Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo is the first female Vice-Chancellor at the University of Ghana. She is an experienced academic and university administrator, with over twenty-two years of experience in the higher education sector. She brings a lot of innovation, resourcefulness, and tact to her professional engagements. As Vice-Chancellor, Professor Amfo is driven by two key notions – technology as an enabler and a devotion to human welfare – in all the operations of the University.

Prior to her appointment as Vice-Chancellor in October 2021, she served as Acting Vice-Chancellor from August 2021. She was the Pro Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) from November 2019. Professor Amfo was founding Dean of the School of Languages (2014 – 2019). She previously served as the Head of the Department of Linguistics (2013 – 2014). She has participated in the governance of the University of Ghana through her service on several statutory and adhoc boards and committees. As Vice-Chancellor, Professor Amfo chairs several high-level statutory boards and committees of the University such as the Academic Board, Business and Executive Committee and Office of Research and Innovation Development (ORID) Advisory Board. Her board and committee experience at the University includes her chairmanship of the Careers and Counselling Centre Advisory Board, Library Board, Advisory Committee for Staff and Students with Special Needs, International Programmes Office Advisory Board, Residence Board and Housing Committee. She also previously served as the Chair of the Management Board of the University Basic School (2011 – 2016), the College of Humanities Senior and Junior Staff Appointments and Promotions Committee (2014 – 2018) and the Mentoring and Professional Development Sub-committee of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA) (2010 – 2013). She was the University of Ghana’s representative on the Catholic University College Appointments and Promotions Committee (2011 – 2016). She was also a member of the College of Humanities Advisory Board, and she served as a Tutor of Mensah Sarbah Hall.

Professor Amfo’s MPhil (2001) and PhD (2007) degrees in Linguistics are from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. She holds a bachelor’s degree (French and Linguistics) from the University of Ghana. Professor Amfo has a post-graduate certificate in Administration and Management from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and has received additional training in higher education management and leadership from Harvard Business School, University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and INSEAD, France. She is a past student of Holy Child School (O’Level) and Archbishop Porter’s Girls Secondary School (A’Level).

Professor Amfo’s career in academia started in 2001 as a Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics after her Master’s degree. In 2007, the same year she obtained her PhD degree, she was promoted Senior Lecturer. She became Associate Professor in 2011, and Professor in 2017. Professor Amfo’s research interests are in the linguistic sub-discipline of Pragmatics, which allows her to explore the role that context plays in conversational interactions and how that influences communication in different domains such as health, politics, gendered and migratory contexts. She has led several research projects in her disciplinary area of linguistics as well as in multi-disciplinary teams. Her research has resulted in numerous internationally recognized publications and conference presentations.

Professor Amfo has acquired extensive multi-cultural experience through various professional engagements in more than twenty countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. These engagements include giving competitive and invited talks, serving as external assessor, and engaging with research and professional collaborators. She is an engaged public speaker and has featured on several local and international media platforms. She has been an external examiner for a number of universities including University of Nairobi, Kenya; University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; University of the Western Cape, South Africa; and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. Her passion for mentoring particularly younger professional women has driven her to organise and or facilitate several capacity building training programmes in both the public and private higher education sectors, as well as in other public and private organisations. She has been a consultant trainer for the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana and an Advisory Board member of the Coalition of People Against Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Harmful Practices (CoPASH) – A UNFPA supported programme.

Professor Amfo’s professional expertise and leadership has been recognized by her peers. She serves on the Consultation Board of the International Pragmatics Association (the first African to be so elected since the Association’s establishment in 1986). She is the President of the Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures, FILLM (a UNESCO affiliated scholarly association). She was the President of the Linguistics Association of Ghana (2010 – 2014). She is a member of the West African Linguistics Society and the Society for Communication, Medicine and Ethics (COMET). She is a pioneer fellow, senior scholar, mentor, and assessor of the African Humanities Program of the American Council of Learned Societies. She is the Founding President of the African Humanities Association (AHA), an off-shoot of the AHP. She is Co-founder and the Acting President of the African Pragmatics Association. Professor Amfo is a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD), Commonwealth Professionals Fellowship, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the prestigious International Women’s Forum Leadership Program. She is a life member of the University of Ghana Alumni Association.

In 2021, Professor Amfo was awarded as the GUBA (Grow Unite Build Africa) Nana Yaa Asantewaa Woman of Enlightenment for her resilience and work in academia which has created knowledge, built confidence and broken-down barriers to opportunities. In July 2023, she was recognised by Glitz Africa as the Ghana Woman of the Year for Excellence in Education. In December 2023, she was honoured by the Head of State Awards Scheme, and awarded the Legacy and Gadia State Awards 2023 for demonstrating excellence in education, leadership and gender empowerment.

