Ms. Rukaiya el-Rufai is the Special Advisor to the President on the National Economic Council (NEC) and Climate Change in the Office of the Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria where she supports the Vice President in managing the Council’s affairs, and plays a critical role in developing and implementing Nigeria’s climate change policies, engaging with key stakeholders, and monitoring the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Rukaiya served as a member of the inter-governmental committee on Nigeria’s Carbon Market Activation Plan, where she also serves as the Committee’s Secretary.

She brings to bear her understanding of sustainability & climate change, including ESG transformation, sustainable finance, ESG reporting & assurance, responsible sourcing, net zero strategies, value creation, circular economy, and projects that support sustainability. Ms Rukaiya is a Chartered accountant by training and is well acquainted with sustainability frameworks and standards such as the TCFD, SASB, GRI, greenhouse gas protocols, IFRS S1 & S2, ESG ratings, and other thematic & industry-based standards.

Prior to her current role, Ms. el-Rufai was a Partner in Risk Assurance Services at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) in Abuja, Nigeria, where she led the sustainability and climate change practice. While at PwC, Rukaiya also served as the ESG Platform Lead and the Net Zero Lead for the West Market Area, where she led the firm’s activation of ESG offerings, carbon footprint exercise, and implementation of decarbonisation strategies, among others. She also held senior positions at Deloitte & Touche, where she pioneered the ESG practice in the firm by developing the business case and implementing the ESG strategy of the firm. In 2028, Rukaiya received the Platinum Impact Category of the Deloitte West Africa CEO Recognition Award for making an impact that matters. Rukaiya also worked at KPMG in Management Consulting, where she worked on several strategy & operational strategy engagements and led the team for the inaugural Africa Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey (ABICSS).

Rukaiya is a fiscal policy expert and was a Special Advisor to the Immediate Past Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning on National Revenue Matters, including Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) and fiscal sustainability. In her tenure, Rukaiya led the development of the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI) that contained the blueprint to grow Nigeria’s revenue to at least 15% of GDP. She is currently the National Coordinator for the National Economic Council’s Human Capital Development (HCD) 2.0 project, which is a strategic blueprint for the nation’s greatest resource- human capital.

Rukaiya is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and also a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), where she was recently (in 2024) awarding the Outstanding Professional Achievement award.

She is an alumnus of the London School of Economics & Political Science, London, United Kingdom; Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany; Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Nigeria.

Rukaiya is a regular speaker at conferences, workshops, and trainings dedicated to public policy, sustainable development, and climate change. She is a loving mother of 2 daughters and enjoys travelling, yoga, and lawn tennis.

Suneeta Kaimal has served as President and CEO of Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) since 2021.

She joined NRGI’s predecessor organization, the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), in 2009 as the deputy director responsible for regional and country engagements across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. Following a merger between RWI and the Natural Resource Charter in 2013, Suneeta became chief operating officer of the resulting Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), ensuring NRGI’s strategy and approach were relevant, demand-driven, and evidence-based. Overseeing the leadership and senior management teams, she guided the translation of the strategy into innovative, impactful thematic and regional programs and supported NRGI’s institutional effectiveness and sustainability. Suneeta served as interim president and chief executive officer in 2020, surmounting the strategic and operational challenges of the global pandemic.

Suneeta currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South. Suneeta previously served as vice-president of the board of directors of The International Center for Not-For-Profit Law, working to improve the legal environment for civil society, philanthropy, and public participation around the world. She was the first female civil society chair of the Open Government Partnership, an organization of reformers inside and outside of government from more than 75 countries. She served on the steering committee for eight years. Suneeta was the first chair of the Global Council of Publish What You Pay, a civil society movement of more than 1,000 organizations working to improve natural resource governance. She is also a founding board member of Roots of Health, a local NGO focused on improving the health of women and girls and their communities in the Philippines. More recently, she served on the United Nations Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.

Suneeta holds a master’s in international affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and a B.A. from Duke University, where she was a Hart Leadership Fellow.

Bright Simons is the President of mPedigree, a social enterprise working on three continents to transform supply chains for life-touching products such as medicines and agro-inputs using technology and partnerships. mPedigree has secured billions of products from counterfeiting and protected tens of millions of consumers around the world.

