Tomiwa Aladekomo is the CEO of Big Cabal Media, which publishes the tech and youth publications, TechCabal and Zikoko. Big Cabal is building the next generation of African media brands and creating some of the most exciting original content from the continent. An experienced executive, Mr. Aladekomo has worked extensively across media and marketing roles in Nigeria and North America. He has taken Big Cabal through a transformation that's made it one of the most exciting new media companies on the continent, telling Africa’s stories in depth and in innovative and fresh ways.

He is passionate about Nigeria and Africa as a whole. This passion fuels the pace-setting work he does at Big Cabal Media, and also as a Board Member of the Africa Tech & Creative Group; which is working to ensure that the implementation of the AFCFTA (Africa Continental Free Trade Act) works for tech, creative and small business communities all over the continent.

Tomiwa has a BSc in Business Administration from Boston University and an MSc. in Anthropology from Columbia University, New York. He is a fellow of the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship, run by the African Leadership Institute. 

James Smart is an experienced journalist, prime-time television anchor, and talk-show host based in Nairobi. Smart is currently the Podcast editor at Nation Media Group. He hosts regular original narrative podcasts series like #CaseNumberZero and #ParadiseLost.

He has previously worked with the BBC to produce its “Focus on Africa” broadcast, a flagship TV and radio news program that highlights stories from across the African continent.

Smart has extensive experience in the audio world in the continent and has been part of the transition of radio documentaries production to online audio distribution and content creation.

He has also worked extensively with Kenya’s leading TV stations, including Kenyan Television Network and Nation Television (NTV).

Most notably, he successfully launched two of the country ’s top television shows, #TheTrend and #KTNLivewire, which integrate social media platforms such as Twitter to enable viewers to engage directly with the hosts of each program.

Smart conceptualized #Newssources for KTNNEWS, during the run-up to the elections he co-hosted #Afropolitico, a program designed for pure online consumption with economics and political content. He currently hosts a weekly current affairs program #With-all-due-respect.

James Smart holds a Masters of International Journalism degree from Cardiff University, he is also a NED (National Endowment on Democracy) fellow.

Alphonce Shiundu is the pioneer Kenya editor of Africa Check, the continent’s leading fact-checking organisation. He was previously parliamentary editor of Standard Group Plc, Kenya’s oldest media house. Before then, he was a journalist at the Nation Media Group Plc.. He has experience and expertise in fact-checking research, open-source intelligence, new media, newsroom convergence and publishing technologies. He holds a masters degree in media and development from the University of Westminster, London; a bachelors in information sciences from Moi University in Kenya. He’s a Chevening scholar; an alumnus of the School of Authentic Journalism (Mexico), the Professional Fellows Exchange Programme (Washington DC), and the Young African Leaders Initiative (Nairobi). He believes in holding power to account. In his free time, he climbs mountains.

Catherine Gicheru is an ICFJ/Knight Fellow and the founder/director of the Africa Women Journalism Project, driving the coverage of under-reported issues affecting women and marginalised groups. A veteran journalist with two leading newspapers in Kenya, she co-founded East Africa's first fact-checking initiative PesaCheck.

Cartoonist Godfrey Mwampembwa, a.k.a Gado was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on August
6, 1969. Gado is the editorial cartoonist for the The EastAfrican Standard In Nairobi. His works
have also been published in Daily Nation (Kenya), Le Monde and Courrier International (France),
Deutsche Welle (Germany), The Guardian of London among others.
He is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Buni Media, an independent Multi-Media
company based in Nairobi. A Classical Animator from Vancouver Film school, Gado is a creator
and Producer of the weekly satirical puppet show, The XYZ SHOW, Which has been running on
Kenya TV networks since 2009.
Gado is a 2007 Prince Claus Laureate. He is also a winner of Kenya National Human Rights
Commission (KHRC), Lifetime Achievement Award In Journalism in 2018. Gado is a recipient of
the prestigious Cartoon for Peace 2016 International Editorial Cartoon Award, In 2011 Gado was
among 12 extraordinary leaders to receive a Visionaries Award from Ford Foundation for their
innovative efforts on the frontlines of key social issues. In 2014 and 2016, Gado was named as
one of the 100 most influential people in Africa by one of Africa’s leading publication,
NewAfrican. In May 2022, Gado was awarded with Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres
(Knight of the Order of the Arts and letters), by the French Government.

