Sunil Benimadhu joined the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM) as Chief Executive in May 1998. He was appointed Executive Director of the SEM in October 2008. Sunil was until
October 2020, the Chairman of Global Finance Mauritius (GFM), the apex body of private sector operators in the Financial Services Industry in Mauritius, aiming at developing
Mauritius as an International Financial Centre of excellence. During his tenure, he played an instrumental role in the setting up of Mauritius Finance, which is now the leading voice for the financial services industry in Mauritius, he served on its Board from November 2020 to April 2024. He was a Board member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), an association of the World’s leading Stock Exchanges, from October 2014 to September 2021.
Sunil was the President of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), an association of 25 Stock Exchanges operating on the continent, from August 2010 to November 2014. From 2002 to 2005, he was a member of the Executive Committee of the South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE), which comprises twelve Stock Exchanges of
the South Asian region. From April 2001 to February 2004, he chaired the SADC Committee of Stock Exchanges (COSSE), an association of ten Stock Exchanges of the Southern African region.
Sunil is a regular speaker on Emerging and African Financial Markets in international conferences. He holds a M.B.A. in Finance and Investment from the University of Illinois,
United States. He also holds a D.E A. in Development Economics and a Maîtrise in Macro-Economics from the University of Aix-Marseille, France.
Paolo serves as the Head of Marketing Europe for SIG Group. He joined the company five years ago, bringing with him extensive experience in various marketing roles within leading global Food FMCG companies (Nestlé and Ferrero). Since 2020, Paolo has advanced his career at SIG, starting as the Marketing Manager for South East EU and later becoming responsible for the entire European market. His background enables him to effectively integrate BtB and BtC skill sets, strategic marketing, and a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior and the retail landscape.
Dr. Patrick Hochloff drives using flexibility of energy assets in E.ON’s Energy Infrastructure Solutions segment. He integrates digital solutions in the European subsidiaries and provides solutions integrated with industrial energy supply. He developed solutions for customers in the paper and chemical industry and now he scales it for the food & beverage industry. As graduated engineer and with a scientific background in energy economics, Patrick is passionate about optimizing flexible assets and exploring technical and commercial ways for E.ON’s customers.
Betty van Esch is Senior Scientist at the division of Pharmacology at UIPS, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University with a broad background on immunology and allergy. Her interest is immune modulation by nutrition with >75 published papers related to this topic (H-index 23, Scopus). As senior scientist in Immunology & Nutrition, she is conducting translational immunological research. Her main interest field is immune modulation and immune-imprinting by dietary interventions, environmental factors and experimental agents. Nutritional concepts, like raw milk, fermented raw milk and its components are valuable new strategies based on the epidemiologic evidence that structural changes in proteins induced by processing play a role in the development of allergic diseases. By studying the specific bioactive component in unprocessed milk, we are aiming to develop therapeutic strategies which support current pharmaceutical therapies.
She has received her PhD degree on her research on “Cow’s milk Allergy; Avoidance versus tolerance: new concepts for allergy management”. She runs programs on the anti-inflammatory and immune effects of nutrition, biologicals and using experimental models and isolated cell systems. Current projects include; The effect of nutritional concepts on the microbial composition of the gut, lungs and esophagus in relation to disease; The immunomodulation of fermented raw milk and The immune profiling of eosinophilic esophagitis. Next to her research, she teaches in the Bachelor and Master program of Pharmacy. She is an elected member of the EAACI Immuno-pharmacology taskforce, Ethical Committee Animal Experiments and reviewer for Frontiers in Immunology.
Dr. Kate Dokukina is an expert with 20+ years in the biopharmaceutical industry and medicine , specializing in clinical research, drug development, and regulatory strategy. She has led global clinical programs across oncology, autoimmune, and rare diseases, overseeing the launch of 50+ new molecules. Currently VP in clinical trials at Eilean Therapeutics(US), she has held leadership roles at BIOCAD, Shanghai Pharma and MedInvestGroup.
Júlia Rodríguez-Comas (CSO, Co-founder, and Board Member at Sycai Medical) holds a PhD in Biomedicine from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), a degree in Biology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and a master’s degree in Integrative Physiology from the UB. She has over seven years of academic experience as a PhD candidate and postdoctoral researcher at leading institutions such as IDIBAPS (August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), where she contributed to cutting-edge projects, including the development of organ-on-a-chip technology. With an h-index of 13, she has also been involved in university teaching and academic mentoring, supervising PhD and master’s students. As Clinical Director of Sycai Medical, she leads clinical investigations, ensuring the validation and integration of AI-driven solutions in healthcare.
Andreas Saracevas is a leader in refrigeration engineering, specializing in high-efficiency systems that drive sustainability and performance. At Mayekawa, he spearheads natural refrigerant adoption, optimizing systems that cut energy costs and future-proof industrial cooling.
With deep expertise in system design, optimization, and business strategy, Andreas helps businesses transition from outdated cooling methods to dependable, low-GWP solutions. A strong advocate for natural refrigerants, he works with industry leaders to accelerate technology adoption and regulatory alignment—not just adapting to change but driving it.
Abigail Beaney is a Pharmaceutical Reporter for Clinical Trials Arena, where she covers breaking news and features about the clinical sector, including regulation, impacts of political shifts and disease-specific content. Abigail specialises in regulation, trial design, cell and gene therapies and neurodegenerative diseases. She also contributes to GlobalData’s Healthcare Podcast which is available to stream on Spotify.
