Worlali Senyo Heads the Corporate Services Unit at Farmerline Limited. He provides leadership and strategic support to the Unit and teams at Farmerline. He joined the company in 2013 in the early stages and served in several roles in promoting and growing the company’s products and services. 

He is responsible for the company’s client and partner relationships to scale up its farmer services operations and Mergdata platform to create more revenue and impact. 

He has over 15 years of experience in the field of agriculture and ICTs relating to mobile and web technologies for agriculture and rural development. 

Worlali holds an MSc degree in ICTs for Development from the University of Manchester, UK and a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science majoring in Economics from the University of Ghana.

Clara B. Arthur is a Financial Technology Professional with over 19 years’ experience across the Financial Services and Technology Industry in Ghana. She was recently named among the Top 100 Women in Fintech in Africa. Clara is passionate about financial inclusion and has spent the past decade rolling out solutions and interventions that truly create inclusion for the unbanked and underserved communities in Ghana. Clara’s contributions to Ghana’s financial inclusion drive spans from product development to policy formulation& implementation.

She has also served on several boards and committees in Ghana and currently serves as a Director for Logistics Connect Ghana Limited, a company she co-founded.

Clara is a Digital Financial Services Sector specialist working with a number of reputable international development agencies on how Digital and non-digital Financial Services can transform economies.

Prior to transitioning into consulting, she was the General Manager for Business Development at the Ghana Interbank Payment & Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) where she led the Business development team and coordinated the deployment of electronic payment platforms for the banked and unbanked in Ghana. She also worked with Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited first as Transaction Banking Manager where she set up the 1st Remittance Center for the bank, Head of e-banking and as Head, IT Business. Clara also worked with e-process, the Ecobank group Operations and Technology arm, as Head of ATM and Card Technology where key among her achievements was the Ecobank Group Switch’s integration to 3rd party switches such as Nedbank of South Africa.

Clara currently works with UNCDF in Ghana to scale up last mile access and usage of digital financial services.

Dr. William Derban

Chair, Financial Inclusion Forum, Africa

Head, Digital Financial Services, Opportunity International

Dr. William Derban has spent the past 25 years providing financial solutions for those living in poverty. He currently serves as the Head of Digital Financial Services for Opportunity International, where he is responsible for generating innovative digital solutions to help the poor. William is also the convener and co-founder of the Financial Inclusion Forum Africa, a network of professionals passionate about promoting financial inclusion across Africa. He was formerly the Market Engagement Director for the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation program at the GSMA and the Director for Strategic Partnerships and digital banking for Fidelity Bank Ghana. Before then he was the Head of Community Investment for Barclays Bank, responsible for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He sits on several financial inclusion-related boards and is a passionate speaker on global development and financial inclusion. 

William has a PhD in Financial Inclusion and an MBA (Economic Development) from the UK and a 1st class honours degree in Economics from the University of Cape Coast.  He lives in London with his wife and three children.

Dr. Ing. Kenneth Ashigbey is the CEO of the Ghana Telecommunications Chamber. 

Prior to his appointment, he was Managing Director of Graphic Communications Group Ltd. 

He holds a Doctorate degree in Business Administration from the SMC University. He also has an MBA from the Leicester University (UK) and a BSc in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

He is the Chairman of the National Engineering Coordinating Committee. For his alma maters he is the convener of his year group, APSU88 (St. Augustine’s College) Kenneth is an avid media rights advocate and the Convener for the Media Coalition Against Galamsey. 

Kenneth is a member of the Board of Trustee of the Ghana Blood Foundation; he is also multiple blood donor. He is a firm believer in the potential of the African, especially the youth

Estelle Akofio-Sowah is the West Africa Director for CSquared. CSquared is a technology company making strategic and commercially driven investments into broadband-enabling infrastructure to enable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) throughout Africa. CSquared helps to bring high-quality and affordable broadband access to Africa’s major cities, providing an impact of inclusive connectivity for social and economic development. Estelle overseas their operations in Ghana, Liberia and Togo.

