Discover the speakers of the conference

Abraham Nahom
Executive Director, EU Business Forum in Ethiopia
European business & sustainability in third markets
European business & sustainability in third markets
Organiser: EBOWWN The main focus of the session will be to showcase the role of European business in delivering projects towards the green transition in global markets. The EBO Worldwide Network is an association which includes European Chambers of Commerce and Business Councils in over forty countries in all continents (except Antarctica). A panel of European Chambers from a country from each continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) will present the main context for green transition policies and programmes in their market, and how European companies are delivering project to achieve these ambitions.
Activity 1 : Advanced Technologies
Read biography
Abraham Nahom
Nahom F. Abraham is the executive director of the European Union Business Forum in Ethiopia (EUBFE) since 2018. The EUBFE is a chamber of EU businesses operating in Ethiopia. Including bilateral business associations, the EUBFE boasts membership base of around 150 companies. EUBFE has been successful in forging excellent working relationships with various government institutions and international organizations. Before joining the EUBFE, Nahom was in the consulting business, overlooking a multinational team of experts engaged in consulting various local and international firms. He holds MA in Lifelong Learning Policy and Management from UCL (University College London).

Afouaiz Sana
Founder & Director at Womenpreneur-Initiative
Master class on entrepreneurship – why inclusion & diversity matter?
Master class on entrepreneurship – why inclusion & diversity matter?
Read biography
Afouaiz Sana
Sana is an award-winning, gender expert, women advocate. In 2016, she established Womenpreneur Initiative, an organisation with a community of 13,000 across the MENA region and Belgium, that aims to advance women’s place in the entrepreneurial scene, technology, innovation & society. Through her work, Sana reached thousands of women, to drive visibility, social impact, and resources for women in the ecosystem and beyond: https://womenpreneur-initiative.com

Agon Jean-Paul
CEO of L'Oréal
Session - Trade in times when the global competitive landscape is fundamentally changing
Session - Trade in times when the global competitive landscape is fundamentally changing
"The Covid-19 pandemic has confronted economies across the world with the consequences of a globalised world with complex and integrated value-chains over several continents. It exposed the fragility of our model based on open free trade and cost efficiency. It showed how much our industries are dependent on foreign supplies, not only raw materials but also intermediate products, to manufacture their goods. Since then, there has been a strong emphasis in reinforcing the resilience of our economies by developing Europe’s open strategic autonomy. A combination of diversification of sources, development of strategic capacities, reshoring or nearshoring is advocated by European policymakers to make Europe more resilient. How does this compare with businesses’ behaviour on the markets? Do we see in practice a change of strategy and in the way companies do business? Recent surveys amongst international businesses tend to indicate that international leaders do not envisage to change significantly the organisation of their supply chains nor to reshore some of their activities to Europe. This panel will discuss how businesses see their supply chains in the near future and in the medium term and the reasons behind their strategies."
Read biography
Agon Jean-Paul
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of L’Oréal
Born in France in 1956, Jean-Paul Agon joined L’Oréal in 1978 after graduating from HEC
international business school.
After a brief stint in 1980 as a product manager for the Consumer Products Division in France, he
began his international career in 1981, at 24 years old, becoming Managing Director of the Consumer
Products subsidiary of L'Oréal in Greece.
In 1985, Mr. Agon was recalled to France to become the General Manager of L'Oréal Paris in France.
He launched the Studio Line range and relaunched the Plénitude and Elsève brands.
In 1989, then-CEO Lindsay Owen-Jones entrusted him with leading Biotherm, a brand of the Luxury
Products Division, where he undertook a strategic repositioning.
In 1994, Jean-Paul Agon took over the management of L'Oréal in Germany, then the largest European
market after France. He ran the subsidiary for three years.
In 1997, Lindsay Owen-Jones asked him to set-up and lead the L’Oréal Asia Zone, lending fresh
impetus to these still-emerging markets.
In September 2001, Jean-Paul Agon was appointed President of L'Oréal's North American
subsidiaries, the first market worldwide that represented about a quarter of the Group’s sales.
The Board of Directors appointed him as Chief Executive Officer in 2006, then as Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer in 2011.
In 2009, he received the Ethical Resource Center’s Pace Leadership in Ethics Award for L’Oréal’s
achievements in the area of business ethics, diversity, financial transparency and sustainable
development.
He was 2015 Visionary of the Year (Women’s Wear Daily).
Jean-Paul Agon is a Director of Air Liquide, a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists,
and a member of the Board of Directors of the Consumer Goods Forum.
He is also an officer of the French Legion of Honour.

