API Awards

Dr Marco Macagnano Smart Real Estate Leader for Deloitte Consulting in South Africa and Africa, which caters to the design and delivery of connected buildings and cities, IoT integration, digital transformation and strategy, and intelligent asset management.
Marco is a professional architect with 14 years of experience in professional practice, a Director of the Green Building Council of South Africa, and a Smart Buildings and Cities specialist.
In 2018 he was named a winner in Building Design and Construction’s global 40 Under 40 for 2018, and has completed his PhD in Architecture with a focus on Smart and Sustainable built environments in the Information Age.

Kelly Kalumba has over twenty years’ notable experience working with Louis Karol Architects in South Africa, where he is Senior Partner working and managing a large number of projects across most African and European countries. Currently, he is also the president of the Zambia Institute of Architects and Founder/CEO of Green Code Architects in Lusaka. He has degrees in architecture from Wits University as well as the Copperbelt University. His personal achievements include the South African Professional Services Awards top 3 finalists and the High Commissioners Award for recognition of outstanding performance and worldwide contribution to the architectural industry.

Nicolas Sheard is a founding member and the Group CEO of RLB in Africa, a Quantity Surveying and Project Management firm based in South Africa with a growing African footprint. With 30 years’ experience in the industry, Nicolas has vast knowledge of managing flagship projects across all construction sectors.

Through implementing strategic direction, he has been an integral part of the successful growth and sustainable development of the business in sub-Saharan Africa and continues to seek new opportunities for further expansion.

As an expert and mentor in the industry, Nicolas served on the discussion panel at previous events of the African Property Investment Summit.

A highly experienced and qualified Real Estate Professional Services expert. A holder of a MSc (Econs) in Urban Development Planning from the University of London and BA (Land Economics) from the University of Nairobi. A full member of The Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (Valuation & Estate Agents Chapter). Registered Estate Agent.

A professional with significant experience in the Kenyan real estate market who has been involved in the formulation of profitable real estate strategies for medium to large corporate clients with a wealth of experience gained over the last 25 years. A well known Estate Agent and Property Negotiator who is well versed in various aspects of Commercial Property Leasing, Transaction Management, Tenant Representation and conducting Property Due Diligence and Audits. Also an experienced property manager of Commercial office properties. His expertise now extends to greater knowledge of the growing retail property market. Specialties: Commercial Property Lease and Sale Negotiations, Real Estate Market Research and Consultancy, Property and Facilities Management, Valuation of Property for accounting, insurance and mortgage purposes.

Kevin Teeroovengadum has an MBA and M.Sc. in Finance. He worked for KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young in corporate finance and business consultancy before moving to Loita Capital Partners Group. Kevin joined Actis as a Director as part of their Africa real estate team. At Actis, he led the origination of a number of new developments and assisted in fund raising for Actis’ 2 nd real estate fund. He also led the sale of 2 major assets i.e. Accra Mall in Ghana and Capital Properties in Tanzania to offshore buyers and setting the pricing benchmark for investment grade properties in Africa.

Sethebe Manake is a business owner, standing at the helm of Botswana’s first Property Research and Consulting Firm.  She has extensive experience in the real estate industry particularly with pension fund portfolios, listed property portfolios, consortiums, joint ventures and privately owned portfolios. Her last corporate role was Chief Executive Officer of listed property company Letlole La Rona, before being offered a regional Asset Management position at Stanlib South Africa. Sethebe holds a Bachelor of Science in Property Studies from the University of Cape Town and a Master of Science in Strategic Management from the University of Derby and Botswana Accountancy College.

Trevor Ward is a specialist consultant in the hospitality, leisure and real estate industries. He is the Principal of the W Hospitality Group, and Chairman of Hotel Partners Africa, with offices in the UK, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa.

He started his consultancy career in 1983, having previously completed a university degree in hotel management at the University of Surrey, and worked in hotel management positions in the UK.  From the late 1980s he has specialised in the provision of advisory services to clients in developing countries, and since 2003 has been based in Nigeria, advising clients there and throughout Africa.

His international experience includes advising clients on hotel and tourism development in more than 90 countries in Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.  With a special focus on sub-Saharan Africa, he is working with many of the international hotel groups who are seeking a presence there, from the oil-rich countries of the west to the tourism hotspots of the south and east.  He is regarded as one of the foremost experts on the hotel industry in sub-Saharan Africa, and is engaged primarily in development consultancy ranging from investment appraisals to operator selection, owner’s representation and asset management, valuations, financing, development management, procurement and agency.

In addition to his advisory work, Trevor is an active member of the Institute of Hospitality, for which he is their Ambassador for Africa, and of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants.

Trevor is a regular speaker at industry conferences, and writes in various professional and Africa-focused journals, including Africa Investor and BT Africa

Godfrey Tapela is a Senior Investment Officer at IFC based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is responsible for investments in the commercial property including affordable housing, retail and tourism sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Godfrey joined IFC in 2001 and previously worked for ABSA Bank, Eskom as a Projects Engineer and for DLV Consulting Engineers and Stewart Scott Consulting Engineers as a Consulting Engineer. He holds a Master in Business Leadership from UNISA, a BSc Electrical Engineering(Hons) from the University of Zimbabwe, a Graduate Diploma in Marketing from the Institute of Marketing Management and is a registered Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.

Joao Terlica is the co-founder of Sagaci Research.

Sagaci Research is the leading African provider of data and market research. With 13 offices across the African continent, the company serves most multinational clients operating in Africa.

Prior launching Sagaci Research Joao was an advisor with the Office of Tony Blair and started his career with the Boston Consulting Group and as a consultant with Arthur D. Little.

During his consulting career he had a focus on emerging markets, including Africa, with most of the assignments related to corporate strategy and turnarounds. Industry expertise in Financial Services, Transportation and Retail Joao is an Industrial Engineer from IST (Lisbon) 1999, MBA from IESE (Barcelona) and Columbia University (New York) 2005.