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Imhotep is a Meta Economist, and Professor of Finance at the University of Witwatersrand. He is also the Executive Director of African Finance and Economics Consult, and Emeritus Editor-in-chief of the African Review of Economics and Finance. He has over two decades of experience in teaching and research in applied economics, policy evaluation, modelling and forecasting. An accomplished philanthropist and academic, seasoned consultant and policy maker, his extensive academic and professional career has taken him to six continents. His work on financial economics is global, with great contributions to top-tier international peer-reviewed journals. Imhotep is dedicated to finding the balance between the modern and the ancient, the known and the unknown. To this end, indigenous knowledge, and how it merges with modern technology, is the bedrock of Imhotep’s research trajectory. He is interested in supervising strong Ph.D. candidates in different aspects of indigenous knowledge and its appropriate utilisation, including but not limited to herbs and plants, and economic and political systems.

Ebenezer is a Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relation (CFR). Before joining the CFR, he was a Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas. He is also a senior fellow at the New York University School of Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs, and a fellow at University of South Africa’s Institute of Theology. He is a civil society scholar, with a particular interest in informal strategies of resistance under changing dynamics of rule. His research interests include Transnational Migration, Comparative Societies, Civil Society, Social Change and Development in Africa. He has also researched and published extensively on religion and politics, civic engagement, and civic service and citizenship in Africa. Professor Obadare currently sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Civil Society, Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Modern African Studies, and Review of African Political Economy. He holds a BA in History, an MSc in International Relations, and a Ph.D. in Social Policy from the London School of Economics.

Charles is a UK-based activist and expert on philanthropy and charitable giving. He provides high-level advice on philanthropy, media, campaigning, strategy and risk management for progressive philanthropists. He is the Executive Editor of Alliance magazine and was the Executive Director of the Oxford Centre for the Study of Philanthropy. He was Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and Philanthropy Practice Research Fellow at the City University, London. Charles served as the inaugural CEO of the Pears Foundation, establishing Pears as the vanguard of family and faith philanthropy. In this capacity, Charles coauthored and edited an authoritative source ofdata and analysis, credited with driving renewed interest in family philanthropy in the UK. He holds a Master’s in History, from the University of Cambridge.

Bathylle is the Head of Division for Networks, Partnerships and Gender, at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Centre. Bathylle oversees the Development Centre’s work on the development narrative and the contribution of its various stakeholders, ranging from the contribution of non-state actors to engaging citizens in support of Sustainable Development Goals. She also oversees regional dialogue and major development fora, together with the OECD Development Centre’s work on gender equality. Bathylle re-joined the OECD after working in UNDP’s Conflict Bureau, focusing on a portfolio of post-conflict and fragile countries in Africa, as well as the UNDP’s Democratic Governance Trust Fund. She holds a Masters in Public Service from Sciences Po in Paris, an International Affairs degree from Tufts University and an MA in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Emmanuel is the Ellen Gurney Professor of History and African and African American Studies. He is the Oppenheimer Faculty Director of the Harvard University Center for African Studies, at Harvard University. Emmanuel is a co-founder and director of the International Institute for the Advanced Study of Cultures, Institutions and Economic Enterprise based in Ghana. He is the author of several books and articles and was a member of the board of directors for the African Studies Association in the United States, and a former Council Member of the International African Institute. Emmanuel has been awarded various fellowships, including the Zora Neale Hurston Fellow at Northwestern University, Corresponding Fellow at the Royal Historical Society, and Fellow of the University of Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holdsa Ph.D. in African History, from the University of Virginia, a Master’s from Wake Forest University, and a Bachelor’s in History and Religion from the University of Ghana.

Russell is the Senior Director of Institutional Advancement at the University of the Free State. Prior to this, he was the Executive Director of the Development and Alumni Department at the University of Cape Town, where he was responsible for institutional advancement, fundraising, and alumni relations. He has worked as the Ford Foundation’s programme officer for Southern Africa and was responsible for the Governance and Civil Society Programme in South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Russell was the country director of the South African Office of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. He has also worked for the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, overseeing a human rights institutional strengthening project. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Cambridge, and a Masters in History from Rhodes University, as well as BA and Higher Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Town. Russell served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Human Rights Violation Committee, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Una is a global expert on philanthropy and social innovation and currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research and International Programs at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. She holds the Efroymson Chair in Philanthropy programmes, as well as Dean’s Fellow for the Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy. Una is the founder of Generosity for Life – a digital platform that provides new data tools in the areas of philosophy and social impact. She has pioneered new approaches to using data to improve the understanding of trends in economic development and philanthropy and is a speaker on issues related to national and international trends in economics and philanthropy, frequently quoted by media outlets. She has served as a member of several national and international advisory groups, including the African Development Bank, the Social Science Research Council and the United Nations Development Programme. Una received her Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University and her Master’s and Ph.D. from Northwestern University.