The PitchRoomAfrica Special at Akwa Ibom Tech Week, a special series of conversations bringing some of Nigeria's brightest minds and ecosystem players powered by the Akwa-Ibom Tech Week

The PitchRoomAfrica Special at Akwa Ibom Tech Week, a special series of conversations bringing some of Nigeria's brightest minds and ecosystem players powered by the Akwa-Ibom Tech Week

The PitchRoomAfrica Special at Akwa Ibom Tech Week, a special series of conversations bringing some of Nigeria's brightest minds and ecosystem players powered by the Akwa-Ibom Tech Week

WE INVITED FUNTO BOROFFICE FOUNDER AND CEO OF CHANJA DATTI LTD. WE DEEP DIVE INTO AFRICA’S WASTE MANAGEMENT ISSUE. WE EXPLORE AT LENGTH THE DIFFERENT OUTLOOKS IN COLLABORATION, LAID EMPHASIS ON THE URGENCY AND EXPLORE THE WORK BEING DONE AT CHANJA DATTI LTD IN SOLVING AFRICA’S WASTE MANAGEMENT ISSUES STARTING FROM LAGOS.

Bio Funto Boroffice

​Funto Boroffice is the founder/CEO of award-winning Chanja Datti Ltd, a waste collection & recycling social enterprise dedicated to transforming the waste in her environment to value and creating jobs. Prior to starting Chanja Datti, she spent 3 years as a Senior Aide to Nigeria’s Honorable Minister of Power covering Investments, Finance and donor Relations, and before that, 17 years gaining global financial, strategy and project improvement experience - 12 of which was as a GE executive in the U.S, where she was a Vice President, working in the largest GE Capital Americas business. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Financial Management from Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York and has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Northeastern University in Boston where she graduated cum laude (with honours).

​She is a founding member and Vice President of the Recycling Association of Nigeria (RAN), founder of Initiative for the Advancement of Waste Management in Africa (aka W.A.S.T.E Africa), a Fellow of the Waste Management Society of Nigeria and an alumni of the several prestigious local and international programs and sits on several boards. She was recognized in 2021 by Global Citizen.org as one of 11 Change-making Africans that the world needs to know about, recognized by CNBC Rising Woman Africa series as one of 31 African women leaders in 2021 and winner of the 2021 WE Empower UN SDG Challenge. In 2023, Chanja Datti Ltd came in as 1st Runners up in the Afri-Plastics Challenge, and the 2023 ACT NOW Award for Impact from Stiftung Manager Ohnegrenzen. 

WE INVITED IDONGESIT THE LEAD PUBLICIST OF THE AKWA-IBOM TECH WEEK. WE EXPLORED HIS JOURNEY FROM JOURNALISM TO START-UP TECH AND LENGTHILY DISCUSSED THE UPCOMING AKWA-IBOM TECH WEEK WITH SOME OF HIS COLLEAGUES JOINING US ON STAGE.

Akwa-Ibom Tech Week:

The Akwa Ibom Tech Week is driven by a community of innovators who drive the technology ecosystem in Akwa Ibom State. We represent residents practicing tech in the state and indigenes operating in the tech space across Nigeria and in the diaspora.

WE INVITED HON. DR. MOININA DAVID SENGEH CHIEF MINISTER AND CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE. WE TALKED ABOUT INNOVATION, THE DONE, AND THE FUTURE OF WORK TO BE DONE IN EXECUTING THE NATIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY OF SIERRA LEONE.

io Dr David Moinina Sengeh

​Dr. David Moinina Sengeh serves as the Chief Minister and the Chief Innovation Officer of the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone. As Chief Minister, his role is to serve as adviser to the President and Vice President and to work with the other Ministries, Departments and Agencies to deliver on the Government's agenda. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Sengeh served as Sierra Leone’s Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education from 2019 to 2023.

​Internationally, Dr. Sengeh serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board for UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report and is a member of the executive committee of the Board of the Global Partnership for Education. He also serves as co-chair of the technical committee for UNESCO's High-Level Steering Committee for Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education and served as chair of the advisory board for the 2022 Transforming Education Summit.

​Dr. Sengeh has been recognized as a senior TED Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Obama Foundation Africa Leader, a National Geographic Explorer and in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Technology. Prior to joining the Sierra Leone Government in 2018, Dr. Sengeh was a Research Manager at IBM Research Africa, leading a healthcare team that designed and implemented AI-enabled systems for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease.

​Dr. Sengeh holds several patents and has published academic and popular articles across the fields of education, healthcare and augmentation, and artificial intelligence.

