Dr Nicolaou has almost 34 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, mainly in domestic and international general management.

Nicolaou has been recognised in the Global Top 100 Health Edition’s list of  honorees as one of the ‘Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in Healthcare’, received Greece’s ARGO Public Service Award from the President of Greece in 2023, and received the International Federation of Pharmacists IPS Medal for 2024 for ‘Outstanding Contributions in Industrial Pharmacy’. He is a previous winner of the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) ‘Healthcare Marketer of the Year’ award in South Africa, has been inducted as a fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa, and was elected as an honorary member of the Southern African Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

In 2019, he received an honorary doctorate in Medicine from Wits University, was awarded the Order of the Lion of St Mark by the Greek Orthodox Pope, Theodoros II, and is a recipient of the Title of High Commander of the Order of the Apostle and Evangelist Mark of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. He’s presently the Group Senior Executive for Strategic Trade at Aspen Pharmacare Holdings and is a member of the Holdings Group executive, which oversees Aspen's operations in more than 60 countries worldwide. Presently, he serves on several industry boards and advisory councils, including the President’s National Orders Advisory Council. Nicolaou is particularly passionate about diversity, transformation, championing localisation, and building bridges between the private and public sectors to improve access to treatment for patients in emerging markets and healthcare outcomes in these markets.

Previously he was CEO of Aspen’s export business. Aspen is Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer and now a world leader in anaesthetics and injectable anti-coagulants.

Aspen is one of South Africa’s most globalised multinational companies with a presence in over 50 geographies globally, and 23 manufacturing facilities across 6 continents. Nicolaou was instrumental in introducing the first generic ARVs in Africa. Developed by Aspen, these have gone on to save hundreds of thousands of lives in South Africa and the rest of Africa. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he was appointed as the South African-organised business lead in coordinating the business’ contribution to the overall South African Covid response. This included the sourcing of personal protective equipment, critical medical countermeasures, and the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, where he served on the South African National Covid-19 Vaccine Coordinating Committee (NCVCC).

Trevor Frankish qualified with a medical degree from Wits and then did 5 years of clinical work in rural hospitals. During this time, he obtained a Master’s in Family Medicine and is currently registered as a Specialist in Family Medicine with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. He then moved into public sector healthcare management, which included a 5-year term as CEO of Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital (then Johannesburg Academic Hospital) and was subsequently appointed as Chief Director: Finance and Logistics at the Gauteng Department of Health. In this capacity, some of his responsibilities included managing clinical in-patient services provided to the Gauteng Department of Health by private healthcare companies.

He obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration, as well as a Master of Science (Medicine) degree in Bioethics and Health Law. From the Gauteng Health Department, he entered private-sector healthcare management with the Life Healthcare hospital group. In this capacity, he has been extensively involved in different types of public-private interaction and contracting: These include Build-Operate-Transfer community hospital projects, contracting to various provinces for long-term mental health and frail care services, and providing dialysis and radiation oncology services to provincial departments of health.

Trevor is passionate about mediation in settling disputes in the healthcare field. and is a qualified mediator through Mediation in Motion. He is actively involved in the mediation of alleged medical negligence cases in the Gauteng public sector.

Emilie Menard is a Senior Investment Officer at Proparco, based in Johannesburg, where she focuses on corporate debt and private equity transactions across Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.

She has over 15 years’ experience in development finance, spanning investment origination, execution, portfolio management, and restructuring.

Prior to her current role, she held several positions at Proparco and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in Paris, covering sectors such as healthcare, education, real estate, and infrastructure. She also gained early experience in asset management and investment banking.

Emilie holds a Master's in Management with a major in Corporate Finance from EM Lyon Business School.

Rui Morais, CEO of Dis-Chem, is leading one of South Africa’s most recognisable healthcare brands into a defining new chapter. Appointed in July 2023 after a decade as Chief Financial Officer, he succeeded founder, Ivan Saltzman, in one of the country’s most significant leadership transitions. Grounded in financial discipline and strategic foresight, Rui Morais has swiftly distinguished himself as a leader who balances commercial precision with a clear vision for accessible, integrated healthcare.

Dr Mosima Mabunda is the Chief Clinical Officer of Discovery Vitality, where she leads the clinical strategy for one of the world’s largest science-based health behavioural change programmes. Her work focuses on strengthening health system sustainability by complementing clinical care with large-scale prevention, earlier intervention, and smarter use of existing resources.

At Vitality, Dr Mabunda oversees the design and governance of programmes that apply behavioural science, data, and technology to improve access to care, support appropriate utilisation, and delay or prevent the onset of chronic diseases. This includes integrating wearable data, incentives, and personalised engagement at a population scale to address major drivers of healthcare pressure such as physical inactivity, poor sleep, and obesity.

A medical doctor by training, Dr Mabunda brings over 15 years’ experience spanning frontline clinical care, management consulting, and population health innovation across South Africa, the United Kingdom, and other African markets. She holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree in Healthcare Innovation from the University of Pennsylvania.

Her research and applied work explore how health systems can stretch limited capacity by preventing avoidable illness, slowing disease progression, and improving efficiency across care pathways. She has published and presented works internationally on the impact of large-scale behavioural change programmes on health outcomes and healthcare costs.

Dr Mabunda regularly advises on health system innovation and sits on the board of Health x Partners, a US-based nonprofit advancing data-driven approaches to equitable healthcare delivery. She is particularly interested in practical, scalable pathways to sustainable healthcare in resource-constrained settings.

Pfuluwani Netshikulwe is an accomplished Corporate Finance and Business Development Executive with extensive experience in capital raising, financial modelling, mergers and acquisitions, strategic accounts management, and growth strategy.

He holds an MBA and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (University of Pretoria), and a Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Accounting from the University of Cape Town.

He currently serves at GE Healthcare in a dual leadership role as Vice President: Healthcare Financial Services, and Executive: Strategic Accounts and Business Development. He leads capital procurement, financial advisory, and strategic partnership initiatives for complex healthcare projects, structuring innovative financing solutions and working closely with capital markets and development finance institutions.

Previously, Pfuluwani was an Investment Associate at the National Empowerment Fund and held corporate finance roles at ABSA Capital and Deloitte, focusing on investment structuring, financial planning and analysis, and M&A due diligence.

Dr Shoki Rampedi is the Chief Operations Officer at Botshilu Private Hospital, part of the Phelang Bonolo Healthcare Group, where she leads operational strategy, clinical governance, and performance optimisation.

A qualified medical doctor, she holds an MBChB from the University of Pretoria, a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and an MBA in Healthcare Leadership from Stellenbosch Business School.

With over a decade of experience across public and private healthcare, she brings a clinical and executive perspective to the table, focused on improving healthcare access, efficiency, and patient-centred care, particularly in peri-urban communities.