Gado is a member of Cartoonists Rights Network (CRN), Cartoonist For Peace and Kenya Union
of Journalists (KUJ).

Phyian Karinge is self proclaimed accidental techie who founded YoungTechiez, with a mission to make tech familiar through media and digital content. Previously a Fem-Tech co-founder and professionally set as a product manager with experience spanning across Big Data, Edu Tech and Fem-Tech industries. She is also a renowned global tech moderator who loves a good bouquet of flowers.

Nepurko is a digital integrated communications consultant with a special bias towards writing and editing content for advertising, digital marketing & public relations. She supports women owned businesses operating on-and-offline who would like to tell their own stories safely and sustainably while building engaged online communities around their brands.

Suhayl Omar is a Kenyan based researcher. His interests lie in theorizing policing, surveillance, militarism and Muslim precarity within the subaltern. He is currently the team lead at Al-Ghaib Medical Policy, a grassroots think-tank exploring the epistemologies of exclusion and violence in Mathare and other urban-informal settlements in Kenya. 

Samira Sawlani is a journalist, writer and analyst with a focus on East Africa. A holder of an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy, from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), she has previously worked in the humanitarian aid sector. 

She has a weekly column in The Mail and Guardian’s ‘The Continent’ and her work has been published in a range of publications including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Vice, Mail and Guardian and African Arguments.

Walid Kilonzi is a pioneering Extended Reality Producer at Fallohide, with a knack for telling stories, a flair for detail, and a hint of humor. He has a proven and experienced background in all things Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality for multinational companies, SMEs, African governments, and NGOs based all around Africa

Mwende Mukwanyaga is an open-source intelligence expert, data journalist and culture analyst who specializes in uncovering the stories behind climate, health and gender issues. When not busy unearthing hidden gems of information and trying to make sense of the ever-evolving world at the intersection of research, journalism, AI and Web3, you can find her trying to doodle or mix a mean cocktail.”

John Sibi-Okumu, OGW, was  twelve year old when he first spoke into a radio microphone as English teaching talent for the Schools’ Broadcasting Division of what was then known as the Voice of Kenya. He has been a broadcaster, intermittently, ever since, progressing to newsreading, initially on radio and then on television, which culminated in bulletins branded by his initials: JSO@7. As a presenter, Kenyans will have seen him host iconic productions such as The Summit, an incisive interview programme and the continental, general knowledge quiz show, The Zain Africa Challenge. Currently, he presents John Sibi-Okumu on Wednesday, a radio talk show. He has been a narrator and voice-over artiste for award-winning documentaries and advertising campaigns in English, French and Kiswahili. As a print journalist he has written columns for Kenya’s leading newspapers and magazines. Apart from journalism, he has significant profiles as a stage and screen actor and director- playwright. 

Mukami is a data journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has worked with various international media outlets including the UK-based Finance Uncovered, the BBC Africa Eye, and Africa Uncensored, an investigative journalism production house in Kenya. She is an expert on data-driven and open-source investigations and fact-checking, particularly for journalism. Purity holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and a Master of Science in Applied Statistics.

She has so far worked on data and investigative journalism projects in areas such as public procurement, illicit financial flows, elections, wildlife trafficking, and OSINT among others. Before dedicating her career to investigative journalism she worked in the banking sector and taught statistics at various Kenyan universities. 

Larry Kwirirayi is a Zimbabwean writer, poet, podcaster, broadcaster, screenwriter, and digital entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of the award-winning platform 3-mob.com, and hosts five podcasts ranging from cricket to lifestyle and interviews. Larry has also written and produced podcast dramas. On national radio, he hosts a mostly current affairs talk show on ZiFM Stereo. He believes in people, but intends to get back to becoming an avid knitter.

Khadija Patel pushes words on street corners. She is the chairperson of the International Press Institute and works as the Journalist - in - Residence at the International Fund for Public Interest Media. She is passionate about the protection and enhancement of global media as a public good. 