Alavarez-Neira Celestino
Chairman of the European Business Organisation in Ghana - President of the French Chamber of Commerce in Ghana
European business & sustainability in third markets
European business & sustainability in third markets
Organiser: EBOWWN The main focus of the session will be to showcase the role of European business in delivering projects towards the green transition in global markets. The EBO Worldwide Network is an association which includes European Chambers of Commerce and Business Councils in over forty countries in all continents (except Antarctica). A panel of European Chambers from a country from each continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) will present the main context for green transition policies and programmes in their market, and how European companies are delivering project to achieve these ambitions.
Activity 1 : Advanced Technologies
Read biography
Alavarez-Neira Celestino
Celestino Alvarez-Neira is the Chairman of the European Business Organisation in Ghana who helps provide a common platform for discussion and development of European Business relations with Ghana.
He is also the President of the French Chamber of Commerce in Ghana and Managing Director of businesses in the fields of manpower, logistics and trading. Before taking these roles, Celestino studied in Paris and promoted his corporate carrier in Africa, Europe and Asia in the fields of IT, communications and oilfield services. Having spent most of his carrier at Schlumberger, he decided to move with his family to Ghana where he has been residing since 2011 to become a business entrepreneur and an advocator of bilateral trade between Europe and Ghana.

Albizuri Landazabal Iñigo
Head of Institutional Relations at Mondragon, President of CICOPA
Accelerating industrial transformation and workers’ skills development through worker cooperatives
Accelerating industrial transformation and workers’ skills development through worker cooperatives
Organiser: Mondragon Corporation The COVID-19 crisis showed the importance to maintain industrial capacity in the EU when global supply chains are disrupted. Worker coops invested in skills development, like Mondragon, have a role to play in the preservation of European industrial capacities. According to CECOP, the European Confederation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives, more than 8000 cooperatives are active in the field of industry and construction in Europe in 2019Reskilling and upskilling of workers and opportunities for lifelong learning ecosystems are key to worker cooperatives such as Mondragon and others. Policy makers and social economy enterprises should find solutions that align companies and educational centres in the development of more effective learning.
Read biography
Albizuri Landazabal Iñigo
Iñigo Albizuri Landazabal (Spain) is an industrial engineer from the University of the Basque Country. He has developed his entire professional career at MONDRAGON cooperatives, where he held several positions in Spain and other countries. Since 2018, he is in charge of Public Affairs at MONDRAGON Corporation. In 2019, he was elected President of CICOPA, the International Organisation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives

Allwood Mel
Sustainability and Wellbeing Team Lead, Arup London
Ready for the 21st century: Driving industrial innovation towards European Green Deal goals
Ready for the 21st century: Driving industrial innovation towards European Green Deal goals
Organiser: Climate Action Network Europe Achieving climate neutrality will need several transformational actions, from fuel switches to product and process ecodesign and new business models based on product leasing and the sharing economy. We will explore some solutions to show how they can contribute to European Green Deal objectives.
Activity 2 : Circular economy
Read biography

