Paddy Mukando

Conference Host / Master of Ceremonies

Paddy Mukando is an award-winning broadcaster and voice-over artist, and accomplished Master of Ceremonies (MC), with a career spanning over two decades. He is a much sought-after MC for state, corporate and private functions, hosting events in America, Europe, and Africa.

Amina Kaunda

Conference Host / Master of Ceremonies

Amina Kaunda is a media and communications professional with experience in broadcast journalism, corporate communications, and high-profile event hosting. Having worked with Spring TV, Diamond TV, and Radio Phoenix, she brings strong communication skills and a natural ability to engage diverse audiences. As a corporate Master of Ceremonies, Amina creates meaningful conversations that connect people, ideas, and industries.

Dr Rajan Mahtani

Founder and Group Executive Chairman

Dr. Rajan Mahtani is a distinguished Zambian business leader, chartered accountant, and philanthropist with a career spanning over five decades. As the Founder and Group Executive Chairman of the Mahtani Group of Companies—established in Zambia in 1981—he has built a diversified regional conglomerate spanning banking, financial services, insurance, microfinance, milling, mining, agriculture, energy, and real estate. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the British Association of Accountants and Auditors, holding a PhD in Law, Dr. Mahtani is widely recognized for his pioneering contributions to indigenous financial institutions and private sector development across Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and South Africa. Beyond commerce, Dr. Mahtani is deeply committed to social impact and nation-building. He serves as Founder and Chairman of Prison Fellowship International Zambia, spearheading rehabilitation and self-sustainability initiatives within correctional facilities. A firm advocate for education, he established the prestigious Stephen Malama Award for top-graduating law students and provides ongoing scholarship support to deserving scholars.

Frank Mwinji Dalo

Chief Financial Officer - Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited

Frank Mwinji Dalo is the Group CFO of Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited, a role he took up in April 2025 after serving as the Group's Chief Actuary. With nearly 20 years of experience in finance, actuarial science and risk management across Africa and the UK, he has led BIHL's capital management strategy, its IFRS 17 adoption and major business transformation initiatives.
His career includes senior roles at HSBC Global Services in the UK, Deloitte and Botswana Life Insurance, having begun at Standard Life in the UK. Frank is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (UK) and holds an MSc in Actuarial Science from Heriot-Watt University.
He is passionate about the role of finance and actuarial leadership in driving sustainable growth and innovation in Botswana and the wider region.

William Simfukwe

Chief Financial Officer, PICZ

William Simfukwe is a strategic and governance-focused Senior Finance Executive with extensive leadership experience directing financial strategy, investment portfolios, and corporate oversight. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Professional Insurance Corporation Zambia Plc, the largest and most highly rated short-term insurer in Zambia. William has been at the pinnacle of the corporation's growth over the years, engineering robust financial frameworks that successfully scaled annual revenue and significantly improved liquid investments and underwriting profitability.

A leading voice in national insurance strategy and sector-wide governance, William was recently appointed to serve as a Board Member and appointed as the Finance and Administration Committee Chairperson for the Insurance Association of Zambia. He has additionally served on various ZICA committees.

William holds a Master of Business Administration from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. He is a Fellow of both the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants. At this year's conference, he will join fellow industry leaders for the highly anticipated panel discussion, A CFO's Worst Nightmare, where they will unpack the modern vulnerabilities, regulatory pressures, and strategic risks facing corporate leaders today.

Musonda Chisanga

Chief Financial Officer, Klapton Re

Cikay Richards

COUNTRY DIRECTOR - GRALIX TANZANIA

Cikay Richards is an internationally experienced executive whose career spans across Africa, Europe, and Latin America, advising public and private sector leaders on complex strategic initiatives at the intersection of public policy, private capital, and international development. Her expertise spans investment promotion and facilitation, market entry strategy, corporate finance, institutional strengthening, stakeholder engagement, and executive advisory, bringing together commercial acumen and development expertise to deliver sustainable investment, institutional, and economic outcomes.

