Meet The Power Shift Speakers

Morayo Adisa serves as Mastercard’s Government Affairs and Policy Lead for West Africa, where she leverages over 15 years of diverse legal and policy experience to drive strategic engagement with governments, regulators, and key stakeholders across the region. A seasoned lawyer and policy expert, Morayo brings deep expertise in public policy formulation, regulatory advocacy, public-private partnerships, competition law, consumer protection, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. Called to the Nigerian Bar in 2008, Morayo holds an LLB from the University of Lagos and an LLM in International Human Rights and Terrorism Law from Lancaster University in the UK. Her global perspective is further enriched by her participation in the prestigious U.S. International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP). Passionate about policy innovation and inclusive development, Morayo is committed to contributing to regional and international dialogue on effective, forward-looking policy solutions. In addition to her role at Mastercard, Morayo serves as the 1st Vice Chairperson of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Business Law (NBASBL) Committee on Competition and Consumer Protection, where she plays an active role in strengthening the capacity of lawyers in both competition and consumer protection law.

Tosin Faniro-Dada is an ecosystem builder and investor serving pioneering tech founders across Africa. Tosin has dedicated her career to helping founders scale and create societal & behavioral change. She took on the inaugural role of Executive of Lagos Innovates, an incubator powered by LSETF aimed at propelling more than 200 tech startups in Lagos state. Her leadership unlocked avenues to essential resources such as infrastructure, financing, talent, education, and networks. She subsequently joined Endeavor Nigeria as Managing Director & CEO, igniting the growth of Nigeria’s most notable tech scaleups. Now a Partner at Breega, one of the fastest-growing early-stage VC funds in Europe and Africa, Tosin deploys capital and scaling opportunities to help tech founders solve significant economic and social challenges.

I’m the Co-founder and CMO of Accrue, an intra-African payments company helping people and businesses move money across Africa quickly and easily. At Accrue, I lead marketing and growth across user acquisition, retention, revenue, brand, and market expansion. My work covers product marketing, storytelling, customer growth, team leadership, and cross-functional execution. Since launching, we’ve grown Accrue to over 350,000 users across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Benin Republic, and Cameroon, supported by a network of 16,000+ agents. We’re building financial infrastructure that makes it easier for Africans to send, spend, and receive money across borders without the usual friction. As a founder, I care deeply about building products that solve real problems for everyday people, especially across emerging markets. My role is to turn that mission into growth, trust, community, and long-term adoption.

Jody Simpson is a Google Software Engineer and ecosystem builder dedicated to creating a more accessible and equitable tech landscape. With over 6+ years of experience at Google, Jody couples deep full-stack and backend engineering expertise with a unique business-minded perspective gained from her previous role as a Solutions Engineer in Google Ads. She excels at navigating complex internal systems to build scalable, real-world products but her true impact extends far beyond the code. Deeply committed to social impact, Jody centers much of her work on community, mentorship and investing. She serves as the Co-Director of Women in Tech Caribbean, where she curates supportive spaces for Caribbean women in the tech industry. Additionally, her passion for mentorship is woven throughout her journey, including her work guiding aspiring technologists through Techports.org, and as a board member for the MindsOf Initiative, a non-profit providing students with crucial mentorship opportunities. To further foster sustainable growth in emerging markets, Jody actively invests in early-stage startups across the Caribbean and African diaspora.

Chinyere is the Managing Partner at Accelerate Africa, a 12 week, pre-seed/seed accelerator program and fund for startups. She was formerly a partner at Future Africa, the early stage VC investing in early stage startups across Africa. Chinyere is committed to supporting the next generation through her advisory roles with Talent Code Africa and Boys without Borders and is also an active angel investor in the startup ecosystem. Early in her career, she was the founding operator of a scale up, before transitioning to technology consulting and operations at organizations such as Bluewolf (IBM), Ernst & Young, and JP Morgan Chase, where she created transformational impact implementing tech solutions for many Fortune 500 organizations across the globe. Chinyere has a a Bachelor's in Business Management, from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master's in Finance from Georgetown University.

