Governance

Shungu is a lawyer by profession with over a decade of experience in corporate affairs, stakeholder engagement and executive leadership. Her corporate experience has built her fluency with strategy, governance and risk management. She currently chairs the Board of Directors and the Governance Committee of the Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (CENFRI). She is also a Board Member of Katswe Sistahood, a Zimbabwean NGO for the protection of girls and young women.
She served as the Chief Regulatory Officer at Zoona, one of Africa’s leading FinTech start-ups. She also held senior roles legal, corporate and regulatory affairs at British American Tobacco (BAT) responsible for Southern Africa. Prior to that, she was a Legal Manager and Transaction Advisor at Ernst & Young. Shungu began her career in international law and worked internationally for organisations egaged at the coalface of expanding and developing human rights law, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in New York and the African Union in Addis Ababa.
Shungu feels called to coach and support emerging leaders and organisations to become future fit and to develop strategies for adaptation and resilience in an age of continuous disruption.

Qualifications:

• Master of Laws(LLM) in Human Rights Law, SOAS-University of London
• Bachelor of Laws(LLB)(Honors), London South Bank University
• FinTech: Future Commerce, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Elizabeth Howard is a founding Director and Acting CEO of ACfA. In 2015 she co-founded LelapaFund, an equity crowdfunding platform for diaspora investors focused on East Africa, building a community of 2500+ investors and entrepreneurs. LelapaFund’s regulatory challenges led her to create ACfA and work full time on building a pan-African regulatory framework for crowdfunding. She also founded Women in African Investments, a 260+ peer-to-peer network of investment professionals. Prior to that, she worked in academia and private sector in risk management and financial economics.

Qualifications

• Master’s in Economics, Sciences Po Paris
• B.Comm in Economics (Honours) University of Cape Town
• B.Soc Sci Economics, Politics and Philosophy, University of Cape Town
• Certificate of Entrepreneurship, Stanford University GSB

Ian Bessarabia is the founder of On the Edge Blox for Business, a consultancy practice
specialising in the trends emerging in the world of work that will alter how businesses
position themselves in the future. Ian’s career has spanned 25 years at some of the
world’s largest financial institutions. A popular motivational speaker, radio host,
strategic business advisor and executive coach, Ian spends a significant portion of his
time engaging with new people and facilitating corporate introductions.
Ian is based in Johannesburg, South Africa where he lives with his wife and two children.

Qualifications

• B.Comm in Business Management & Economics, University of South Africa
• Blockchain Corda Developer Certification, R3
• Certificate of Strategic Management, University of Cape Town
• Certificate of Executive and Management Coaching, University of Cape Town

Patrick is the CEO of BackaBuddy, Africa’s leading donations crowdfunding platform, founder of Thundafund.com and co-founder of Uprise.Africa. He has consulted widely in the development world and has built successful socially and environmentally impactful organisations.

Qualifications:
• Bachelor of Business Sciences, University of cape Town
• Honours in Marketing, University of Cape Town