Eric previously held the position of Relationship Manager with Citigroup DRC and of Corporate Manager with the Commercial Bank of Congo. Prior to his banking experience, he spent 2 years in the French Public Sector with exposure to both Central and Local Government levels. Eric has a special interest in Public Policy, Regional Integration and Politics. Eric has extensive student leadership experience (DRC, SA, and France) having served as a board member of North West University (SA) and ENA (France).
From 2010 to 2015, Jana served as a policy adviser and diplomat at the United States Department of State. For the U.S. government, she also worked in the U.S. Senate and at the Pentagon. Before joining public service, Jana was a consultant for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a DC-based think tank. Jana received her M.A. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and her B.A. in International Relations from University of Brasilia. Jana is a native speaker of English and Portuguese and is fluent in Spanish and French.
He also has experience practicing estate, trust, family, and commercial law in Canada. He is also presently completing a Master of Laws degree at Osgoode Hall at York University in Toronto, Canada, where his research focuses on international climate change litigation, particularly cases involving climate change harms causing human rights abuses.
He has worked with organizations such as the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy, the Benin Prime Minister’s Office, the Presidency of Benin and the International Initiative of Impact Evaluation (3IE) to promote the use of impact evaluation as an evidence based policy making tool in Africa. Bio is also involved in community services. With respect to that, since April 2017, he is the Chairman of the executive board of the association “Youth Action Su Da”, an association of young Beninese who are part of a dynamic reflection action in favor of community services.
He supports non-member accession to the 54-member State Energy Charter Treaty. Can has actively participated in the G-20 Energy Sustainability Working Group Meetings in 2015 dealing with the access to affordable energy and the need for investments in the energy sector despite commercially and legally challenging environments. Previously he was working in the banking sector in the Emerging Markets Mergers and Acquisitions team of Rothschild & Cie in Paris, working on large scale energy projects in the MENA and the CIS regions.
He works on issues of importance pertaining to regional integration such as Trade, Peace and Security, Free Movement of People and Infrastructural Development. Sem Mandela holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Regional and Rural Development and he recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in Regional Development and Environmental Economics (Summa Cum Laude). Sem Mandela is also a National Best-Selling Author of The Extraordinary Aftermath (2017).
His first experiences in investment management were through internships in private equity and getting awarded in competitions such as the Uber case competition and Goldman Sachs case competitions where he had to provide strategic recommendations to grow company revenues and increase share prices.
He was then invited to join the Prime Minister’s new team focusing on digital government. He spent almost five years, working for three Prime Ministers. For his work on government transparency and integrity, he was included in New Europe 100, a list of the most important innovators in Central and Eastern Europe published by Google, Financial Times and other institutions in the region. As of September 2017, he’s the president of the Romanian Coalition for Digital Economy.
Prior to joining MINDS, Rumbidzai worked as a Management Consultant for over seven years, gaining experience in business analysis, human performance, and project management. During that time, she specialized in developing bespoke learning solutions in the South African banking sector where she was involved in a range of projects during key transitions in the industry. Rumbidzai also founded a social enterprise that encouraged youth to engage in governance and participate in nation building.