Oyindamola Oladosu is a Principal at Boston Consulting Group, where she advises financial institutions, private capital platforms, and public sector organizations across Africa on growth strategy, capital deployment, and transformation. She has worked closely with investors and early-stage companies on fundraising, market entry, and scaling strategies, and has supported the design of innovative financing solutions aimed at expanding access to capital for underserved and women-led enterprises.

Miishe Addy-Asare is co-founder and CEO of Jetstream, a trade technology platform that bridges the trust gap between ground operations in frontier markets and remote stakeholders. Through its suite of products, Jetstream has enabled financing for hundreds of mid-market businesses in West Africa, and facilitated over $70 million in physical goods trade through its suite of technology-enabled services. Miishe started her career as a top-ranked analyst at Bain & Company, and worked on over $50 billion in M&A transactions as a licensed attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. She has been recognized as one of the Top 50 "next generation" project managers globally by Project Management Institute. She lives in Tema, Ghana.

Temitope engineers robust backend systems at Moniepoint, a leading African fintech revolutionizing financial access across the continent. Her work centers around the POS infrastructure, building resilient systems that businesses rely on daily while ensuring seamless performance as the business scales. Beyond her technical work, Temitope is a dedicated mentor who helps the next generation of developers start their careers in fintech. When she isn't solving complex engineering problems, she’s usually relaxing at the beach with friends or catching up on her favorite shows.

Lantana Elhassan is the Head of Exploration at UNDP Nigeria’s Accelerator Lab, where she leads systems innovation at the intersection of policy and practice. Her work focuses on climate adaptation, inclusive finance, food systems, and energy resilience—bridging global frameworks and local realities to ensure public and private sector decisions translate into tangible livelihoods, access, and opportunity for women and youth. With a multidisciplinary background spanning sustainable development, commercial real estate, architecture, and humanitarian response, Lantana brings a unique cross-sector lens to understanding how structural barriers shape community participation in markets and entrepreneurship. At UNDP, she has directed initiatives leveraging data, fintech, inclusive insurance, and carbon markets to expand equitable access to financial tools and economic opportunity for underserved populations. Prior to her role at UNDP, Lantana led product development at Mixta Nigeria, managing the delivery of thousands of housing and hospitality assets, and worked on urban regeneration projects in the UK. This experience in physical infrastructure informs her current work building resilient economic infrastructure. Lantana holds master’s degrees in Development and Planning (University College London) and Architecture (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria), alongside certifications in financial modelling. She is passionate about translating macro-policies into responsive, investment-ready systems that empower local communities.

I support software engineers who build revenue-generating products by providing scalable, reliable infrastructure for their code to run on.

Folasade “Sade” Dada is an attorney by training and represents Meta in the region as Head of Public Policy, Anglophone West Africa; and Connectivity and Innovation Policy Manager, Africa. Sade collaborates with stakeholders from government, civil society, academia, and industry to find solutions to complex internet policy issues facing African countries. She also works with various teams within and external to Meta to ensure internet connectivity initiatives and innovative products/solutions are executed successfully. Sade is passionate about bringing high-speed connectivity to communities and enabling tech ecosystems in Africa so that individuals can access the internet and technology and their economic and social benefits. She was recognized as one of the 50 Most Valuable People in Nigeria’s Digital Economy and named an “Inspiring Fifty” woman making impactful contributions across Africa's tech ecosystem, amongst other accolades. She is an Advisory Board Member of Africa Subsea Ecosystem Forum (ASEF), Angel-A Collective, and JéGO Technologies and is a member of the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum—Multistakeholder Advisory Group and the Internet Society—Nigeria Chapter. Prior to Meta, Sade tackled significant broadband deployment issues through her work at the Wireless Infrastructure Association, U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and Microsoft. She was also an Associate Instructor in Indiana University’s Telecommunications Department. Sade earned her Bachelors in Journalism from Georgia Southern University, her Masters in Telecommunications from Indiana University, and her Juris Doctorate from Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

Chika Yinka-Banjo is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). A PhD graduate in Computer Science from the University of Cape Town, she has over two decades of experience in AI, robotics, machine learning, and intelligent systems, with significant research producing practical solutions across sectors including mining safety, agriculture, and health. She coordinates UNILAG's Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Lab (AIRLAB) and is a Fellow and Outstanding Teaching Award recipient of MIT's Empowering the Teachers Programme. Since April 2026, she has served as Pioneer Director of UNILAG's AI University Innovation Pod (AI UNIPOD), part of Nigeria's national innovation initiative. Beyond academia, she is passionate about bringing coding and robotics to young people, driven by a belief that early exposure to these fields is foundational to Africa's technological future.

