Speakers
Opening
AI Transformation for Africa – AI talent development and Ecosystem strengthening
August 21, 2025 12:30-14:30(JST) Ticad9 Jica co-host undp and worldbank
- Mr. Naoki ANDO, Senior Vice President
- JICA
Keynote
- Mr. Haoliang Xu, Acting Administrator and Under Secretary-General, Associate Administrator
- UNDP
- Haoliang Xu is currently UNDP’s Acting Administrator as of 17 June 2025. He was
appointed UN UnderSecretary-General and UNDP Associate Administrator by the United
Nations Secretary-General in June 2023. He previously served as UN Assistant SecretaryGeneral, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme
Support and was UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator and
Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific from September 2013 to July 2019. Prior to this,
he served as Deputy Regional Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the
Commonwealth of Independent States in New York (2010-2013); UN Resident Coordinator
and UNDP Resident Representative in Kazakhstan (2007-2010); Country Director in
Pakistan (2005-2007); Deputy Resident Representative for Programme, Pakistan (2004-
2005); Country Manager and Senior Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Timor-Leste
(2002-2004); Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Iran (2000-2002); Programme
Manager, Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, New York (1997-1999); Programme
Officer/Junior Professional Officer, UNDP Kazakhstan (1995-1997). Before joining the
UN, Mr. Xu was a computer-aided design engineer with Louis Berger International Inc. in
New Jersey, USA, and an assistant lecturer at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. Mr.
Xu, a Chinese national, holds a Bachelors in Engineering from Tongji University (China),
and a Masters’ of Science in Management from the Stevens Institute of Technology (USA).
He also holds a Masters’ of International Affairs in Economic Development and Policy
Analysis from Columbia University (USA)
Session1
- Hon. Aurelie I. Adam Soule Zoumarou, Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalization
- Government of Benin
- Mr. Lacina Koné, Chief Executive Officer
- Smart Africa
- Mr. Tomoyuki Naito, Vice President and Professor, Graduate School of Information Technology, Kobe Institute of Computing
- Tomo is the Vice President and Professor at Graduate School of Information Technology, Kobe Institute of Computing, Japan. In his over 25 years of professional career, he has been working with clients on digital economy policy acceleration and strategy formulation as well as its implementation for effective development; in particular ICT use leapfrogging practice in developing countries. His professional interests include digital economy, generative AI utilization, distance learning, ICT innovation ecosystem, Internet of Things, FabLabs, Mobile Big Data solution, and other related areas. Prior to assuming his current position as a graduate school professor, he was Senior Advisor in charge of ICT and Innovation for the development field at Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Previously, he was Program Manager at the World Bank in charge of the Tokyo Development Learning Center, Director of Planning as well as Director of Transportation and ICT at JICA headquarters. He is also a registered 1st class architect in Japan since 1997. He completed doctoral course of international relations, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies (GSAPS), Waseda University, Japan, in 2008. He holds a Master of Arts in international relations degree from GSAPS, Waseda University, Japan
- Kobe Institute of Computing
- Ms. Natalie Payida Jabangwe, Executive Secretary/CEO
- Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Foundation
- CEO of the Timbuktoo Foundation, backed by un out of rwanda aspires to becoming bn$ start up fund Before joining Timbuktoo, Natalie served as the Group Digital Executive Officer at the Sanlam
Group, Africa’s largest non-bank financial company in Africa and overseeing 34 countries and
a budget of $600m. From 2014-2021, she was CEO of EcoCash, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile
money service, where she was one of the youngest female CEOs in Africa’s mobile financial
sector. Her career has been marked by her commitment to leveraging technology to create
impactful solutions, earning her recognition as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic
Forum in 2018. Natalie is also a 2017 Oxford University Tutu Fellow, reflecting her leadership
and influence across Africa
Session2
- Mr. Doga Makiura, The founder and CEO
- Degas
- Degas Ltd. is building and deploying Frontier AI in emerging markets, primarily in SubSaharan Africa, with the mission of “Changing people’s lives, dramatically.” Its geospatial
foundation model (Degas FM) is built from scratch, pre-trained on millions of global
satellite images and proprietary field data. Degas FM powers AI applications across
agriculture, insurance, infrastructure, and beyond - revolutionizing how we understand
Earth with minimal data. The model is under continuous development to be applied
globally: in Ethiopia for AI-driven area-yield insurance with JICA; in Thailand for cassava
disease detection and soil modeling with Sojitz; and across 35,000 acres in northern Ghana,
where Degas directly finances over 20,000 smallholder farmers each year. Degas was
selected as the only geospatial AI company under Japan’s GENIAC program - a national
initiative to accelerate global leadership in Generative AI. In 2020, Degas received a letter of
appreciation from Ghana’s President for its contribution to digital agriculture. As CEO,
Doga has lived in Ghana for the past six years, leading field-driven AI development. He
previously led Southeast Asia growth at Quipper (acquired by Recruit) and was a researcher
at the University of Tokyo’s Center for Spatial Information Science. Runs on Ethiopian food
and abstract art - still a challenge for AI to parse
- Ms. Pelonomi Moiloa, The founder and CEO
- Lelapa AI
- South African CEO and the founder of Lelapa AI, a company building
resource-efficient language technology for underrepresented languages. Trained in electrical
and biomedical engineering, she leads Lelapa’s mission to expand the African digital
economy through scalable AI optimized for locally constrained environments. She has been
recognized as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, a Bloomberg Catalyst, and a
Mozilla Rise 25 Award recipient. She is also a TED speaker, known for her insights on
human-centric AI and the strategic role of language technology in global digital equity.
