Chigora Administration

President

Rutendo Chigora is a Rhodes Scholar from Zimbabwe, reading for the Master of Public Policy (MPP) and Master of Business Administration at the University of Oxford. Last year, she served as co-chair of the Oxford Africa Conference and created the Africa Society’s mentorship program in conjunction with the Higherlife Foundation. Rutendo has experience working in finance and consulting, and she founded a nonprofit business incubator for communities in Zimbabwe. This year, she is excited to lead the Africa Society and achieve three key goals: increased access to Oxford for African students through scholarships, enhanced social and intellectual experiences for African students at Oxford, and expanded society impact on the continent.

Vice President

Ndjodi Ndeunyema is an MPhil in Law candidate at Linacre College. As Vice President, he aims to contribute to the strengthening of Afrisoc’s presence within the University of Oxford and the Oxford community more generally. He would like the Society to assist in bringing more students to Oxford University and would also like to work towards increasing the areas of collaboration with Afro-centric establishments in the UK and on the African Continent. He also aims to work closely together with the co-chairs of the Oxford Africa Conference to build upon the achievements made over the past years by prioritising under-explored disciplines.

General Secretary

David Fonseca is a second year student from Angola and is pursuing an MPhil in International relations at St Antony’s College with an interest in the evolving economic discourse of sub-Saharan African states in relation to development finance. Having previously served the Society as its Members Manager, David is still interested and motivated in ensuring that three things are pursued this academic year:

1. Ensuring that the Society does its utmost to ensure that its members’ mental, physical, and material well-being is looked after
2. Engaging with our incredibly diverse and accomplished alumni
3. Reach out to North African students to ensure that our Society represents a diverse body of students

Treasurer

Sakhe Mkosi is a South African MPhil Development Studies candidate at St Antony’s College. I have a bachelor’s degree in Financial Accounting and I come to Oxford having just completed an MPhil in Public Policy and Administration, all from the University of Cape Town. I trust that my having several years’ of experience in student governance, particularly in treasury positions, and work experience in external audit will put me in good stead to serve you well as a member of your executive committee. I invite you all to engage me on matters relating to Africa Society financial governance and look forward to building relationships with you all!

Social Secretary

Abrefa Kwaku Busia is an ENI scholar reading the MPhil in Development Studies at QEH. He is based in St Antony’s College and has been an active member of Afrisoc since coming to Oxford last year. Kwaku is a Ghanaian by nationality and pursued his undergrad degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.
“My research interests are Rural Development, Local Governance, Decentralization and Social policy issues particularly education and criminal justice in Africa. I enjoy reading, playing football and watching movies. I am your Social Secretary for this academic year and hope to make your Oxford experience as fun and as memorable as it could possibly be. Looking forward to seeing you all soon!”

Scholarship Manager

Ashley Pople: with poor exchange rates and the income levels of many African applicants, partial scholarships are simply not enough to fund the full costs of residing in Oxford. As a result, African students who would excel in this space have been denied the opportunity. At a broader level, I am particularly passionate about tapping into the talent and potential of the youth across the continent. in leading the Scholarship Committee this year, I hope to establish an Africa Society Scholarship that will equalise access to study at Oxford amongst African students. In particular, I envisage a sustainably funded scholarship created in partnership with St Antony’s College that seeks to diversify the African cohort and target those with few scholarship opportunities. At Oxford, I completed my MSc in Economics for Development at Oxford last year at St Antony’s. I am currently transitioning into a DPhil in Economics with a focus on post-conflict development in Africa.

Members Manager

Wilfride Petnga Kamdoum: I am a student completing a DPhil degree in Oncology. I hail from Cameroon and can communicate effectively in both the English and French languages. It is a delight to serve the African and Africa-friendly student community at Oxford. I am passionate about exploring different cultures and encouraging people from diverse cultural backgrounds to engage with each other because I believe that appreciating cultural differences fosters greater understanding across different people groups. In my free time, I enjoy doing the usual things: watching movies/dramas/documentaries, write poems or short stories and playing badminton.

Website & IT Manager

Davidson Anthony Edwards is a Caribbean software developer and entrepreneur from the Commonwealth of Dominica. He is proficient in software engineering and full-stack web development, having managed and executed software development projects for multiple Caribbean private sector entities and provided software consulting services under his first start-up. Davidson is marrying his technical and business interests through his pursuit of both an MSc in Computer Science and an MBA at Oxford. Socially he is quite easy-going and explorative, and is notably addicted to good music and dance.

2017 Oxford Africa Conference Team

Conference co-chair

Biruk Terrefe is an MPhil Candidate at Oxford’s Department of International Development (ODID). He holds an undergraduate degree in Global Economics and Management from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany including a semester abroad at Sciences Po Paris, where he developed a sharpened interest in Africa’s potential and trajectory. Prior to starting his postgraduate studies in the fall of 2016, he spent 7 months at the World Health Organization. His research interests are broadly at the nexus of economics, health and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the health system in Ethiopia.

Conference co-chair

Vivian Ojo: Born in Zaria, Nigeria to a Yoruba chemist and an Otjiherero teacher from Namibia, I am a proud ‘Namgerian’ deeply enchanted by both my homes on the continent. I have a particular interest in inclusive pan-African development. I have a Bachelor’s of Science in African and Latin America Natural Resources and International Development from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and am now pursuing my masters in Public Policy at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. Most recently, I have worked for Africa Careers Network as part of the African Leadership Academy, where I supported the placement of hundreds of internships and jobs across Africa, managed key partnerships, strategic grants and tracked and analysed data.
“In my free time, I enjoy dance, poetry and homemade food. I also have a particular soft spot for people who upset the status quo like Nina Simone, Jesus, Tomas Sankara, Steve Biko and post 2013 Beyoncé. I suppose finding something worth purposeful rebellion, is in my view, life’s ultimate project.”

Conference co-chair

Sophie Kin Seong is an MBA candidate at Said Business School. She completed a double major in International Management and Accounting at McGill University and is a qualified Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant. Prior to this, she was working for a social justice NGO in Uganda, implementing data collection processes and program improvements for the public justice system. She was also a consultant with EY in New York and worked on a range of Fortune 100 clients. Currently, she also serves a member of a project team launching a business incubator in Uganda. Sophie believes in driving development in Africa through empowering local businesses as the foundation of sustainable economies.