Anastasia Nesvetailova is Head of the Macroeconomic and Development Policies Branch of UNCTAD (Geneva), where she leads the team responsible for the flagship Trade and Development Report.
Prior to this position she had been Professor of International Political Economy at City, University of London.
Anastasia’s main research focuses on the global financial system. She has published widely on issues of financial crises and regulation, including three monographs (Fragile Finance: Debt, Speculation and Crisis in the Age of Global Credit , 2007; Financial Alchemy in Crisis: The End of Liquidity Illusion, 2010; and Sabotage: The Business of Finance, 2020, with Ronen Palan), as well as numerous academic and policy articles on finance, crises, and financial governance.
Wuassamba Neto is the Director General of Angola’s National Institute for Consumer Protection (INADEC), a role he has held for five years with a strong focus on defending consumer rights. His leadership at INADEC has been marked by an unwavering commitment to the protection and upholding of consumer rights in Angola.
He holds a Law degree from the Independent University of Angola and is a certified Specialist and Mediator in Consumer Conflict Resolution. A member of the Angolan Bar Association, he also brings 20 years of experience in hotel management, reinforcing his commitment to service quality and customer satisfaction.
Internationally, he contributes as a lecturer on consumer protection across Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOPs). His credentials include certifications in Food Hygiene and Safety, and he is active in legal research related to consumer rights.
Beyond law, Wuassamba Matias Neto is a dedicated scholar with interests in both legal studies and the Christian faith, combining professional rigor with intellectual and spiritual depth. His leadership continues to shape a more equitable consumer landscape in Angola.
Arthur Neves is the Director of Industrial Management, Suape Industrial Port Complex. Arthur Neves is a lawyer specializing in administrative law from the Federal University of Pernambuco, with a focus on infrastructure contracts, public-private partnerships, and innovation in the public sector.
As the director of the industrial area at SUAPE, he has been leading initiatives for generating critical market intelligence and defining the business attraction model of the Complex, emphasizing a just and green economic transition, production diversification, and increased port activity. In the private sector, he worked as a manager in the third sector and in education in the city of Vitória de Santo Antão, Pernambuco.
Loren Newman, Government Affairs Lead, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the World Economic Forum since August 26, 2019.
Originally from Napa, Loren pursued a passion for literature and politics to Stanford before joining then Senator Obama’s Presidential Campaign in 2008. From there, he spent four years building partnerships for Google, one year as a curious backpacker, and two years completing his MPP at the Harvard Kennedy School.
More recently, Loren returned from three years with Alibaba in Hangzhou, China creating and facilitating programs designed to promote inclusive growth with entrepreneurs and policymakers in the developing world. He currently manages three C4IR Centres in Africa and the Middle East, co-designing policy for new technology.
Boon Heong joined Temasek Foundation (TF) in 2020. Temasek Foundation spearheads programmes to pilot different innovative solutions and models to deliver impact for planet, people, peace and
progress in Asia, including Singapore.
Prior to TF, Boon Heong was Managing Director Sustainability and concurrently Head Community >Stewardship at Temasek. During this time, he led the pioneering efforts to set up both the sustainability and community stewardship teams at Temasek and developed strategies to deploy Temasek’s community funds in support of Temasek’s role as a Trusted Steward to connect people, uplift communities, protect planet and advance capabilities in Singapore and beyond. He also served a short stint as deputy CEO of Temasek Trust in 2022.
In his early years, Boon Heong also served in the Singapore Armed Forces and was intimately involved in technology development to build advanced warfighting capabilities in advanced sensors, autonomous vehicles and sense making. He has also worked with different stakeholders to deliver integrated and multi-source information fusion and analysis products, scenario development and contingency planning including providing support to various SAF Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
Boon Heong graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Honours from the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, holds a Masters in Business Administration from Singapore Management University and Masters in Systems Integration (Information Systems) from Naval Postgraduate School USA. He was the top Army graduate of the SAF Command and Staff College, graduated from the Indonesian Military's Joint Command and Staff College (SESKO TNI) and was awarded Public Administration Medal (Silver).
Mbogo Ngabo Seli is the Commissioner in Charge of the Common Market, Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).
A national of Chad, Mr. Mbogo Ngabo Seli specializes in public relations, corporate communication, and strategic management. After beginning his career in West Africa in the late 1990s, he continued to build his experience in Central Africa, working in both public and private institutions. In 2014, he was appointed Deputy General Manager of the Chadian branch of the international banking group Société Générale.
From 2015 to 2017, he held several senior positions in the Chadian government, notably serving as Minister of Territorial Planning, Urban Development and Housing, and later as Minister of Finance and Budget.
A former senior executive at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), he was appointed Commissioner to the Commission of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) during the CEMAC Heads of State Conference in 2023. He was later assigned to be the Department in charge of the Common Market.
Sipho Ngcai is the Acting Group Executive for Business Development Services at the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA) in South Africa. With over 15 years of expertise in enterprise development, his career has focused on empowering SMEs through strategic programmes and funding initiatives. Prior to his current role, he held senior positions at the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), including leading the technology programme and heading technology business incubation—supporting entrepreneurs to innovate and scale. Sipho holds an MBA and is pursuing a PhD in Entrepreneurship. His passion lies in creating sustainable, scalable growth paths for small businesses across South Africa.
Roslyn Ng’eno is the Senior Investment Expert at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, leading the efforts towards the development, negotiation and implementation of the Protocol on Investment, that has seen the delivery and adoption of the Protocol. Ms. Ng’eno provides technical assistance and strategic guidance to Member States on the formulation and execution of the continental investment protocol. Ms. Ng’eno has served in various capacities within both intergovernmental organizations and governmental bodies with particular focus on investment regulatory reforms and facilitation strategies. Her expertise lies in the development of National and Regional Investment policies, as well as the negotiation of Bilateral Investment treaties and formulation of regional Investment Treaty Models. Previously, she served as a technical advisor within the office of the Principal Secretary for Industrialization of Kenya. She has also held the position of Policy Manager at the Kenya Investment Authority, where she coordinated the work on policy advocacy and investor facilitation. She led the development of the Kenya Investment Policy, and her contributions extend to the negotiation of reform oriented regional and continental model Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), including those of the East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the African Union’s Pan African Investment Code (PAIC). Roslyn Ng’eno has written and made presentations nationally, regionally and internationally on international investment agreements and investment policies.
Lionelle Ngo-Samnick, engineer in agricultural economics, also holds a master’s degree in human and social sciences. She has over 20 years experience in the field of sustainable development policy and programs. She has worked as project coordinator in several development programs funded by many international institutions (FAO, World Bank, SNV, DFID, OIF and EU) in Africa and on capacity building, knowledge management and sharing. Presently, she coordinates the environment and climate change project of the International Organization of “La Francophonie”.
She is committed to improving livelihoods, employment access, resilience of agricultural smallholders and biodiversity conservation and has been deeply involved in multi-stakeholder sustainable development processes mainly 2030 development agenda.
Lionelle has published more than 30 free access books on the environment and agricultural development. In 2005, she was honored with the “African Young Scientist in Agriculture Award” and “Knight of the Order of Merit of Cameroon” for her action in sustainable development and rural employment field in Africa.