Keynote Speakers
You may click on the icons underneath the names of each speaker to know more about them
Helena Barnard
Prof Helena Barnard is a full professor at GIBS and responsible for the GIBS doctoral programmes. She developed the proposal leading to Academy of Management, the leading professional organisation for management scholars, conducting its first-ever summit outside of North America at GIBS in Johannesburg in January 2013. She was the Academy of International Business (AIB) Vice President for Administration (2017 to 2020) and is currently the founding chairperson of the Emerging Markets Special Interest Group of AIB. From 2018 to 2019, she was the Dunning Fellow at the John H Dunning Centre for International Business at the University of Reading.
Onyekachi Izukanne
Onyekachi Izukanne is co-founder & CEO of TradeDepot. He is a serial entrepreneur with two decades of experience innovating solutions to address real-world business problems. Onyekachi has a deep understanding of the complexities of the African business environment, the key challenges SMEs face and the role the digital economy plays. He has extensive experience in business growth, the retail industry and financial technology, and leads strategy and growth at the company.
Lisa Ellram
Professor Lisa M. Ellram (Management) is a University Distinguished Professor and the James Evans Rees Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain at The Farmer School of Business. Dr. Ellram teaches courses in Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management.
Her primary areas of research interest include sustainability; buyer-supplier relationships; services purchasing and supply chain management; offshoring and outsourcing; and supply chain cost management. She has published in numerous top journals spanning a variety of disciplines, including Journal of Supply Chain Management, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Operations Management, California Management Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and other managerial and academic outlets. She has presented her work on five continents and in more than 30 countries.
