Niall FitzGerald, KBE, ICF Co-chair and Chair of the Board is Deputy Chairman of Thomson Reuters and has wide knowledge of Africa acquired through 37 years of working with Unilever. He also chairs the British Museum Board of Trustees and Hakluyt and is a member of the World Economic Forum Board. Niall previously chaired the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust (UK), and served on President Thabo Mbeki’s International Investment Advisory Council. Niall believes ICF ‘can have an immediate and sustained impact on Africa’s future growth and development’. He notes: ‘If Africa becomes an easier and more attractive place in which to invest, everybody will benefit: business, government, and – most importantly – the people of Africa.'

Benjamin Mkapa, ICF Co-chair and Chair of International Relations, was President of Tanzania from 1995 to 2005. He was previously Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, and Minister for Foreign Affairs. He also previously chaired Chama Cha Mapinduzi, Tanzania’s ruling party. Benjamin sees ICF as a means of removing key obstacles to doing business in Africa. He notes that ICF hopes to ‘generate and shape policies – nationally and regionally – to make Africa more attractive to domestic and foreign investment, while fighting negative images of the continent.’

Johannes-Jürgen Bernsen served the DEG - German Investment and Development Corporation - for more than thirty years in various functions, the last seven years of his time was in the role of MD He notes: The challenge for ICF is to produce quick and measurable results in improving the business and investment climate in very diverse and somehow difficult business environments in Africa.

Henri Bonpun joined Unilever in 1960, and held senior positions in the company in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and South Africa. He retired as Africa Business Group President in 1998. He was also a member of the ICC Africa Partnership initiative. He believes ‘ICF offers business an opportunity to drive the development agenda and contribute to the global campaign to eradicate poverty, while at the same time lowering the cost of doing business in Africa and creating room for new business development’.

Baroness Lynda Chalker is a British politician with 30 years of experience in Africa. She served for 12 years as Minister of State for Africa and 8 years as Minister for Overseas Development. She currently serves on the board of Group 5 in South Africa, and is an independent adviser on Africa and development. Lynda emphasises that ICF is ‘the combined response of Africa and the international community. It will actively support investment climate improvements, helping to provide the necessary expertise and resources to turn commitment into reality.'

Neville Isdell is the former Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company. Neville joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1966 with the local bottling company in Zambia. After a number of key management assignments in South Africa, Australia, Philippines and Germany, he was named President of the Greater Europe Group in 1995. From 1998 to 2000, he served as Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Beverages Plc in Great Britain. Neville serves as Chairman of the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF). He is a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and of the Center for Strategic & International Studies. He serves on the Advisory Board of the World Heritage Investment Project (WHIP) and The Leadership Council of Initiative for Global Development (IGD). He also serves on the Board of Directors of General Motors and on the global leadership panel of the United Nations Special Representative for Business & Human Rights. He is also Director of DGM Bank in Barbados.

Sam Jonah, KBE is the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, a private equity fund based in South Africaand President-Designate of AngloGold Ashanti. He chairs a West African oil exploration company, and a mining services business and is also the Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast Ghana. Sam stresses the need for the creation of safe opportunities for investment in Africa. He calls on African governments to work with ICF to create an environment that is attractive for people to invest in, where they will get the returns they want, and where the risk is minimised.

William Kalema is the former Chairman of the boards of the Uganda Investment Authority, Uganda Breweries, and a leading financial institution. He has played a high-profile role in the Ugandan private sector, and also chairs a number of charitable institutions in East Africa. He notes that, ‘with rising economic growth and political stability, a number of African countries are poised to achieve high rates of growth. ICF will help to ensure that Africa can stimulate the high levels of domestic and foreign investment needed for us to participate more fully in the rising global prosperity.’

Nkosana Moyo is Vice-President and Chief Operations Officer of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). Prior to this role, he served Africa at the IFC (World Bank Group) and Managing Partner of Africa for Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets. He was the Zimbabwean Minister of Industry and International Trade of Zimbabwe and has also held a number of senior management positions in the private sector, mainly in finance. Nkosana calls on African leaders ‘to think afresh about the place of our continent in a rapidly globalising world. We must renew our commitment to creating an enabling environment for business activities across Africa, and to enabling African countries to respond to international business opportunities. This is a sine qua non for success in an increasingly more competitive global economy.  ICF is a crucial vehicle in helping us to achieve these objectives.

Gobind Nankani is the Executive Director of the International Growth Center based in London.  He is also the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council in Ghana, which reports to the President of Ghana. A Ghanaian national, he was The World Bank's Vice President for the Africa region between 2004 and 2006. Nankani is a development economist and was responsible for the overall strategy and management of the Bank’s programme of financial, knowledge and client relationships with all Sub-Saharan African countries. Gobind has also been Economist, South Asia at the World Bank and has also served as President of the Global Development Network.

Dipak Patel is a former Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry in the Zambian government. He has played a prominent role in Zambian politics since the early 1990s, and is noted for his consistent efforts to benefit the Zambian people, irrespective of surrounding politics. He was also Chair-Coordinator of the Least Developed Countries WTO negotiations in 2005. He emphasises the need for a liberal but efficient regulatory environment in order to attract investment and promote trade, but points out that constraints must be addressed on both the supply and demand-side. This requires ensuring that an infrastructure to support competitive production is in place, thereby increasing productive capacity.

Lazarus Zim is the Chairman of Kumba Iron Ore. Prior to this he was CEO of Anglo American South Africa. He serves on the boards of numerous high-profile African companies, and is President of the South African Chamber of Mines. Before joining Anglo American, Lazarus was Managing Director of MTN International, responsible for all MTN operations outside South Africa. He calls on Africa to ‘trumpet its successes and build a new brand based on the many good things now happening on the continent. ICF’s mandate includes a commitment to improving Africa’s image – an essential step towards attracting investment to the continent.’