Check out our 2019 Speaker Lineup
More still being added!
Muoyo Okome
Founder: App Magic
USA
A former IBM & Microsoft staffer, Muoyo is a mobile entrepreneur, author, educator, and podcast host. He built, published, and sold a portfolio of 100+ mobile apps which have been downloaded over 12 million times worldwide including several achieving coveted Top 10 and Top 100 status. He shares his extensive knowledge on mobile app publishing, marketing, and monetization through his book “The 7 Steps to App Success” as well as the App Moguls Inner Circle Accelerator. His podcast "Game of Grow" debuted in the Top 100 Business podcasts on iTunes, sharing the highs, lows, lessons, and stories of his entrepreneurial journey in a raw, real, and relatable format.
Patrick Riley
CEO: GAN
(Global Accelerator Network)
USA
CEO of the GAN which is a highly-curated community of independent accelerators, corporates, and investors. Patrick is also Managing Partner of GAN Ventures, the VC fund associated with GAN. He started his career at the American Red Cross where he oversaw the COO's office as its Chief of Staff. Patrick left the Red Cross to manage the sales and operations for a venture-backed healthcare technology company that had a recent exit. Following his passion to support start-up companies around the world, Patrick joined Techstars, a well-known tech accelerator, and oversaw its growth which included the development of GAN.
Baiju solanki
Founder: Enspirit Global
UK
Based in the United Kingdom, Baiju Solanki is the Founder and CEO of EnSpirit Global: a platform that serves to awaken, instill and enhance the entrepreneurial spirit in all of those who wish to live their best life.
As a former businessman of the year, his experience extends beyond the realm of enterprise: a trained psychologist, lecturer, speaker and author, he nudges people into realising their power.
Mariam Braimah
Product Designer at Netflix
Founder: The Kimoyo Fellowship
USA
A product designer at Netflix helping shape the global non member user experience to drive customer growth & acquisition. She’s currently a design lead for the company's mobile & desktop sign up efforts. Mariam also founded The Kimoyo Fellowship, an immersive learning program aimed at facilitating the cross-pollination of knowledge, ideas and shared experiences between leading tech industry professionals across the African diaspora.
Nicaila Matthews Okome
Founder: Side Hustle Pro
USA
Nicaila Matthews Okome is the Founder of Side Hustle Pro, LLC, a podcasting and marketing company that shines a light on untold narratives.
Born in Jamaica and raised in the Bronx, her professional experience spans digital marketing, ad sales and social media strategy for NPR, Google, MTV Networks and more. Nicaila's Side Hustle Pro is the first and only podcast to spotlight bold, black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustle to profitable business.
The podcast has been named “the perfect entrepreneurship podcast” by Mashable, earned over half a million downloads.
sian morson
Founder: Kollective Mobile
USA
Sian studied film at NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, and eventually plunged into technology, working in the world of advertising, producing large websites and online media for the likes of MGM, Coca Cola, and Audi. After earning her Master’s at London’s Middlesex University, Sian went on to manage the mobile division of the #1 Independent Digital healthcare company Eveo in 2008. There, she managed a team creating apps for clients that included Genentech, Novartis and Pfizer.
Sian founded Kollective Mobile which specializes in native mobile development and works with a range of agencies, startups and organizations to realize their mobile needs.
David Mullings
Founder: Blue Mahoe Partners, Inc
USA
David is the Founder, C.E.O. and Deputy Chairman of Blue Mahoe Partners, Inc, a private investment firm facilitating investment between the USA and the Caribbean.
He is a seasoned entrepreneur with experience in the finance industry in Jamaica and the USA, most recently serving as Investor Relations Specialist for Left Brain Capital Management, a long-biased hedge fund ranked among the top 10 best performing funds worldwide by Opalesque in September 2017.
David is a Mentor for the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship Caribbean and Founders Institute Jamaica, as well as a graduate of the leAD Sports Accelerator in Berlin, Germany.
Karen Y. Johns
Founder: The Johns Group
USA
Karen Y. Johns is the founder and president of The Johns Group, a consultancy specializing in business development and philanthropy in the US and the Caribbean. In addition, Karen currently serves as philanthropy consultant to the Tides Foundation Caribbean Initiatives, a project focused on funding social venture businesses and NGOs in the Caribbean. She also served as an advisor for Groundswell SPC, a Washington state-based fintech startup, which provides co-branded visa debit cards to nonprofits and shares the revenue from the transaction fees with them.
Karen is a seasoned fundraising professional and is an active volunteer with organizations in the US and the Caribbean. She has raised over $20 million dollars in funds for the organizations, in which she served.
