A passionate of sustainable development and youth rural empowerment through technology, Thierno’s professional career spans banking, consulting, retail, distribution and Tech. He has extensive global experience working across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Thierno holds a B.S in Finance and an MBA from St.Cloud State University. He currently works at Cisco Systems, and lives near Los Angeles, California.
With over 15 years of experience working in innovation and new product development for food companies ranging from large multinationals to startups, Linsey has a long track record of designing end to end solutions from farms to shelf. She is passionate about helping small scale African farmers access Western Markets. She is Vice President of Product Development at Factory LLC and the co-host of the popular podcast the Ingredient Panel. Linsey is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute, holds a B.A from Harvard University, an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Chicago, USA.
A researcher by training, Dela Nai works as an Associate I at the Population Council where she has led the design and implementation of various projects across West and Southern Africa focused on the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents, youth, and women. Dela holds a MS and a PhD in Development Sociology & Social Demography from Cornell University, and a BA in Sociology & Anthropology from Agnes Scott College. She is a member of the Union for African Population Studies and has served on its Council since 2015. She is based in Accra, Ghana.
Originally from Guinea, West Africa Abdoul is an experienced Operations and Supply chain leader with a deep passion for optimizing systems. He holds a B.A in International Business and an MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute. Abdoul is based in Memphis, Tennessee.
With extensive experience in M&A transaction advisory advising on billions of dollars in transactions across a wide range of industries globally, George is a seasoned corporate finance veteran. He is a CPA and holds an MBA in Finance from ESADE Business School. George lives in New York City.