Estelle has over 18 years of experience in the internet and business development industry in Ghana, including being the Managing Director of BusyInternet, and establishing and leading Google’s operations in Ghana. Highlights of her leadership include launching an award-winning ISP, implementing the Ghana chapter of the World Bank Incubator program, and launching various products and programs aimed at making the internet an integral part of people’s lives. Estelle majored in Economics and Development Studies at the University of Sussex. Her contributions to the internet sector and commitment to excellence earned her listing as one of the Top 100 Women CEOs in Africa. She currently serves on the Board of Databank, Stanbic Bank and the Ghana Domain Name Registry..

Prof. Kester Quist-Aphetsi is a global Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence expert, consultant, scientist, engineer and a technologist. He is a member of DEFCON, the world largest hacker group. He has led several scientific research and developments projects and organized top scientific conferences in the sector of artificial intelligence, cyber security, Data science etc. He has worked, participated, and chaired security activities in countries such as USA, Israel, France, UK, Canada, Spain, India, Malaysia, South Africa etc.

He is part of United Nations Experts on Artificial Intelligence currently working on AI Diagnostics in Medicine and AI in Emerging Technologies and MIT Technology Review Global Panel member. He is a member of United Nations FG-AI4H Ad-hoc Group on digital technologies for COVID health emergency (AHG-DT4HE) and ITU-T Focus Group of Experts on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies (FG-AI4EE). He is member of ITU UN Focus Group experts on “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) for Digital Agriculture” (FG-AI4A). He is also a member of ACM Elite Future Computing Academy Global Members selected to shape the future of computing with works in AI.

He is a specialist in cybersecurity, cryptography, computational intelligence, and signal processing. He has developed various grade encryption protocols, deep and dark web applications, and has been invited to top National Cyber Security Programs in countries such as Israel, United States, China, Russia, Canada, United Kingdom etc.

He has given talks and facilitated Cyber Security Training for members of national and international security agencies including the Military, National Security, Criminal Investigative Department members of the police etc. He is a member of IEEE Blockchain Technical Experts and a member of the IEEE Computer Society Special Technical Community on Blockchain and a member of IEEE Standards Committee on development of industrial security standards.

He is a member of Open Web Application Security Project(OWASP) in Maryland USA.OWASP is dedicated to helping government agencies and organizations understand and improve the security of their web applications and web services.

He is Associate Editor of International Journal of Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies Inderscience Publishers in Switzerland. He served as a Judge (IEEE Computer society selected Judge, USA.) for Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society Awards: This is a global award given to undergraduate and postgraduate students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 out of a possible 4.0 and have extensively contributed to computing field globally.

He is the Acting Dean for FoCIS at the Ghana Communications Technology University. He is a security researcher and supervising PhD research projects with the LabSTICC IRIS Team « Pôle d’Excellence Cyber ».The team is deeply involved in several projects related to Cyber Security: the Chair of Naval Cyber Defense, the Cyber SSI CPER project, the joint research laboratory with Airbus Defense & Space etc.

He was the lead team member for cyber security and defense at GTUC of the Symposium to Introduce the Participants of the AFRICA ENDEAVOUR (AE) to GTUC Site Cyber Security Technologies, a United States Government Department of Defense sponsored exercise aimed at developing workable concepts for harmonizing Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Information Systems (C4IS) capability among African Armed Forces.

He is a Laureate of the Millennium Excellence Awards and the winner of the President’s Outstanding Youth Prize for Excellence in Technology. He is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Fellow. The IETF Fellowship was awarded to him by Internet Society (ISOC) to contribute his technical skills and experience to the work of the IETF in Canada and to promote IETF activities in Africa.

