First wave of Speakers announced: MEST Africa Summit
This post was written by MEST Head of Brand + Marketing Thea Sokolowski.
The 4th MEST Africa Summit in Nairobi is just around the corner! We’re gearing up for the best Pan-African tech conference yet. In partnership with Microsoft, we’re getting ready for a jam-packed conference day filled with expert panels and breakout sessions, followed by an engaging ecosystem day inclusive of entrepreneur-focused workshops led by our sponsors, and an exclusive peek inside the MEST program.
We’ll be joined by sponsors Flutterwave, Africa’s Talking, Liquid Telecom, Ethiopian Airlines, and more — along with a host of ecosystem partners.
The first wave of industry-leading speakers and panelists has been announced! See below, and check out more on our website.
Bringing back our enthusiastic Great Debate panel from last year’s Summit, we’re looking forward to hearing leading experts tell us why their countries are the best environments to launch a startup. We’ll be hearing from Microsoft’s Chris Lwanga, mSurvey’s Claire Munene, Bilha Ndirangu of Africa’s Talking and Tosin Eniolorunda of TeamApt.
Overcoming challenges in infrastructure
From clean energy solutions to ride sharing and life-saving drones, we’ll explore how technology is enabling better access to energy, transportation and more. Hear experts from Trend Solar, Ekorent, Opibus and Azuri Technologies.
The new credit score
We’ll also explore how innovative tech companies are leveraging alternative data to enable greater financial inclusion — hear from Carbon’s Ngozi Dozie, Novastar Ventures’ Niraj Varia, Lendable’s Sandra Locoh and Flutterwave’s Olugbenga Agboola.
Agritech and healthtech
New innovations and some of Africa’s most prolific sectors are quickly impacting the future of agriculture and healthcare. Discussions will be led by panelists from Medsaf, Medixus, Merck, Twiga Foods, Ashoka, IDEO.org, The Shell Foundation and more.
AI, machine learning and chatbots
New technology is changing the face of work in Africa, many argue leading to more and better jobs rather than replacing the human workforce. Experts including African Development Bank’s Hendrina Doroba, The Mastercard Foundation’s Olga Morawczynski, Michael Onyango of Kenya’s AI Task Force, Philip Thigo of Thunderbird School of Global Management and more will discuss how these technologies are impacting the continent.
Voices from Africa’s tech ecosystem
As the tech ecosystem continues to evolve, growing with it are hubs, incubators, accelerators and support networks who are vital to startups’ success. We’ll hear from key players, including Andela, GSMA, Google Launchpad, MEST Africa and more about what is needed to enable the leaders of tomorrow to succeed.
Investors’ perspective
Finally we look forward to hearing the growing African investment community share their take on the latest from the investors’ desk. Hear from Chandaria Capital’s Bruce Lule, Kuwekeza’s Michele Castegnaro, TLCom’s Andreata Muforo, Pariti’s Yacob Berhane, Muthoni Wachira of EWB Ventures and more.
Guests can look forward to a lineup of engaging workshops from our partners, a startup clinic and a deep dive into panel discussion with breakout sessions throughout the conference.
What are you waiting for? Register today for the MEST Africa Summit, June 10–12 in Nairobi!
