They are CEOs, general managers or hold high responsibility positions with tech and web giants on the continent. They supervise the activities of these technological multinationals in a country, a region, or throughout the African continent. These are their profiles.
Yacine Barro (Senegal), Managing Director of Microsoft for West and Central Africa, responsible for SMEs in emerging markets in the Africa and Middle East region.
Appointed Country Manager for Microsoft West and Central Africa in August 2017, Yacine Barro is responsible for accelerating Microsoft’s cloud development on the continent and enhancing Africa’s digital transformation. Since 2018, she has also been in charge of the SME segment in emerging markets in the Africa and Middle East region.
Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh (Ghana), IBM Regional Director for North, East and West Africa
Appointed to this position on 13th July, Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh will be responsible for IBM’s operations in more than 40 countries in Africa, including Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, Ghana and Tunisia. She is also the first woman and the first African to be appointed Regional Director in Africa.
Juliet Ehimuan (Nigeria): Managing Director of Google Nigeria
In the role since 2011, Juliet Ehimuan leads Google in Africa’s largest internet community. She is responsible for representing the company in all of its business development projects and partnership opportunities. She is also in charge of Google’s business strategy in West Africa and leads the Next Billion Users initiative in Africa.
Teju Ajani (Nigeria), Country Manager for Android in Nigeria
Appointed National Director of Android Partnerships for Google in Nigeria in April 2018, Teju Ajani has established business development relationships in Nigeria. Previously, she was Head of Content Partnerships for Sub-Saharan Africa, based in London, and she established and led YouTube content businesses in 8 African countries. She is responsible for growing Android partnerships in Nigeria with a keen interest in providing affordable devices for Nigerians. She has worked with leading companies in technology, strategy and marketing in North America, Europe and Africa, most notably as a senior product manager at Oracle. She also led the Women at Google group in sub-Saharan Africa.
Caroline Mukiira (Kenya), IBM Managing Director for East Africa
Caroline Mukiira has been in her role since 1st July 2020 and is responsible for IBM’s global sales, marketing, services and delivery operations in East Africa. She was instrumental in directing IBM TradeLens’s activities for the Middle East and Africa and was in charge of the transformation and digitalisation of commerce in the region. Previously, she was IBM’s Global Business Services Leader in East Africa, responsible for day-to-day operations and strategy execution in 8 countries in East Africa.
Nunu Ntshingila (South Africa), Managing Director of Facebook in Africa
Facebook’s Africa Director since 2015, Nunu Ntshingila has been tasked with strengthening Facebook’s commercial presence in South Africa and throughout the continent while helping to make the internet accessible to everyone.
Amrote Abdella (Ethiopia), Managing Director of Microsoft 4Afrika
Amrote Abdella has been the Managing Director of Microsoft 4Afrika since 2013, a Microsoft initiative launched in Africa in the same year, which focuses in particular on the acquisition of skills and access to technologies.
Kendi Ntwiga (Kenya), Managing Director of Microsoft Kenya
Appointed to the position in January 2020, Kendi Ntwiga is responsible for developing and maintaining effective relationships between the company’s subsidiaries and the regional sales and marketing departments. In addition, she is tasked with establishing strategies, developing plans, allocating resources, and establishing priorities and supervisory missions – all with the aim of increasing the market share of Microsoft.
Lillian Barnard (South Africa) Managing Director, Microsoft South Africa
Having started in her role on 1st March 2019, Lilian Barnard is the first woman to hold this position since Microsoft reinvested in the country in the early 1990s. Prior to joining Microsoft, she was Director of Sales at Vodacom and worked for IBM for 15 years, including 7 years at their head offices in France and Switzerland where she held many key positions.
Titi Akinsanmi (Nigeria), Policy and Government Relations Lead for West and Francophone Africa at Google
An expert in digital policy, Titi Akinsanmi initiated, managed and led the delivery of projects and initiatives in the fields of ICT and development, ICT and education, the information society, governance of the internet, as well as value-added telecommunications products and services in Nigeria, South Africa and more than 30 other countries around the world.
Aïda Ndiaye (Senegal), Head of Facebook’s public policy in French-speaking Africa.
Aïda Ndiaye is Public Policy Manager at Facebook, coordinating the tech giant’s government relations in 22 countries in French-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Africa. She has worked for IBM, Google and UNESCO, among others.
Emilar Vusche-Gandhi, Head of Stakeholder Engagement for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Facebook.
Long before her current post, Emilar Gandhi was Facebook’s Public Policy Manager for the SADC region, dealing with issues of security, privacy, internet shutdowns, freedom of expression, regulation and public sector use of social media. Prior to joining Facebook, she was Policy Coordinator for Africa with the Association for Progressive Communications, where she led ICT public policy issues on the African continent with a focus on human rights, technology and internet governance. She sits on the Freedom Online Coalition’s advisory network.
Lola Kassim (Nigeria), Managing Director Uber, West Africa
In her role since October 2017, Lola Kassim leads Uber’s overall strategy for West Africa, overseeing operations in Accra, Kumasi, Lagos and Abuja. Long before that she worked for McKinsey and Company in West and Southern Africa, and for the Liberian government.
Mimi Omokri (Nigeria), Head of Business and Corporate Development at Uber in Sub-Saharan Africa
Mimi Omokri has been in her role since May 2019 and has worked with Uber in Africa since May 2018, successively holding the positions of Business Development Manager and head of Regional Payments Partnerships (Europe, Middle East and Africa). Long before that, she worked for Mastercard, Jumia, IrokoTv and American Express.