IETF is the world’s premier Internet standards setting organization. He was elevated and awarded a Senior Member of IEEE, The institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology. He was also awarded a Senior Member of ACM, the Association of Computing Machinery, USA. ACM is the highest computing body in the world that awards the Alan Turing Awards (The Nobel Prize in computing). He is a member of the International Association for Cryptologic Research.

He is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and an active member of IEEE Experts in Technology and Policy with specializations in internet governance, cybersecurity, and privacy. He was a Scientific Research Ambassador to World Scientific Forum.

He had his PhD in Computer Science and Applications with distinction from Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest in France, Master of Software Engineering degree from the Open University Malaysia with thesis area in Information Security.

He obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana and acquired Professional Diploma certification with Distinction in Business Management and Administration from the Institute of Commercial Management, United Kingdom as well as Diploma in Project Management. He was Global award (Gold) winner 2010 in Canada Toronto, of the NSBEs’ Consulting Design Olympiad and has been recognized as a Global Consulting Design Engineer.

He has won Best Scientific Paper Award in Canada by IEEE 15th International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications. He was awarded the French government Scholarship and has been awarded research grants in France at the Center of Excellence in Cyber Security.

He has also been awarded as the Best Lecturer for Research, Publications and scholarship at the Ghana Technology University College. He has served as a Scientific Judge for Postgraduate Research Competition in Massachusetts, USA.

He is a member of the Executive Council of Internet Society and the National Chair for Policy and Research, Internet Society (ISOC) Ghana Chapter, a world-renowned body that provides international leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. He is an Ambassador for ACM- Association of Computing Machinery, USA. He is the Chairman of the Executive Council of the Chartered ACM- Association of Computing Machinery Chapter of ACM at CRITAC.

He is the chairman of the governing council for the Centre for Research, Information Technology and Advanced Computing-CRITAC. He also served on scientific Technical committees for   international conferences, standard committees of IEEE in formulation of global standards, UK Chartered Institute of IT British Computer Society-BCS-UK Forensics group, Institute of Engineering and Technology-IET UK, as well as consulted for Governments on policy documents.

He is a member of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Team of Experts as a consultant and he partake in national, European Commission supported projects, and Inter governmental research projects and also to ensure overall scientific quality in latest scientific and technological developments.

The European Cooperation in Science and Technology is the first and widest European intergovernmental network for coordination of nationally funded research activities. He is a Scientific Editorial Board Member, on Computer and Information Engineering, of the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, WASET, USA

He has worked in various capacities as a lecturer (national and international universities) and Head of Digital Forensics Department, Head of Computer science department, consultant to national and international reputable organizations, and served as a presenter at seminars and workshops both in the academic and social environment. He teaches short courses such as project management, scientific programming, software development etc. and had exposure to social researching as a freelance journalist and a social commentator on current affairs, scientific, economic and socio-political issues on radio, TV and in newspaper.

He has supervised research works at both undergraduate and postgraduate level with national and international project/thesis/research supervision experience. He is a scientific journal editor, author, reviewer and advisor of high standard scientific international Journals, member and consultant to international scientific organizations such as IEEE-USA, ACM, CSIEEE, IET-UK, BCS Technology strategic board -UK etc.

He was chair at Cambridge University, UK for a Scientific Conference on Mathematical and Simulation, 2015.  Chair of European Conference on Computer Modeling and Simulation: Image Processing and Security session in 2013, Manchester and other IEEE, ACM and Springer conferences in countries like Spain, India etc. and have several global, international and institutional recognition and awards to that effect. He has publications in Journals, books, book and conferences.

He has delivered talks on security in the Privacy, Defense and Cyber warfare in different countries. He is a research scientist, and he is an associate member and a research scientist at LAB-STICC UMR 6285, a CNRS-Centre for National and Scientific research Laboratory in France at the CID pole and the division of SFIIS (SécuritéFiabilité et Intégrité de l’Information et des Systèmes). He is the Lead Scientist for the Directorate of Information Assurance at CRITAC.