Bright is also an ardent policy activist working at the interface of economic governance and social welfare. In pursuit of these causes, he has served as a member of the External Advisory Board of European biopharma company, UCB, as Vice Chair of APHRC, as a member of the Boards of Salzburg Global and Care International, and on Microsoft Africa’s inaugural advisory council.

He also served on successive World Economic Forum Global Agenda and Future Councils, was an inaugural TED Fellow, and has held the Cheng and Mallinckrodt fellowships at Harvard. He is a Tallberg Elliasson Prize Laureate; a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award from the African Innovation Foundation; and was one of MIT’s Tech Review’s 35 most impressive global technology visionaries under age 35 in 2013.

He has written for the Harvard Business Review, Quartz magazine, the BBC’s Business Daily show, and the Financial Times. In 2016, Fortune magazine named him on its 50 World Greatest Leaders list. In 2023, he was awarded a Bellagio fellowship to apply his series of inventions to the problems of the minerals supply chain, advancing a new “equitable circular economy” protocol for green minerals critical to the energy transition and climate change response.

Ikal Ang’elei is an accomplished environmental activist. She is the co-founder and Director of Friends of Lake Turkana, a grassroots organisation dedicated to promoting social, economic, and environmental justice in the Lake Turkana Basin, one of Kenya’s most vital and vulnerable ecosystems.

Ikal holds a master’s degree in public policy and political science from Stony Brook University in New York. Her work has been internationally recognised, particularly for her advocacy on behalf of indigenous communities in Northern Kenya. In 2012, she was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts to raise awareness about the environmental and social impacts of the Gilgel Gibe III Dam, which posed significant threats to the livelihoods of local communities dependent on Lake Turkana.

She also serves as the Board Chair of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP). Through her leadership and activism, Ikal continues to champion environmental conservation and sustainable development, with a focus on empowering marginalised communities. Her commitment to justice and equity makes her a strong leader for ACEP as the organisation advances its mission to shape the governance of energy and extractive resources in Africa.

Yaw Appiah Lartey is the Financial Advisory Partner in Ghana and the Deloitte Africa Head of Infrastructure, Capital Projects, and Economic Advisory. He has over 15 years of “Big 4” accounting firm (Deloitte, PwC, and Ernst & Young) experience working on corporate finance, M&A transactions, financial restructuring, due diligence review, financial modelling, investment appraisal, deal structuring, and negotiation support.

Yaw has worked on high-profile engagements for public and private sector clients in a wide range of sectors, including energy (power sector, oil & gas sector, and renewable energy), mining, telecommunication, financial services, and broad infrastructure.

Yaw has also been involved in Public Private Partnership (PPP), project financing, structuring, and contract negotiations for infrastructure projects valued at over $10 billion across Africa, including Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), and South Africa.

Yaw is a regular panellist on local and international business and economic discussions. He has published over 15 articles on the Ghanaian economy and has been quoted by local and international media.

Yaw is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA), Ghana, and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), UK. Yaw is also a Lawyer and a Member of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA). He holds a master’s degree in Finance from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Nana Eduwa Appiah is a seasoned Chartered Certified Accountant with 30 years of experience in accounting, business finance, administration, and strategic development. She has held senior management roles across the Oil and Gas, Telecommunications, IT, and Sports & Leisure sectors, with the past two decades primarily focused on the Oil and Gas industry.

Currently the Head of Treasury and Business Finance at the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), Nana oversees operations across Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. She manages shareholder funds exceeding $1 billion and supervises an annual budget of over $50 million. Her portfolio includes treasury operations, business planning, budgeting, insurance, and financial strategy. She previously led Corporate Administration, overseeing logistics and support services in addition to Treasury Operations.

Nana played a key role in establishing WAPCo’s Finance and Administration Department and led critical transitions and organizational change projects. She also serves as a pension scheme board member and participates in strategic and operational leadership teams.

Her qualifications include an MBA (University of Liverpool), FCCA, BA (Hons) Finance & Accounting, with additional certifications in Change Management, Negotiation, Treasury, and Digital Strategy. Committed to mentorship and community service, she is active in Zonta International’s advocacy for women and children.

Paul Muthaura is the CEO of the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI).

He is an Independent Board member of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants; an Independent Board Member of British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya; a Board Member of ICEA LION Asset Management; and an Independent Member of the Financial Sector Deepening Trust, Kenya.

