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Jury President, Africa
Founder member of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings
www.wiphold.com
Founder member of Women Private Equity Fund
www.wpef.co.za
From corporate life to entrepreneurship: bridging the gap between men and women
Wendy qualified with a B.Comm in 1981 from the University of Lesotho, acquired 10 years corporate experience with Vanda Cosmetics and the BMW Group in Marketing Management both in South Africa and internationally.
She left corporate life in 1991 to become a social entrepreneur and founded Bridging the Gap as her first business which she has now sold, although her ventures continue to bridge the gap.
A career at the service of female entrepreneurs
In 1994 Wendy pioneered the founding of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings which listed in 1999 on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in the Investment Trust section (de-listed March 2003), an initiative that revolutionised the participation of women in the economic landscape of South Africa.
In February 2002 Wendy launched a R120 million Private Equity Fund for women owned enterprises with a 2 - 3 year track record, another first for South Africa. Wendy was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Commerce by Fort Hare University, Africa's most respected institution of higher learning which has produced many of Africa's world renowned leaders including Mr Mandela.
Positions, honorary degrees and international distinctions
She recently stepped down as chairman of Alliance Capital and the Vodacom Group. She is currently chairman of Vendome SA, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the International Marketing Council (IMC) to build consensus around cohesive messaging on South Africa. She is on the board of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and was appointed as an International Trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award International Foundation for young people. Wendy is a member of the Consultative Network of the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy which is chaired by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Tanzania. She is also a member of the Club of Rome in Europe and has recently been appointed Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg. In August 2006 she was honoured as a Woman of Worth at the Jewish Achievers Awards in South Africa.
Over the past 10 years Wendy has received international recognition from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland as a Global Leader for Tomorrow, the Osaka Junior Chamber in Japan as an Outstanding Young Person and by Unisa Business School in South Africa for Leadership in Practise. She is featured regularly in various media e.g. Sunday Times, Financial Mail as one of South Africa's most powerful women and in 1999 was honoured as one of 50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World. Since January 2000 she has been featured as one of the likely candidates for Presidency even though she has no political aspirations.
Personal life
She is married to Mbhazima Shilowa, the Premier of Gauteng Province and they have two sons aged 31 and 21 and a grandson aged 3. Wendy has interests in writing, conversations, culture and metaphysics. She has lived overseas, has travelled extensively and wrote her first book called "Defining Moments", to reflect on the experiences of black professionals over the last three decades. The book is intended to cultivate a culture that passes on knowledge and experiences to future generations. She also established a Wendy Luhabe Foundation which will use the profits from the book to educate young disadvantaged women, particularly from rural areas.
TUNISIA
Co-director of Enda Inter-Arabe
www.endarabe.org.tn
President of Sanabel Microfinance network of Arab Countries
www.sanabelnetwork.org
Founder of the first micro-finance institution in Tunisia
Essma Ben Hamida is director of Enda Inter-Arabe (Enda), which she co-founded in 1990 with Michael Cracknell and President of the microfinance network of Arab countries Sanabel.In 1995, Enda launched the first microcredit institution in Tunisia, which today reaches around 40,000 active clients, mainly women, in the poor areas of Tunisia.
Early career in teaching and journalism
Previously, Essma worked as a secondary school teacher and as a TV journalist/reporter. She opened the first bureau of the national press agency, TAP, in New York at the United Nations. From 1981 to 1989 she worked with the International Foundation for Development Alternatives (IFDA) and with the Third World Press agency, Inter- Press Service, in Rome and Geneva. During this time, she visited Palestinian people living in the Occupied Territories and wrote a series of articles on their conditions; the latter were published in booklet form by Third World Network under the title, "Behind the Palestinian Uprising", in English, Chinese and Malay.
Essma Ben Hamida earned degrees in history, geography and completed one post-graduate year in urban planning.
SWAZILAND
Managing Director of Visionary Growth & Development
Consulting for small businesses
Zoé Dean-Smith is the Managing Director of Visionary Growth & Development Consultants - a consulting company committed to developing SMME businesses while focusing on the importance of having a social mission.
Visionary works in a mentoring capacity helping organizations with conceptual strategy, project management and the refinement of existing infrastructures.
Extensive experience in women's rural development
For 8 years, Zoé was Managing Director of Gone Rural, a rural women's development company, working with over 700 women. Zoé undertook the marketing, human resource management, budgets/projections and logistical and administrative support for the company which subsequently achieved a 300% growth rate within 5 years. In addition to growing Gone Rural, she endeavoured to source donor funding for communitybased projects and development initiatives benefiting the rural communities.
In late 2006, Zoé accepted a year's contract from the International Finance Corporation to develop and project-manage the creation and implementation of Gone Rural BoMake, a nonprofit community development entity assisting roughly 700 rural Swazi families with access to clean water, food security, HIV/AIDS support, women's rights & literacy and youth entrepreneurship.
An international speaker
Zoé has been increasingly active in public speaking both regionally and internationally, talking about the benefits and challenges of holistic business models and the importance of commitment to socially responsible business practice. These speaking engagements have also allowed her to help address issues concerning Swaziland such as the HIV/AIDS situation, women's rights and basic rural community needs.
