Auditor General Mr. Hussain Niyazy is a public audit professional with extensive experience in finance, accounting and audit. He is a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) who counts over 20 years of service experience at the Auditor General’s Office (AGO).
Mr. Hussain Niyazy started his career in the AGO, formerly the Maldives Audit Office as an Accounting Officer Trainee in 1997. Since then, he has shown a genuine interest in the field and has contributed immensely to the development and strengthening of public audit and public financial management systems in the country.
He played a vital role in the establishment and development of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Maldives (CA Maldives) in which he Previously filled the position of the President. He currently contributes globally as a Board Member of the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and as the Vice Chair of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA).
Prior to his appointment as the Auditor General, he led the Financial Audit Division as the Assistant Auditor General and presides over the regulation of the private sector audit profession. He was the Chair of the Licensing and Disciplinary Committee of the Auditor General – till the formation of CA Maldives – and the Chair of the Admission and Licensing Committee of CA Maldives till his appointment as the Auditor General.
Evans Njewa of Malawi was elected Chair from January 2024 to December 2025.
Evans Njewa is the Chief Environmental Officer, Head of Climate Change and UNFCCC Focal Point for the Government of Malawi. Evans has 20 years of experience in UNFCCC negotiations, serving as Malawi’s lead negotiator on climate change since 2005 and the LDC Group’s lead negotiator on climate finance since 2009.
In Malawi, Mr Njewa was responsible for the Government’s First, Second and Third National Communications, the National Adaptation Programmes of Action, the Biennial Update Report, and Malawi’s Nationally Determined Contributions. He was a Board Member of the Adaptation Fund from 2019-2022, the Green Climate Fund from 2016 – 2017, and a member of the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee that was overseeing the implementation of Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol from 2010 – 2014.
Evans holds a Master of Policy Studies from the Southern African Regional Institute for Policy Studies (SARIPS), Zimbabwe and a Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) from the University of Malawi.
Lawrence Njihia is the founder and Co-CEO of SHOPJIJI a fashion e-commerce start-up based in Nairobi that is helping to connect Africa’s fashion brands to customers online. With a background in Entrepreneurship and Finance from Strathmore University Kenya, he is currently a JASIRI Talent Investor Fellow - a program by the Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropy that seeks to identify, select and invest in individuals who display high potential to create high growth ventures. With his JASIRI colleagues, they’re exploring the potential of agriculture providing opportunities to Africa’s hidden middle.
He is also an Youth Action Hub Kenya member and is the Vice-Coordinator where he spends a lot of time working on expanding opportunities for the youth. Lawrence was also an UNCTAD 2016 Youth Delegate in Nairobi, Kenya where he represented his country.
Dr. Patrick Njoroge served as the ninth Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya from June 2015 to June 2023, after a 20-year career at the International Monetary Fund.
He is currently a member of the Advisory Boards of the Yale Program on Financial Stability and the Global Finance and Technology Network, and Co-Chair of the Debt Relief for Green and Inclusive Recovery Project.
He has received several awards and recognition, including four awards for Africa’s Central Banker of the Year, and recognition in 2023 as a Top 25 African Finance Leader.
He holds a PhD in Economics from Yale University.
Mxolisi Nkosi is Ambassador Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organisations in Switzerland. He has served in several senior positions in the Foreign Ministry of post-Apartheid South Africa. Between February 2012 and March 2016 was the South African Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Head of Mission to the European Union. Until his appointment as South Africa's Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, he was the Head of Global Governance and Continental Agenda in the South African Foreign Ministry, and President Cyril Ramaphosa's Sherpa to G7 Outreach Sessions.
An expert in the field of international relations and diplomacy, Nkosi previously headed Africa Branch in the Foreign Ministry. He has travelled extensively throughout the world and in Africa, and accompanied high-level delegations of former President Thabo Mbeki, President Jacob Zuma, former Foreign Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, and now President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Naledi Pandor.
Janvier Désiré Nkurunziza is the Head of the Commodities Branch at UNCTAD. He directs research and field projects on the interaction between primary commodities production, trade and use, on the one hand, and economic development on the other. Prior to his current position, Janvier was the officer-in-Charge of the Commodities branch and Chief of Research and Analysis Section in the same Branch; Officer-in-charge of Africa Section, UNCTAD; Macroeconomic Policy Advisor at UNDP, New York; and an economist at UNCTAD and UNECA. Moreover, Janvier worked at Harvard University as a research officer; the University of Yaoundé; the University of Burundi; and briefly at the IMF and the World Bank. He also was a consultant on a World Bank/University of Yale project. Janvier trained as an economist at the University of Burundi, Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), University of Oxford (doctorate) and Harvard University (Post-doc). He has coordinated the production of flagship reports at UNECA, UNDP, and UNCTAD, including the Commodities and Development Report. He has also published dozens of peer reviewed journal articles and chapters in edited books. Janvier is a Fellow of several academic and research institutions, including CSAE at Oxford University; Africa House at New York University; and PERI at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. For the last thirteen years, he has been a resource person in the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), based in Africa. His current research interests include the study of commodity dependence and its implications for development, economics of conflict, and development macroeconomics issues such as capital flight, inflation, and economic growth.
Vanúsia Nogueira comes from a family of coffee producers, and started her career at PwC Consulting, where she was a partner and worked for 15 years. She started working directly with coffee in 2002, always focusing on niche markets. She served as executive director at BSCA from 2007 through April 2022 and took over as Executive Director at the International Coffee Organization in May 2022. Vanúsia holds a PhD in Administration/Marketing from Rosario National University in Argentina, a BS in Systems Engineering and Administration from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ) and MBAs and post-MBA focusing on Management, Marketing and Advanced Project Management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro.
Vanúsia Nogueira is the Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO). She comes from a family of coffee producers, and started her career at PwC Consulting, where she was a partner and worked for 15 years. She started working directly with coffee in 2002, always focusing on niche markets. She served as executive director at BSCA from 2007 through April 2022 and took over as Executive Director at the International Coffee Organization in May 2022. Vanúsia holds a PhD in Administration/Marketing from Rosario National University in Argentina, a BS in Systems Engineering and Administration from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ) and MBAs and post-MBA focusing on Management, Marketing and Advanced Project Management from Fundação Getulio Vargas-Rio de Janeiro (FGV-RJ). (Vanúsia Nogueira – CV)