Professor Amfo is married to Mr. Frank Amfo, and they have been blessed with three children, Yoofi, Maame Araba and Efua Benyiwa.

Oluwatosin MR EAZI Ajibade is a Grammy-awarded artiste, creative and business visionary leading African music into its future.

As a recording artist, the Nigerian multihyphenate is the voice behind Afropop hits “Pour Me Water,” “Skin Tight” (featuring Efya), and “Leg Over,” as well as groundbreaking collaborations with the likes of Beyoncé, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin. As a serial entrepreneur, he’s also the founder of emPawa Africa, a talent incubator program that funds and mentors emerging African artists, and the digital music aggregator emPawa Distribution — initiatives hailed by CNN, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Forbes for their forward-thinking approach. 

Born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and raised in Lagos, Mr Eazi began his music career while attending college in Ghana. His side hustles included promoting concerts and running a concierge service shuttling wealthy kids to parties. His first-ever recording, made on a whim, became an accidental local hit, prompting him to self-release a mixtape, About to Blow, in 2013. Blending touches of Ghanaian highlife music and Pidgin slang with Nigerian chord progressions and R&B vocal inflexion, he soon developed a mellowed-out spin on Afropop which he dubbed Banku Music, after the popular Ghanaian comfort food dish. 

After returning to Nigeria to work a corporate job in engineering, Eazi decided to make music his full-time focus, using a $1,000 gift from friends to fund the video for his breakthrough 2015 single, “Skin Tight.” Arriving just as afrobeats was exploding into global consciousness, Eazi has quickly become an international figure, performing across Africa, Europe and the United States, pouring his travels into the critically acclaimed mixtapes Life is Eazi, Vol. 1: Accra to Lagos (2017) and Life is Eazi, Vol 2: Lagos to London (2018). These projects and their resulting hit singles, along with Eazi’s fashion-forward personal style, helped land Eazi in the pages of Vogue, THE FADER, Paper and other influential outlets. 

Fiercely independent and digitally savvy, Eazi has resisted opportunities to sign with major record labels, instead choosing to operate his independent imprint, Banku Music. Since establishing his career, he has answered the call to mentor and support other African emerging artists. He was inspired by his own experiences participating in tech incubators as a young entrepreneur at 440.NG; he launched emPawa Africa in late 2018. In its first round of investment, emPawa Africa provided US$300,000 —or US$3,000 each — in funding for 100 artists from 11 countries, launching the careers of rising stars like Nigeria’s Joeboy and Ghana’s J.Derobie. The initiative’s success led Eazi to form additional companies like emPawa Distribution, the first digital music aggregator focused solely on servicing African music to the global market; and emPawa Live, a college concert series, to support this growing ecosystem of talent. 

2019 proved to be a watershed year for Eazi, on several accounts. April saw him debut at Coachella, where he was one of only two African artists to play at the world’s most prestigious music festival. He was featured on two tracks from Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift album, and appeared alongside Latin superstars Bad Bunny and J Balvin on “Como Un Bebé,” from the duo’s collaborative album Oasis. In 2020, his collaboration with DJ Neptune and Joeboy on “Nobody,” topped charts across several African countries while reaching #7 on Billboard’s World Digital Songs Sales Chart. He also appeared on J Balvin’s Colores album which won a Latin Grammy.

In May 2020, Eazi appeared on the cover of Billboard’s Africa Now issue, the U.S. music bible’s first-ever issue dedicated to African music. Forbes Africa also included him in its annual 30 Under 30 issue spotlighting the continent’s young thought leaders. In the same year, he released a dancehall/rap song with Major Lazer & Nicki Minaj which topped the US iTunes chart upon its release and peaked at #1 on the Billboard World Digital sales chart.

Tosin has been invited to speak about the African music industry and other related subjects on numerous occasions most notably at Talks at Google, TEDtalks, MIDEM 2021, CANEX 2021(IATF), UN Global Compact #UnstoppableAfrica 2022. He continuously advocates and speaks for the creative arts and tech industry; speaking on panels at the Milken Institute 2023 Global Conference and Latitude 59 Tech conference in Estonia.

In June 2022, he released Legalize; the first single off his yet-to-be-released debut album which also announced his foray into the world of contemporary African art with his collaboration with Beninoise painter Patricorel and Dominique Zinkpè.

