Since he started his career in 1985 in Abidjan, Gilles Atayi has held several senior management positions in Marketing, General Management and Strategic Planning in Africa and Europe.

In 1995, Gilles Atayi left Cote d’Ivoire (his country) to start his international career. He served in Kenya, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and The Netherlands. Working with international Blue Chip companies, Gilles has successfully contributed to well renowned initiatives on the African continent and beyond. Notably, he has worked for 11 years for Coca-Cola as Marketing Director and Country Director. He also worked for Celtel (now Zain) in Country Operations as well as being a Group Marketing Director. During his time at Celtel, he actively participated in several commercial and expansion programmes.

Particularly, Gilles headed the "Celtel Way to Market" initiative. It is a very comprehensive and practical programme which he rolled out in all 15 African Operations of the Group. Today, "The Celtel Way to Market" (now "The Zain Way to Market" is largely being implemented in all Zain territories.

In his 22 years of working for these corporate organisations across Africa, Gilles has recruited, developed and promoted several Africans to roles of great responsibility.

Gilles Atayi, a proud African, is passionate about human development and people capability building. Since September 2007, Gilles Atayi has availed his expertise and rich experience to People and Organisations in Africa, in the field of Developmental Strategies, Leadership and Transformation by establishing his company: G&A Business Solutions, which operates from Johannesburg, South Africa. Today the company has established Associate Offices in Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and DRC and it operates in 10 Anglophone countries & 11 Francophone countries across Africa. The Anchor clients for the company are Zain, Coca-Cola and Shell.

He regularly facilitates workshops, presents in conferences, coaches senior & executive management in both the private and public sectors. This way, he fulfils his vision for a stronger, healthier, competitive and more prosperous Africa.

Since she started her career in Abidjan in 1985, Mariama has held several positions of increased responsibility in the field of Statistic Economics and Finances.

Most of her 18 years working experience have been spent in Corporate Banks in Cote d'Ivoire. Mariama has a strong practice in the areas of Planning, Budgeting and Reporting and in the implementation of processes for internal control and audit. She successively worked for BIAO Cote d'Ivoire, the Meridien BIAO network in West Africa and Banque de l'Habitat as Head of Treasury. Mariama who is a certified ACI Dealer also worked for Standard Chartered Bank as Senior Money Market and Foreign Exchange Dealer.

Since March 2003, Mariama gave another direction to her career when she decided to operate as an independent Finances Consultant. She served various assignments for the African Development Bank (ADB) in West Africa and AMARC Africa Regional Office out of Johannesburg.

In September 2007, she joined G&A Business Solutions as Head of the Finance and Resourcing Division where she also plays a key role in supervising the route to consolidation with the Company associate partners across the continent.

Mariama who is passionate about human capability development in Africa, is involved in several charity activities.

She is a Statistician Engineer from L'Ecole Superieure de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquee d'Abidjan.

Mediatrix Ndhlovu has held several positions since she started her career 20years ago in her country, Zimbabwe.

She has worked in the media, insurance & reinsurance, fast food, hospitality industries in both the parastatal and private sectors.

Her career started with a National Broadcaster and has progressed in various senior managerial & directorial positions throughout her career as a human resources practitioner and business consultant.

Mediatrix started in the media industry as a News Reader; later joining a Local Authority in charge of training; progressing with an Insurer and Reinsurer in charge of the Group’s senior placements, employee welfare, talent management, Graduate programs, management development and leadership programs. She also worked as Director for Operational standards and Training with a listed private Group with Franchise operations across Africa in fast food, restaurants and hospitality.

Since May 2008, Mediatrix joined one of the leading Consulting firms in Africa: G&A Business Solutions where she has responsibility for the organisation’s Consulting & Training arm of the business.