Speakers
Dean Jon Foster-Pedley
Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement – Sub-Saharan Africa), University of Reading, and Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa.
Jon Foster-Pedley is a distinguished academic and business leader with a remarkable international career spanning more than 45 years and six continents. As the Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa since 2011, he has overseen the institution's rapid growth and transformation, with a vision to build the people who build the businesses that build Africa. In 2025, he was appointed as Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement – Sub-Saharan Africa) at the University of Reading, UK, expanding his mandate to build capabilities and create opportunities across the region.
A former airline pilot and aerobatic competitor, Jon worked in aircraft sales for British Aerospace and Airbus Industrie and was a faculty member at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, where he taught strategy and creativity for 16 years. Through his leadership at Henley, he has become a prominent voice for ethical business and social development as exemplified by his founding of MBAid, an NGO that connects aspiring MBA students with social enterprises. Jon serves on numerous boards, including the Association of African Business Schools, the Alliance of Management Development Organizations in Rising Economies (pro bono, and SOIL (pro bono).
Nyari Samushonga WeThinkCode
Nyari Samushonga is the CEO of FoldLeft, Chair of the Board of WeThinkCode_, and the former Managing Director of Thoughtworks Africa. A Chartered Accountant, she began her career in global finance at Deloitte working across New York and Harare before leading large-scale software operations and building institutional tech talent pipelines. Over a 26-year career spanning global finance, tech leadership, and institution building, she works to advance applied AI and economic equity.
Nyaari Samushonga will be speaking on December 10th at 9:00-9:45.
Lincoln Mali Lesaka Technolgies
Lincoln Mali is one of Africa’s leading business executives, with more than 25 years of experience in financial services, transformation, and leadership development. He is Chief Executive Officer of Lesaka Technologies Southern Africa, a leading fintech platform listed on Nasdaq and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Since joining in 2021, he has led the company’s return to profitability and positioned it for long-term growth in Africa’s evolving payments and fintech sector.
Lincoln holds an MBA from Henley Business School, completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School, and has undertaken executive education at leading global institutions.
Before joining Lesaka, he spent over two decades at Standard Bank Group in senior leadership roles and later became the Founding President of the Association of South African Payment Providers (ASAPP), helping shape a more inclusive payments ecosystem.
Passionate about developing future African leaders, Lincoln is the author of Blazing a Trail: Lessons for African Leadership and founder of the Lincoln Mali Leadership Foundation, which hosts an annual Youth Leadership Summit for emerging leaders from across the continent. He also founded the Mzwandile Mali Schools Rugby Tournament & Champions League, a major youth development initiative reaching 138 schools in the Eastern Cape.
His leadership and impact have earned numerous honours, including the 2025 All Africa Business Leader of the Year Award and recognition in South Africa and the United States.
Lincoln Mali will be speaking on December 10th at 9:45-10:30.
John Vlismas
John Vlismas is a South African stand-up comedian turned strategist. At one time, a 46664 Ambassador for the Mandela Foundation, the first-ever winner of South Africa's Comic of the Year, and a performer at the Royal Albert Hall and the Tempodrome, Berlin.
His contribution to freedom of speech helped shape amendments to the Hate Speech Bill.
He co-founded OGO Creative as Head of Strategy, holds a Henley MBA with distinctions in Strategic Marketing and Relationship Marketing. He has published a white paper with the school on DEI, and presented his "Player Zero" work to LeaderEx and the African Integral Conference.
John brings decades of stage instinct and academic rigour to bear on how organisations think, talk, and lead.
John Vlismas will be speaking on December 9th at 9:15-10:15.
Thebe Ikalafeng
Thebe Ikalafeng is a globally recognised authority on brand-led economic development and one of Africa’s most influential marketing and business leaders. For more than 25 years, he has championed African brands, culture and economic growth across the continent and internationally. He is the Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa, a pan-African non-profit driving a brand-led African renaissance, and Founder and CEO of Brand Leadership Group, an advisory firm specialising in strategy, creativity and intellectual property.
A Hall of Fame marketer, Thebe began his career at Colgate-Palmolive in New York and later served as Chief Marketing Officer for Nike Africa, where he helped establish the brand as a market leader across the continent. He currently serves as Chancellor of Sol Plaatje University and Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg Business School.
Recognised among Africa’s most influential figures, he has received numerous honours, including honorary doctorates and lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to branding, business and culture. He has served on leading corporate and non-profit boards across banking, tourism, technology and conservation.
Thebe is also the author of The Traveller and Rooted and Rising, and is a sought-after speaker who has addressed audiences worldwide on Africa’s identity, influence and development.
Thebe Ikalafeng will be speaking on December 9th at 9:15-10:15.