The Presidential Precinct is proud to introduce the 2024 cohort of the Corporate Leaders Program: visionary business leaders committed to strengthening their business acumen, fostering innovation, and expanding their global impact.
During their time in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Fellows will engage with entrepreneurs and innovators, exchange perspectives with fellow leaders, and explore new approaches to business leadership. Their experience will culminate in attending the Corporate Council on Africa’s flagship U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Luanda, Angola, where they will connect with leaders and explore opportunities for international business growth.
Representing diverse regions and industries, the 2024 Fellows bring a wealth of perspectives and experiences, united by a shared commitment to leadership, collaboration, and economic opportunity.
Helio Cumbi
In his role, Helio provides strategic advice to all business lines engaging in Africa, including Low Carbon Solutions, Upstream, Products and Solutions, and Downstream, as well as leading all engagements with international financial institutions. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, Helio has received multiple awards including the First Hasmukh Patel Oxford Scholar, Letter of Recognition by ExxonMobil President, Mozambican Oil and Gas Rising Star, and Mozambican Energy Success Story.
In addition to his current role as Director, Helio is the Founder and Board Member of United World College Mozambique Association, an organization that provides life-changing high school scholarships to the global network of UWC colleges worldwide for intellectually gifted underprivileged children. He holds an executive MBA from the University of Oxford.
Agang K. Ditlhogo
Agang has twelve years of experience in the ICT4Development sector. Her technical experience includes work in IT communication strategy, change management, data, and system analysis. Her experience extends to consultancy, project management, business development efforts, and implementation of business strategies.
Agang’s company, The Clicking Generation, offers ICT and mentor grassroots training on various life skills, designs age-appropriate curriculum lesson plans, offers technology classes and tutoring, and develops mentoring plans for target groups, especially for girls to be involved in the science and engineering fields. She has also notably been an Atlas Corps Fellow in 2018, AU Innovator in 2019, and Futurelect Fellow in 2022. Agang holds a master’s in data science and AI from the European Business University and a bachelor’s in computer information systems from the University of Gaborone.
Olawunmi Ilesanmi
Olawunmi is passionate about bridging the gap to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Quality Education, and Gender Equality in Nigeria, Africa, and underserved communities around the world. She founded 3lcinovate Energy, with core values of integrity, innovation, and excellence. She has mentored over 70 employees, serving hundreds of entities, and collaborating with strategic partners across Nigeria while providing a fair share of corporate social responsibility that aligns with the zero hunger and no poverty initiatives.
With a revenue of over $20m, 3LCi serves a range of international and local businesses within Nigeria while partnering with international oil companies and independent oil marketing companies to foster growth. Recently, Olawunmi obtained her doctoral degree in Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications at the prestigious Texas A&M University.
Ndia Magadagela
Ndia has 13 years of post-articles experience in deal structuring and due diligence investigations. At Blackslope Mobility, she leads the transition of the South African logistics sector to electric mobility. She brings astute commercial insight, critical due diligence ability, and optimized deal structuring capability to the Blackslope funding and finance team.
Ndia utilizes her networks and astute commercial skills to execute Blackslope funding transactions. In 2023, the African Women Chartered Accountants named her entrepreneur of the year. She obtained a bachelor’s in accounting science from the University of South Africa.
Deshan Naidoo
Deshan is an award-winning youth industrialist in South Africa, a national board member for the South African Association of Automotive Component Manufacturers, and a private sector advisor to the national Department of Trade and Industry. As Managing Director at Afrivolt, Deshan leverages relationships for battery minerals in the South African Development Community and an international ecosystem of partners to create Africa’s first Gigafactory in South Africa.
Beyond his executive roles, Deshan has advised the South African government on fostering local export businesses and has provided input to some of the country's industry masterplans. His achievements have garnered prestigious recognition, including the South African Youth Industrialist and Exporter of the Year in 2022, presented by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Deshan holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Cape Town.
Olusegun Odunaiya
Olusegun is passionate about bringing hope to people through his work. His daily efforts are directly aimed at ensuring energy inclusion for some of the world’s most displaced communities, while also improving energy affordability for ‘poor’ households and businesses in urban Nigeria.
