The Honourable Minister Winston Chitando is a seasoned executive whose experience in the mining sector spans close to three decades. He completed a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from the University of Zimbabwe in November 1984 and completed his college education in 1985. In 1984, he joined Anglo American Corporation as a graduate trainee and worked for the group for a total of 11 years. During this period, he rose through the ranks to hold various positions and directorships in a number of industrial and mining companies which were part of the Anglo American group. From 1998 to September 2007, he was an Executive Director with responsibility for finance for both Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd and Mimosa Mining Company. He was Executive Chairman of Mimosa Holdings from April 2013 to November 2017, having served as Managing Director from October 2007 to March 2013. He has also served as Chairman of the Platinum Producers Association, Vice President and President of the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe. During his corporate career, The Honourable Minister Chitando has sat on various boards, including the Zimbabwe School of Mines. He was appointed Minister of Mines and Mining Development in November 2017.

Alex joined the Group as Chief Executive Officer on 1 October 2007, having formerly been the managing director of a Zimbabwean PGMs producer. He is the chairman of the operating subsidiary, Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Private) Limited.

Eunomix™ is led by Claude Baissac. Claude is a specialist in sustainable development, growth and strategy with over 20 years of practice advising government, industry, and international organisations. His combination of expertise, at the nexus of policy, strategy and research, provides him with a unique perspective on the conditions for sustainable growth in complex societies. His clients have included most international donors, many governments, and blue chip companies. It has been his ambition to serve as a bridge between these sectors of society. One of the key thrusts of his career has been the problem of diversification and industrialisation in Africa, and its impact on the crucial need for employment creation, poverty alleviation and social capital enhancement. Claude is a recognised expert on special economic zones, and was President of the World Economic Zones Association between 2011 and 2014. Claude has a strong track record on the relationship between natural resources and sustainable growth, given the central role these play on the continent. Another key thrust has been his work with corporates as a specialist in country risk management, engaging in scenario planning, strategy and proactive risk management. For several years Claude was involved in corporate integrity management. In 2001 Claude was acting Deputy CEO for Air Afrique, an experience that motivated his subsequent involvement in risk management. Claude has solid expertise in political economy: the interface between institutions of political power and economic growth. In this field, Claude has extensively worked on the issues of state capacity, fragility and their implication for the economy and business.
Finally, Claude has been committed to solid political, economic and strategy research throughout his career, publishing extensively either in my personal capacity or through Eunomix. He started his career in teaching, first as a substitute teacher in Reunion Island, then as a lecturer at Northern Arizona University.

Tafadzwa is passionate about securities and investments. As CEO of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe since 2011, he has expressed this enthusiasm by moulding a vibrant and highly motivated team to energise the capital markets through responsive, nurturing and innovative regulation. A mathematics and statistics honours graduate, Tafadzwa started his career as a trainee and later research analyst with the Zimbabwe Development Bank. After moving to start up Kingdom Securities Holdings, his analysis shifted to securities - becoming a regular pundit on the firm’s highly acclaimed ground-breaking TV programme on investor awareness and literacy. He spent his last 5 years at Kingdom as Managing Director of the group’s asset management company, launching several products designed to address local investor needs. His second stretch as Managing Director was at Zimnat Asset Management, a tenure most remembered for high inflation and hyperinflation at its peak in 2008. To preserve the value of his clients’ investments his analytical instincts took over, managing the feat at a time when many investments were reduced to zero. More rejuvenated than ever in seeing the Zimbabwe economic juggernaut power up again, he now deploys all his experience and knowledge in creating a conducive environment for investors to channel their savings as much needed capital to the productive sector. 

Steven Curtis is a Chartered Accountant with over 35 years of experience and has held a number of senior financial positions in the manufacturing industry.  Before joining Caledonia in April 2006, he was Director Finance and Supply Chain for Avery Dennison SA and, prior to this, Financial Director and then Managing Director of Jackstadt GmbH South African operation. Steven is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and graduated from the University of Cape Town. Steven was appointed Vice-President Finance and Chief Financial Officer in April 2006 and served in the position until December 2014 when he was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer.

Addington is a portfolio manager for Sanlam Investments’ Africa Equity Funds. Since 2006, he has been analysing African markets focusing on listed companies across the continent. He joined Sanlam Investments Management in 2013 from African Alliance Securities, where he was rated as a top sell-side analyst covering the telecoms and consumer sectors. He is a CFA charterholder.

Thabi Leoka is an Economist who has worked for various organisations in the financial sector. Thabi started her career as an Economist at Investec Asset Management in South Africa and London. She has also worked as an Emerging Markets Economist at Barclays in London and Head of Economic Research, SA at Standard Bank and the Chief Economist for SA at Renaissance Capital. Thabi was named the Economist of The Year 2017 by ABSIP. She writes for various publication both in South Africa and internationally. Thabi is a budding activist, loves travelling, reading, food and music.

