and 2012. She started her career as a Lecturer of Food Science and Technology in Federal Polytechnic Bauchi in 1984 and rose to the post of Senior Lecturer. She was appointed the Honorable Commissioner for Agriculture and Women Affairs by the Bauchi State government between 1997 and 2002.

She joined the Federal Civil Services in 2002 and was posted to the Federal Ministry of Environment with the mandate of ensuring sound chemicals and hazardous wastes management including the implementation of relevant Multilateral Environmental Agreements.

She was also appointed the Director-General and CEO of National Center for Women development, one of the National Gender machinery, from 2006 to 2009 and charged with the responsibility of mainstreaming gender into the National Development Agenda and women empowerment.

Dr Mahmood is a graduate of Agriculture from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Food Quality Control from University of Reading, UK and a Doctorate Degree in Biotechnology from University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.

Xoli Mngambi
political journalist, news broadcaster eNCA

Xoli Mngambi is a political journalist for news broadcaster eNCA. In 2013 he won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year regional Award for his coverage of the Marikana massacre on 16 august 2012.

Malcolm Mogotsi
Director of Minicipal Waste (solid) Support, Department of Environmental Affairs, Republic of South Africa

Malango Mughogho
Sustainable Finance Specialist, Independent Director and Mo Ibrahim Foundation Leadership Fellow

Malango is a skilled and experienced sustainable finance professional and Mo Ibrahim Foundation Leadership Fellow. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in the banking and development finance sectors, with the IFC, the DBSA, ING, Standard Chartered, WWF, and as a consultant, and views the finance sector, both private and public, as a critical stakeholder in delivering sustainable development.
Her current work as an independent consultant focuses on financial policy, programming, research and advocacy to address sustainability issues across the African continent, including climate change, water and gender equity.

Kennedy Mutisya
Chief Finance Officer, Kenya Bankers Association

Mr. Kennedy Mutisya is the Chief Finance Officer for the Kenya Bankers Association since December 2012.He is a seasoned Finance professional with many years of experience rotating through multiple roles within the finance function in East Africa. In his career he has worked in various industries, including Banking, Telecommunication, and Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and the Insurance sector.
At the KBA he is an active member of the KBA Green Bond Programme that is spear heading implementation of the initiative. He is also a member of the Kenya Bond Exchange Project Steering Committee that is promoting establishment of secondary bond market.

Prejelin Naggan
Head of Primary Markets, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)

Prejelin Naggan is Head of Primary Markets in the Capital Markets division of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). His role entails leading teams that drive new listings by local and international issuers across all the JSE markets. This includes focusing in particular on new equity and debt listings and related products such as ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), warrants and hybrid instruments.

Before joining the JSE, Prejelin was with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank for almost 8 years where he worked initially as the bank’s M&A and ECM lawyer, then as a client coverage banker within the Investment Banking division advising client in different industries on M&A and ECM transactions. Before leaving J.P. Morgan, Prejelin was the Sub-Saharan Investment Banking Business Manager supporting the development and implementation of the firm’s Investment Banking strategy.

Prior to J.P. Morgan, Prejelin worked as a corporate finance executive at Java Capital (2005 to 2008) where he advised several clients on, among other things, listing on the JSE. He began his career at Werksmans Incorporated in 2003 as a candidate attorney, before becoming an associate in the commercial department.

Prejelin obtained Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2002 and he completed his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree at the same university a year earlier. He has also obtained a certificate in Management Development through the Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management in 2014.