In October 2023, Eazi’s first album, The Evil Genius, was released and the accompanying art collection was shown in an exhibition at Gallery 1957 in Accra during the Accra Cultural Week and in London during the 1-54 Contemporary art fair. In a first-of-its-kind fusion of African music and art, Mr Eazi commissioned visual artists from across the continent to create a unique, physical art piece to represent each of the album’s 16 tracks. As he traveled through Africa recording the album, Mr Eazi forged relationships with visual artists whose work he encountered along the way. Noting a lack of meaningful collaboration between Africa’s exploding pop music scene and the continent’s fine art creators, Mr Eazi personally handpicked 13 artists, representing eight African countries, adding art curator and patron to his already extensive resume of pursuits. As part of the rollout, Mr Eazi has been inviting the public to experience the music alongside the art at multi-sensory exhibition listening experiences, with the first two taking place in Accra, Ghana at Gallery 1957, and in the U.K. during the  1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, from October 12-15, at Somerset House in London. 

For the album’s cover art, Mr Eazi collaborated with celebrated Nigerian stylist, designer and photographer Daniel Obasi, known for his work with Beyoncé and Louis Vuitton. 

In 2023, he formed a dance music collective in collaboration with DJ Edu with them performing under the pseudonym Choplife Soundsystem. They released an album and commenced a Europe tour in the same year. 

Mr Eazi’s ascent into global stardom has seen him clock over 1.2 Billion total Global streams monthly – thus making him one of the most streamed African artists worldwide.

Lady Dentaa Amoateng MBE is the President of the Grow, Unite, Build, Africa (GUBA) Enterprise. GUBA Enterprise is the Diaspora Network Manager for excellence and continues to grow into an impactful social venture network.

She is a visionary, humanitarian and leader. As a dedicated mother of four, she spends her time between the UK and Ghana, effecting change within the community.

The GUBA Awards has been recognised as a community building organisation with substantial influence. Her work to improve UK African relations earned her an MBE in Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II’s 2016 Birthday Honours.

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is one of the leading transactional lawyers in Ghana. He has a unique ability to get things done and find solutions no matter the issue. Named as one of the 50 most influential people in Africa (Africa Report 2023), he brings to ALA his vast, rich and dynamic experience and extensive network over the last three decades working in Europe, Africa and South America. A solicitor, barrister and notary trained in the UK and Ghana, Gabby is also the founder of ALA Strategic Consult, an affiliated consultancy firm, based in Georgetown, Guyana, which offers business consultancy services in the oil-rich Caribbean country, linking up international investors and service providers with opportunities and local partners in Guyana. He was previously the CEO of a UK-based consulting company specialising in facilitating business for companies and other organisations with interest in Africa.

A Pan-Africanist and a big advocate for the single market in Africa, Gabby is a respected lawyer and political risk analyst in Africa and has appeared on television and radio, and written several articles in several reputable journals on investment, corporate governance, good governance, and economic development in Africa and related matters. He is the founder and a member of the governing board of the Danquah Institute, a prominent policy think tank in Ghana, and serves as the Chairman of the Ghana hub of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC).

He is also the Chairman of Asaase Broadcasting Company, a multimedia organisation, with five radio stations in Ghana. He is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), which organises the annual Africa Prosperity Dialogues. APN is dedicated to mobilising Africa’s political and business leaders to work more together in enhancing intra-African trade and projecting economic integration in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063. ALA benefits from his wide network of contacts in Ghana, Africa and beyond.

Anna Nyarko Adjaloo is the Programmes Manager (Outreach & Mentorship) at Drive to Inspire – Africa.  She is a dedicated professional with a diverse background, committed to making a positive impact in various areas. With a foundation in social work, she has interned with the Social Welfare Department in Accra and the Ashanti Region, gaining deep insights into community challenges.

Anna actively volunteers with NGOs, prioritizing the needs of vulnerable communities. She managed two made-in-Ghana shops, promoting local industries and products. Her administrative experience ensures smooth operations, demonstrated in roles at reputable companies and the TV3 network.

Currently, Anna serves as an Administrator with Drive to Inspire-Africa, mentoring and guiding youth in their educational and career pursuits. Her journey reflects a commitment to social responsibility and empowering the next generation.

Anna’s versatile background and unwavering dedication highlight her ability to adapt and excel in various environments. She brings a unique blend of compassion, entrepreneurial spirit, and administrative prowess to her endeavors, embodying a commitment to positive change and community empowerment.