* Over 60 international speakers slated to share their expertise for ScaleUp Africa’s Virtual Pan African Entrepreneurship Growth Festival August 6-7th.
Meet the Speakers for ScaleUp Africa's Entrepreneurship Growth Festival, 6-7th August
SCALE UP AFRICA’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP GROWTH FESTIVAL
Over 60 international speakers are slated to share their expertise with entrepreneurs throughout Africa and the Diaspora on August 6-7th for IGNITE, ScaleUp Africa’s Pan African-Diaspora Entrepreneurship Growth Festival. This free digital experience is set to provide practical resources for entrepreneurs of African descent, nurture closer business ties, and delve into the investors who have been active during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Segments on Venture Philanthropy, Youth Employment, Corporate Innovation, and SME Engagement, Tech, Creative & Lifestyle Industry, Agriculture, and Policy will be featured with a focus on pragmatic insights for economic empowerment and transformation. Day 2 of the festival will highlight workshops dedicated to providing SMEs with access to new resources for a post-Covid marketplace and the extensive convening power and thought-leadership of ScaleUp Africa.
Meet some of the leading global voices on entrepreneurship, growth hacking, venture investment, and technology who will engage and inspire IGNITE’s participants through a series of conversations, panel discussions, and action-oriented workshops focused on achieving meaningful change through African-Diaspora Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment & Justice.
MEET SOME OF THE IGNITE SPEAKERS:
Paul Carrick Brunson, C.E.O of Brunson Holdings and Knowledge Share
Paul is a Jamaican-American serial entrepreneur, television host, and columnist whose specialty lies in teaching others professional and social skills. An internationally recognized expert in interpersonal relationships, personal development and entrepreneurship, he currently serves as a featured business columnist for USA Today, co-host of UK’s Celebs Go Dating, and Married at First Sight television shows. He is the host of the Better with Paul podcast and event series, named as a Top Voice on LinkedIn and the world’s most influential matchmaker by the Matchmaking Institute.
Tomi Davies - President, African Business Angel Network
Tomi Davies is an IT systems analyst turned advisor, author, public speaker and angel investor with outstanding experience building large-scale, national and region-wide technology-enabled systems projects in the US, Europe, and Africa. He mentors entrepreneurs and invests in startups through TVCLabs, a technology business accelerator based in Lagos, Nigeria. Davies is a co-founder of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN), founding President of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), founding board member at MBO Capital (Private Equity), L4L Nigeria (NGO) and has had various executive leadership roles with influential global brands including Ernst & Young, Marks & Spencer, Elf Aquitaine, Sapient and the One Laptop Per Child project.
Anita Erskine, Anita Erskine Media
Anita Erskine is a Broadcast Journalist, Communications Specialist and an ardent advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals, Girls’ Education and Women in Leadership. She began her Broadcast Journalism career as a lifestyle TV On Air Personality and has evolved into a Strategic Communications expert for a variety of global brands and organizations, solidifying her reputation as one of the most versatile communications professionals in West Africa. Ranked one of the top 100 most influential Women in Ghana, Anita has recently joined the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative – Jack Ma Foundation’s flagship philanthropic entrepreneurship program in Africa as Host and Advisor and became a WASH Ambassador for WaterAid’s behavioural change campaign in the fight against Covid 19. Anita will be the main Host of, IGNITE and supports ScaleUp Africa as an Advisor.
Parminder Vir OBE - former CEO, Tony Elumelu Foundation
Parminder Vir has dedicated her career to positively impact and transform lives through her work in philanthropy, film and television production, arts and culture, entrepreneurship, and investment funding. She served as the CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Africa’s leading philanthropic organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria from 2014 to 2019 bringing her unique mix of skills, talent, and imagination to design, develop, and launch one of the most ambitious entrepreneurship programmes on the continent - the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor, and fund 10,000 entrepreneurs from across the continent. Under her leadership, the Foundation has cemented its role as the principal advocate for African entrepreneurship, empowering thousands on their path to economic and social transformation.
Parminder has enjoyed a distinguished career as an awarding winning film and television producer, private equity investor, and served as a Board Director on UK India Business Council, Department for Culture Media and Sports, the UK Film Council, The Indus Entrepreneurs UK, and was recipient of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to the Broadcasting and Film industry in 2002
Briant Biggs, CEO Unanimous Games
Briant Biggs is a veteran entertainment and technology visionary and entrepreneur. He currently is the CEO of Unanimous Games, an international gaming company and has held positions as Head Of Global Mobile Strategies at Jay-Z’s label, RocNation where he spearheaded the expansion of the company to Africa. Biggs works closely with artists and the entertainment industry in the US and Nigeria to bridge the gap between entertainment and technology and advocates for artist’s rights and content ownership.
Dentaa Amoateng MBE, GUBA
Dentaa Amoateng MBE, better known simply as 'Dentaa', is an award-winning British-Ghanaian entrepreneur, actress, TV presenter, singer, producer and manager. She is a prominent advocate for the Ghanaian community around the world and in 2009 she founded the GUBA (Ghanaian UK Based Achievements) Awards, which recognises the achievements of individuals and organisations 'positively contributing to the Ghanaian community in the UK or Ghana'.
Her awards include The Future 100 Awards as a Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 and the African Women in Europe (AWE) Award 2013. In June 2016, Dentaa was honoured to have been awarded an MBE by Her Majesty The Queen for her services to UK-African diaspora relations.
ABOUT SCALEUP AFRICA
ScaleUp Africa, a B2B Entrepreneurship Development organisation, was co-founded by Amma Gyampo and Olivia Asiedu Ntow. Its remit is to advocate for transformative and more qualitative entrepreneurship support, nurture closer ties between Corporations, Foundations and the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem to improve the quality and number of investable, scalable ventures from this underserved segment. The business development service provider serves such organisations to implement programs targeted at established women and youth entrepreneurs in sectors such as Green Energy, Creative & Lifestyle, Education, Agriculture and Tech.