Maliq Hill
Account Manager: Facebook
USA
Maliq is an Account Manager at Facebook Inc. based out of Austin, TX. Personally managing a portfolio of over $40MM in ad spend annually, Maliq has extensive experience working with brands large and small to make the most of their marketing since he started with the company in 2015. Graduating with a degree in Psychology and a focus in Behavioral Economics from Yale University, Maliq studies the ways that brands can effectively find, educate, and convert their customers.
Dwight Forde
Co-founder: Strong Foods
(Yelluh Meat Brand)
Barbados
Dwight is an avid foodie and co-founder of the company, Strong Foods. He and his co-founder took what was once considered an inexpensive but nutritious food for enslaved Africans on the island and reimagined it to celebrate the diversity of Barbadian heritage and the richness of its cuisine. This led to the culinary creation of the Breadfruit Bowl and the tremendously popular Yelluh Meat Brand! Yelluh Meat is a street-food ambrosia experience inspired by the traditional roasted breadfruit.
Peter thompson
Programming & Projects: TEN Habitat
Barbados
Peter Thompson spent the first 20 years of his career in Canada as an entrepreneur (Hurricane Engineering, Synaptic Communications Inc., Denis & Muntener Advertising,
boatbuilding.com, NationLogic Inc.) and the next 15 years as a non-profit executive (Two Rivers Gallery Ltd., Social Enterprise Boost Initiative). He is back in Barbados after 40+ years to help use social entrepreneurship as an economic and social development tool.
Selwyn cambridge
Founder: TEN Habitat & Caribbean Startup Summit
Barbados
Selwyn is a serial entrepreneur and has been working with startups for more than 10 years. He founded TEN Habitat which focuses on developing investor-ready ventures and helping to create a nurturing environment for the growth of entrepreneurs. He is also the founder of the Caribbean Startup Summit, working to empower regional startups.
Mackenzie KosuT
Head of Global Startup Advocates: Amazon Web Services
USA
Mackenzie runs the Global Startup Advocate team at AWS where he mentors hundreds of startups every year. Prior to joining AWS, Mackenzie was the Head of Technical Operations at Betterment, a robo-advisor FinTech startup in NYC which manages over $15B in assets. He was a founding engineer and Head of Technical Operations at Oscar, a health insurance startup. His first jump into the startup world was when he left MTV / Viacom to join a small social media startup called Tumblr helping to grow the site to over 20B page views a month and becoming the 9th most trafficked website in the USA.
DJ Simmons &
Empress Zingha
Founders: Gine On?!
Barbados
With a masters degree in Arts Entrepreneurship and award winning writing and acting achievements, Empress Zingha combines her prowess with husband DJ Simmons who has over a decade of experience in the performing arts, content creation and publishing. Together they founded GineOn.com. The content-rich platform, showcases an immersive experience into Bajan artists and communities to leverage their cultural influence to help brands better connect with audiences.
CHITRA ANAND
Intrapreneurship Expert and Adviser to High Growth Companies
Canada
Award winning communications & marketing executive and former head of Communications for Microsoft Canada, Chitra is at the forefront of an important new movement in the workplace: intrapreneurship-- Fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship within organisations to drive innovation, creative thinking, and new ideas.
As a doctoral researcher, innovation & culture change keynote speaker, professor, author and advisor to high growth companies, Her talks reveal how to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship within organizations to stay on the cutting edge of market trends, technology, and consumer behaviour.
Dominick Namis
Agency Partner Manager: Facebook
USA
As an Agency Partner Manager at Facebook, Dominick works with Automotive ad agencies that
specialize in dealership marketing across North America. In his day-to-day, he works with these agencies to deliver consultative support and education on Facebook’s products, performs data analysis and executes data-informed initiatives that will improve the customer experience and drive business growth, and supports agencies in managing their strategy and needs. Dominick was born and raised in Belize, lived in Barbados for two years, and has spent the last six years living in Austin, TX.
Kimberly Hill
Amazon Logistics Business Development Manager
USA
In her role, Kimberly recruits and launches entrepreneurs into the Delivery Service Partner program. She also serves on the board of Amazon’s Black Employee Network as the Non-Tech Professional Development Director where she drives inclusion and diversity—Kimberly led Amazon's first Black History Month celebration and launched a company within Amazon, Textures & Hues. She has recently been featured in Puget Sound Business Journal's 2018 40 Under 40 list in the Feb 2019 ESSENCE Magazine, and a recipient of Amazon's Just Do It Award from Jeff Bezos.
Rovina Broomfield
Amazon Manager of Product Management
USA
Rovina is leading a product and marketing team within the Alexa Echo business. Prior to her current role, she led an end-to-end product development team that built Amazon’s Textures & Hues, an online shop for textured hair care. She won the Just Do It Award from CEO, Jeff Bezos, for the successful launch of that product. Rovina also has experience in several of Amazon’s retail category businesses and served as the global president of its Black Employee Network from 2016-2018.
