Mansour Ciss Kanakassy – Art Director
The Artist Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, who imagined the AFRO Currency in 2000 was
unanimously elected the Art Director of the AFRO Foundation.
In 2001, in collaboration with his partner, the Canadian artist Professor PhD Phil.
Baruch Gottlieb, curator for Berlin University of the Arts, Mansour created the
Deberlinisation laboratory, a conceptual work that lies at the origin of AFRO. They
created an initially “utopian” currency as the symbol of Pan-Africanism. Together,
they printed one thousand bills of this currency portraying Léopold Sédar Senghor
and flagged “United States of Africa”. The work was presented at the Dakar Biennale
in 2002.
Thameur Hemdane – Afrikwity
Tunisian origin, Thameur is the founder of Afrikwity and Cofundy, two crowdfunding
platforms, dedicated to financing of projects in Africa. Thameur is also a co president
of FPAM – Financement Participatif Afrique et Méditerranée, an international
organisation, promoting best practices and crowdfunding in Africa, in the field of
ecosystems of Africa.
He took major management roles in strategic think tanks.
Tawanda Kembo – Golix
Tawanda Kembo and Verengai Mabika founded one of the Continent’s first
cryptocurrency exchanges, GOLIX.COM.
Together, they dragged Central Bank of Zimbabwe to court over trading ban.
GOLIX emphasized that Zimbabwe Central Bank had no authority to ban
cryptocurrencies across the country. The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe lifted the ban.
Verengai Mabika – Golix
Leader in technology, climate change and social innovation, with keen interest in
youth actions towards a better world. An Ashoka Global Fellow, an Echoing Green
Fellow, and a member of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Forum. In 2009,
he founded Development Reality Institute (DRI), a Social Innovation Hub that invests
in green businesses. In 2013, he Co-founded the Internet Society Chapter in
Zimbabwe (ISOC-ZW).
Daniel Ouedraogo – Africa of Ideas
Daniel is a graduate of Paris-Dauphine University (Master in Monetary and Financial
Economics), currently completing his PhD in Economics. He is of Burkina nationality.
Salima Haddour – Hopscotch Africa
General Manager of Hopscotch Africa and former Director of the Moroccan Tourist
Office in Paris, Salima is the Moroccan voice and the soul of the AFRO Foundation.
Fabien Lawson et Fortuné Ahoulouma – NS Labs Lawyer
Lawyer at the Paris Bar association and PhD in Law, he co-founded LABS-NS
AVOCATS, a law firm dedicated to responsible investments in Africa.
Eric Omoré – Nikky Beach
Co-founder of the innovative concept Nikki Beach, Eric Omoré is a Senegalese Lifestyle
entrepreneur, well known globally in the fields of Hospitality, Media and
Events.
Doriam Chemcham – Aegis
Doriam Chemcham began her career in the Accor group, then joined the
Multiservices branch of the Derichebourg group. Since 2016, she has been a Director
of Communications for Dentsu Aegis Network, a specialist in media and
communication. She is of French-Algerian nationality.
Heaven Bereket – Bambino Foundation
Social Entrepreneur at heart with a proven experience of trading cryptocurrencies,
Heaven Bereket provides training for over 900 students in the financial sphere. Using
an innovative model of funding her start-up through Crypto & Forex trading, she also
takes a role in financing over 1400 children’s healthcare costs. She is of Swedish
nationality.
Arnaud Pourredon – Meditect
In 2015 Arnaud Pourredon was working as a medical assistant in Nepal where he was
shocked to learn that many of the medicines he was supposed to bring to his
patients were counterfeit. After similar experiences in Africa he founded Meditect,
“Medecine you can trust” using the blockchain for traceability and authentication of
genuine medecine. Launching in Western Africa patients will be rewarded with
AFRO when they buy an authentic medication in a real pharmacy.
Roland Coutas
Roland Coutas is an entrepreneur and one of the pioneers of the Internet in Europe.
In 1995, he created several companies, including Travelprice.com, which became one
of the leading online travel agencies in Europe. He was a founder and a shareholder
of many companies in the new technology sector. It was at this time that he met
David Nataf, a specialist in computer law and encryption with whom he created
DPSSI, one of the first computer security companies in France. He fought very early
against the US NSA Echelon computer espionage system.
Nowadays Roland is still into hi tech, and he invested into multiple startups.
Roland Coutas has visited most of the Arican countries, he has many connections in
each country he visited and he is known for his love for African Continent.
His activism for the economic growth of Africa, combined with his entrepreneurial
vision and abilities, as well as his knowledge and vast experience in new
technologies allowed him to join the development team of the AFRO project and
become a Spokesman for AFRO
David Nataf
David Nataf started his career as co-founder of Net Development, a leading French
web integrators, employing 80 people. After the merger of Net Development with
Reef publisher, David joined the law firm, Jean-Pierre Millet, with the defense of
computer attackers and victimes specialty (“hackers”) in cases between different
organizations such as NSA or other members of the international interception
‘Echelon’ network from the UKUSA treaty or the US Air Force. He is the author of
several books on information warfare, consultant for the European Parliament as an
expert in computer security (SSI) and electromagnetic signals intelligence (SIGINT).
David Nataf successively launched several start-ups of the Internet in the field of
paperless technologies termination of contracts online (“resilier.com”); online
subscription to early stage fundraising foreshadowing the model will retain more
later the platform “gust.com”, or free roaming mobile operators (MVNO).
Given his specialty at the cross road of anti computer crime legal advising, Internet
technology, media and anti-propaganda operations, David has naturally become an
actor’s influence on the Web, working for a think-tank representing french defense
and Aerospace.