In his role as Founder & CEO, Olusegun orchestrated the growth of Havenhill Synergy, securing over $18M in funding for various high-impact projects within the last 5 years, solidifying our position as one of Nigeria's top 3 Energy Access companies. Additionally, he led market expansion into West and Central Africa. Olusegun holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and solar energy from Bowen University, as well as an executive business and entrepreneurship certificate from Dartmouth College.
Jacob Ouma
In his role at AdMedia Communications, Jacob has led the successful delivery of event management, coverage, marketing, and media consultancy services for renowned companies and organizations like the US Embassy, the World Trade Organization, and Save the Children International.
In addition to his work at Admedia Communications, Jacob is the founder and chairman of Multiple Traders Housing Society, for which he brought residents of Lang’ata together to pool resources to solve the persistent water shortage Nairobi City experiences by purchasing water bowsers that supply water to residents at subsidized rates. Jacob is currently pursuing a master’s in project management from the University of Roehampton London.
Bamidele Owoola
Bamidele is an energetic entrepreneur, passionate about the development of Africa. Bamidele is an astute business facilitator, with experience facilitating local and foreign trade, investment, and business alliances. She spearheads Welcome2Africa’s operations to catalyze and facilitate finance, investments, and trade into and across Africa - with a special focus on Nigeria’s Agricultural sector. W2A is led and supported by an advisory board that has collectively facilitated over $5b worth of investment into and across Africa.
Bamidele is also the pioneer of the W2A Agri-Impact Fund, which has a target size of $100,000,000 and will invest across the agribusiness value chain in Nigeria. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Abuja.
Tshepo Phetla
Tshepo is a vibrant young leader and renowned business development professional with ambitions to leave a lasting mark on the face of society through enterprise development and supply chain transformation. He has vast experience in corporate capital Investment Advisory spanning more than 10 years in private and public entities. As Executive Head of Business Development at Telkom, he oversees corporate enterprise and supplier development with three investment vehicles for start-ups and growth-stage enterprises.
Tshepo holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand and a bachelor’s in commerce from the University of South Africa.
Ndeye-Fatou Toure
Ndeye is an accomplished actuary with a passion for expanding actuarial practice in Africa and is dedicated to harnessing the power of data and statistical analysis to drive innovation in this dynamic region. Her expertise extends across several key areas, including pricing and product development, reserving and valuation, and enterprise risk management. Leveraging advanced modeling techniques and analytical tools. She has successfully guided organizations in optimizing their risk profiles and achieving sustainable growth.
In her current role, Ndeye promotes PwC Senegal’s foreign investment and local content in the oil & gas sector, as well as meets with other market players to develop synergies and collaboration opportunities. She holds a degree in actuarial science from the Institut de Science Financière et d'Assurances.
Tochukwu Uwakeme
Tochukwu is an accomplished and tech-savvy professional with extensive experience in directing and overseeing the software engineering function in developing, releasing, and maintaining software applications/operating systems according to business needs.
As Senior Product Owner, Tochukwu oversees staff and global DevOps engineers to maintain robust, people-oriented operations in a high-pressure and fast-paced environment using workforce tools for general client needs, user experience, and organizational technical documentation. He builds professional relationships with customers, addressing and resolving stakeholders’ concerns about product management and features, as well as implementing strategies to drive growth, increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve the digital experience for customers. He holds a master’s in public management from the University of Maryland.
Rian Van Der Walt
Rian is a problem solver, change agent, and maximiser with 28 years of experience. He currently leads Reson 18’s funding and corporate development efforts. Reson 18 is a targeted mobile consumer insight and fintech platform for emerging markets with a mission to provide a tangible impact to 400 million customers in 4 years – making it a phenomenal ESG/impact platform too. Rian obtained his MBA from the Milpark Business School.
Participants in the Corporate Leaders Program will sharpen their business acumen and engage entrepreneurs and innovators in Charlottesville, Virginia - home to one of the top three public universities in the United States. Their experience will culminate in attending the Corporate Council on Africa’s flagship conference – the U.S-Africa Business Summit.
The 2024 Corporate Leaders Program is made possible by a generous gift from John Olajide, Presidential Precinct Board Member, and founder and CEO of Axxess, a leading home healthcare technology company in North America.
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