Meet our MEST Africa Challenge Côte d’Ivoire Country Finals Judges

On June 17th, 2020, the MEST Africa Challenge: Côte d’Ivoire country finals will bring together the best and brightest entrepreneurs to pitch their startup ventures to a panel of expert judges.

Join MEST, Microsoft, and Ivorian ecosystem partner Royal Work Club in the search to find Côte d’Ivoire’s next great tech startup!

Judges for the country finals in nine different markets across the continent — Ethiopia, Kenya, Côted’Ivoire, Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Nigeria, and South Africa, include local investors, business leaders, and community players. Here is a closeup of the MEST Africa Challenge Côte D’Ivoire Country Finals judges, who will select the winning pitch to move on to the MEST Africa-wide finale to compete for $50,000 in equity investment.

Lundie Strom

Head of Community Relations, MEST

Originally from Los Angeles, Lundie Strom graduated with an MA in International Relations from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. After working with two sectors of the United Nations in New York, Lundie moved to Cape Town in 2017 to join the Nigerian social enterprise startup, She Leads Africa, and she has been passionate about supporting entrepreneurs in Africa ever since.

Today, Lundie manages MEST Africa’s community of 350+ early-stage tech entrepreneurs and 50+ portfolio companies in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. As the Head of Community Relations, she connects MEST portfolio companies, Entrepreneurs-In-Training, and training program alumni to growth opportunities and external stakeholders across the continent through event and program management, ecosystem partnership coordination, and communication/networking support.

Issam Chleuh
Director of BD at Mastercard, ImpactHub West Africa Board Member

Issam is an Investment Executive and Thought Leader who pioneered impact investing in Francophone Africa. His work has been featured on The Economist, Forbes, and CNN, among others. Among other awards, Issam has been named by Forbes as one of 30 Most Promising Entrepreneurs in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and by Take Part magazine as one of 10 Amazing Millennials who are saving the world. Prior to launching Layidu Impact Fund and Impact Hub Bamako, Issam founded Africa Impact Group, an award-winning research, and advisory firm focused on impact investing in French West Africa. Issam has invested in over $500 million of Private Equity, SME, and VC funds throughout his career. He has a global perspective and broad skill set including strategically launching successful entrepreneurial ventures, structuring funds, fundraising for various initiatives, building brands, configuring financial reporting and ESG systems, leading transactions due diligence & valuations, managing stakeholders, and building networks. Issam started with a career in Boston at HarbourVest Partners and EY (formerly Ernst & Young) advising on, reporting on, auditing, and investing in Private Equity transactions globally. He also worked at the Islamic Development Bank where he structured the first VC fund in Saudi Arabia and invested in SME and Private Equity funds across Africa and Southeast Asia. Issam holds an MSc in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame. He is fluent in French and English.

Mark Ihimoyan

MasterCard, Director of Business Development, Middle East & Africa

Mark is the Director of Business Development (the Middle East and Africa) at Microsoft Corporation. In this role, Mark is responsible for identifying and executing strategic business development opportunities for Microsoft in Africa. Mark was born in Nigeria and lived there for 18 years before moving to the United States for his college education. He graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology with Bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Mark also obtained a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington. A committed lifelong learner, Mark has taken business classes at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Harvard University, INSEAD, and Wharton School of Business.

He joined Microsoft 17 years ago and has held various technical, sales, and leadership roles within the company. Mark currently resides in Nairobi and is passionate about democratizing access to technology and helping people realize their full potential through technology.”

Elena Haba
Head of Acceleration, EWB Ventures

Elena Haba is currently the Head of Acceleration and Seed Funding at Comoé Capital where her work involves financing and supporting West African entrepreneurs as they are facing the ‘valley of death’ — a space where little to no resources are available to them. Prior to this, Elena was the Director of Investments for EWB Ventures, where she worked on de-risking seed-stage innovative social enterprises in East and West Africa. Before choosing to channel her corporate experience into supporting entrepreneurs, Elena was a commercial litigator. Elena is passionate about enabling individuals that are improving the lives of vulnerable or underrepresented populations. Ultimately, she would like to increase the interest and confidence of other investors in investing on the African continent, especially in seed-stage and gender-inclusive social ventures.

MEST Africa Challenge Country Finals: Côte d’Ivoire

Join MEST and Microsoft on June 17th for the Côte d’Ivoire Country Finals of the MEST Africa Challenge. Startup finalists will pitch their business ventures to a panel of expert judges made up of leaders, investors, and ecosystem partners. The top startup from the Côte d’Ivoire finals will go on to compete against winners from eight other countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda for $50,000 in equity investment and a chance to join MEST’s Africa-wide startup support network. Register to join us at Bitly.com/mestafricachallenge2020.