Christopher O’Toole has worked in the trade policy field for twenty-five years. He has been Canada’s co-lead or lead negotiator for various chapters in the CETA, the CPTPP and the CUSMA negotiations. Mr. O’Toole is on his second assignment to Canada’s WTO Mission in Geneva where he is responsible for goods market access issues and is the current Chairperson of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Committee.
José Antonio Ocampo is director of the Economic and Political Development Concentration in the School of International and Public Affairs, Member of the Committee on Global Thought and co-President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. He is also the Chair of the Committee for Development Policy, an expert committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In 2012–2013 he chaired the panel created by the IMF Board to review the activities of the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office; in 2008–2010, he served as co-director of the UNDP/OAS Project on “Agenda for a Citizens’ Democracy in Latin America”; and in 2009 a Member of the Commission of Experts of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System.
Prior to his appointment, Ocampo served in a number of positions in the United Nations and the Government of Colombia, most notably as United Nations Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs; Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Chairman of the Board of Banco del República (Central Bank of Colombia); Director of the National Planning Department (Minister of Planning); Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Executive Director of FEDESARROLLO.
Ocampo has published extensively on macroeconomic theory and policy, international financial issues, economic and social development, international trade, and Colombian and Latin American economic history.
Edna is the GoTrade coordinator in sub-Saharan Africa, and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya with 6 years’ experience in both the public and the private sector, and a specialty in International Trade Law and Policy. She has a bachelor’s degree in law. Before joining DHL as a GoTrade Manager for the past 2 years, She was a researcher at the Kenya Law Reform Commission for 3 years, she has also worked with at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of Registrar of Treaties as a researcher for 1 year.
Dr. Jumoke Oduwole MFR, is the Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Prior to her current role, she served as the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and Investment (OVP) from October 2023 to October 2024. Under the Buhari Administration, she served first as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade, and Investment, and subsequently as the Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business from November 2015 to May 2023. Dr. Oduwole and her team at the PEBEC Secretariat successfully delivered over 200 verifiable reforms across various arms and levels of government.
During her time in public service, Dr Oduwole has worked on various specialized reform committees in the federal government such as AfCFTA implementation Committee and the Tax Policy Reform Committee, and played a key role in the conceptualization and establishment of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN). She Chaired the Technical Working Team on Legislative Imperatives for the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025.
Recognized as one of Nigeria’s leading reformers, she was awarded the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in May 2023 for her contributions to national development. In 2024, the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) awarded her a “Hall of Fame” honour for her decade-long work on Nigeria’s business climate reforms.
A policy entrepreneur of some repute, she was appointed as a Senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Centre for Business and Government (M-RCBG), Harvard Kennedy School, and as a Governance Advisor to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Governance Lab in 2022, for her innovation in governance.
She previously served on the Board of Ecobank Nigeria, and she has worked in investment and corporate banking at FCMB and GTBank.
Since 2015, Dr Oduwole has been on loan to the Federal Government of Nigeria from the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Nigeria, where she teaches and researches International Economic Law. Jumoke holds an LL.B from the University of Lagos, an LL.M from Cambridge University, UK and a JSM and JSD from Stanford Law School USA, and is called to the Nigerian Bar.
Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare is currently Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry of Ghana. A distinguished lawyer, legislator, and policy advocate, she has dedicated her career to governance, legal advocacy, and economic development.
Previously, she served as Ghana’s Minister for Tourism, Culture, and Creative Arts, where she played a pivotal role in promoting Ghana’s tourism industry, implementing cultural policies, and spearheading initiatives like the Marine Drive Project and Homofest.
Ms. Ofosu-Adjare has held key board memberships, including as a former Board Chair of Cocoa Merchant Company Limited, a board member of Multi Trust Financial Services, and a former board member of Phoenix Life Assurance Limited. She continues to champion trade expansion, industrial growth, and business development in Ghana.
She is the founder of the Elizabeth Law Centre and has an extensive legal background, including serving as a Notary Public and a legal practitioner with the Legal Aid Scheme.
Her academic credentials include an LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution and an LLB from the University of Ghana, an MA in International Relations from Webster University, and a BA in Social Science from KNUST.
She completed her Professional Law Course (PLC) at the Ghana School of Law and was called to the Bar in 2004.
Bob Oganga is a Venture Development Associate at Outbox. He is passionate about learning, knowledge management, and capacity building with over 4 years of experience in experimenting with new programs for organizational growth, facilitating entrepreneurship and innovation as well as supporting entrepreneurs to develop systems and processes. Bob is a curriculum developer with a background in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from Uganda Christian University.
Peter Ogbu Okwoche is an award-winning broadcaster and journalist. He has been in the broadcasting industry for over 30 years, 19 of them with the BBC, where he was Senior Presenter for BBC World News television and BBC World Service Radio until 31 July 2023.
He was the main anchor for BBC Focus on Africa, the channels’ flagship African affairs programme broadcast around the globe. He also worked on several of the BBC’s flagship radio programmes like the World Today, Focus on Africa, Network Africa, and Fast Track, amongst others.
He is Nigerian but has spent an extensive amount of time travelling. He has been regularly deployed across Africa to cover major events, including major elections and sporting tournaments. He has interviewed many of the continent’s Presidents and Heads of States including those of Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi.
He has spoken to leaders of industry, politicians and other news makers across the world and is highly respected internationally in the profession he recently led the BBC’s biggest expansion across West Africa in 60 years, successfully launching three new services: BBC Pidgin, BBC Yoruba and BBC Igbo.
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.
Felix Ohnmacht is the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Axmed.
Felix held several senior management positions at Novartis, serving as the Head of Strategy Africa (+47 countries). Felix also served as Executive Director, The Novartis Biome SSA, a regional hub developing innovative business models and technology solutions to improve healthcare.
Felix co-led an initiative for Kofi Annan at the Kofi Annan Foundation and the United Nations (UN) during the Syrian Civil War. He gained management consulting experience at Accenture Strategy as a core member of its Precision Medicines Center of Excellence.
Felix is the co-author of the UN Broadband Commission Report on "Reimagining Global Health through Artificial Intelligence." He is a visiting lecturer at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, in Global Health and Advocacy, where he also obtained his PhD. He was an advanced doctoral researcher at Princeton University and the Max Planck Institute.