Nicky Newton-King
CEO, Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Nicky Newton-King is the Chief Executive Officer of the JSE and has held this position since January 2012, having joined the JSE in June 1996, in the week the trading floor closed.
A lawyer by training, Nicky has been an executive of the JSE since 1997 and was Deputy CEO for eight years before becoming CEO. She has been a member of the Board since December 2000. Nicky also sits on the board of the World Federation of Exchanges.
Nicky is passionate about business and being a constructive force for good. She is part of the CEO Initiative, an initiative that includes government, business and labour that has committed itself to: Do the Right Thing; Stand by what is Right; and Reject what is Wrong for South Africa).
Nicky has been a World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Leader of Tomorrow and subsequently a WEF Young Global Leader. She was privileged to spend five months at Yale University in 2006 as a Yale World Fellow. In 2003, Nicky was South Africa’s Businesswoman of the Year.
Nicky graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with BA LLB degrees and obtained an LLM degree with first class honours from the University of Cambridge in England.

Steve Nicholls
Head,Environment National Business Initiative

Steve Nicholls leads the Environment and Society programmes at the National Business Initiative (NBI).  In this role Steve runs the programmes that harness the collective effort of business across the areas of Energy, Climate Change, Water, Biodiversity, Waste, Green Economy, NDP, SDGs, Human Rights and Gender.  This affords him excellent exposure to company best practice as well as the opportunity to connect NBI members with academic and civil society specialists as well as a number of large donors working in the area of sustainability.  Key focus areas are the strategic business case for sustainability management as well as how ill treatment of the environment impacts on society and the economy.  The NBI Environment and Society team run a range of projects including looking at role of business in support of the NDP and SDGs, green economy finance and water pricing.  They also run a series of member only seminars on strategic issues (the thought leadership series) as well as building large partnership programmes in water, climate change and energy.

For the most part Steve has worked in the consulting industry in the United Kingdom and South Africa and has worked on projects in Europe and Southern and East Africa.  Steve has worked across a number of sectors including Mining, Telecoms, Government, Electrical Energy, Oil and Gas, Financial Services and Retail.  Prior to joining the NBI Steve worked within the strategy team at Accenture and headed the sustainability services function for Accenture across Africa.  Steve has also worked within KPMGs advisory and assurance team and has completed a number of advisory, reporting and verification engagements on sustainability and voluntary carbon credit data.  His speciality is the integration of sustainability issues into governance, risk management and strategy.  Steve also spent a few years working in the United Kingdom looking at the sustainability risk inherent in the supply chains of major UK and multi-national retail companies.

James Norman
Head of Insurance, KPMG East Africa

James holds a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) with Honours (2:1) from Coventry University, UK as well as an International Certificate of Risk Management (Theory and Application- 2 Distinctions) IRM, London, UK. He has 17 Years experience in the UK and Sub Saharan African insurance sector working for 4 leading insurers, a global brokerage and a leading insurance law firm; and as a consultant, in senior operational and strategic roles.

James leads the East African Insurance Practice and is responsible for strategy/business development, market position, research, capacity building, innovation and client management. He also supports other African practices in service delivery and collaboration and works with over 90 insurance clients across the regional value chain. Furthermore, James has practical experience of countries including UK, UAE, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal. He is also an industry award winner, as he won the best paper at TASK 2017 EA convention and 3 UK insurance sector awards.

His areas of specialization are Insurance Innovation; Strategy; Financial Inclusion; Insure-tech; Enterprise Risk Management; Risk Based Supervision; Training and Capacity Building; Insurance Processes and Management; Fraud; and, Insurance Program Implementation and Optimisation

Judith Sidi Odhiambo
Group Head Corporate & Regulatory Affairs, Kenya Commercial Bank

Judith is the Group Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at KCB Group Plc. She leads the reputation management and strategic communication at the Bank having served in similar roles in the water and transport sectors. She has over 20 years’ experience in public relations, strategic communication, media relations, stakeholder engagements, sustainability and events management. She has deep understanding of content management, stakeholder engagement, and the emerging consumer culture in Africa. She is a strategic resource and an advisor to C-level executives on crisis management, lobbying, market entry, restructuring, communication, media and regulatory affairs. She has been the team lead for the development and implementation of Sustainability Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Women in Leadership Network for the Group. She holds a Masters in International Relations from United States International University (USIU), Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Daystar University and a Diploma in Journalism from the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication. She represents the Bank in industry-related forums among them Kenya Bankers Association, Kenya Private Sector Alliance and UN Global Compact Kenya Chapter.