Ms. Richards also served as Chief Executive Officer of the Africa College of Insurance and Social Protection, where she led the institution’s strategic direction, organizational development, and stakeholder engagement. She subsequently served as Chief Executive Officer of Lyra in Africa, providing executive leadership across multiple African markets while driving business growth, strategic transformation, and regional expansion. She later joined EY Switzerland as Africa Lead, International Development Team, where she supported EY’s engagement with development partners, development finance institutions, governments, and international organizations, advising on complex economic development, private sector development, institutional strengthening, and investment initiatives across Africa.

As Executive Director of the European Business Group Tanzania, Ms. Richards led one of the country’s leading private-sector business associations through a period of significant institutional transformation. During her tenure, bilateral trade between Tanzania and the European Union reached approximately €1.3 billion, reflecting the continued growth of commercial engagement between European investors and the Tanzanian private sector.

Mbakisi Gopolang

Chief Investment Officer - Debswana Pension Fund

Mbakisi Gopolang is an Investment Professional with expertise in Investments, Pension, Insurance, Wealth Management, Real Estate, Banking, and Microfinance, with experience in both the United States of America and Botswana. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, with a minor in Communication, from Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois, USA, and an MBA in Finance from the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom.
Currently, Mr. Gopolang serves as the Chief Investment Officer at Debswana Pension Fund, Botswana’s second largest pension fund with Assets Under Management of BWP 12 billion approximately USD 900 million. In this role, he oversees the overall investment mandate of the fund, which includes managing existing investments, assessing new investment opportunities, monitoring market trends and risks, and implementing the Fund's overall investment processes.
Mbakisi is passionate about investing and aims to leverage his skills and expertise to help grow and solidify developing economies and capital markets in Africa and across the globe. He has a keen interest in innovation and startups that contribute to global improvement in various ways.

Matete Sichizya

Director of Investments - NAPSA

Matete Sichizya is a Chartered Accountant and Investment executive with more than 20 years of experience spanning pensions, insurance, reinsurance, and financial services. He currently serves as Director of Investments at the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), where he leads the management of an investment portfolio with assets under management exceeding US$6 billion.

Matete has held several senior executive positions across the financial services industry, including Chief Financial Officer at Klapton Reinsurance and Prudential Life Assurance Zambia, and Chief Operating Officer at Sanlam Life Insurance Zambia. His extensive leadership experience has equipped him with deep expertise in investment management, corporate finance, risk management, strategic planning, and institutional governance.

Matete holds a Master of Science in Pensions and Insurance and a Bachelor of Accountancy. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (FZiCA). In addition to his academic and professional qualifications, he has completed several executive and professional development programmes, including a non-degree leadership programme at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Widely respected for his strategic insight and commitment to excellence, Matete is passionate about building sustainable investment portfolios that create long-term value for stakeholders while contributing to economic growth and financial security.

Mulumba Lwatula

Technologist, Investor, Mining & Energy Strategist

Mulumba Lwatula is a Lusaka-based technologist, investor, and mining & energy strategist with over two decades of experience across Africa and the United States. At the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Industrial Resources Limited (IRL), he plays a leading role in shaping Zambia’s mining and energy strategy—driving initiatives in mineral licensing, exploration partnerships, critical-mineral trading, gold aggregation, and the development of frameworks to support the country’s energy transition and industrialisation goals.

Beyond his national development work, Mulumba writes extensively on technology, human capital, and investment at https://mulu.mba, and serves as an advisor to startups and emerging ventures.

His work is grounded in a commitment to innovation, economic transformation, and building Africa’s next generation of enterprises and strategic industries.

Tom Farrell

CFA, PARTNER

Tom is an experienced Partner in LCP's investment department and founding member of LCP's global institutional practice, bringing a broad set of skills to help clients navigate complex investment challenges. Tom helps his clients set investment strategies, manage risks, conduct asset-liability modelling, select managers and implement portfolio changes. Tom’s clients include multi-billion pension schemes, central banks and sovereign wealth funds (including several in Africa). Tom's wider roles include: Chairing LCP asset class assumptions group (tasked with setting expected return and risk metrics), Investment Committee member of an external fund platform and a prior role as an equity researcher.