Paul has previously been the Chief Executive Officer of ICEA LION General Insurance Kenya, the first African member of the Financial Stability Board TCFD insurer pilot group.   Prior to that, he was the Chief Executive of the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya.  In his term at CMA, he was the Africa and Middle East Regional Chair on the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

An Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries, Paul holds qualifications from the University of Warwick, London School of Economics and Political Science, Maastricht School of Management, KCA University, and the Academy of Executive Coaching.

Abena Konadu Baidoo is the Chief Financial Officer of Wahu Mobility Limited, where she leads financial strategy, capital raising, and investor engagement to drive sustainable innovation in Africa’s mobility and energy sectors. With over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, investment banking, and transaction advisory—spanning PwC, Databank, and high-growth startups—Abena brings deep expertise in structuring blended finance, optimizing liquidity, and scaling impact-driven ventures.

She has worked across multiple markets and industries, supporting financing efforts and stakeholder collaboration for both early-stage and mature companies. At Wahu Mobility, she has contributed to initiatives that strengthen financial resilience and support the company’s mission to deliver locally manufactured electric vehicles tailored to African needs.

Abena holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Anglia Ruskin University and is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA), UK. She is passionate about unlocking innovative financing pathways that go beyond traditional aid—mobilizing capital for equitable energy access and economic transformation across Africa.

Dr. Olufunso Somorin is a Regional Principal Officer at the African Development Bank. He leads the Bank’s work on climate change and green growth in the 13 countries of the Bank’s Eastern African region. He also leads the Bank’s carbon markets program and strategic dialogues with public and private institutions on climate policy frameworks, climate finance, nature/biodiversity finance, and green industrialization. Between 2013 and 2017, he coordinated the Bank’s work on addressing fragility and building resilience within the Horn of Africa. In the last 14 years in the Bank, he has been directly involved in the design, appraisal, and supervision of more than 300 development projects across multiple sectors. Dr Somorin has written more than 50 publications on climate policy in Africa.

Somorin holds a PhD in International Environmental Policy from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. As an Erasmus Mundus Scholar, he holds two MSc degrees from Finland and the Netherlands. He is an executive education alumnus from Bradford, Cambridge, and Oxford Universities (UK), IE Business School, and the University of California, Berkeley (USA). He gives guest lectures at King’s College London and Strathmore University (Kenya). Somorin is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the Africa Policy Research Institute (Berlin). He is a recipient of several international awards and recognitions, including the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowships (US) for his work on climate policy in Africa. Dr. Somorin is currently serving on the UN Secretary General’s Taskforce Expert Group on Net Zero Policy.

Rita Effah is a Senior Climate Finance Officer at the African Development Bank, where she serves as the Coordinator of the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF)—a multi-donor trust fund hosted by the Bank. The ACCF supports African countries in building resilience to the impacts of climate change and transitioning toward sustainable, low-carbon development.

Rita currently manages 33 small grant projects, benefiting approximately 45 African countries through national and multinational initiatives. These projects aim to strengthen countries’ capacities to access international climate finance, implement their Nationally Determined Contributions, develop Long-Term Strategies, and undertake community-led climate action. All efforts are designed to enhance climate resilience while advancing gender equality.

Rita previously worked with UNDP Ghana as a Programme Officer, where she developed and implemented projects focused on promoting environmentally sustainable cocoa production, supporting South–South cooperation on renewable energy technology transfer between China and Ghana, and contributing to the implementation of Ghana’s NDCs.

She also served as Africa Programme Coordinator at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in East Africa, where she managed projects promoting the adoption of off-grid renewable energy technologies. Her work focused on using market-based mechanisms to establish renewable energy enterprises in rural communities across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi.

Rita holds a Master of Forest Science from the Yale School of the Environment and a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.

Nicolas Lippolis is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Columbia Climate School and a Nonresident Scholar in the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research lies at the intersection of comparative and international political economy, with a current focus on how countries in Africa and Latin America can leverage oil wealth to finance energy transitions.

Nicolas holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford, where he also earned an MSc in Economics for Development and a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He has taught at Oxford, Sciences Po Paris, and the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. His professional experience includes consulting for the World Bank, the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, and several African governments, as well as working in emerging markets macroeconomic research at Goldman Sachs in London. He is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.