Panelists

 
Edith Otiende-Lawani
Director of Board and Lawyer, GAaNF e:V. & The Bridge Consulting (www.gaanf.org)

Edith Otiende-Lawani is a 35year old legal practitioner originating from Kenya. Her passion for defending human rights led her in 2006 to Germany, where she later joined Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich in to study law. After qualifying as a Lawyer, she did her legal internship „Referendariat“ with the Higher Regional Court „Oberlandesgericht“ Munich and various administrative authorities.

Since 2011, she´s been working with legal firms majorly in the field of compliance, criminal law, immigration law, corporate law, employment law and administrative law.

Through her social engagements with NGOs and public sectors active in development cooperation, she was inspired to found the association « Giving Africa a New Face e.V. » in 2017, which aims at promoting sustainable partnerships between Germany and Africa, as well as inclusive socio-political structures in Germany. The demand for promoting German-African B2B Partnership prompted the foundation of her company „The Bridge Consulting“, which brings Start-Ups and SMEs with Investors together, within Germany and between Germany and Africa.

Ms Otiende-Lawani is also very active in politics where she holds various positions within her Party, and aspires to create reforms especially as regarding development, refugee and migration policies.

www.gaanf.org
 

Dr. Samuel Chege (Returnee)
Senior Research Scientist, Microsoft Africa Research Institute
Dr. Chege is a Senior Researcher at the Microsoft Africa Research Institute (MARI) in Nairobi Kenya. His research seeks to leverage science and innovation to impact product development and the society. He is passionate about understanding, developing, and deploying technologies that will address challenges in the areas of financial inclusion, agriculture, and climate & sustainability. Prior to his current role, Samuel held different roles with IBM Research Africa, Nairobi Kenya and EON Energy (Uniper) in Düsseldorf Germany. He is also an Adjunct faculty member with Strathmore University, Nairobi.

Dr. Chege is a holder of a PhD in Mathematical Finance from the University of Technology, Sydney Australia, MSc in Financial Mathematics from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany and a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.