Tom joined LCP in 2012, has a strong background in finance and investment and is a qualified CFA charter-holder. At University he completed a degree in Mathematics.

Mwelwa Chipimo

Software Developer, Gralix Technologies

Mwelwa Chipimo leads the development and implementation of GIM, an investment management and fund administration platform that brings investor administration, portfolio transactions, cash management, valuations and reporting together in one system.

His experience in financial technology spans software engineering, business analysis and the implementation of investment systems. Working closely with investment teams, he translates operational needs into product requirements and guides delivery from design through testing and deployment, with a focus on data accuracy, operational controls and practical usability.

His presentation, "From Fragmentation to Control: Streamlining Investment Operations with GIM," will explore how GIM is being used to bring investment workflows together, streamline day-to-day operations and give investment teams greater visibility and control.

Temitope Adeyemi

CEO & Co-founder, Pay-U

Temitope has spent more than 20 years in insurance sales and underwriting, including at AXA. He has founded three insurtech companies and sold one to a broker. At Pay-U he built pay-per-minute motor insurance with an AI co-driver that helps prevent crashes, protected by a patent in Nigeria. Pay-U is a Delaware-headquartered insurtech startup that's live in Nigeria and Botswana, where it has written $2.64M in premiums across 125,000 policies at a 19% loss ratio. It has also been admitted to Zambia's PIA Insurance Regulatory Sandbox. His focus is simple: insurance that people pay for only when they drive, and that keeps them safe while they do.

Cathy Khutjo Mahloana

Digital Innovation Facilitator & Consultant, Rekindle Learning

Cathy Khutjo Mahloana is a digital innovation facilitator and product strategist whose niche is translating business strategy into tangible digital products and solutions. With a background in Mathematics and Information Systems, she brings ten years of experience building consumer-facing digital products across startup and corporate environments — five of them in digital strategy consulting, spanning fashion and beauty e-commerce through to enterprise digital transformation.

For the past three years she has co-facilitated design-thinking sprints and innovation masterclasses for executives through FFWD Innovation, working with JSE-listed and multinational clients. Her facilitation sits where creativity and innovation meet compassion, grounded in participants' real context, real industry products and live case studies. She co-founded the digitally customised skincare startup you&yours, designing its personalisation algorithm and end-to-end customer journey, and remains on a mission to build compassionate tech products.

Sally Nhlanhla

CEO, Rekindle Learning

Sally Nhlanhla is a technology executive and impact entrepreneur with a proven record of building and scaling mission-driven ventures across Africa, India, LATAM and the US. As Chief Executive Officer of Rekindle Learning she leads one of Africa's foremost EdTech platforms, delivering performance-driven learning that helps organisations close skills gaps and improve execution. She also leads strategy for Covenant Security Solutions Africa, equipping individuals and enterprises with digital defence and response capabilities while fast-tracking graduates into globally in-demand cybersecurity careers.

Her leadership journey includes founding Edifice Legacy — a private equity firm scaling impact-led businesses in emerging markets — and serving as Director of Africa Business Development Strategy at Dovetail, a pan-African logistics technology company. At Pearson she led the adoption of learning technologies across Sub-Saharan African universities, improving access to digital learning and student outcomes. Beyond the boardroom she is a long-standing mentor to youth-led businesses and a committed advocate for inclusive digital economies.

Andrew Kamau Njenga

Principal - Agrails

Andrew Kamau Njenga is Principal at Agrails, a Nairobi-based climate risk insurtech building parametric insurance on satellite data through its Holmes platform. He leads business development, revenue strategy, partnerships and product direction, working with insurers, reinsurers, banks and microfinance institutions to design cover for people the traditional market has struggled to reach.

His work sits where climate data meets distribution. At Agrails he has driven the company's move from a pure B2B model to B2B2C and direct channels, including Insurance as a Service for insurers and reinsurers and embedded climate protection for smallholder farmers and informal-sector workers. He has led partnership and market development conversations with reinsurers and insurers across East and Southern Africa.

Andrew brings more than fifteen years of cross-sector strategic management experience across medicine, humanitarian relief, advocacy, start up advisory and insurtech strategy.