MOROCCO
Manager of GFI Informatique Maroc
www.gfi.fr/ma/maroc/php
Founder of AFEM (Moroccan Women Entrepreneurs Association)
www.afem.ma
Early career in data processing
Saloua Karkri-Belkeziz (Morocco), began her career creating Professional System, a data processing service company acquired later by the French group GFI and later renamed GFIMaroc.
Saloua Karkri-Belkeziz presently runs GFI-MAROC and has been recognised "Business Woman of the year in Morocco" (2004) by l'Express, a French weekly magazine. GFI-Maroc has established itself as one of the leading data processing companies in Morocco.
A spokesperson for the women entrepreneurs of Morocco
Mrs Belkeziz is also famous for creating the AFEM, the Moroccan Women Entrepreneurs Association, of which she held the presidency during six years. She is now Emeritus President of the AFEM. In recognition of her activism in favour of women's empowerment, she was decorated by His Majesty the King Mohammed VI of Wissam al Arch, and received the French National Order of Merit.
Saloua Karkri holds various positions within the General Confederation of Enterprises of Morocco, (CGEM) as member of the Executive Committee and Vice President of the Federation of New Technologies.
A diversity of commitments
She is very active both locally and on the international level:
- Former President of the IT GIAC.
- Vice-President of the Ouezzane Association for Development and Culture.
- Member of the "Groupe d'impulsion France-Maroc", a committee devoted to foster economic relations between France and Morocco and presided by the Prime Ministers of both countries.
- Member of the OECD Taskforce for the promotion of women's entrepreneurship in the Middle-East and North-African (MENA) region.
- Member of the Word Bank committee of the Consultative Council for gender (CCG) for the MENA Region.
Saloua Karkri-Belkeziz is 45, married and has three children.
A legal mind applied to business challenges
Judy qualified with a master's degree in law, after studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and then at Oxford. On finishing her studies in 1998, Judy however forsook the law to join management consultancy McKinsey & Company, out of curiosity to learn more about the business world. She has remained with McKinsey ever since, largely because of the unique opportunities it offers to explore complex systemic challenges and resolve them. In 2004 Judy was elected a partner at McKinsey.
A career focused on transformation and development
Judy is a member of McKinsey's Sub-Saharan African leadership group responsible for developing new insights into organisational behaviour and bringing them to clients. Her work is particularly centred on making large-scale organisational transformations successful integrating the "hard" and "soft" elements of organisational performance in a way that sustainably shifts the underlying mindsets driving group behaviour. These efforts have concentrated on the mining, energy and financial services sectors.
She has also made public and social sector development a major focus of her career. Some highlights include:
- Partnering with the Black Management Forum, exploring ways to accelerate the development of black leaders in South Africa (and ultimately in Africa)
- Helping South Africa's government develop and implement a business plan for creating 10,000 new jobs in business process outsourcing
- Advising the Namibian government on a major upcoming project to transform the effectiveness of their healthcare system by taking a whole systems view and building leadership capability
A passion for unleashing human potential
Judy Malan's passion is to help groups of people achieve social and economic transformation, by helping them forge a common language where their values conflict and solve problems from a systems perspective. She sees this mutual understanding as a platform upon which to uplift the social system of Africa. Unleashing the potential of people - both as individuals and as groups - is what ultimately drives her.
Loïc Sadoulet holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University. He has been teaching at INSEAD since 2000 in executive development programs, the MBA and executive MBA programs. He formerly worked at the World Bank and at the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES) in Brussels, and in a microfinance institution in Guatemala.
His research focuses on business development and expansion in less-developed economies, both by local efforts and through entry by international companies. His interests lie in creating profitable lines of business in environments with substantial information gaps.
Building on 15 years of experience in microfinance in Latin American, Asian, African and European settings, he uses unfamiliar environments to help firms innovate around their underlying value proposition.
Loïc leads INSEAD's Africa Initiative, which aims to attract more African talent and increase the amount of African content (cases, projects, experiences) in INSEAD programs.
A high-profile CEO in the telecom industry
Cheikh Tidiane MBAYE, 50 years old, is a specialist in the Telecommunications sector. He was Director of the Post and Telecommunications office in 1984. He has been Chief Executive Officer of the Senegalese National Telecommunications Company (SONATEL) since 1988, a position which he still holds.
Considering the importance of SONATEL in the economic development of Senegal, Cheikh Tidiane MBAYE is one of the privileged contacts of the government of Senegal and a reputable expert in West African development. Under his charge, SONATEL has become one of the most competitive companies in Africa as well as the first capitalisation of the Regional Stock Market in Abidjan.
Sonatel Foundation: promoting health, culture and education for girls
Mr MBAYE is the President of the SONATEL Foundation, the first Senegalese Enterprise Foundation. It was set up in 2001 and covers the Health Sector, Cultural Sector and the Education Sector. Its priorities concerning education are to ensure the presence and success of girls in the school system. The SONATEL Foundation acts alone, or with partners such as UNICEF and the Orange Foundation (formerly known as the France Telecom Foundation).
Mr MBAYE graduated from ENSTP - Paris (French National Telecommunication Postgraduate School) and ENSAE - Paris (French National Statistics and Economic Administration Postgraduate School).
Mr MBAYE was invited in 2006 at the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society to speak about microfinance: why women benefit and how more could.