Vanessa Otto-Mentz
Partner, Deloitte

Vanessa is energized by and passionate about the embedding of sustainability in organizations, into practices such as strategic steering and the credible governance of performance.

Her practice covers ESG strategies, science-based target-setting, climate & nature risk and opportunity management, integrated performance management (e.g., KPI setting), sustainability accounting & reporting journeys (NFRD, CSRD, ISSB, SFDR, EU Taxonomy etc.), as well as ESG assurance engagements.

In her work, she draws on 20 years of executive-level corporate strategy and sustainability/ESG experience and my credentials in accounting, business management and organizational change.

Vanessa finds joy and purpose in supporting individuals, teams, and organizations on their transformation journeys, especially when this forms part of a larger sustainability or impact-focused ecosystem transition. As an internationally credentialed coach and Theory-U learning facilitator, she finds this dimension of her work inspiring, energizing and rewarding.

Viviene Pearson
CEO, South African Insurance Association (SAIA)

Viviene was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Insurance Association (SAIA) in January 2016. She joined the SAIA in 2004 as the Image and Reputation Manager and has held several positions in the organisation, including that of Motor Manager and General Manager for Projects and Insurance Risks, respectively.
Viviene was also responsible for several industry initiatives at the SAIA, including micro-insurance and consumer education, as well as various projects in motor insurance. She was also involved in the establishment of the South African Insurance Crime Bureau (SAICB).
Prior to joining the SAIA, Viviene was a financial journalist specialising in the insurance field. She began her career in the Diplomatic Corps in 1983 after obtaining a BA Honours Degree in Political Science and Journalism at the former Rand Afrikaanse Universiteit (RAU). She currently serves on the boards of the SAIA, the Ombudsman for Short Term Insurance (OSTI), the Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) and the Financial Sector Charter Council (FSC).

Layalee Ramahi
Head of Strategy, Tawreeq Holdings

Layalee Ramahi heads the corporate strategy function of Tawreeq Holdings group, leading the development and execution of the corporate strategy and managing strategic projects. Her role focuses on corporate sustainability and strategy alignment across group subsidiaries and projects, with a strong focus on environmental, social, governance and ethical financial practice. She oversees Tawreeq’s long-term sustainability strategy and development of a sustainable business ecosystem with all stakeholders.

With an MBA in Banking & Finance, Layalee has over a decade of experience in the financial industry, involved in various roles in investment and commercial finance with focus on market intelligence and scenario analysis. She specialises in devising business strategy and project management projects with core focus on communications and strategy alignment.

Layalee’s passion for sustainability and social responsibility drives her work in developing and implementing tailored strategies and programs, complemented by her dedication to women empowerment, inclusive societies and sustainable communities.

Yegs Ramiah
Chief Executive Brand, Sanlam Limited

An experienced financial services executive with sound strategic ability, an independent mindset, strong negotiation skills and levels of accountability which results in effective decision making. Lead the rebrand of Sanlam in 2014 and the rebrand of Santam in 2011. Awarded Loeries Marketing Leadership and Innovation Award in 2016. More recently lead the transformation strategy for the Sanlam Group, positioning Sanlam as a Pan African Financial Services Company. With strong presentation skills, detailed understanding of the legal and regulatory environment and a passion for building value for organisations through value adding customer focused strategies. Drives a culture of marketing metrics and ROI. Yegs is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa with an MBA.

Madeleine Ronquest
Head of Environmental and Social Risk Management, First Rand

Madeleine Ronquest is the Head of Environmental and Social Risk Management in the FirstRand Group and her portfolio includes Environmental and social risk management, Climate Resilience, Green Finance and positive impact banking and investment. She has been with the Group for 16 years.

