5th Canada-Africa Business Conference, Namibia

Paula Caldwell St-Onge

Chair of the Board at The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business

Paula Caldwell St-Onge, B.Sc., MBA, ICD.D is an accomplished Ambassador with over 30 years of experience working in the Canadian Government. She has significant experience in government administration, international relations, political risk, sustainable development, international trade, economic development and environmental sciences. Ms. Caldwell St-Onge began her career in Public Service in 1989 and held progressively more senior positions in the Federal Environmental Assessment Review Office, the Privy Council Office and Environment Canada. At Environment Canada she was the Director General for Environmental Assessment and Emergency Security Preparedness and Chief Enforcement Officer. In her tenure with Global Affairs Canada, Ms. Caldwell St-Onge held a range of senior positions including Canadian Ambassador to Haiti, Director General Pan-African Bureau, Minister Counsellor Trade for the Canadian Embassy in Mexico and Brazil and Head of Mission-Consul General for the South-Central USA (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana). Her expertise includes bilaterial trade, community relations, environmental and social impacts of major projects, and governance (ESG). Paula serves on numerous boards, including Calibre Mining and is the recipient of the Head of Public Service Award for Excellence in Public Policy and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal. Ms. Caldwell St-Onge holds a B.Sc. from Queens University and an MBA from Cumbria University, UK.

Modestus Amutse

Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy

Hon. Amutse brings extensive experience in public service as previously served as Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology, and before that as a Member of Parliament and Chairperson of a National Assembly Standing Committee.

James Christoff

High Commissioner at Canada to the Republic of Namibia

James Christoff (BA [Political Science], Concordia University, 1991; BPR, Mount Saint Vincent University, 1993; MPA, Royal Military College of Canada, 2017) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1999. At Headquarters, he has served as executive director, Southeast Asia; director of communications, Afghanistan Task Force; press secretary and spokesperson in the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs; and communications manager for Team Canada trade missions. Abroad, he has served in various positions in Kenya, the Philippines and Afghanistan and was ambassador to South Sudan from 2018 to 2019. Most recently, Mr. Christoff served as high commissioner in Nigeria and permanent representative of Canada to the Economic Community of West African States.

Denver Kisting

Award-Winning Journalist and TV Presenter

Clive Johnson

Chief Executive Officer & President, at B2Gold Corp

Clive Johnson has served as a Founding Director and the President of B2Gold since December 2006 and Chief Executive Officer since March 2007. Mr. Johnson oversees our long-term strategy and development and leads the executive team of B2Gold. Previously, Mr. Johnson was involved with Bema Gold and its predecessor companies since 1977. Mr. Johnson was appointed the President and Chief Executive Officer of Bema after it was created by the amalgamation of three Bema group companies in 1988. He was a driving force in Bema’s transition from a junior exploration company to an international intermediate gold producer. Mr. Johnson received the 2004 Viola MacMillan Developer’s Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada and in 2013 he received the Pacific Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Mining and Metals, and The Northern Miner Person of the Year Award in 2025.

John Roos

Country Manager at B2Gold

John Roos is a Director and Country Manager for B2Gold Namibia. He is a registered Chartered Accountant with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. Apart from heading the financial affairs of B2Gold Namibia, John has been involved in several significant renewable projects within the company with a combined project value of more than N$ 300 Million. He is also keenly involved in B2Gold’s Corporate Social Investments (CSI) projects and is a member of B2Gold Namibia’s CSI Board.

Zebra Kasete

Managing Director at Namibia Deep Yellow

Zebra Kasete is a prominent Namibian mining executive appointed Deep Yellow Limited's Managing Director for Namibia, effective January 2026, to lead the Tumas uranium project's construction and operations, bringing extensive experience from senior roles at various mining entities and as a past president of the Chamber of Mines of Namibia.

Jeff Adams

Global Director at Uranium at Hatch

Twenty years experience in process evaluation, definition, and project management in the mining and metals industry, specializing in hydrometallurgy. This includes process development, analysis and optimization, technology evaluation, testwork and due diligence reviews, capital and operating cost estimation and leading conceptual and prefeasibility engineering studies.

Chris Brown

CEO at Namibian Chamber of Environment

Dr Chris Brown, ecologist, and environmental scientist, has over thirty-five years’ practical experience in environmental management and administration, strategic planning and development, project and programme design and coordination. Previously he was Head of the Namibia Directorate of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and played a key role in drafting the environmental clauses in the Namibian Constitution. He was the Executive Director of the Namibia Nature Foundation for 12 years. He serves on several boards including that of Namibia’s Sustainable Development Advisory Council. Dr Brown holds a PhD Zoology (Conservation biology), BSc Hons degree (Zoology) and a BSc degree (Zoology, Entomology, Biochemistry).