Doreen Wainainah is the Managing Editor of PesaCheck, Africa’s largest indigenous fact-checking organisation, incubated by Code for Africa. Doreen previously worked at Nation Media Group, the largest media house in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her over a decade of experience as a writer and editor includes stints as a fellow at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, & the Global Reporting Program at the University of British Columbia.

Jessica Horn is the Regional Director of the Ford Foundation's Office for Eastern Africa. She oversees the foundation's grantmaking in the region and leads the Nairobi-based team. Jessica has two decades of experience in the work of advancing justice and building both the knowledge base and practice towards inclusive democracies—with women's rights as a focal commitment—primarily in Africa. This includes 16 years in the philanthropic sector. 

Early in her career Jessica was nominated as a Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellow. She has since worked as a technical lead in creating ground-breaking social change initiatives. In philanthropy, she worked to co-design models for participatory grantmaking funds UHAI, and FRIDA- the first global young feminist fund. In a thought leadership role as Director of Programmes, Jessica pioneered the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) Futures initiative, forecasting the future of women's rights in Africa. She also oversaw the strategy for a four-fold increase in grantmaking budget. Committed to creating platforms for expanding narratives, Jessica was co-founder and commissioning editor for Our Africa, a platform profiling African women’s analysis on openDemocracy.

Jessica has served on the boards of Mama Cash, Urgent Action Fund Africa and The Fund for Global Human Rights, and as an advisor to initiatives advancing social justice. She is currently a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health. 

Her analysis has been published in academic and media platforms, including The Lancet, Al Jazeera and The Guardian. Jessica holds a BA in Anthropology from Smith College (magna cum laude) and an MSc in Gender and Development (with distinction) from the London School of Economics. She is a graduate of the United World College - USA.

Ndu is a Journalist and Media Practitioner with African and global experience. Nigerian, with continental and global experience and knowledge, she has traversed West, East African  and Indian Ocean region over the last 20 years telling, producing and selling African stories and more. Today, she wears the hat as one of the hosts on The Situation room - Kenya's Biggest Conversation and flies as editor for the bird Specialist News Agency and is passionate about raising the bar on African storytelling and shifting the narrative. 

Nadia Abdalla is the youngest former Chief Administrative Secretary who was in charge of ICT, Innovations & Youth Affairs in Kenya. She is a global communication specialist with an industrious and resourceful knack for results and quality outputs for governments, private institutions and non-profits across Africa and beyond. She specializes in diversity and inclusion programs for African women and girls, digital transformative programs, Millennial and GenZ Leadership and mental health advocacy. Nadia is also a global inspirational speaker and an author who has graced international spaces with audiences from vast backgrounds.

Jacob Okumu, a Campaign Strategist with the Change.org Foundation, is a Community Organizer with knowledge and experience in training, coaching, designing and managing campaigns for social change.

He has led numerous training and coaching on practices of servant leadership, volunteer management, design thinking and organizing campaigns for sustainable change to different groups and organizations in different communities and countries.

Joe is a talented journalist, media manager and debate moderator, with wide experience spanning more than 24 years. He has covered major local and international news events and presided over the coverage of four General Elections and two national referenda in Kenya. He has played critical roles in Kenya’s presidential debates including co-moderating three of them. He has previously worked at Royal Media Services as Editorial Director, the Standard Group as Managing Editor (KTN News) and the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) as a Senior Reporter. He is a PhD candidate in Communication at Daystar University and holds an MSc (Environmental Governance) from the University of Manchester, a Bachelor of Agribusiness Management from Egerton University, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from the University of Nairobi, and an Advanced Certificate in Environmental Diplomacy from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Ms. Monicah Waceke Ndung’u, is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Nation Media Group, she also oversees the Broadcasting division and prior to joining NMG, she was the General Manager for Kwese Free TV Kenya Limited. She has worked with Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and Uganda Broadcasting Corporation in overall channel management programming, partnership building, change management and product development.

Monicah is a Chevening Scholar, a holder of an MA degree in Communication Policy from The University of Westminster (UK) and Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Electronic Media) Daystar University. When not working to reimagine media business models, she passionately supports Arsenal football Club, loves hiking and doing life with her family.

Monicah Waceke Ndungu Nduru

Chief Operating Officer 

Nation Media Group

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

John F. Kennedy