Her professional background includes environmental science, risk management and environmental law. Her role is to ensure that FirstRand is positioned as one of the business leaders in climate change, natural capital management, positive impact banking, responsible investment and sustainable development finance. It is imperative that the Group plays a pertinent role in leading South Africa into a low carbon economy and that it has a verifiable positive impact on the economy, the environment and society.

She is an eternal student and an international speaker and has taken leadership roles in the Global Steering Committee and other board committees of UNEPFI (United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative), the South African Advisory Committee on Environment and Society (National Business Initiative), the NBI Advisory Committee on Green Finance, and the Sustainable Finance Forum of the South African Banking Association (BASA)

Nathan van Rooyen
Head of Digital, Santam Group

Nathan has been working in financial services for nearly twenty years focusing on finding and unlocking the value of technology for large corporates. Over the last six to eight years, he has focussed more on the role digital technologies can play to create unique value propositions that deal with the problems people have with financial services. In particular, using his personal experiences, he has realised that innovation can play a significant role in transforming the financial services landscape in South Africa. Most recently, he has worked on launching an incubation program in Santam that aims to help South Africans make communities safer. This is done through an incubation framework incorporating some of Santam’s objectives; risk reduction and financial inclusion and the broader economic objective to create more small businesses.

Brad Roper
CEO: Contact Centre FNB, FirstRand Bank

Brad Roper believes in leveraging people’s natural talent to deliver. It’s a trait that makes him ideally suited to his current role as CEO of FNB’s Contact Centre where he engages with > 2000 FNB staff. A Chemical Engineering Honours graduate (UCT), Brad is a self-confessed connector of business, people and systems. He is adept at translating his engineering coding expertise into corporate requirements. Brad is a performance-driven leader with notable retail banking experience in strategic decision making, business capacity management and process optimisation. He also has valuable knowledge in supply chain, production and R&D experience within the FMCG industry.

George Scott
CCAC Project Coordinator, UNEP Finance Initiative

George Scott is a consultant at UNEP Finance Initiative, where his work mainly focuses on mobilising private financial capital for air pollution and climate change mitigation. Before joining UNEP FI, he worked for a growth capital fund. He also spent six years working in microfinance and micro-energy finance in China, where his focus was the development of tools and methodologies to reduce the transaction costs in carbon asset development and increase the feasability of carbon finance for small-scale rural energy projects He holds a post-graduate degree in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Bristol.

Soraya Sebti
Head of Sustainable Development, BMCE Bank of Africa

Soraya Sebti is Head of Sustainable Development & CSR at BMCE Bank of Africa.

Initially when she joined the group in 1997, she reported to the Director & Delegate General Manager on Sustainability issues, including education, environment and micro finance. In 2008, she was appointed Social & Environmental Management System Officer. Ms. Sebti serves on the Steering Committee of the African Entrepreneurship Award powered by BMCE Bank of Africa since 2014, co-leading the Partner-Mentor team. She’s also a member of several working groups such as UNEP FI’s banking commission and positive impact finance, the African & Middle-East outreach working group of the Equator Principles’ association, and the sustainable development commission of the Moroccan Banking Association, in addition to representing the bank on the boards of Enactus Morocco and the Education for Employment Foundation.

Before her experience in the financial sector, Ms. Sebti assumed various positions at the United Nations, the US Peace Corps, the public and NGO sectors.

She holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley, a BA in international relations from the University of California at Davis, after earning her baccalaureate diploma from Lycée Lyautey in Casablanca.

Zoya Sisulu
Head Debt Primary Markets South Africa, Standard Bank - Corporate and Investment Banking

Zoya joined Standard Bank in 2005 as part of the Graduate Programme. She was appointed as Manager in the Securitisation team and was involved in structuring and placement of ABS transactions and management of facilities. In 2009, Zoya joined the Debt Capital Markets team and has since participated in a number of key Eurobond transactions including the National Treasury 2013, 2014, 2016 Traditional and Sukuk, MTN, Eskom and Standard Bank.