Craig Simmer

Regional Director: Infrastructure (AEM Region) at Hatch

Dr. Laurie Marker

Executive Director at Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF)

Before becoming Executive Director of Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in 1990, Dr. Laurie Marker began her career working with cheetahs at Wildlife Safari, a wildlife park in the United States. She first traveled to South West Africa (now Namibia) while conducting research into the rewilding of captive-born cheetahs. Dr. Marker’s research proved that cheetahs held in captivity could be taught to hunt but, more importantly, it was during this time she discovered livestock farmers were killing wild cheetah by the hundreds. Without intervention, the future of the species would be in jeopardy. For this reason, Dr. Marker decided to found CCF and move to Namibia.

Garreth Bloor

President at The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business

Garreth Bloor has served as President of the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business since 2019 and is a seasoned consultant. As President of The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business he has led trade and investment engagements across Canada and on the African continent. They have included Prime Ministers, leading CEOs, Cabinet Members and entrepreneurs on both sides of the Atlantic. Under his leadership the organization has grown, with new offices in Toronto, Ottawa and Accra. Bloor is committed to intra-African free trade and their supporting institutions. In 2024 he served as an expert witness on Canada-Africa relations appearing before the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE), as well as the Senate's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He was an invitee to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) deliberations during the Extraordinary Summit in Niger in 2019. During his tenure he has rapidly expanded the programs offered by the organization, welcoming thousands of participants drawn from every country on the African continent and receiving coverage in hundreds of media outlets. On Africa Day last year he received the Zambezi-Kilimanjaro Excellence Award from the African Group of Ambassadors, in recognition of his 'exceptional contribution to promote relations between Canada and Africa’ As of 2024, he is a Limited Partner in Launch Africa Ventures, a frontier Pan-African fund solving the significant funding gap in pre-Series A funding. Previously he served as Managing Director of Glenheim Venture Capital, which he set up in 2016 as a joint venture with the South African-based OutsourcedCFO (OCFO). Glenheim was named one of the top 25 Most Innovative Companies of 2017 by FastCompany SA and was profiled in an inaugural report of the Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s (SAVCA) top 15 success stories. Prior to his private sector career Bloor was an executive politician, heading economic development in the City of Cape Town - elected at age 23, and to a Parliamentary seat at age 26. He led changes to over 300 policies and by-laws through scrapping an equivalent number, inherited from the pre-democracy city planning regime. A year following the municipal reforms the value of new building plans in the city saw a growth of 46% year-on-year. He has addressed events and presented papers at dozens of conferences globally. After his post-graduate studies, he served as a member of the University of Cape Town’s Council from 2011 to 2016 and its University Research Committee during the same period. St Gallen University in Switzerland named Garreth one of the Top 100 global Leaders of Tomorrow at their annual symposium in May 2014 and in 2016 he was named a Leader of Today. The Cape Town Press Club awarded him its Graduate Bursary Award in 2010, recognizing “over 500 articles published locally and abroad with contributions to over a dozen publications undertaken”. His research has been published by - among others - Canada's Fraser Institute, where he currently serves as a Senior Associate.

Joe Lombard

Vice Chairman at Hatch

Joe Lombard is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the design, construction, and operation of aluminium smelters, with 40 years of global experience developing and expanding metallurgical facilities. Joe joined Hatch as the global managing director of Light Metals, then Metals & Mining, culminating in his appointment as vice-chair in 2024. In this role, he retains his focus on metals and works at an executive level to build and maintain long-term relations with key strategic clients. Prior to his time at Hatch, Joe served as President and CEO of Aluminérie Alouette, the largest aluminium smelter in the Americas. There, he was responsible for the successful multi-billion-dollar expansion of its facility in Sept-Îles, Québec, which is globally recognized as an industry benchmark in terms of quality, cost, safety, and schedule. Throughout his career, he has led the development, expansion, and operation of other major metallurgical facilities across Europe, North and South America, Australia, China, South Africa, and the Middle East. He was also instrumental in expanding Hatch’s reach into new regions (particularly, Europe, China and the Middle East) and consolidating our Metals business into a true global identity. Building on the expanded traditional business of Hatch, he established four major new initiatives to focus the Metals business specifically on green steel, green aluminium, the battery supply chain (from feedstock to gigafactories and recycling facilities), and Europe. Joe completed his bachelor of engineering in mechanical engineering at the University of Pretoria, receiving a Dorbyl scholarship, and holds a bachelor of commerce (honors) in business economics from the University of South Africa. Outside of Hatch, he belongs to numerous professional organizations, either sitting on the board or as a general member. These include the Canada-UAE Business Council, the Aluminum Association of Canada (former president), the Engineering Council of South Africa, the South African Institution of Mechanical Engineering, the Canada-Saudi Business Council, the Canada Africa Chamber of Business, and First Robotics’ Advisory Board. Joe speaks fluent English, Afrikaans, Dutch, and German, and has lived and worked in South Africa, Germany, Iceland, and Canada. He is an avid scuba diver and a passionate photographer.

