Speakers

Advocate Pansy Tlakula studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand before completing her Masters in Law at Harvard University. She has held several influential positions. Advocate Tlakula was a member of the South African Human Rights Commission from 1995 until 2002. She was appointed as the Chief Electoral Officer of the Electoral Commission of South Africa in 2002 until 2011. In 2011 she was appointed as the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa until 2014. She was appointed in 2005 as a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). She served the ACHRC for 12 years, until November 2017. She held the mandates of Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Chairperson of the Working Group on Specific Issues related to the work of the African Commission, and, between 2015 and 2017, she served as Chairperson of the ACHRC. In January 2020 she started her four-year tenure as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. She was the Chancellor of the Vaal University of Technology from 2010 until 2014.

Country: South Africa

Victor Ndede is a lawyer and public policy professional who currently serves Amnesty International Kenya as the Digital Rights and Policy Officer. In this role, he provides legal and policy analysis and thought leadership to inform Amnesty International Kenya digital rights campaigns. He is experienced in legal and policy research, policy analysis, legislative frameworks engagement and human-rights expert monitoring. He has previously served as the Policy Officer for Amnesty International Kenya.

Country: Kenya

Dr. Vincent Olatunji has a doctorate degree in Geography and Planning from the University of Lagos and an Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies. He is a Certified Public Private Partnership Specialist (IP3 Specialist) and a PECB Certified Data Protection Officer. He has worked in the public sector for about 32years. He joined the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in 2002 where he worked in various departments thereby rising to the position of Director in 2014 and Acting Director General in 2016. He was the Director of eGovernment Development and Regulations where he successfully mainstreamed the development and launch of various Policies, Guidelines, and Frameworks such as the Nigeria Inter-Operability Framework, Nigeria eGovernment Enterprise Architecture, Cloud First Policy, Government Digital Service Policy, Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, and Smart Initiatives Framework to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation. He also chaired the implementation committees of some of them. He is a member of many committees of experts.

He was listed among the 100 Leading Telecom and ICT Personalities in Nigeria by the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria in April 2018 and appointed as Country Chief Data Officer Ambassador by the Massachusetts Institute of Information Management. He has also won several awards from public and private sector organizations.

Membership of Professional Bodies:

Member International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

Member, Nigeria Computer Society

Member Information Technology Systems and Security Professionals

Fellow Institute of Information Technology Management (FIIM)

Director, Compliance Institute of Nigeria

On the 4th of January, 2022, he was appointed as the pioneer National Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB).

Country: Nigeria

Ms. Immaculate. Kassait is Kenya’s first Data Commissioner. She has extensive experience in Elections, Governance and Women’s Rights and has played a key role in the establishment of several projects in Kenya and abroad.

Prior to her appointment as the data commissioner, she worked at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission where she served as the first female in-charge of Voter Registration Elections and Operations from 2010-2020.

During her tenure at the electoral commission, she steered the setting up and operationalisation of electoral processes at IEBC and Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC).

She also served as the Chairperson of the Taskforce on Development of the Data Protection Regulations, 2021.

In 2006, she was instrumental in the setting up of the first domestic Observation Programme for the Commonwealth secretariat while working at Institute for Education in Democracy (IED).

Mrs. Kassait is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and holds a Bachelor Degree from Makerere University, a post Graduate Diploma from Kenya School of Law; An Executive Global Master in Business Administration from the United States International University Africa.

She is among the two Building Resources in Democracy in Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) accrediting experts in Kenya.

In 2021 she was recognized amongst the top 25 Women in Digital in Kenya.

She was awarded the Presidential Award Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) for her outstanding work in public service and she continuous to take part in several philanthropy activities as part of her community work.

Country: Kenya

Igxtelle Mbah Acha, Esq, is an attorney licensed to practice law in New York, a Barrister at Law, and a member of the Cameroon Bar Association. She is currently the Lead Counsel for Global Privacy Compliance at Meta Platforms, Inc.

She is an Entrepreneur and the founder of The Association of Privacy Lawyers in Africa, a professional organization of legal practitioners of African descent working on data privacy law in Africa.

Igxtelle co-founded a real estate development company, Build It For You, which completes real estate development projects for the diaspora.