Caroline Wakesho Sonje
ESG Specialist, ICEA Lion

Caroline Wakesho Sonje graduated from The University of Nairobi with a postgraduate degree in Environmental Planning & Management in 2013. In addition, she has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies (Sciences) from Kenyatta University. She is a certificate holder in French from Alliance Francais Nairobi.

She currently consults as the ICEA LION Group ESG specialist. This is a regional Insurance Firm with Life, General, Trust and Asset management arms. She is in charge of integrating ESG in the group’s operations as well as working with the various stakeholders to incorporate ESG in their businesses.

Caroline consulted for UNEP, FI (United Nations Environment Finance Initiative) as the Africa Network Regional Coordinator and her role included convening pan-African financial institutions and managing relationships with banks, insurers and investors to engage them in sustainable finance initiatives and activities.

Caroline has relevant experience in both Banking and Environmental sector and has a keen interest in Sustainable Development issues. She has worked for Nature Kenya at the highly funded unique Kenyan Coastal Arabuko Sokoke Forest on the project of Enhanced Sustainability through improved natural resource management by and for stakeholders. She was previously The KCB (Kenya Commercial Bank) Group Sustainability Manager and has over 10 years’ experience in the Sustainable Finance sector.

Caroline was involved with the Sustainable Finance Committee of the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), which formulated the Industry’s Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI) Principles. This included liaising with senior management and other stakeholders; understanding how to make the business case for sustainable finance from a banking perspective; experience in awareness raising and capacity building across several countries in Africa; as well as Green Climate Fund experience.

Caroline served in the Board of Management of the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where she was the chair of the Audit, Governance & Risk committee as well as a member of the Technical committee of the Board. She is also a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC), one of the Organization’s Governance Bodies. DPOC is responsible for ensuring that the standard-setting activities of the GRI’s Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) are conducted in accordance with its due process, in order to increase public and stakeholder confidence that the standards are properly responsive to the public interest. The authoritative pronouncements of the GSSB that are subject to the jurisdiction of the DPOC include GRI Standards and related interpretations.

Shameela Soobramoney
Senior Strategist, Capital Markets, Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Shameela is the Senior Strategist, Group Strategy. She joined the JSE in 2007.
Shameela is responsible for advising the Executive Committee and Board of the JSE Limited on corporate strategy and all aspects thereof, at both an operational and strategic level with a key need to consider multiple stakeholders, global trends, regulation, customer needs, governance and competition.
Shameela is currently also responsible for Sustainability at the JSE which includes the FTSE JSE Responsible Investment Index series. She represents the JSE on various industry advisory panels related to sustainability and climate change. As a sustainability specialist she has, inter alia, been a key contributor to the JSE’s research into climate change, the potential for a local market to trade in carbon credits and environment-related products, the development of a Green Bonds framework, impact investing, and the JSE’s sustainability and CSI strategies. She is a trustee of the WWF (South Africa) and served on the board of Directors as a non-executive director until November 2016.
Her previous experience includes senior roles in the banking and insurance industries.
Shameela completed the Master’s Programme in Sustainability Leadership (MSt) at the University of Cambridge and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Pretoria, Gordon Institute of Business Science. She is a member of the Institute of Directors of Southern Africa (IoDSA).

Mia Thom
Technical Director, Cenfri, Microinsurance Network

Mia has extensive experience in how to regulate for innovation and innovative business models that encourage financial and economic inclusion for markets that serve people. Mia has been part of the Cenfri team since 2012 and leads our insights teams. She works with Cenfri’s thematic and programme leads to determine and implement impact agenda. Most of her work focuses on private sector innovation, insurance market development, and green finance, but she has also led work to address challenges in payment systems, inclusive integrity, and digital transformation. Mia spearheads a number of our multi-year programmes and a range of diagnostic approaches to building roadmaps for partners interested in unlocking development outcomes.