Before founding Lelapa AI, Pelonomi worked at the intersection of finance, data science,
and machine learning, focusing on the application of technology to large-scale systems
challenges. She currently serves as a trustee of a girls’ scholarship fund and as a director of a
community-based nonprofit
- Prof. Yutaka Matsuo, Professor
- Tokyo University
- Graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1997 and earned a Ph.D. in Engineering in 2002.
He has held research positions at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology and served as a visiting researcher at Stanford University. Since 2007, he has
been an associate professor, and since 2019, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s
Graduate School of Engineering. His research specializes in artificial intelligence, deep
learning, and web mining. He has been the chairman of the Japan Deep Learning
Association since 2017, an outside director for SoftBank Group Corporation since 2019, and
since 2023, an expert member of the Council for achieving new capitalism and the chair of
the AI strategy conference.
- Erin Hirakawa, Officer of International Relations
- Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory
- Currently a 3rd-year undergraduate student at Waseda University in Tokyo,
majoring in Global Political Economy. She was born in Australia to British and Japanese
parents, and raised in Japan and Malaysia. She has been serving as Officer of
International Relations at Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory, the University of Tokyo, leading
Matsuo Lab’s global expansion. Her recent focus has been on expanding Global
Consumer Intelligence, Matsuo Lab’s most popular lecture that teaches fundamental
data science and AI and its implication on marketing to universities in Southeast Asia,
India and Africa. Her recent field experience includes visits to Nigeria, Kenya and South
Africa, where she engaged with local stakeholders to explore opportunities for crossborder collaboration in technology and education.
Closing Remarks Movie
- Sangbu Kim, Vice President for Digital
- World Bank
- Sangbu Kim is the World Bank’s Vice President for Digital as of September 2024. In this
role, he leads efforts to build the foundations for digital economies in developing countries
to thrive, enhance digital and data infrastructure, ensure cybersecurity and data privacy for
institutions, businesses, and citizens, and advance digital government services. With over 27
years of experience, Mr. Kim has held senior positions in the Office of the President of the
Republic of Korea, where he developed national ICT plans, including e-government,
broadband expansion, digital literacy, cybersecurity, and trade policy. He also served in the
Korean Communications Commission and the Ministry of Information and Communication.
More recently, he was Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Consumer
Products in the Asia Pacific region at Google. Earlier, he served as Vice President for
Corporate Strategy, Investment, and Partnerships at the Korean telecommunications
operator LG Uplus. A South Korean national, Mr. Kim holds a Master of Public
Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Business Administration
from Seoul National University.
Facilitator
- Ms. Folly Bah Thibault｜Journalist and principal presenter
- Al Jazeera
- Folly Bah Thibault is a renowned journalist and Principal Presenter for Al Jazeera English,
based in Doha, Qatar. She is the founder and president of Elle ira à l’école Fondation Kesso
Bah, an NGO dedicated to promoting girls’ education in Guinea and across West Africa. A
Global Champion for Education Cannot Wait, the UN’s fund for education in crises, she has
been a strong advocate for access to learning worldwide. Joining Al Jazeera in 2010 after
working with France 24, Radio France International, and Voice of America, Thibault has
covered major global events, including Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential election.
She has anchored award-winning programs, such as the first-ever UN Secretary-General
candidates’ debate (2016) and the Nobel Peace Prize Interview in Oslo. Thibault has
interviewed prominent leaders and changemakers, including Kenyan President William
Ruto, Bill Gates, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Malala Yusufzai, Wole
Soyinka, and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. Known for her clarity,
impartiality, and ability to unpack complex issues, she has moderated high-level forums for
the UN, EU, and AU. Born in Conakry, Guinea, she holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism
from Howard University and an MA in International Communication from American
University, Washington, D.C. She is fluent in English, French, Peulh, and conversant in
Swahili.