Jessica Poku, Country Manager Uber Ghana
Since January 2019, Jessica Poku has been responsible for the development of Uber’s activities in Ghana, where she has established numerous partnerships, notably with telecommunications companies.
Adama Bari Diallo (Guinea), Head of Partnerships, Africa at Google Station
Adama Bari Diallo leads Google’s Next Billion Users (NBU) partnership activities in Africa and is responsible for driving the strategy, distribution and execution of all NBU programmes through access, applications and payment solutions to connect the next millions of new users. Before joining the NBU team, she was in charge of implementing Google’s Android strategy in Africa through partnerships with some of the world’s largest operators and device makers operating in Africa. Prior to Google, Adama Bari Diallo was Marketing Director at Next Generation Innovation, a startup specialised in providing cloud-based subscriber engagement, analytics and campaign management services to telecoms operators. She led the entire product portfolio and marketing strategy.
Adama Bari Diallo also held several positions within the Orange Group, where she started her career in the mobile industry, first as Head of Product Marketing in Guinea where she participated in the launch of the subsidiary, then Marketing Manager on product partnerships for Orange subsidiaries across Africa and the Middle East, based in Paris. Adama Bari Diallo holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the Institut Supérieur de Gestion Paris (ISG).
Adama Bari Diallo has contributed to the signing of strategic agreements in Africa, including the Orange Cup of Nations mobile content partnership and the launch of the Android One programme in Africa.
Yolisa Kani, Public Policy Manager for Uber South Africa
Yolisa Kani’s focuses on stakeholder management and strategic advice on policy issues. She has been with Uber since April 2016 and previously worked in the government sector as a transportation planner. In that role she was responsible for transportation planning during the World Cup, which took place in South Africa in 2010, and the implementation of what is commonly called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Yolisa Kani holds an Honours degree in Transport from the University of Pretoria and in her spare time enjoys running half marathons.
Kwena Mabotja (South Africa), SAP Next-Gen Director for the Africa region
The German company SAP is the largest software publisher in Europe and the fourth in the world. SAP Next-Gen is a community for young people around the world who are passionate about innovation and technology. In her role, Kwena Mabotja joins forces with influential organisations from the private and public sectors, civil society, academia, youth, startups, accelerators and incubators to collaborate, develop the digital skills of young people, and put in place disruptive innovations linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
She is the regional manager of the Global Gender Agenda, a collaboration with organisations such as UN Women, which aims to harness innovation and technology as a catalyst to empower women and girls through public-private partnerships.
She is also a non-executive director at Moment Business Consultants, an organisation that provides business consulting services to startups and SMEs in South Africa.
Kwena Mabotja has over ten years of global industry experience. As a former management consultant, she has worked with business leaders from a variety of industries to solve critical business challenges. She was selected as a Mandela-Washington Fellow – the flagship programme of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, as well as the Afrika Kommt Fellow, a German-led programme to develop young African leaders.
Angela Nganga (Kenya), Education Industry Manager – Emerging Markets Middle East and Africa at Microsoft
Angela Nganga has been in her role since March 2020 and is responsible for expanding strategic relationships with clients to help governments, partners and educational institutions implement sustainable multi-year education digital transformation strategies and achieve positive learning outcomes across the region. She has worked for Microsoft since 2015 and has held various positions, most recently as Corporate Director – Middle East and Africa Emerging Markets.
Reem Asaad (Egypt), Vice President of Cisco Middle East and Africa
Appointed in February 2020, Reem Asaad is responsible for strengthening collaborations with governments, customers and Cisco partners, including offering Cisco’s portfolio of advanced solutions to accelerate their digitisation programs. Reem Asaad has over 20 years of experience in industries such as technology, financial services and customer experience.
Sally Kimeu (Kenya), “Country Leader” and Cisco Regional Director in East Africa
In the post since October 2019, Sally Kimeu is in charge of 10 countries in East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea. Sally Kimeu is also responsible for sales growth and market development, while delivering Cisco’s business value to customers, partners, employees and stakeholders.
Ebele Okobi (Nigeria / USA), Director of Public Policy, Africa at Facebook
Ebele Okobi is responsible for managing relations with governments, civil society and other political influencers and implementing Facebook’s public policies in sub-Saharan Africa. Before Facebook, Ebele Okobi was the founder, Global Director and Senior Legal Director of Human Rights at Yahoo, where she led Yahoo’s activities to resolve legal and policy issues relating to privacy, freedom of expression and access. Prior to that Ebele Okobi worked as a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, Paris and London, a researcher in consumer rights policy at Consumers Union in San Francisco, a Senior Director of Advisory Services at Catalyst (an NGO with a mission to advance women in business) in San José and Amsterdam. She also worked in the development programme at Nike EMEA’s headquarters in Amsterdam, where she created a marketing, corporate responsibility and business development strategy for sub-Saharan Africa, for NikeWomen and Nike Digital. In 2001, she took a year out to volunteer for human rights organisations in the United States and Senegal, including MADRE, the Children’s Defence Fund, and ANAFA. Ebele Okobi was a founding member of the Global Network Initiative Board from 2008 to 2014. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the Advisory Board of Junior Achievement Africa.
Ebele Okobi holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Southern California, a Juris Doctor (JD) from Columbia Law School and an MBA Certificate of Studies from HEC-Paris.