In her spare time, Mia enjoys all things related to food, particularly cooking for close friends and discovering exciting new ingredients from small, local businesses. Mia also enjoys exploring the wild, beautiful surroundings of Cape Town.

Obi Ugochuku
Adviser to the Nigeria Minister for Environment on Climate Finance

Obi Ugochuku is Adviser to the Nigeria Minister for Environment on Climate Finance. In this role Mr Ugochuku is responsible for driving the policy, strategy, and interagency dialogue needed for implementation of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s N150billion (USD414m) Green Bond program. Obi has several years of international development experience, starting out in Washington DC with the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC), Asia Capital Markets team. He had additional stints in the Africa Departments Eastern and Southern Africa unit where he managed a portfolio of fast moving commercial goods companies of over USD70m. He also worked for the SME team in the same region supervising a portfolio of USD30m. He was subsequently financial officer, for over five years, for the Global Environment Facility (GEF), at USD2.6 billion the World Bank’s largest trust fund at the time. As a World Bank secondee to a  DfID program in Abuja, he was SEEDS Adviser to the State and Local Government Program (SLGP). He has also provided advisory support to the World Banks Finance and Private Sector Development (FPD) Team on project Environment & Social Performance Standards. He has a B Sc in Finance from the University of Nigeria and an MBA (Finance) from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Nigeria.

Matthew Ulterino
Property Working Group Coordinator, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative

Matthew Ulterino is an urban planner and specialist in green cities and property. He is presently the coordinator of the UNEP Finance Initiative Property Working Group, a collective of 25 global asset managers and asset owners working to deliver enhanced value and returns through improved environmental and social performance measures in their portfolios. As a consultant, he has recently completed assignments for the UN-Habitat Energy Efficiency in Buildings in East Africa (EEBEA) initiative, advising on finance instruments for green buildings and distributed renewable energy; and an assessment of policy and finance instruments to increase investment in low-carbon and climate resilient urban infrastructure globally as part of a research team from the London School of Economics’ LSE Cities Institute.

Eric Usher
Head, UNEP Finance Initiative

Eric Usher Heads the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, UNEP FI, a global partnership bringing together the UN with a global group of banks, insurers and investors working to develop the sustainable finance and responsible investment agendas. Eric oversees governance, strategy and day-to-day management of UNEP FI’s work programme and global network development. Over the years UNEP FI has established some of the most important sustainability oriented frameworks within the finance industry, including the Principles for Responsible Investment (2006), the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (2012) and the Principles for Responsible Banking (2019).

Since joining in 2015, Mr. Usher has focused on accelerating the deep integration of sustainability risks into financial practice, including addressing climate change, natural capital loss and human rights abuses, as well as building out the frameworks for positive impact finance needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Eric sits on several industry bodies including as UN representative on the Board of the Principles for Responsible Investment, and as a member of the governing boards of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, the Investor Agenda and the impact fund REPP Africa.

Prior to leading UNEP FI, Mr. Usher has over twenty years of experience in the low carbon sectors, spanning technology commercialisation in Canada, solar rural electrification in Morocco and financial sector development across emerging markets. During 2011, Mr. Usher worked on the establishment of the Green Climate Fund and led efforts to create its Private Sector Facility. Eric has been an editor of the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment report published annually with Bloomberg and was lead author for finance of the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources. Earlier in his career, Eric was General Manager of a solar rural electrification company based in Morocco.

Liesel van Ast
Deputy Head

Liesel is responsible for engagement with banks, insurers and investors, regional coordination and training. Before joining UNEP FI in July 2016, she was Programme Manager of the Natural Capital Declaration (now the Natural Capital Finance Alliance), a joint initiative of UNEP FI and the NGO Global Canopy Programme. She developed a technical work programme and raised funds for collaborative projects with banks and investors to help strengthen management of environmental risks and opportunities. She managed projects to develop innovative tools and methodologies to integrate natural resource and environmental issues into financial products and services. From 2007- 2013, Liesel was Research Editor at Trucost, the environmental research provider. From 2005-2007 she was a Writer and Online Editor for the leading UK environmental business journal The ENDS Report. She holds an Investment Management Certificate; MSc in Business Strategy, Politics and the Environment; and Certificate in Environmental Management.