Tapuwa Mashingaidze is a Chartered Chemical Engineer who holds a B.Sc. degree with first class honours from the University College London, an M.Sc. degree from the University of Manchester in 1985 and an MBA from the University of Zimbabwe in 2007. He also completed a Global Executive Development Programme with the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in 2017. His working career started with a stint at Shell Petroleum in the UK followed by a graduate traineeship at Tongaat Hullets’ Triangle Sugar Mill in Zimbabwe. He then worked for Hunyani Pulp & Paper Division for a few years before joining Chemplex at their ZimPhos factory in various operations management capacities involving phosphates fertilizer and related chemicals manufacture and management of the fertilizer value chain at General Manager level. He also managed the company’s Veterinary Formulation Products Division and now has 37 years of manufacturing and commercial management experience with 20 of those in Chemplex where he is now the CEO. Tapuwa was one of the inaugural directors of the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) when it was first launched to replace ZERC. He is also a board member at Lupane Gas Development Company and at Verify Engineering board (the Govt Coal to Fuel Project). He also has a keen interest in African development economics and often writes papers and presents at local and international conferences on manufacturing and commercial issues, especially in the fertilizers, chemicals and other process industries.

Dr Mufamadi, PhD and MSc, is the Director of the School of Leadership at the University of Johannesburg and he serves on the board of Impala Platinum Holdings Limited, Zimplats Holdings Limited and Transnet (SOC) Ltd. He also serves on subsidiary boards of Barclays Bank Africa Group in Mozambique and Tanzania.  He has built his reputation in various leadership positions including being a previous Minister for Safety and Security and Minister for Provincial and Local Government in the Government of the Republic of South Africa, and is known for his mediation and conflict resolution skills as well as his expertise in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. In 2019, The President of South Africa appointed him as chairman of a high level review panel into the operations of the State Security Agency.

Fiona Perrott-Humphrey is an independent senior adviser to Rothschild & Co’s Mining Team. Her focus is on the constantly changing trends in the sector which impact on both corporate strategy issues as well as on the communication process between companies and their shareholders. She believes that current developments underway in new technologies and ESG issues are reflecting in some of the most seismic shifts in investor perceptions of the sector in decades. Before joining Rothschild & Co in this role in 2003, she had 17 years of experience in the City of London at major financial institutions where she was consistently rated as one of the top investment analysts in mining, ending up as head of the European Mining Research at SSMB (part of Citigroup). In 2006, Fiona formed AIM Mining Research and, in the same year, published "Understanding Junior Miners" in conjunction with three geologists and a mining engineer. Prior to arrival in the City of London in 1986, she had six years of experience in financial journalism and academia in South Africa, building up a broad knowledge of managerial and financial topics. Fiona served as a non-executive director on the board of Dominion Diamond Corporation from February 2014 to January 2016.

Neville is an Economist and a Fixed Income Strategist in the Global Markets Research division at Rand Merchant Bank. He focuses on developing economic and financial market views for various African countries, servicing clients in Africa, UK and the United States. Neville is a member of the South African Institute of Financial Markets and is a published author in the South African Journal of Economics and often appears in international media such as CNBC, Bloomberg, BBC, Financial Times and Forbes.

Bhekinkosi (Bheki) is the CEO of RioZim Limited. He is an alumni of the Harvard Business School after having successfully completed its Advanced Management Programme (AMP) in Boston Massachusetts. He is a registered Chartered Accountant both in Zimbabwe and South Africa and possesses a strong business and leadership record spanning over twenty years. At RioZim, he was instrumental in spearheading the implementation of the Group’s expansion strategy which resulted in the Group’s number of operating gold mines growing from one in 2012 to three by 2017 and gold production increasing by more than three fold. Furthermore, Bheki played a key role in restructuring the Group’s debt which significantly improved the Company’s liquidity, capital structure and operational efficiency. He has vast experience in the areas of finance, operations and strategic planning and has served on various Boards. Currently, he serves on the Boards of RioZim Limited and its various subsidiaries and associates, including Murowa Diamonds (Private) Limited.

Lebohang is an investment analyst at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa’s largest asset manager. Backed by several years’ experience, firstly as a mining engineer and then in the financial services industry, her focus is the South African extractives sector and project finance. Lebohang has a Bachelors’ Degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Witwatersrand and a Masters of Management in Finance and Investment from Wits Business School.

Bernard is the Chairman of the annual Junior Indaba and Joburg Indaba as well as an Executive Director of the SBI. He is a Partner at To-The-Point Growth Specialists as well as a Partner in THINKspiration. He served as Non-Executive Director on the boards of Impala, Zimplats, Eqstra and African Rainbow Minerals Limited. Previous roles include Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Village Main Reef Limited and CEO of Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited. He is Chairman and Managing Partner of MMC (Manganese Metal Company) as well as a non-executive director of African Rainbow Energy Producer (AREP).