Africa Travel WeekThis session brings together industry leaders representing African airlines, African airports and the African Tourism Industry to offer solutions that will catalyse and accelerate recovery of Africa’s aviation sector.
THE SPEAKERS
Adefunke Adeyemi
Regional Director for Member and External Relations of the International Air Transportation Association
Recently identified as one of the 200 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) globally in recognition of her achievements, Adefunke is a transformative leader, agent of change and influencer, positively impacting lives and the business environment through her passion, work and initiatives. A product of the prestigious University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, she is a lawyer, advocate and aviation expert, focused on bringing value and international standards to everything she does, especially throughout her career spanning over 18 years.
Emanuel Chaves
Chairperson and Board CEO of Airports of Mozambique
Emanuel holds a Master Degree in Economics and Management from the Catholic University of Mozambique and is a holder of an Aerospace MBA from the Business School in Toulouse France. He is also a lecturer of Saint Thomas University of Mozambique and Pedagogic University of Mozambique. Emanuel is presently the Chairperson and Board CEO of Airports of Mozambique.
Honourable Najib Balala
Cabinet Secretary for Tourism & Wildlife
of Republic of Kenya
Honourable Najib Balala, EGH, was born in 1967 and is trained in International Urban Management at the University of Toronto, Canada. He underwent the Executive Program for Leaders in Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. CS Balala is the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife having been appointed by H.E. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, CGH, and President of the Republic of Kenya in 2018. He previously served as the Minister for Tourism from 2015 to 2018 and 2008 to 2012 and as the first Minister for Mining in Kenya form 2013 to 2015.
Rodger Foster
CEO and Managing Director of Airlink
Rodger graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) in 1978 with a BSc in Building and Architecture. His first job was with Metro Cash & Carry as a project manager. He became a founding partner in a civil engineering and construction company from 1982 to1992, which branched out into aviation, trading light aircraft. That company created SA Airlink, which has gone on to be come the second largest airline in Africa in terms of the number of aircraft it operates and the largest independent Southern African airline (measured by flight movements). Rodger has been CEO and Managing Director of Airlink since its inception in 1992.
THE MODERATOR
Jon Howell
CEO and FOUNDER, AviaDev
Jon has worked within the African and European aviation events industries since 2012. Jon joined Bench Events in 2015 and created AviaDev, a content platform and annual route planning conference for Africa. It is now established as the largest event of its kind on the continent having been held in Kigali 2016 and 2017 and then Cape Town in 2018 and 2019 with a future edition planned for Madagascar. Additionally, Jon established AviaDev Insight Africa, the only podcast dedicated to African aviation in 2018 with more than 150 episodes.
