Supply Chain Innovation Challenge: What next for supply chains?

Maria Bolotnikov is currently trade facilitation consultant at UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Prior to joining UNCTAD, Maria was an economic analyst at the governmental agency Business France. There she specialized in enhancing foreign investments in France. 

She holds a Master's Degree in International Relations and Foreign Affairs from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, where she specialized in Development Economics.

Tadiwanashe Mutibura is the winner of the first Supply Chain Innovation Challenge with her Proposal for solar-powered locker-sized booths for small-scale cross-border traders.

She is currently working as a treasury and structured finance trainee ·at InnBucks MicroBank Limited, Harare, Zimbabwe.

She graduated from Stellenbosch University in South Africa with a BCom(Law)

A super random fact about Tadiwanashe is that she loves watching documentaries on whales and maritime vessels despite living in the teapot-shaped landlocked country in Southern Africa.

This curiosity stems from her love of reading and simply having the opportunity to explore other lifestyles and cultures through the stories of those who have experienced it firsthand.

Curiosity aside, she is passionate about African development and the potential for growth especially through the lenses of trade and the impact that it can have not only on our economies but on the daily lives of all the people involved.

Cristina Martín won the Supply Chain Innovation Challenge: Private sector award for USYNCRO, a Blockchain and AI platform to impulse Digital Logistics Corridors worldwide.

Cristina is a chemical engineer with an Executive MBA from IE (Universidad Internacional de Excelencia), she is certified as a Transport and Air Freight Operator. She established ATML, a freight forwarding company, 19 years ago and currently serves as CEO of Usyncro, an award-winning multimodal solution named the best Technology Platform 2023 by Trade Finance Global.

She actively contributes to various industry groups, serving as the Digitalization group coordinator for the Spanish Freight Forwarders Association, a board member of the ALASTRIA network, and Logistics and Transport coordinator within the Blockchain Cluster of the Community of Madrid.

She holds a position in the Technology Commission of ALACAT, an association of freight forwarders in Latin America, and co-leads the Industry and Logistics Forum of the Spanish Association of Female Executives and Board Members, EJEandCON

Millie Ogden was a runner-up in the first Supply Chain Innovation Challenge with her Proposal for Smart Ports 5G Technology and Renewal Energy.

Millie is a UN SDG Ambassador and Next Generation Leader Fellow. She is the founder and CEO of 3 Link, an ISP licensee in Vanuatu, and works closely with enterprises, clinics, schools, farmers, and the government to provide broadband connectivity to the last mile. 3 Link will roll out disruptive 5G Fixed Wireless Access in 2025.

Millie serves on the board of directors of the Vanuatu Rural Development Bank and Kacific (Vanuatu) Ltd.

Millie is the Vanuatu Trade Commissioner to California. She is Digital Technology Advisor to the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network (CBWN). Millie began her career in Silicon Valley as a Data Financial Analyst at Barra Morgan Stanley MSCI and at the Boston Consulting Group’s ValueScience Center.

She holds a BA in economics from UC Berkeley. She speaks five languages: English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Bislama. Her curiosity drives her to discover innovative and sustainable solutions through technological advancements.

Stefanie Sohm has worked in the field of sustainable transport, energy, and climate policy for over a decade. As an independent consultant, she supported development institutions, agencies, and governments in policymaking, project implementation, and stakeholder engagement.

In 2019, after living and working in North Africa for ten years, she expanded her work to the global level.

In July 2023, Stefanie joined the Kühne Foundation's Climate Center as advisor for transport and climate, where she now leads the work programme ‘Transport and Logistics for the Low-Carbon Society of 2050’. The Kühne Foundation is an independent, operational, international philanthropy that works to help decouple the growth of prosperity from greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to a just, low-carbon global society.

Stefanie holds a Master of Business Administration and is about to complete her Master in Transportation Sciences.

Pamela Ugaz is an international trade lawyer with over 15 years of experience in trade policy, trade facilitation, regional integration, and project management. She collaborates with the Trade Facilitation Section, UNCTAD since 2013, conducting technical assistance and capacity building projects towards the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement in African Asia and Latin America. She also conducts research on trade facilitation topics. Prior to joining UNCTAD, she worked as Associate Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and as Legal Affairs Officer at the World Trade Organization. As legal Adviser to the Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade of Peru, she negotiated transparency and dispute settlement provisions in several Regional Trade Agreements between Peru and its trade partners, including the EU, China, the US, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the EFTA. Ms. Ugaz holds a Ph.D. in International Trade Law from the University of Geneva and a Master in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

Eranda Kotelawala was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Solomon Islands Ports Authority in February 2017. Prior to that, he was the COO of Fiji Ports Corporation Limited managing five major ports of entry into Fiji. Eranda brings 25 years of management experience predominantly in shipping and several other industry verticals from Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, South Africa, Sultanate of Oman, and Singapore.

He has consulted on Business Process Re-engineering Projects in major Port projects in the South Pacific, the Gulf Region and South Africa. Eranda holds a master's degree in management from Aberdeen Business School and further specialized in Business Process Re-Engineering and Franchise Business in Entrepreneurship.

He is a Chartered Fellow of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK, Fellow of Chartered Management Institute UK, Associate Fellow of The Nautical Institute UK, He is also a full member of Institute of Management Consultants Australia. Eranda is also the current IAPH (International Association of Ports and Harbors) Vice President for Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Ines Nastali is Senior Maritime Data Expert at S&P Global Market Intelligence, where she works on updating the global fleet registries and the IMO ship numbering and company team. She connects S&P's extensive ships database to the industry and media by publishing data analysis on fraudulent flags and tonnage overviews of different ship registries.

Since joining in 2018, she focuses on utilizing S&P Global's dredging, port, and maritime data, crafting interactive and print visualizations to highlight fleet data, port developments, shipbuilding trends, and casualty incidents.

Previously, Ines joined IHS Markit as the editor of Dredging and Ports Construction magazine. She then became editor of Ports & Harbors, the membership publication of the International Association of Ports and Harbors. She has also edited science titles for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in London.

Her maritime journalism career started in 2015 at The Marine Professional, the membership publication of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science, and Technology.