Andersen Tove
Executive Vice President Europe, Yara
Decarbonising Industry Value Chains: Hydrogen over Ammonia to Green Agriculture Products
Decarbonising Industry Value Chains: Hydrogen over Ammonia to Green Agriculture Products
Organiser: Fertilizers Europe The session is expected to showcase innovative, breakthrough projects with industrial symbiosis at their core, illustrating value added for actors across the value chain as well as flagging the challenges faced by front runners and their needs to scale up. Representatives from the fertilizer and energy industries, end-customers, as well as EU and national policymakers will come together to discuss how to build a business case for a net zero world.
Activity 2 : Circular economy
Read biography
Andersen Tove
Mrs. Andersen (born 1970) has served as Executive Vice President Europe since June 2020. Mrs. Andersen has previously held several positions in the company. She was EVP Production 2018-2020, EVP Supply Chain 2016-2018 and VP Supply Chain Europe 2014-2016. She has also served as VP Marketing and New Business 2011-2013, Country Manager Yara UK/ Ireland 2006- 2011, Director Specialities and Retail Marketing 2005-2006, Director Business Development and Alliances 2003-2005, Manager, Business Development, Finance and Analysis Hydro Agri 2000-2003, Business Facilitator 1999-2000. She was employed by Hydro in 1997 as a trainee. Mrs. Andersen holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from BI Norwegian Business School and a Master’s degree in physics and mathematics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Anna Nikowska
European Commission
Pact for Skills
"As part of the European Skills Agenda, the Commission launched in November 2020 the Pact for Skills, to incentivise public and private organisations to join forces and take concrete action to upskill and reskill working age people in Europe. The initiative aims to support a fair and resilient recovery and deliver on the ambitions of the EU Industrial and SME strategies and the green and digital transitions. EU funding, i.e. the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the relevant funding instruments under the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 can support the Pact and should be fully used. This session will discuss: What is the Pact for Skills and how can you join? What will the Pact offer? How the large-scale partnerships can work? How can the networking, knowledge, guidance hub help your upskilling and reskilling efforts? "
Read biography
Anna Nikowska
Anna has almost 17 years working experience and solid education background in the fields of adult learning and upskilling and reskilling of people of working age.
For the past six years she has been working the in the European Commission, in DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. She is responsible for implementing the Pact for Skills, the first flagship action of the European Skills Agenda.

Astrid Bartels
Deputy Head of Unit, SME Access to Finance, European Commission GROW
SME access to finance
" Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role to turn Europe into a digital and sustainable economy and increase its resilience. The COVID crisis has hit small businesses particularly hard. How does the EU financially support SMEs to overcome the crisis and master the twin transition? Speakers from the Commission and the European Investment Fund will present the current and future financial instruments and programmes. In particular, the session will focus on access to finance and investments through the Commission’s SME Strategy and InvestEU."Activity 3 : Climate neutrality
Read biography
Astrid Bartels
Deputy Head of Unit, SME Access to Finance, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), European Commission
Astrid Bartels is the Deputy Head of Unit for the COSME financial instruments at the European Commission, in the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Prior to joining the Commission in 2002, she worked for more than 10 years in the private sector where she was a consultant for Bain & Company and also a corporate client relationship manager with Deutsche Bank. In the Commission she worked on the setting up of the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki before moving into the area of SME policy, more specifically into the development of financial instruments for SMEs. She has strong competencies in business strategy, holds a Vordiplom in economics from the University of Hagen and obtained an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Kenan Flager Business School, USA.

Averdung Frank
Unlocking the full potential of renewables through EU industrial policy - from emerging to commercial technologies
Organiser: Ocean Energy Europe The European Green Deal is a unique opportunity to strengthen European global leadership in renewable energy technologies. A coherent industrial policy can guide the investments needed to roll out renewable energy technologies at scale and deliver a socially and economically just transition. This session will explore how forward-looking European policies focusing on R&I, trade policy, skills, infrastructure, and market scale can enable the EU to remain a global leader in renewable energy technologies.
Activity 2 : Circular economy
Read biography
Averdung Frank
Frank P. Averdung joined Oxford PV as Chief Executive Officer in July 2015. He has over 30 years of experience in the Semiconductor industry in leading technology driven organisations, from small startups to large organisations with more than 1000 employees. Prior to joining Oxford PV Frank was President and CEO of SUSS MicroTec AG, a German manufacturer of semiconductor equipment with up to 250 mio US$ of sales. Under his leadership the company became listed in the "TecDAX", the stock market index for the top 30 publicly traded technology companies in Germany. Having an engineering background (holding the equivalent of a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University Aachen, Germany) Frank spent the first 10 years of his career with semiconductor device companies like Siemens, National Semiconductors and ITT Semiconductors. During this time he held several sales and marketing roles from Key Account Manager, Product Manager to Marketing Director. In 1995 Frank moved to the equipment side of the semiconductor industry and General Manager at Applied Materials and Managing Director of Etec Systems Europe. As CEO of the startup "NawoTec GmbH" he led the successful development and market introduction of semiconductor manufacturing equipment utilising a breakthrough proprietary technology. He sold the company to the German conglomerate Carl Zeiss AG where he became CEO of the enlarged Business Unit and later President and CEO of Carl Zeiss' US Operations based in Massachusetts. Frank has a proven track record in enhancing companies' values equally by acquiring and divesting businesses and technologies.