Line-up of speakers:
Michael Power joined Investec Asset Management – now known as Ninety One – as a strategist in December 2002. His current responsibilities include understanding how the shift in the centre of economic gravity from West to East is impacting on the world of investment and in particular how it is opening up new investment opportunities for Investec’s global client base. He began his career working in the Middle East department of Chase Manhattan Bank before joining Anglo American’s corporate finance department in South Africa. Michael then worked in the London corporate finance department of NM Rothschild & Sons where his work had a strong natural resource emphasis. Having completed a 4×4 overland safari through Africa, Michael then worked for HSBC-Equator Bank in Kenya for four years. He returned to the UK to work at Baring Asset Management as a director in their emerging markets department, where he was head of Africa and the Middle East as well as heading the natural resources sector and was also portfolio manager for the Pan African Simba Fund. Michael graduated from the University of Cape Town with a PhD in Economics. He also holds an MA in International Business and Law from the Fletcher School at Tufts and a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.
Cobus van Staden completed his PhD in Japanese Studies and Media Studies at the University of Nagoya in Japan in 2008. He expanded his work to comparisons between Japan and China during postdoctoral positions at the University of Stellenbosch, and the SARCHI Chair on African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg, before joining the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013. His focus on China-Africa relations is further developed through the multi-platform China-Africa Project, which includes the China in Africa Podcast, the most prominent podcast dedicated to China-Africa relations, which is downloaded about 30,000 times per month.
Mike Spicer has an MA in History (with distinction) from Rhodes University. He worked at Chatham House in London and SAIIA (as Deputy Director) before joining Anglo American. In a 20-year career he rose to be a Director and Vice President, and Chaired Anglo’s South African Board. He then became the CEO of Business Leadership SA, rebranding and refocusing the old South African Foundation into the country’s most prestigious business body. In 2012 he joined the boards of a number of companies and, after moving to Cape Town, now spends most of his time promoting Cape Town and the Western Cape, inter alia serving as the Deputy Chair of Wesgro.