Tinomuda Daphne Gora is a Post-Graduate Fellow of Governance and Regional Integration at the Pan African University (PAUGHSS)-African Union Commission, with speciality in Regional Integration. She is currently the Co-Chairwoman of CARIFICA Global. She has a special interest in Africa cross-border women traders’ development and the opportunities of the AFCFTA.

Cynthia Dumakude is a Credit Specialist with a decade of successful career a credit lending environment for both SME and individual clients. Currently employed by Standard Bank South Africa. She is a scholar in leadership, risk and accountancy. She has attended various leadership courses and seminars including Blue Heels (Standard Bank Women Program) in March 2021. In November 2021 she was bestowed with a game changer title, a Standard Bank risk signature program which helps the bank to shape the future of Non-Financial Risk.

Cynthia is passionate about women development and empowerment. Being an advocate for gender based violent and any other issues or challenges faced by women and the less privileged.

Theresa Ayerigah holds a Master’s degree (International Relations) from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor’s degree (History and Political Studies) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.  She has a special interest in gender, diplomacy, and fashion. Her research areas include economic diplomacy, gender justice, regional integration, and peace building. She is motivated in creating an inclusive continental trade response in both bilateral and multilateral negotiations through an effective policy response and research. Theresa combines her career with fashion work and entrepreneurship.

Lufuno Maliaga has extensive experience economic research & analysis, international policy, and administration. Lufuno is a passionate, solution driven, project implementer and interested in contributing toward the attainment of women’s economic empowerment and the eradication of poverty, inequality, and unemployment.

Zandi Bhengu is a South African diplomat; with over 10 years’ experience in public policymaking in international relations on peace and security, gender, human rights and sustainable development. She is a technical expert on the Generation Equality Forum (Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition) where she assists with the implementation of South Africa’s commitments on: care economy; decent work; access to and control of productive resources including financial inclusion; and promoting gender-responsive inclusive economies. She is also a member of the AfCFTA Interdepartmental Task Team set up to provide policy advise on the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade. She expects that the  program will enhance her knowledge on the role of women in trade as well as the measures that are required to create an enabling environment for trade activities by women.

Sinethemba Mtshali is an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to operate in the trade industry who has previously worked supply chain and logistics. She is currently learning to use GIS technology to acquire accurate data to help small businesses import and export products across African borders. She is also Currently completing the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. She has been a part of entrepreneurship programmes but wants to further expand her knowledge and expertise in the policy and legal aspect of trade, in order to further utilise the opportunities presented by AfCFTA.

Katlego Nawa is a Regional Integration specialist and Postgraduate researcher. Her interests are in trade facilitation and trade integration, youth empowerment and African development.

Linda Chepkwony is an International Trade expert with over 7 years of experience in Bilateral and Multilateral Trade negotiations, Free Trade Agreements and Youth and Women Inclusion in Exports from Africa to AGOA, European Union, Asia and Middle East. She has worked and consulted for several local, Regional and International Organizations on international trade, Inclusion and the development of National Export Strategies. She is a student of  International Relations student at the United States International University.  Her interests include Entrepreneurship, Africa Continental Free Trade Area, Youth and Women in Trade, Peace, Security, Conflict, Global Affairs and Regional Integration. She is interested in Trade for Youth/Women Empowerment and Employment creation and publishes articles in Kenyan daily newspapers and publications of local and international Organizations. She has won 3 awards for Business, Exports and Manufacturing as she's an entrepreneur in the Manufacturing and Value addition sector. Linda was also part of the team that drafted the Kenya National AGOA strategy 2018-2023 and Kenya's National Strategy on AFCFTA.

Frances Uhomoibhi is the Lead Services Trade Negotiator on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN). A graduate of BA Economics from Boston University and MSc Entrepreneurship (First Class) from Royal Holloway, University of London, her experience includes services trade negotiations and scheduling, stakeholder engagement, trade policy creation and analysis. The founding Secretary of the Nigerian Coalition for Services Industries, Frances drafted Nigeria’s Schedule of Specific Commitments for the AfCFTA and facilitated the stakeholder consultative process that led to the development of Nigeria’s offer. She was also Chair of the AU Subcommittee on Specific Commitments for Trade in Services. She hosts online spaces where she teaches young Africans how to participate in the multilateral trading system and wishes to attain a leading position in a multilateral organisation that facilitates services trade data collection, research, and technical capacity building in Africa.