Mr Pravin Gordhan is the current Minister in the Department of Public Enterprises in South Africa. This Department is mandated to perform shareholder oversight on behalf of government over seven (7) State-Owned Companies which include Transnet (rail, freight, ports and engineering); Eskom (electricity utility); Denel (advanced manufacturing and arms industry); South African Airways (SAA); South African Express (SAX), Alexkor (a diamond mining company) and South African Forestry Company Limited (SAFCOL), a timber and forestry.

Pravin Gordhan has been actively involved in the anti-apartheid struggle dating back to the 1970s and 1980s when he was an organiser in the student movement and a prominent leader in civic structures. After qualifying as a pharmacist in 1974, he worked at Durban’s King Edward VIII hospital until 1981 where he was expelled by hospital administration for his involvement in resistance politics. He spent four years underground in the 1980s and became intricately involved in the South African Communist Party and African National Congress.

He played a pivotal role in South Africa’s transition as an ANC participant in the multi-party talks at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), and as co-chair of the Transitional Executive Council. He chaired the Constitutional Committee, which had oversight over the implementation of the new Constitution that was adopted by Parliament in May 1996. He continued to serve actively as an ANC MP until March 1998 when he joined SARS as Deputy Commissioner. He was appointed as Commissioner in November 1999 where he spent a decade building SARS into a formidable tax and customs administration recognised world-wide for its efforts in enabling the South African government to collect the resources it needed for its development programmes.

In May 2009 in the midst of the global financial crisis and a world-wide recession, he was appointed as Minister of Finance and acquired a challenging task to navigate the domestic economy out of turbulence towards fiscal stability and a new growth path. In May 2014, he was appointed as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs only to be re-appointed to the Finance portfolio in December 2015. He remained the Minister of Finance until he was inexplicably recalled at around midnight on 30th March 2017.

He returned to the Legislature as a Member of Parliament and became part of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises. He continues to serve as member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress, having been elected as a NEC member in December 2012. Mr Gordhan is passionate about democracy, racial and gender equality and working towards building a prosperous future for all in South Africa.

Mpho is Founding Chairman of Epitome Investments (Pty) Limited. An accomplished business leader, with diverse experience acquired over 33 years overall, 27 of which have been in executive and C-Suite roles in the public and private sectors.

He is Co-founder of a newly established Venture Capital Fund, Leones Capital (Pty) Limited – setup in Q4 of 2023.

He is the immediate past Non-Executive Chairman of Nedbank Group Ltd (NDBKF.PK), Nedbank Ltd, his term concluded on 02 June 2023.

Until Monday 30 October 2023 Mpho was Chairman of the ESKOM SOC LTD Board of Directors after a short term of 12 months.

He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Platinum Group Metals (TSX:PTM) (NYSE:PLG) and Lead Independent Director on the Board of Invicta Holdings Limited (INVICTA).

Epitome Investments (Pty) Ltd his family investments holdings company also holds equity interests in various companies, among these, LPI -LionPride Investments and LRMG.

He ploughs back to society in many ways, in June 2023 he was appointed as Adjunct Professor at UNISA’s CEMS - College of Economic & Management Sciences. He also volunteers as a Trustee on the Board of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, FLG Modise Enterprise Development Fund as well as a Board Director of FLG Modise Pentecost Foundation.

Peter currently serves as Managing Director at Medtronic - Southern Africa, a number one global medical technology company headquartered in Dublin. With over twelve years experience in General Management in large and diverse geographies including Eastern Europe Middle East & Africa, Peter's main areas of focus and strengths include Strategy Formulation and Implementation, Geographic Expansion (new market development), Human Capital Management and Leadership Development as well Business Strategy turnaround. Peter has initiated and led public private partnerships to increase access to health care. Peter thrives on solving complex business problems and leading multi disciplinary teams to turnaround businesses.

Peter is a humanitarian and an entrepreneur at heart, with future aspirations to embrace a leadership opportunity that will allow him to help improve access to healthcare to as many people as possible (scale) through Shared Value and Entrepreneurial initiatives. He is passionate and optimistic about healthcare opportunities and prospects in Africa.

Robert is the Director of the Economist Corporate Network based in Dubai and covering the MENA region. Robert works closely with network members to help inform their business strategies through political, economic and operational insight and to connect them with their senior leadership peers.

Robert is a business journalist, editor and publisher with 25 years of experience covering a wide variety of sectors, including hospitality, retail, construction, energy and transport, and a particular interest in human capital management.

He is an accomplished event chairman, moderator and speaker.

Robert completed an MBA at the University of Leicester School of Business in 2012 and holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Nottingham.

Sam Rolland is the Network Director for Sub-Saharan Africa at EICN. He is a trained economist specialising in understanding the complexities of the global economy, and how regional issues affect domestic business. Sam advises global teams on appropriate strategies to navigate a complex world by driving agility and future-readiness.

Prior to joining the EICN, Sam spent time in both the public and private sector, first as an economist within the Economic Policy division of the National Treasury, and then as a consulting economist at Econometrix and Deloitte. During his time in the private sector, Sam specialised in analysing events and government policies to dilute these into constructing business strategies. Sam also spent time in Switzerland as an economist for airline industry body IATA.

Sam holds a masters degree in economics from Stellenbosch University, and has studied further at the Institute for Social Studies in The Hague, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College in New York state. Sam also sits on the board of the Western Cape Primary Science Programme, a non-profit organisation focusing on the improving educational outcomes in under-resourced schools in Africa.