Nankunda is a Director and co-founder of Hook Tangaza, a London based consultancy delivering research and advisory services on regulatory effectiveness; policy design and implementation; institutional capacity and business growth strategy with a focus on building legal sector infrastructure globally.

Nankunda is the convenor and co-founder of the African Law & Tech Network. The ALT Network is a pan-African, inclusive community at the intersection of technology and legal services in Africa. It is a hub and facilitator of dialogue and collaboration between stakeholders including tech entrepreneurs, regulators, legal services providers, policymakersand investors. The ALT Network’s mission is to provide a one-stop shop for information,advice and collaboration to bridge the legal and regulatory gaps required to support the growth of digital and tech innovation across the continent and to contribute to the growth ofthe African legal sector.

Hook Tangaza also co-founded the African Corporate and Government Counsel Forum (ACGC), the only professional association for African in-house lawyers.

Previously, Nankunda held senior positions at the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association and the Law Society of England and Wales most latterly, as Head of International Policy. Her work there focused on leading policy reform efforts for services liberalisation and regulatory good practice in key emerging markets and working with firms on international business growth strategies. Nankunda was recognised by Thomson Reuters’ Powerlist 2014 and 2015 of the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage for services to the

UK legal sector. Nankunda was Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s (IBA) African Regional Forum from 2020 to 2022 and has recently been appointed as a Commissioner of the IBA Future of Legal Services Commission, 2023-2025.

Viviana Waisman, originally from Argentina, is a US-educated and trained attorney and an expert on women’s rights and international human rights law. She founded and led the transnational feminist organization Women’s Link for over 20 years. More recently, she has combined her skill in social justice organizations with teaching and designing experiential learning opportunities. In May of this year, she launched her new initiative, the GenEquity Institute (GenEq). GenEq offers an innovativeapproach to increase the number of human rights advocates savvy in the use of the law and skilled at the creation of legal strategies that advance human rights with an intersectional gender perspective.

Waisman is a well-regarded social entrepreneur and leader, recognized by the Ashoka Foundation (2016 Ashoka Fellow) and by Elluminate (formerly the Jewish Women’s Federation of New York) in 2020, joining their second cohort. She teaches human rights and women’s rights at the Carlos III University in Spain and at the Academy for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (American University, Washington College of the Law). Waisman holds a Master of Studies in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University, a Juris Doctorate from the University of California College of Law in San Francisco, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Andreas studied law at the Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany, and specialized in IP and corporate law, practicing in Berlin, Düsseldorf and New York before starting his own boutique law firm Spieß Schumacher Schmieg, & Partner in 1999.

Andreas did extensive legal work in the field of renewable energy technology as well as in emerging and developing markets which was the inspiration for his second career as an impact investor and serial entrepreneur.

In 2007, Andreas founded Solar Development plc, based in Addis Abeba, which has become one of the biggest solar system integrators in Ethiopia. In 2010, Andreas co-founded FoseraEthiopia plc, a solar lighting product assembly line based in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

Based on these ventures, Andreas had the idea for a solar powered last-mile distribution concept by establishing a formal retail network in remote off-grid areas for solar and other sustainable products, services and solutions.

In 2011, Andreas co-founded Solarkiosk and served as CEO until 2019. Solarkiosk isheadquartered in Berlin, Germany, with more than 300 projects in 15 African and 5 South-East-Asian countries, which have impacted approx. 5m people. Andreas continues his engagement as non-executive chairman of Solarkiosk.

In 2019, Andreas co-founded Mwingi Kenya Ltd., based in Nairobi, which is a retail and last-mile distribution company to very remote rural off-grid areas in Kenya and East Africa. Mwinginow serves approx. 2,500 retailers and continues to grow. Andreas serves as non-executive chairman.

Due to his in-debt know how and experience in the field of rural off-grid energy access and agriculture, Andreas collaborated with and lectured at institutions like G-20, World Energy Council, UN, INSEAD, IFC, AfDB, Smart Community Coalition, the German Government (accompanied Chancellor Angela Merkel to Jordan, Lebanon, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria). He served as a Director at the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) from 2016-2019.

Andreas continues to practice as lawyer and strategic advisor, focusing on impactful start-ups, entrepreneurs and medium size technology companies, based both in Europe and Africa.

Bonny is a Project Implementation Lead at Voluntary Service Overseas and a Member of Senior Management Team at VSO Rwanda where he leads a consortium Reproductive health Program which is implemented in Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda.

He holds a master’s degree in public policy from Makerere University and PDPro in Project Management and has worked as a research Fellow at Rwanda Governance Board, Never Again Rwanda and as a journalist for the New Times.

He is passionate about strategic project management and addressing information disorder.  

Bonny has over 10 years’ experience in project design, scenario planning, partnership building and cross boarder peace building.

Katherine C. Ashdown is a Managing Director with Bank of America in the Enterprise Credit global Product Strategy team, based in London.  Prior to her current role, Ms Ashdown spent nearly 25 years working in the Global Leasing division, in both sales and legal functions, financing transportation assets such as aircraft, rail and shipping assets.  Ms. Ashdown also recently served as a Director on the Board of the Bank of America Employee Pension Plan in London for five years.

After graduating from UCLA Ms. Ashdown attended Boston College Law School and was awarded a Juris Doctor,Magna Cum Laude.  She became a member of the California Bar and worked with Morrison and Foerster, an international law firm in San Francisco as a securities lawyer.  After moving to England in 2003 Ms. Ashdown qualified as a Solicitor of England and Wales.  She attained a LLM degree (Master of Laws), First Class, with Commercial Distinction, from Trinity Hall College, University of Cambridge.  

Evita Grant, Esq., PhD., is the Managing Partner of Yaaba P.C.  She founded Yaaba to make intellectual rights protection available to all.

Evita was formerly a lawyer in the Palo Alto office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she was a member of the patents and innovations practice. Her practice included intellectual property development, counseling, and monetization for clients in the life sciences, biotechnology, clean energy, and high-tech industries.

Evita has consulted the Brazilian government's Institute of Applied Economic Research, where she researched legal and non-legal policies that support technology transfer from academic institutions to private markets in the U.S. and Brazil and formulated governmental policy recommendations on legal reforms and non-legal infrastructure critical to support and expand local biotechnology industries in emerging markets.

She also authored the first article ever published in the Food and Drug Law Journal relating to FDA regulation of CRISPR gene-editing technology. Chinese-based publishing group, Angle Publishing requested publishing rights to publish an article in Chinese for the entire Greater China region.

Moreover, she helped establish an exemption to the Anti-Circumvention Rule of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that allows independent researchers to access the information necessary to evaluate the safety, security, and effectiveness of medical devices.

Evita is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BSc in Chemical Engineering) and Harvard University (PhD in Engineering Sciences and JD in Law).