Igxtelle Is an international speaker on various stages on a number of topics such as self-development, self-assessment, resilience, and determination.

She is a mother of two kids and a wife.

Country: Cameroon

Victor is a lawyer and a Trustee of KICTANet and is keen on researching emerging public policy issues and how they intersect with ICTs and human rights in areas such as internet freedom, governance, privacy and cybersecurity. He also manages Lawmark Partners LLP and is a Researcher for the annual CIPESA State of Internet Freedom in Africa series. He is the Vice-Chairperson of Youth Alive! Kenya, and a member of the Law Society of Kenya and the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya). Victor also represents KICTANet in the Advisory Network of the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC-AN).

Country: Kenya

Martina is passionate about policy-making and technological innovation. She is a Research Fellow at the European University Institute, where she manages the Digital Trade Integration Project. Her research covers digital trade, data governance, and digital education. Martina founded and manages FabLab Western Sicily, a non-profit organisation that brings creative digital education to Sicilian schools and she was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 for her work with Oral3D, a start-up in the area of 3D printing and dentistry. For her work in these areas, she was listed in 2018 among the 15 most influential Italian women on digital issues. She acts regularly as a consultant for several institutions including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the World Bank.

Country: Italy

Francis Monyango is an experienced privacy and data protection practitioner based in Nairobi. He works as a research fellow at CIPIT, Strathmore University.  He is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) and Certified Information Privacy Professional- Europe (CIPP/E).

He has experience in internet governance and digital rights with a particular interest in data protection compliance, privacy by design and commercial concepts, freedom of expression online and e-commerce in Africa. He has experience in public affairs and government relations having served as a Public Policy Manager at Oxygene MCL where he also doubled up as the Data Protection Officer.

Country: Kenya

Catherine is a lawyer currently leading the digital rights department at ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa. In her current role she leads the implementation of various projects aimed at promoting online free expression and an open internet.

Previously, Catherine served as the digital rights lead at the Lawyers Hub Kenya where she supported national and regional stakeholders to develop and implement rights-respecting legislative frameworks. As a consultant, Catherine has written on Data protection in Kenya at National and Subnational levels, digital safety and security, online violence.

Catherine is a 2020 leader at the Open Internet Democracy Initiative, a fellow at the Africa School of Internet Governance and a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Country: Kenya

A creative at heart, she is committed to promoting knowledge of Intellectual property law and the development of robust policies for the creative arts as an integral part of the African Economy as a whole.

She has over two decades of experience leading and being part of teams working within the creative sector as a performer and bringing legal insight in projects in music, TV and film. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Law from the University of Nairobi and a Masters degree in Intellectual Property from the University of South Africa. She was a teaching fellow for CopyrightX in 2018 in Kenya, A Harvard Copyright training program offered all over the world. She was also appointed by the Attorney General as a member of the Copyright Tribunal under the Copyright Act 2001 until March 2021. She has consulted on several data protection and data privacy training initiatives in Kenya.

She currently serving as the Vice Chairperson of the Creative Economy Taskforce set up  by the Cabinet Secretary Amb. Amina Mohamed, to create strategies to guide the Creative economy in Kenya.

Country: Kenya

Partner, Bowman's-Nairobi

He specializes in intellectual property, technology, privacy, regulatory & compliance, pharmaceuticals & healthcare, and employment law. His experience has included advising on brand protection and trademark registration, general commercial IP advice, software acquisition agreements, e-commerce, data privacy compliance requirements, consumer protection, promotions, and advertising matters.

Daniel has an LLB from Moi University, a Master of Laws from the University of London, and a Diploma from the Kenya School of Law. He is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and also a Certified Public Secretary.

Executive Head of International Legal & Regulatory, Vodacom Group

& Regulatory, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), digital services, and platforms regulation. She works closely with the Vodacom International Business and Big Data teams, focusing on regulatory and policy matters, including with regard to the deployment of data-driven products and services across the Vodacom Group markets.

Mosa has a legal professional services background, having worked as an attorney for international law firms in South Africa and in Tanzania. She also has experience in data protection, including the GDPR, through her previous role at a leading data protection specialist consultancy in Germany. Prior to joining Vodacom Group, Mosa held a senior manager position in the commercial legal team of an African multinational telecommunications company, specialising in digital services and mobile financial services.