​He has spoken to audiences globally on topics related to digital governance, education, youth innovation and inclusion, prosthetics design, the fourth industrial revolution and more.

​His first book “Radical Inclusion”, was published by MacMillan as part of Melinda French Gates and Flatiron Books’ Moment of Lift Books in May 2023.

WE INVITED HON. DR MONICA MUSENERO MINISTER FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT UGANDAN. WE SPOKE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATED THINKING AS A PROPONENT OF INNOVATION AND GROWTH IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. WE EXPLORED THE WORK BEING DONE BY HER MINISTRY AND THE UPCOMING NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK IN UGANDAN.

Bio Musenero Masanza, DVM, MS, MPH

​Dr. Musenero is currently the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation under the Office of the President and senior Presidential Advisor on Epidemics.

​She is a diversely trained and skilled Consultant and Scientist with extensive national and international experience. She has previously worked with Makerere University as an Assistant Lecturer, with the Uganda Ministry of Health as the Assistant Commissioner of epidemiology and Surveillance, and as Principal Program Officer with the Africa Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET). She spent 3 years as a Field Coordinator with the World Health Organization in Sierra Leone, as one of the experts who played key roles and was internationally acclaimed for her expertise and heroic efforts in bringing the West Africa Ebola outbreak under control, which earned her formal recognition by both the Sierra Leonean and Uganda governments. In Uganda, she has been at the frontline of the design and implementation of the highly successful Epidemic Preparedness and Response system and was key in response to all the Ebola and Marburg outbreaks in the country since 2007.

Visit the Ugandan Science Week this November 2023

WE INVITED AYODEJI FOUNDER OF AKOWE. WE SPOKE ABOUT INNOVATION IN THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR AND LAID EMPHASIS ON THE NEED FOR AN ACADEMIC VERIFICATION SYSTEM. THROUGH HIS WORK WITH AKOWE, AYODEJI IS PROVIDING THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A DIGITAL AND VERIFIABLE ACADEMIC RECORD.

Bio Ayodeji Ademola Agboola

​Ayodeji is a technology entrepreneur, who provides digital services and solutions for everyday business challenges.

​Ayodeji found his love elsewhere in technology and its applications. He founded a digital agency, FlyMyAds, in 2011, where they provided web development and digital marketing services to a myriad of businesses from micro to multinationals. He is a certified digital marketing professional with Facebook, Google and the Digital Marketing Institute, Ireland.

​Ayodeji founded Akowe in late 2020. Akowe is a digital wallet for verified and verifiable academic records using blockchain technology. Akowe helps graduates house all their academic records on a safe and secure platform and goes the extra step of verifying the authenticity of those academic records. Akowe also helps employers, embassies, and other stakeholders as an easier way to verify the authenticity of academic records.

WE INVITED EGERTON-IDEHEN EX-HEAD OF SALES AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST, FOR A SALES MASTERCLASS. WE SPOKE ABOUT DIFFERENT SALES STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES AS WELL AS EXPLORED THE UNIQUE APPROACH ACROSS MARKETS.

Bio Jane Egerton-Idehen

​Jane Egerton-Idehen is a Tech Executive, Author and Angel Investor. She was the Head of Sales in, the Middle East and Africa for Meta ( Facebook). Prior to that, she was the country manager in Nigeria and the regional sales director for the West African branch of Avanti Communications Group PLC. She cumulatively spent 13 years in Sales and Management at the Telecommunication Infrastructure giant Ericsson. She also worked as a Cluster lead for Nokia Siemens Network in West Africa.

​In March 2020 published a book she wrote, Be Fearless: Give Yourself Permission To Be You. She drew from her more than 15 years of experience as a telecommunication executive in Africa to help women build lasting careers, especially in the male-dominated STEM industries.

WE INVITED ALEX BAKIR GENERAL PARTNER AT NORRSKEN ACCELERATOR. WE SPOKE ABOUT IMPACT INVESTMENT AND EXPLORE THE DISPARITY THAT COMES WITH THE FLOW OF INVESTMENT TO EARLY-STAGE FOUNDERS. WE ALSO ATTEMPTED TO DEFINE IMPACT AND ESTABLISH THE METRICS THAT DEFINE SCALABILITY IN IMPACT.

Bio Alex Bakir

​Alex is currently a General Partner at Norrsken Accelerator, investing in high-impact pres-seed companies. He was previously an investor at the Omidyar Network and an operator at Planet Labs (IPO) and Rewire (acquired by Remitly). At Planet Labs, a space tech company creating real-time digital earth, he grew revenue from zero to USD 100m; and as Managing Director at Rewire - a digital bank for migrants - he led licensing, partnerships and revenue.