Pierre Venter
General Manager: Market Conduct: Human Settlements Cluster, The Banking Association South Africa

Pierre has more than 30 years’ experience in banking, within which he has spent the past 8 years at The Banking Association South Africa as General Manager, Human Settlements within the Market Conduct Division. The position includes oversight for the various property, infrastructure, agriculture and sustainable finance committees.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, a Master of Science Degree in Housing (Construction), a banking diploma, together with a number of property related diplomas/certificates.

Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan
Head of Sustainability, Access Bank, Nigeria

Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan has been working in the field of Sustainability and Communications for over 17 years. She joined Access Bank in 2008 to establish the Sustainability function and has since led the Bank’s efforts in its Sustainability performance. In 2011, she initiated the Nigeria Sustainable Finance Week to create awareness and education on Sustainability and the need for the financial sector in Nigeria to develop a set of principles that will guide their sustainability performance. This was implemented in collaboration with UNEPFI and the DFIs, leading to the development of the Nigeria Sustainable Banking Principles.

Omobolanle has since been actively involved in ensuring implementation both within Access Bank and other financial institutions. She serves as the internal leader and “go to” expert for sustainability in Access Bank and the financial sector, monitoring emerging trends, programs and issues; communicating and educating others on sustainability. She leads the interface with stakeholders (domestic and international), on the Bank’s sustainability agenda and also responds to questions or statements of position on Sustainability related matters. She mentors Sustainability champions in other African financial institutions and provides them with relevant support required to implement the necessary positive change in their institutions.

Brett Wallington
Senior Manager: Sustainability, Standard Bank

Brett Wallington is the Senior Manager in charge of sustainability and the Report to Society in Group Risk for Standard Bank. Before joining Standard Bank, Brett’s career was in the ecotourism sector, where he started out as a wildlife guide for Londolozi Private Game Reserve. He went on to join Wilderness Safaris where he progressed in the field of sustainability reporting, holding the position of Group Sustainability Manager. Brett later took on the role of Business Manager for the American and Canadian markets for Wilderness before joining Standard Bank in January 2016. Brett holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Psychology and an honours degree in Ecology, Environment and Conservation from the University of the Witwatersrand. Brett is leading the implementation of the “SEE Framework” in the bank, assisting business to measure the social, economic and environmental impact – SEE impact. His focus, is to enable business to measure these SEE impacts so as to determine the banks progress in achieving its purpose.

Inge West
Head of Responsible Investing, Alexander Forbes Investments

Inge joined Alexander Forbes Investments as Head of Responsible Investing in early 2016. Her focus is on driving sustainability considerations across the business with a specific focus on enhancing the business’s current responsible investing strategy. This includes integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into Alexander Forbes Investments investment process through, for example, ensuring that the underlying investment managers they invest in, consider ESG factors within their investment process. A key component of her role also involves creating awareness around responsible investing practices across the broader business and amongst the client servicing teams and the clients they consult to.
Prior to this, Inge spent close to six years as an Account Manager at Alexander Forbes Investments, where she was responsible for a number of large Institutional clients. She started her career at Deutsche Bank in 2008, where she spent two years as a graduate analyst.
She holds a B.Bus.Sci in Finance (Honours) from the University of Cape Town.

Peter Willis
Founder, Conversations that Count

Peter is a facilitator of strategic conversations, helping groups of decision-makers to think together more deeply and clearly than they might otherwise be able to. He works within and between companies and institutions, usually towards socially transformational outcomes. Peter was for 12 years African Director of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and has degrees from Oxford and London Universities. He has lived in Cape Town since 1993.