Mr. Amadou Hott, Vice-President of the Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Complex, African Development Bank

With 20 years of experience in structured finance, sovereign wealth funds management, investment banking, infrastructure and the development of integrated energy solutions, Mr. Hott leads the Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth Complex, as of 01 November 2016. Prior to joining the bank, Mr. Hott held various Investment banking and Investment advisory positions in New York, London, Dubai and Lagos. He was Director of Millennium Finance Corporation for Africa; Managing Director of UBA Capital, and then founder Managing Director of Afribridge Capital; Special Advisor to HE President Macky Sall, Chairman of Aéroport Internationale Blaise Diagne (Senegal’s new international airport) and Founder and CEO of Senegal’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. Amadou has undergraduate degrees in applied mathematics and economy, an MSc in Finance, from Sorbonne University in Paris. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012.

Ms. Rachel Kyte, CEO SEforALL

Rachel Kyte is Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. A leading advocate for sustainable development, Ms. Kyte is focused on affordable, reliable and sustainable energy as the key to combating both poverty and climate change. As Special Representative for the Secretary General she is the point person in the UN for action towards the recently agreed global goal on sustainable energy. Ms Kyte served until December 2015 as World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, leading the Bank Group’s efforts to campaign for an ambitious agreement at the 21st Convention of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 21). She was previously World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development and was the International Finance Corporation Vice President for Business Advisory Services. Recipient of numerous awards for women’s leadership, climate action and sustainable development, she is a Professor of practice in sustainable development at Tuft’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Mr. Andrew Herscowitz, Coordinator for Power Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development

Andrew M. Herscowitz has been the Power Africa Coordinator since 2013. Prior to this appointment, he served as USAID's Mission Director in Ecuador from 2011 to 2013, and as Deputy Mission Director in Peru from 2009 to 2011. He is a Minister Counselor in the U.S. Foreign Service. In 2008, Herscowitz served as USAID’s Supervisory Regional Legal Adviser for Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. From 2002 to 2007, he was Regional Legal Adviser for the Caribbean. After joining USAID in 2001, Herscowitz served as the lawyer for USAID’s Office of Development Credit. Following graduation from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Herscowitz spent a year as a Georgetown volunteer in Nicaragua. After earning a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, he worked for the law firms of Piper & Marbury (now DLA Piper) and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison in Washington, D.C. In 2005, the Federal Bar Association recognized Herscowitz as one of the five most outstanding lawyers under the age of 35 in the U.S. Government.

Prof. Mosad Elmissiry, Head of Energy NEPAD Agency

M.Elmissiry is a Professorial Chair Holder in Electrical Engineering and a Fellow Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and Technology, UK and the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. He joined NEPAD in June 2009 and is currently heading NEPAD's Energy Programmes to see through to their full implementation. 
His also holds the position of Senior Energy Advisor to NEPAD CEO. His current positions require him to play a leading role in developing and facilitating the implementation of regional energy programmes/projects using NEPAD machineries. He is currently heavily involved in the implementation of the ambitious African Energy Infrastructure Programme up to year 2040, known as PIDA, that was endorsed by the Heads of States and Governments in January 2012 as a priority programme for Africa. In addition, he is orchestrating NEPAD’s leading roles in facilitating the implementation of Africa Power Vision, APV, from Vision to Reality, Africa Continental Transmission Network, Africa Chapter of SEforALL, and the NEPAD Programme for Renewable Energy Access, REAP. 


Mr. Atef Marzouk, Interim Executive Director, AFREC

Mr. Marzouk is a holder a Master degree in New and Renewable Energy Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. Over 20 years, Mr. Marzouk has served in the electrical energy production from renewable energy especially from wind turbines. He has held various posts, among which: Manager of the Zafaran Wind Farm (the biggest wind farm in the Middle East and North Africa), in the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, and Senior Engineer at the Haurgahada demonstration wind farm.

From 1st July 2016 the Commission Seconded Atef as Interim Executive Director at the African Energy Commission (AFREC) in Algiers, Algeria. 

Mr. Aliou Dia, Africa Team Leader Climate Change, DRR, Energy, UNDP

Aliou DIA is the UNDP Africa team Leader on Climate Change, Energy and Disaster Risk Reduction at the Regional Hub based in Addis Ababa. 

