Whither the African Continental Free Trade Area and agriculture in SADC and beyond?

Kagiso Trust will be convening policymakers, government officials, think tanks, civil society organisations and representatives of SADC, the AfCFTA Secretariat as well as the African Union Commission to discuss the African continent’s pursuit of economic growth, structural transformation, and development through implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).  A landmark agreement that aims to create a single market for goods and services across the continent, most countries are grappling with the challenges of climate change, as it impacts food security and sustainable development.

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To R.S.V.P click on the invite below:

 

Speaker/Facilitator Bio’s 

Boichoko Ditlhake 

Boichoko is the Civil Society Support Programme Manager at Kagiso Trust. He has a BA Honours degree in Developmental Sociology from the University of Witwatersrand.

Before joining Kagiso Trust in 2019, he served as Executive Director of SADC Council of NGOs (2004-2018), Executive Director of SANGOCO (2000 – 2004) and served in various boards, including chairperson of Nikela Charitable Trust (2020 – to date).  He also served as the Deputy Presiding Officer of the AU-ECCOSOC (2012-2015) and President of SADC-CNGO (2000-2003).

Throughout his career, Boichoko has dedicated his professional life as a civil society activist at national, regional, continental, and global levels. Currently, he is working on the revival of civil society social activism in South Africa. He strongly believes that civil society has a major role to play, towards contributing to a South Africa of post-1994 aspirations through a strong social contract and compacting through a coordinated, collaborative, and cohesive civil society.

 

Dr Reneth Mano

Executive Administrator and Policy Expert at the Livestock and Meat Advisory Council (LMAC) in Harare, Zimbabwe.

LMAC is the umbrella body and technical secretariat for eleven allied Business Associations from the Livestock and Stockfeed industry of Zimbabwe. Before joining LMAC, Reneth was Zimbabwe Country Director and agricultural value chain development finance expert, a Washington-based international development entity. He has lectured at the University of Zimbabwe for 12 years and worked as a consultant on national and SADC regional agricultural development, food security and trade matters over the past 20 years. Dr Mano is a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe in Harare and Stanford University in California, USA.

The presentation is downloadable here.

 

Joe Mzinga

Regional Co-ordinator at the Eastern and Southern Africa small-scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF)

Joe has over 15 years of experience working in the Civil Society sector and media in Eastern and Southern Africa. He has always been passionate about Gender, Trade, Advocacy and Sustainable Development. Before joining ESAFF in 2009, he worked with Tanzania’s largest grant-making organization, The Foundation for Civil Society, and worked with the PELUM Association in Lusaka, Zambia. Joe worked with the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP). Before joining TGNP he worked with the Tanzania Broadcasting Cooperation (RTD) as an assistant news editor.

The presentation is downloadable here.

 

 

Luvuyo Sandi

Luvuyo Sandi is the SED Business and Fund Manager at Kagiso Trust

As a SED Business and Fund Manager, he oversees the running of the Tyala Impact Fund to capacitate emerging farmers with finance, technical support and market opportunities. Luvuyo has more than fifteen years of experience in enterprise development, specialising in funding facilitation for SMMEs across sectors.  He holds a B.Com Economics degree from Rhodes University and an MBA from Stellenbosch Business School.  He is completing a master’s degree in development finance at the Stellenbosch Business School.

 

 

 

Thabiso Ratsomo

Member of the Institute of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA) and Advisory Board of SA Small, Medium Enterprise Corporation (SASMEC)

Mr. Thabiso Ratsomo serves as a Trustee at Kagiso Trust and serves on the Board of Kagiso Africa Investments. He has extensive experience in the government and non-government sectors. He possesses a deep understanding of the South African political, social, legislative and economic climate, through personal activism and his academic studies. Mr. Ratsomo belongs to the 1976 generation of political activists.

He has operational experience in human resource management, financial management, organisational development, policy development and management, and project management and analysis.

 

For more information contact: info@kagiso.co.za