Audrey Ezeonyedika is a Senior Software Engineer specializing in server-side development and AI. She builds the infrastructure powering investment platforms and digital banking systems across Africa, bringing financial access to millions. A passionate mentor and advocate for women in tech, Audrey believes the most revolutionary technologies come from people who refuse to wait for the future to arrive. She's building that future and bringing others with her.Audrey Ezeonyedika is a Senior Software Engineer specializing in server-side development and AI. She builds the infrastructure powering investment platforms and digital banking systems across Africa, bringing financial access to millions. A passionate mentor and advocate for women in tech, Audrey believes the most revolutionary technologies come from people who refuse to wait for the future to arrive. She's building that future and bringing others with her.

Thelma is a Senior Product Designer and Builder with a reputation for solving hard problems in high-stakes environments. Her expertise lies in translating complex technical requirements into intuitive user experiences. Her career spans the African FinTech landscape, including work with Flutterwave and Chipper Cash, where she focused on product growth and user retention. Beyond FinTech, Thelma has carved a niche in technical consulting for complex systems. She served as a design consultant for Apple, redesigning legacy applications for battery engineers, and collaborated with Verizon R&D (in partnership with Nvidia) on the user experience for AI infrastructure in media. Passionate about the future of tech, she recently returned to the classroom to teach AI in secondary schools and is authoring a book on Artificial Intelligence for teenagers.

Bashira is a Senior Consultant at Africa Practice, advising clients on policy, legislation, and political economy within the dynamic digital and creative economy and broader innovation ecosystem. Her counsel enables clients within the ICT sector to navigate complex regulatory landscapes, forge impactful partnerships, and align their engagement efforts with key stakeholder priorities. She has been instrumental in shaping Nigeria's technology and digital economy through her role in drafting significant policies and regulations. Before joining AP, Bashira was an integral member of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Director-General’s Policy Team, where she developed and implemented policies aligned with global best practices. As a lead within the Office for Nigeria Digital Innovation, she successfully directed initiatives, leveraging regulatory instruments and fostering stakeholder collaboration to advance Nigeria’s digital innovation landscape.

Melissa Onwuka sits at the intersection of data, research, and technology, translating complex ideas into strategies that move organizations forward. A research strategist by practice, Melissa brings a rare dual foundation: a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Heriot-Watt University and a near-complete Bachelor’s in Computer Science. That combination isn’t accidental. It reflects how she works: rigorously analytical, yet deeply human-centered. She is the founding organizer of Google Developer Groups on Campus Bowen (GDGoC Bowen), building a community that connected students with industry resources and global developer ecosystems. Melissa’s thinking reaches beyond the stage. She is the author of The Partnership Playbook, a guide to building sustainable, high-impact collaborations, and has published over 14 articles on technology and data, including a feature in Modern Data Stack. Her writing is driven by one consistent goal: making technical knowledge accessible to the people who need it most. When she’s not strategizing or writing, she’s immersed in African literature and fiction or guiding the next generation of talent through her inaugural mentorship program, The Catalyst Collective. Melissa doesn’t just study the tech ecosystem. She actively shapes it.

