Keynote speaker(s)
Coming soon
(As)
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Cyril Lombard
Johannesburg, South Africa
Presents on :
TBA
Mr Cyril Lombard has over 30 years of experience in the biotrade, natural products, and small to medium-sized business development sectors.
In Namibia during the 1990s, he worked with the team that established commercial marula oil production, including setting up the supply associations and cooperatives and driving the commercial linkages to global companies.
In 1999, he established the Southern African Marula Oil Producers’ Network, facilitating the transfer of technology and knowledge to community-based businesses in Botswana, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
In 2000, Cyril was a member of the project formulation team that led to the establishment of the Southern African Natural Products Trade Association, also known as PhytoTrade Africa. There, he established the European office, holding the roles of Head of Market Development and Head of R&D. He assumed the position of CEO of PhytoTrade Africa from 2013 to 2016, during which time he also served on the board of directors of the Union for Ethical Biotrade.
He has served on evaluation and advisory panels for bioscience institutions in Southern Africa and is a research associate at the University of Johannesburg.
More recently, Cyril has been involved in fundraising for the development of the biotrade sector and provides advisory services to the GIZ ABioSA project and the BioInnovation Africa project.
Annah Moteetee
University of the Johannesburg
Presents on :
Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Prof. Annah Moteetee earned her BSc in Biology and Chemistry from the National University of Lesotho (NUL), followed by an MPhil in Botany from Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, and a PhD in Plant Taxonomy from Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg, UJ). She began her academic journey as a Teaching Assistant at NUL, quickly advancing to Lecturer, where she also held the position of Head of the Biology Department and served on the NUL Council. In January 2005, she joined UJ’s Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology as a Technical Lecturer, and through dedication, she progressed to Senior Lecturer (2006-2013), Associate Professor (2013-2018), and Full Professor (2018-present). Annah has held leadership roles including Vice-Dean for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Science (2011-2015) and Acting Dean (2013-2014), and from January 2017 to January 2021, she led the Botany and Plant Biotechnology Department. She currently supervises multiple doctoral and master’s students while having successfully guided numerous others through their degrees. With over sixty journal articles to her name, Annah has presented extensively at national and international conferences. Her expertise is reflected in her service on various NRF panels and as an external examiner for theses across numerous universities. She is also an editorial board member and reviewer for respected journals including the South African Journal of Botany and Systematic Botany. Presently, she serves as the Senior Director of the Postgraduate School at UJ and was recently elected to the USAf Community of Practice for Postgraduate Education and Scholarship Steering Committee (2023-2025).
Anthony Afolayan
University of Fort Hare
Presents on :
Thursdays, 14 August 2025
Prof Anthony Afolayan is an Emeritus Professor at the Department of Botany, University of Fort Hare in South Africa. Before his retirement about four years ago, Prof Afolayan was the Leader of the Medicinal Plants and Economic Development Research Niche Area of the same institution. Anthony has published over 500 scientific peer reviewed papers in various internationally accredited journals. He has supervised more than 50 PhD candidates and several MSc degree projects. He is an internationally recognized expert in many areas of phytomedicine, pharmacology and toxicology including bioprospecting for novel drugs from medicinal plants.
Prof Afolayan is a member of several editorial boards of scientific journals. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Medicinal Plants for Economic Development (JOMPED). Notably, Prof Afolayan is the Founder and first President of the Society of Medicinal Plants for Economic Development (SOMPED)