Dean Forbes is Chief Executive Officer of Forterro, one of Europe’s leading software providers serving the industrial mid-market.

Since becoming CEO, he has led the business through significant growth and transformation, helping establish Forterro as a major European software platform through a combination of strategic acquisitions, operational excellence and long-term investment.

Today, he is leading Forterro’s AI journey, both through the delivery of AI solutions for customers and the adoption of AI across the organisation to help employees work more effectively.

Alongside his role at Forterro, Dean is a Partner at Corton Capital, where he works with businesses and leadership teams from an investor’s perspective, providing a different lens on growth, leadership and value creation.

Dean is also a Board Member at Cornerstone VC, a venture capital fund focused on a people-first investment strategy, investing at pre-seed and seed stage in UK technology businesses. Through Cornerstone VC, he works closely with founders and entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of their journeys.

Outside of his corporate and investment activities, Dean is Founder of Forbes Family Group, through which he has developed a number of entrepreneurial, community and philanthropic initiatives focused on creating opportunity and supporting people to achieve their potential.

Most recently, Dean became co-owner of Severan Wines, providing a unique perspective on entrepreneurship and ownership outside the technology sector.

Andy Ayim MBE is the founder of Ayim Limited, where he designs and facilitates human-centred leadership for some of the world’s most influential brands and upstarts. Alongside keynote speaking and facilitation, Andy has worked with Google, Uber, Tesco, Nando’s and dozens of global brands.

Before this, Andy spent years closing gaps in venture capital, from backing underrepresented founders to training over 2,000 investors through the Angel Investing School, work that earned him a King’s Honours MBE in 2020.

My name is Jennifer Yaa Akoto Kieck. I’m a German-Ghanaian artist and entrepreneur who grew up between Ghana and Germany. With a childhood immersed in highlife music from my father and political science from my mother, I’ve had a cross-cultural foundation. I studied dance and education at the Lola Rogge School in Hamburg, and at 21, I signed my first record deal, leading to a fulfilling career with Warner Music.

After several albums, I moved to Paris, and later, a trip to Ghana with the German president sparked my passion for infrastructure in the African music industry. I founded Moon Entertainment Systems and a live production company to uplift high-quality music experiences in Ghana. My husband and I then expanded that vision, partnering with SXSW and Reeperbahn Festival, culminating in the sold-out Afrosonic X festival in 2025. In parallel, I launched Wavvi, a distribution app empowering African artists, and published my book, “The World Needs More Love.”

Together, these ventures reflect my mission to foster global platforms for African creativity and connection. Throughout all of this, my guiding principle remains: self-love and mental well-being are the roots of lasting success. As I write in my book, ‘The World Needs More Love,’ staying in love with life empowered me to build these companies, uplift others, and create a platform where African creativity can thrive and be monetised.

Abdul Karim Abdullah is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Culture Management Group (CMG) and AfroFuture Festival formerly known as Afrochella Festival. Abdul holds a BS in Psychology, Biology from Syracuse University, and a master’s in public health from CUNY Hunter College.

Professionally Abdul is a certified Clinical Research Trial Manager. He has worked for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Syneos Health and Bristol Meyer Squibb managing financial budgets of $20+ Million. Abdul honed his project management skills and applied them to his passion for arts and culture. In 2017, he and his partners founded the Afrochella Festival.

Afrochella was a festival designed to highlight & elevate thrilling and thriving talent from and within Africa. The festival existed to foster engagement, to boost tourism within Ghana and Africa at large by providing a space for the diaspora to celebrate culture by appreciating African Music, Food, Art, and Culture curated from a native’s perspective. In 2019, the festival was cited as the direct reason for 16% of Ghana’s Tourists. In 2022 the festival was rebranded to AfroFuture Festival, serving the same purpose but ushering a new stride of Futurism for the collective black diaspora,

Abdul & his partners were named Goodwill Ambassador to Ghana in 2022 for their impact on the Ghana Tourism Sector. Abdul and Afrochella have been featured on BBC, CNN, Essence, Vogue, Forbes, GQ.

Alexandra is a host from Hamburg whose presence and instincts leave a lasting impression on every event she hosts. She hosts startup pitches, conferences, and political events with precision, confidence, and an energy that captivates her audience.

Her credentials include the Mastercard Fintech Forum in Berlin, the Lexware Startup Pitch at OMR, EU Green Week in Brussels, and the Mayors Panel at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference alongside Hamburg’s First Mayor.

Whether at international conferences or on major stages – such as with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the Elbphilharmonie – Alexandra is a powerhouse on stage. She is known for her rhetorical finesse, her innate talent for improvisation, and her remarkable versatility, which is evident not least in the way she moves effortlessly between different linguistic codes, registers, and languages. As the host of the AiDiA Pitch Event, she has shaped the format from the very beginning.

David Amoateng holds a degree in social economics and is the founder and CEO of LITTLE ASHÉ GmbH (Germany) and LITTLE ASHÉ Ltd. (Ghana) – Germany’s first Afro-German toy manufacturer.

The idea for LITTLE ASHÉ arose from a personal experience: While searching for a Black doll for his niece, David couldn’t find a product on the German toy market that met his standards – made from organic fabric, fairly produced, high-quality, and with a transparent, sustainable supply chain. This gap became the starting point for his own company, with its own production and distribution.

The name “Ashé” comes from a centuries-old West African philosophical concept and roughly means: letting things happen and bringing about change. It is precisely this drive that shapes David’s work – he develops toys that allow children of every skin color to see themselves reflected in them, while simultaneously promoting diversity among all children.

As a visionary and impact entrepreneur, David combines entrepreneurial thinking with social responsibility: sustainable production, fair working conditions, and an inclusive world of toys in which every child can see themselves reflected.

At the pitch event, David will discuss the journey of LITTLE ASHÉ – from his personal motivation to the international growth of a company that demonstrates how social impact and entrepreneurial success go hand in hand.

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