I’m a former lawyer turned Product Manager, community builder, and career coach working at the intersection of technology, work, and transition. That “plot twist” shaped the work I do today. Across everything I do, my mission is to enable women to live lives of agency, impact and economic freedom. I’m the Product Manager for Samsung Pay UK, where I focus on improving the wallet experience for customers and expanding banking partnerships. Before Samsung, I worked at American Express across enterprise loyalty platforms and machine learning-powered personalisation tools. I’m the founder of The Kumu Circle, a global personal and professional development community for ambitious African women across the continent and in the diaspora, and I’ve hosted Plot Twist conversations and events that create space for honest, practical career reflection. I also co-facilitate and contribute to Transition Tables: Women, AI and Work, a think tank exploring how women experience shifts in work, income, and access in the context of AI, automation, and data-driven systems. Across product, community, and coaching, my approach is direct, practical, and grounded in lived experience.

Kay is a multimedia journalist, conference host, and EMBA graduate (Valar Institute, 2026). With over a decade of experience in PR, brand management, public speaking, and marketing, Kay is a recognized speaker, host, moderator, and storyteller who blends humor, wit, and intellect to energize audiences of any size. Conferences she has hosted include Termii Elevate 4.0, Moonshot by TechCabal, Wetech conference, AfricArena, and GITEX Lagos.

Osarhieme is an AI & Law specialist with an LLB in Law from the University of Exeter and is currently completing an LLM (Masters of Law) in AI & Law at Queen Mary University of London, where her work focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence, regulation, governance, and innovation policy. In 2021, she founded Uncovered Conversations, a youth-led platform through which she has engaged over 50 founders, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders through conversations, workshops, leadership programmes, interviews, online events, and an internship initiative partnering with businesses and entrepreneurs shaping Africa's future. Through her work, she has moderated conversations, facilitated workshops, spoken on mentorship and professional development, and contributed written commentary on technology, law, innovation, and emerging ecosystems across a range of platforms and communities. She is also a contributing writer whose work has appeared in organisations including Africa Fintech Foundry, the innovation hub of Access Bank, where she has written on the impact of technology on startups, finance, and emerging markets. She is passionate about building thoughtful spaces where people can learn, exchange ideas, collaborate, and grow.

Dami is a product designer with years of experience in user experience, design systems, and product strategy. She has led design at companies ranging from pre-seed startups to growth-stage firms, including YC-funded teams. Her research & data driven, human-centred approach has shaped product direction, market adoption, and driven business growth. She is also the founder of Tabs (often described as "Mobbin for Africa"), a thoughtfully curated library for discovering digital products built for the African market. Tabs helps designers, engineers, and product teams see how products address usability challenges unique to our market. Beyond inspiration, Tabs serves as a vital learning tool for designers in the early stages of their careers and simplifies communication and collaboration between cross-functional teams. Beyond her day-to-day work, Dami gives back through mentorship, providing guidance on launching successful careers, refining design processes, and collaborating within cross-functional teams. She has organised and spoken at industry events and is deeply passionate about inclusivity, diversity, and equity within the African tech ecosystem.

I’m Folashade Adegbite, a Senior Product Designer at Interswitch, where I design user-centered products that drive real business impact. Beyond my role, I’m building the next generation of designers through Designer Fola Circle—a community focused on helping designers move from learning to becoming job-ready and strategically positioned. Through my work with the Incubator Hub, I’ve trained and mentored over 1,000 designers, equipping them with the skills, mindset, and clarity needed to transition into real-world opportunities. My work sits at the intersection of design, career growth, and emerging technology, with a strong focus on helping designers position themselves for global opportunities—especially within AI and evolving tech landscapes. At the core, I don’t just design products, I design pathways for people to grow, thrive, and compete globally.

I am a Product Manager who specializes in scaling complex systems and building high-performing teams. In my day-to-day, I work at the intersection of product strategy and leadership driving execution, reducing time to market, and delivering enterprise-scale platforms that strengthen business operations. I have built across industries like Logistics, Affiliate Marketing, and Domestic Technology, while also leading user-facing products in EdTech, Ride-hailing, Web3, and Promotional Gaming ranging from simple experiences to complex multi-user platforms. As a Product Manager with 5+ years of experience, I have built products that scale across both national and international borders which shapes the way I think about users, systems and product growth. Beyond my work, I have spent the last 3 years mentoring aspiring Product Managers, many of whom are now growing their careers at companies like OmniRetail, Assurdly, WakaNow, Enyata, CCHub, and Carbon.