He provides technical advice to Country Offices; represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. 

He leads UNDP’s engagement on Resilience Building and disaster risk reduction in Africa working with all relevant actors and stakeholders at regional and National Level. He leads UNDP’s work on Climate Change in Africa mainly focusing on adaptation, finance, loss and damage, etc. . Over the last 3 years he has been a pioneer on for setting up the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI). 

Aliou is also in charge UNDP’s Energy programme for Africa and is providing tremendous support to African countries on policy and programme development on Sustainable Energy. 

Dr. Daniel Schroth, Adviser to the Vice-President Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Complex, African Development Bank

Dr. Daniel-Alexander Schroth is the Advisor to the Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank. He was previously the coordinator of the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Africa Hub hosted by the AfDB in partnership with the AU, NEPAD and UNDP. Daniel also coordinated inter alia the Africa Climate Technology and Finance Center project, the Secretariat to the African Energy Leaders Group and the Green Mini-Grid Market Development Program. Daniel has extensive experience in energy policy. Prior to joining the AfDB, he worked for several years for the European Commission in both headquarters and the field, for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and in the private sector. Daniel holds a Ph.D. and Masters in International Relations with a focus on international energy policy from the University of Cambridge, and business degrees from Reims Management School and the European School of Business (ESB) Reutlingen.

Moderator: Mr. John Wasielewski, Power Africa

John is an advisor to financial institutions, emerging market funds, governments, and foundations on mobilizing private forms of investment financing for a wide range of development efforts. John was the founding Director of the Office of Development Credit at USAID more popularly known as the Development Credit Authority.  John assisted the Danish and Spanish Governments and the African Development Bank establishing The African Guaranty Fund (AGF), an African financial institution dedicated to stimulating lending to small and medium enterprises across Africa. He is now principal advisor to the  CEO of the AGF.  John serves an advisor to Power Africa and Sustainable Energy for All. HE recently became a principal with Aligned Intermediary, investment advisors to a number of institutional investors interested in climate friendly projects. Before all this, John worked as a community organizer in his hometown of Detroit and in Boston. 

Ms. Alexia Kelly, CEO Electric Capital Management / Microgrid Investment Accelerator

Electric Capital Management provides blended capital design and management services across the low carbon development segment for government, philanthropy, corporations and family offices. In this capacity, Alexia serves as the CEO of the Microgrid Investment Accelerator, a first-of-its-kind financing facility that mobilizes investment into clean energy and energy access microgrids in India and East Africa.

From 2013-2017, Alexia lead Allotrope Partners' work on public private partnerships and blended capital structuring for low carbon infrastructure and asset development in emerging markets. From 2010-2016, Alexia served as a Senior Climate Change Advisor with the U.S. Department of State. In this role she directed the State Department’s initiative on low emissions development (LEDS) across 25+ countries, 10 federal agencies, and more than $800 million in climate change mitigation funding on behalf of the Special Envoy for Climate Change’s office. She also served as the lead U.S. negotiator on emissions trading to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and represented the U.S. to multiple World Bank funds.

Alexia has also held roles at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) and at The Climate Trust. 

Mr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo, SEforALL Focal Point Nigeria at the Ministry of Power

Faruk is the Ag. Director, Department of Renewable Energy and Rural Power Access (RRD) of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Nigeria. He was appointed Special Adviser to the Honourable Minister of State for Power in Sept 2010 and has worked in that capacity with three subsequent Ministers until mid 2014. He is currently the SEforALL National Focal Point for Nigeria and the Coordinator, Nigeria Energy Support Programme (NESP) funded by EU and German Government. Faruk has served in the Ministry for over 16 years, during the period he served in several critical committees that drove the Nigerian power sector reforms. He holds B. Sc in Physics, PGD in Computer Science and Engineering, PGD in Electrical Engineering, and M. Sc in Electrical Engineering. 