Kofi Eba-Miezah Polley, has over a decade experience in varied Social Security Administrative positions from Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and five years’ experience in the financial industry. As a member of the SSNIT reforms project team, Kofi was very instrumental in the design and implementation of the Informal Sector Scheme. During his tenure as the General Manager (Operations) of the SSNIT Informal Sector Fund, the fund experienced sustainable growth. 

Kofi also worked as a General Manager for Universal Pension Masters Trust where he led the team to successfully set -up the company’s Second Tier Pension policies and programmes.

Kofi has a rich experience in financial management. He worked as General Manager for JISLAH Financial Services Limited and Wealth Vision Financial Services Limited, where he guided the sales/marketing teams to drive better alignment through innovative fund mobilization and debt recovery strategies.

As the Group General Manager for Wealth Vision, he strategically and efficiently structured the subsidiary companies: DES Microfinance Limited and Vision Credit Microfinance Limited under one umbrella, saving essential resources needed to upscale the Group’s operations. 

Currently, Kofi, is the Chief Operations Manager People’s Pension Trust, a corporate trustee that offers innovative pension products focused on providing old age income security for workers in the formal and informal sectors.  

Kofi holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Universalizing Social Security, from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague Netherlands, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

Ross has worked as a special adviser to the GSMA 2007. His projects have spanned from defining the use of the Digital Dividend with the mobile and broadcasting community to planning capacity for 5G-Advanced. Prior to the GSMA Ross worked at telecoms consultancy Access Partnership where he served as a director charged with government affairs and as the lead financial analyst at Telecom Finance. Ross holds an Honours Degree from Manchester University.

Kofi is an Education Policy Influencer and Executive Director at Africa Education Watch, an education policy think tank working in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has 22 years of experience in the Education Sector of Africa, working with schools, communities, international organizations, and government agencies and the private sector in the development, implementation, management and review of laws, policies and programmes at all levels of the education sector. He has expertise in Undertaking Policy Research, and Advocacy Engagement at the Community, National and International levels. He has represented Civil Society on the Ministerial Advisory Board of the Ministry of Education and Education Sector Working and Technical Committees, Supported the development of Education Strategic Plans, and consulted extensively for local and international organizations. In 2016, Kofi was awarded the Prestigious 2016 Millennium Excellence Award for Rural and Urban Development by the Millennium Excellence Foundation under the distinguished patronage of His Royal Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the Ashantehene. Kofi holds a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in Economics & Sociology, a Master of Arts Degree in Democracy, Governance, Law and Development, both from the University of Cape Coast, a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of London and a Certificate in Ghana Legal System and Constitutional Law from the Ghana School of Law. He is currently a PHD student at the Lincoln University in Kuala Lumpur. He believes that relevant education and equal access to economic opportunities for all are pre-requisites for breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty and inequality in our society. 

Shaibu Haruna is a seasoned executive with about two and half decades of commercial experience in diverse businesses across Africa and the middle. His experience spans Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Automobile, Financial Services, E-Commerce, and Telecoms. The past seventeen years of his career has been in telecoms/digital services where he led channel and business transformation/turnaround in Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia markets.

A greater part of his telecommunications career has been with MTN where he spearheaded the highly rated distribution model for MTN in Ghana, which has since been replicated across majority of the MTN footprints across 21 markets. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Money Limited, a subsidiary of Scancom Plc (MTN Ghana) market leader of digital financial services, and a key strategic business unit of MTN Ghana.

Prior to his appoint as the CEO for Mobile Money Limited, Shaibu rejoined MTN Ghana in 2021 as the Chief Sales & Distribution officer where he engineered the transformation journey of MTN Ghana distribution route to market in line with MTN Group vision – Ambition 2025. He has championed several business turnaround strategies in Mobile Financial Services, Channel Transformation, Retail Experience, and Enterprise Business.

Shaibu holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom