Webinar: The Africa Cannabis Journey

Sibusiso Xaba, CFA

CEO, Global Go Africa

Co-Founder, CEO ACA Group

Sibusiso Xaba has extensive experience with financial matters across Africa.  He specializes in capital markets, deal structuring, syndication, venture capital fundraising, hedging solutions and portfolio management.  Sibusiso has worked with African governments, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, pension funds, insurers and asset managers.  He has closed transactions worth over $5 billion.  He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Prior to Global Go Africa, Sibusiso worked as a banker at Goldman Sachs and Investec in London for over 8 years.

Sibusiso holds a Business Science Degree from the University of Cape Town.  He is an Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Fellow.

Wandile Sihlobo

Chief Economist, Agricultural Business Chapter of South Africa (Agbiz)

Commissioner, International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC)

Wandile Sihlobo is chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz and a commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).

He is the author of Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture and currently serves as a columnist for Business Day and Farmers Weekly magazine. He also contributes to Fin24 and Daily Maverick.

Sihlobo is a member of the South African Agricultural Economics Association. He has previously served as an economist at Grain South Africa (Grain SA). In 2018, Agricultural Writers SA named Sihlobo an Agriculturalist of the Year. In 2019, Sihlobo was on the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans.

Sihlobo holds a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.

Tseli Khiba

Advocate Tseli Khiba is a practicing legal practitioner based in Maseru, Lesotho. She obtained a Bachelor of Commerce in Law (BCom Law) degree from the University of the Free State, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Masters of Laws – specializing in Commercial Law from the University of Cape Town. She has gained significant international experience through partaking in an international exchange program at Bucerius Law School, in Hamburg Germany and her role on the legal team that represented the Kingdom of Lesotho in commercial arbitration proceedings in Singapore.

Tseli has worked on various commercial projects, ranging from construction and property development to the emerging cannabis industry. Her research interests include cannabis regulation, corporate governance and compliance, international trade, and investment law and regional integration.

Joy Olivier

Co-Founder & Director, Botanican

Joy Olivier is a passionate social entrepreneur and Co-Founder and Director at Botanican, a medicinal cannabis enterprise committed to delivering social and economic change, bringing local cultivators into the global cannabis value chain, and producing high-quality medicinal and nutraceutical products. She is the co-founder to IkamvaYouth, a South-African non-profit which enables youth to pull themselves and each other out of poverty through education, where she served as the Director for 15 years. Joy is also a Fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI),  Yale Greenburg World, and Ashoka, and won the civil society for the 2013 Most Influential Women in Business & Government in the SADC region. Joy has an MPhil in Education and ICT.

Bronwyn Nielsen

CEO, Nielsen Media & Associates

Bronwyn Nielsen is one of Africa’s most experienced and respected broadcasters. With over 25 years’ experience in broadcasting, Bronwyn is regularly called upon by the World Economic Forum and leading business organizations and institutes, including African Development Bank and ABN Group to moderate key sessions at their global events.

Bronwyn has vast media expertise and a deep understanding of business and finance, through both her broadcast experience and insight into the corporate world, having held senior positions with several listed companies. Recently, Bronwyn was an Executive Director at Africa Business News (ABN) with responsibility for setting the content agenda for all companies within the ABN Group and driving the group’s strategic growth opportunities across the Africa. Bronwyn was Editor-in-chief at CNBC Africa for four years (2013 and 2017). Since 2017, Bronwyn currently serves as CEO & Founder of Nielsen Media & Associates.

Bronwyn has a Bachelor of Commerce from UCT and completed a finance course for senior executives at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.

Daphney Mokgadi Fafudi

Medicines Control Officer (SAHPRA)

Qualifications include:

B Pharm: Wits (2000)

Postgraduate Diploma in Hospital Pharmacy Management (2010)

MSc Medical Science:  Cum Laude: Medunsa (2014)

MBA (Wits) 2017

Current position: Medicines Control Officer:  Regulatory Compliance SAHPRA 2017- Date

Including the Acting Head of Regulatory Compliance in Feb-July2020

Former positions:

Pharmacy Council Professional Affairs Manager: pharmacy licensing, & inspections, permits and also pharmacy education.

Pharmacy manager: Warmbaths Hospital and Limpopo MDR TB hospital

Pharmacist in various sectors of pharmacy since 2001

Myrtle Clarke

Managing Director, Fields of Green For ALL

In 2010 Myrtle and her late partner, Julian Stobbs, were arrested in their home on charges of possession and dealing in Cannabis. They were so indignant at the treatment by the police that they sued the government on charges of enacting unlawful laws. As full-time drug policy activists they traveled both nationally and internationally in order to give a voice to civil society’s concerns around drug policy reform.

In 2013 they established non-profit Fields of Green for ALL to promote the legal regulation of cannabis in South Africa. As the name indicates, the company works to ensure that ALL citizens share the benefits of legally regulated cannabis by guiding individuals and communities who have been marginalized by use, cultivation, and trade in cannabis. Entirely funded by loyal supporters, it promotes active citizenry in order to affect equitable cannabis regulations going forward.

Julian and Myrtle worked tirelessly to bring awareness about the plant and its potential to the forefront in order to create an open industry that benefitted all South Africans. Since learning of Julian’s death last month, the entire cannabis community has been mourning the passing of this fearless warrior who dedicated his life fighting for freedom and fields of green for all.

About Global Go 

Global Go provides sophisticated consulting services to the global cannabis and hemp industry. In tandem with strategic allies around the world, Global Go serves clients throughout the world from offices in Austin, Bogota, Chicago, Cyprus, Denver, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Quito, São Paulo, Silicon Valley, Toronto, and Zurich. Powered by a team of cannabis industry pioneers and world-class consultants, Global Go helps leading cannabis funds and companies assess and enter new markets; acquire assets; raise capital; launch new product lines; improve SOPs; comply with regulations; implement technology and security systems; find talent; diagnose and execute solutions to growth obstacles; and apply for cannabis licenses (with a 99% success rate on over 175 cannabis license applications across the United States). Learn more at https://globalgo.consulting.