Joe is founder and Chief Operating Officer of NGA Novum AB, a company specializing in digitizing terrestrial television networks in Africa. He is board member of the Swedish Association of ethnic minority entrepreneurs IFS and previously served as chair and member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group of Independent Experts on People of African Descent. He also worked with the mayor of the City of Stockholm and represented the social democratic party of Sweden in the Swedish Parliament.

José has extensive practical experience in the area of human rights and international criminal law. Among its former responsibilities, he was Deputy Ombudsman at Mexico City’s Human Rights Institution, Latin America and Caribbean Coordinator for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and Deputy Director General for Human Rights and Democracy at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also served as a member of the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2014.

Mahdis is founder and principal of The Make Agency. Keshavarz’s clientele has included international dignitaries, Hollywood stars, global artists, numerous film festivals and events focusing on the Middle Eastern community. She has placed news stories and op-eds with media outlets around the world – including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC, NPR, The National and Al Jazeera. She also serves on the board of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA).

Amana Dawuda is a Chartered MCIPD and holds a 1st and 2nd Degree in Africa Studies from SOAS University of London and a HND in Business and Finance. Amana has worked across a number of sectors including legal, human rights, education, environment and INGOs and has held senior HR roles, interim and permanent at INTERIGHTS, Malaria Consortium, Amnesty International and OSF, working globally in the UK and Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. She is passionate about diversity, inclusion, equality and equity. In her spare time Amana enjoys cooking, reading and travelling, learning about local culture and food.

Ayesha works for the Barrow Cadbury Trust, an independent charitable foundation based in London. She is the Trust’s Migration Programme Manager, managing and actively contributing to the Trust’s research and policy work as well as its grant-making in the UK and internationally. Prior to that Ayesha spent a number of years working for international organisations in the UK and internationally, including for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Albania and the International Organization for Migration. She also spent some time working as a freelance journalist in London. She is a Trustee of think tank British Future and serves in a non-executive capacity for the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.

Joe is founder and Chief Operating Officer of NGA Novum AB, a company specializing in digitizing terrestrial television networks in Africa. He is board member of the Swedish Association of ethnic minority entrepreneurs IFS and previously served as chair and member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group of Independent Experts on People of African Descent. He also worked with the mayor of the City of Stockholm and represented the social democratic party of Sweden in the Swedish Parliament.

Tom is an entrepreneur specialising in the media. He has run a number of businesses and produced a variety of projects in the film, TV, music and advertising industries.

Bio coming soon.

Dr. Sarah Ashanut Ossiya, a Ugandan, is the preceding and one of the longest-serving Chairs of MRG Africa’s Advisory Committee. She holds a PhD in Rangeland Ecology from Texas A&M University. As a Trustee and Chair, she was instrumental in supporting the growth of the office, and in particular strengthening financial systems.

Sarah has been a Research Scientist, University Lecturer, Coordinator of the Pastoralist Communication Programme at Panos Eastern Africa, Country Director at FarmAfrica Uganda, Manager for the Report on the Status of Pastoralism at Oxfam and is currently Project Officer at the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources. From 2023 onwards, Sarah will Coordinate the Resilient Feed and Fodder Systems Project, a partnership between AU-IBAR and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to contribute to addressing the serious feed and fodder shortages, especially in pastoralist areas.

Sarah, who comes from the Iteso, an agropastoralist tribe of the Ateker community, is passionate about pastoralist development, beekeeping, women harnessing business opportunities in the animal resources sector and feed and fodder sector development.

Everlyne Nairesiae hails from the Indigenous Pastoralist Maasai Community in Kenya. She is a social scientist with over 18 years of experience working on the governance of land and natural resources. She has worked with indigenous peoples, local communities, governments, Civil Society Organizations, the United Nations and the private sector in promoting responsible land governance, securing land tenure rights, women’s land rights, climate justice, food security and the Sustainable Development Goals. She previously worked for Oxfam as Women’s Land Rights Adviser and GLTN/UN-Habitat as Coordinator of the Global Land Indicators Initiative (GLII) and Gender Focal Point. She currently is the Africa Region Director for Landesa. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education (Geography, Kiswahili) and a Master of Philosophy in Guidance and Counselling from Moi University, Kenya.

Juliet Nakato Odoi holds a Master’s degree in Women and Gender Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from Makerere University. Juliet has over 15 years of experience in development work, currently working with UN Women in Uganda as Gender Mainstreaming and Coordination Officer. She has previously worked at Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) and Minority Rights Group International. In addition to gender, she has extensive experience in policy and advocacy that has focused on gender, SGBV and minority rights. Ms Odoi is a feminist with a passion for social justice. She has trained as a Trainer in Stepping Stones with Children.