Gys Joubert

Managing Director at Gondwana Collection

Mariam Kane-Garcia

Country Chair and Managing Director at TotalEnergies EP (TEEPNA)

Mariam KANE-GARCIA is TotalEnergies Marketing Services MD & CEO and Executive VP Southern Africa (M&S). Mariam Kane-Garcia has been with TotalEnergies for almost 20 years. Born in France and raised in West Africa, Mariam is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris. She joined TotalEnergies’ Paris office as a Cost Controller in the Refining and Marketing division, in 2001. Following her assignment in the France Retail division in 2004, she in 2007 moved in to head up the development of the commercial and retail business in the Asia-Pacific region, in Singapore. In 2009, she was appointed Corporate Affairs and Financial Director of TotalEnergies RM Vietnam. Mariam held this position until end 2011, when she returned to France to take up the post of Vice President of Strategy for the Africa / Middle East region, in the Marketing and Services division. In 2016, Mariam was announced as the new Strategy and Business Development Director for Exploration and Production in the United Kingdom where she joined the Upstream division in the North Sea until August 2019, when she took up her most recent post in South Africa in September 2020. The MD & CEO of TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa, Country Chair for TotalEnergies in South Africa and Executive Vice President for the Southern Africa region, Mariam lives in Johannesburg with her husband and three children.

Alex George

Senior Trade Commissioner at Government of Canada

Mitraj Lochab

Trade Manager - Africa at Sealion Cargo

Mitraj is an expert in not only the logistics field but Coffee logistics as well. He started a side business importing and roasting Coffee. Mitraj was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and later moved to Canada. After completing university, he returned to Kenya to begin his career in logistics, specializing in oil, gas, and air freight. He eventually moved back to Canada, where he continued working in logistics, focusing on local drayage and cross-border traffic to and from the U.S.

James Mnyupe

Senior Vice President Sub-Saharan Africa at thyssenkrupp Uhde

James Mnyupe, the founding head of the Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme, has announced his departure from the role and his subsequent appointment as Senior Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa at the global engineering powerhouse, thyssenkrupp Uhde.

Wayne Floreani

President & Co-Founder at MineAfrica

Wayne has 30+ years of international trade and investment promotion experience and expertise, with a particular focus on mining. He worked previously with the South African Department of Trade and Industry in Toronto and the Sudbury Regional Development Corporation. He has organized numerous delegations at international trade shows, trade missions and conferences including; the annual MineAfrica pavillion at PDAC, MinExpo in Las Vegas, Electra Mining, and the Canadian Institute of Mining, as well as high profile ministerial and trade delegations to Canada. He is a current Board Member (and past Chairman) of The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, Past President of the Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association of Canada and a current member of The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). Wayne holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario.

Daniel Barankin

Founding CEO & Chairman at 6ix

Daniel Barankin is the founding CEO & Chairman of 6ix, where he leads the company's mission to eliminate barriers to investment through connected investor communities. Beyond his leadership at 6ix, Daniel serves on the board of the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, where he has been elected five consecutive times, demonstrating his long-standing commitment to fostering economic ties between Canada and African nations. As founder of Save Canadian Mining, Daniel has led a significant advocacy initiative to restore fairness and transparency to Canada's capital markets, particularly for junior mining companies. Working alongside industry leaders like Eric Sprott and Rob McEwen, he has championed regulatory reform to address predatory short selling practices that disproportionately impact emerging resource companies, further demonstrating his commitment to creating equitable access to capital. Daniel's passion for international development and community building extends to sports, where he is an owner of the Ghanaian football club Sekondi Eleven Wise F.C., a historic team founded in 1919 that now stands over 106 years old with a rich legacy in Ghanaian football. A serial entrepreneur, investor, advisor and board member, Daniel's interests span a diverse range of sectors. His portfolio includes founding, advising, and investing in companies ranging from B2B, consumer, crypto, entertainment, hardware, luxury travel, natural resources, nutrition, software, specialty retail, and sports. He maintains an active investment portfolio that spans from early-stage startups to late-stage growth companies and venture funds globally. His track record includes involvement with companies that have grown from seed to multi-billion dollar market capitalizations, reflecting his ability to identify transformational opportunities across traditional industry boundaries and geographical limitations. Through these diverse roles, Daniel brings a unique global perspective to his vision of creating investment opportunities that transcend all barriers - whether geographical, socioeconomic, educational, or institutional - to democratize access to capital and expertise for innovators everywhere.

Dr. Leake S Hangala

Non-Executive Director at Hangala Group (Pty) Lt

As one of Namibia’s most influential businessmen, with vast experiences in government and finance, as well as a pivotal role during the liberation struggle, Dr. Hangala’s ambition remained unchanged from his childhood and shines through in his company’s business strategy.

Carl Joone

President & Co-Founder at Ongwe Minerals Inc.

Carl is a Namibian-born geologist with over a decade of gold and base metal exploration experience in Southern Africa. Together with his Namibian business partner Harmen Potgieter, they co-founded Belmont Mineral Exploration, a private Namibian exploration company, which over a period of three years consolidated a major licenses position, raised private finance, executed a significant and systematic, systems-driven exploration program which has already resulted in a number of gold discoveries which now form the asset base of the company. Carl holds an Honours degree in Applied Geology from Stellenbosch University and an MBA and began his career at AngloGold Ashanti’s Navachab Gold Mine in Namibia. Carl is a Registered Professional Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.