Mr. Felice Zaccheo, Head of Unit Sustainable Energy and Climate Change DEVCO, European Commission

Mr Felice Zaccheo has over 25 years’ experience in international cooperation and development. He started his professional career in the field as responsible for a rural development project in Ethiopia. He has been project manager and adviser for several development projects financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Peru, Tanzania, Tunisia and Nicaragua. Mr Zaccheo joined the European Commission in 1997 at the Food and Veterinary office in Dublin. He moved back to Africa in 1999, as Head of Rural Development for the EU Delegation in Nigeria. Among other tasks, he was responsible for rural development micro-projects in the Niger Delta. In 2003-2007 he was Head of Rural Development for the EU Delegation in Jamaica. One of his main tasks was the execution of development projects in the Caribbean, including Jamaica and Belize. As from 2007 he works in the European Commission Headquarters in Brussels. Since 2016 he has been the Head of Unit for Sustainable Energy and Climate Change in the Directorate for Planet and Prosperity at DEVCO.

Mr. Joseph Nganga, Regional Director Africa, responsAbility Investments AG

Joseph joined rA in early 2013 following a successful career as a renewable energy entrepreneur and consultant. He established Renewable Energy Ventures in 2008 and served as CEO for 5 years. During 2009 – 11, Joseph also served as a consultant to the World Bank in developing the Climate Innovation Center in Kenya, engaging with over 120 stakeholders to develop the concept from the ground up and to secure $15M funding from the DFI sector. Joseph began his career in 2001 as an investment banking analyst with Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina. He holds a BA in Business Administration from Queens University, North Carolina; and a Governance certification from Harvard Business School. 

Mr. Mahama Kappiah, Director, ECREEE

Mahama Kappiah is the Executive Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE). He was eminent in the establishment of the Centre which aims to ensure increased access to reliable, affordable and clean energy in the West African region. Under his leadership, ECREEE has attained international recognition as a unique regional renewable energy and energy efficiency promotion agency in sub-Saharan Africa, with other regional economic communities such as the EAC and SADC seeking to emulate. Prior to the establishment of ECREEE in 2010, Mahama Kappiah was Head of the ECOWAS Energy Division. Some of his achievements include the creation of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) and the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulation Authority (ERERA). Before joining the ECOWAS Commission, he worked in the Planning and Development Department of the Volta River Authority (VRA) of Ghana. Mahama Kappiah is a member of the REN21 Board. He holds a Master of Science degree in Electromechanical Engineering and is the recipient of the African Energy Leader Award 2017, and the Green Future Leadership Award 2017, in recognition of his work in sustainable energy development.

Robert Nyamwumba, SEforALL Focal Point Rwanda at the Ministry of Infrastructure

Robert Nyamwumba is a holder of BSc. Electrical Engineering from Kigali Institute for Science and Technology (KIST) and is currently Energy Division Manager at Ministry of Infrastructure, Rwanda. 

He has worked in different managerial positions: as the Manager of National Electricity Control Center for the State Utility/ELECTROGAZ, Deputy Director General of Energy Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA Ltd) and former Managing Director of Energy Development Corporation (EDCL) the subsidiary company for Rwanda Energy Group (REG Ltd). 

He has more than 12 years of work experience in the energy sector dealing with Utility operations, Energy projects development, and negotiating Power Purchase Agreements in different technologies (Peat, Methane Gas, Hydro, and Solar) with Independent Power Producers. He is also the Country Focal Person for International Solar Alliance, A member of the Advisory Committee and Panel of Experts of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Joao Duarte Cunha is Manager of the Energy Initiatives and Partnerships Division at the African Development Bank (AfDB) with oversight on business development, co-financing and country engagement, and leading on new blended finance initiatives such as the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI). Joao was previously the Bank’s Chief Climate Finance Officer and coordinator of its clean energy initatives, including the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), Scaling-up Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) and Clean Technology Fund (CTF). His engagement in clean energy financing additionally includes an Advisory Board role in the AfDB-sponsored Africa Renewable Energy Fund (AREF), member of the Africa Regional Committee of the Seed Capital Assistance Facility (SCAF) and member of the Expert Panel of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Joao joined AfDB in 2008 as programme officer the African Water Facility. Joao has a long-standing commitment to Africa, having also worked with access to finance, business development services and investment facilitation with US, Swedish and Portuguese bilateral development and trade agencies prior to joining AfDB.

Joao holds an MA in Economics with Environmental Studies from Edinburgh University, and an MSc in Development Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.