Séamus McCann
Séamus McCann is cofounder and Director of ASTEC Global and the current Chairman of ConsultingIreland. He has over 30 years’ experience in project management and senior consultancy experience gained with Governments and private sector clients throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, and has worked with the European Commission, EIB, EBRD, Islamic Development Bank and World Bank, developing policy and strategy, public procurement and implementation for Governments in the Emerging Markets.
As Chairman of Consulting Ireland, he is leading an initiative to help Irish companies win business in these sizeable international markets by providing practical training and support programmes to the Consulting Ireland members. Consulting Ireland is part of an international network including the regional governments of Alsace (France), Catalonia (Spain) and South Norway.
Séamus, a qualified accountant, has previously worked in Irish State entities, ESB (Energy sector), Eircom (telecoms) and Teagasc (Agriculture), primarily in the Financial and Treasury Departments. He was previously Chairman of the Irish Association of Corporate Treasurers.
Sylvia Gavigan
Dr. Sylvia Gavigan brings over 20 years of experience in the education sector and as an Investment and Trade Consultant. She has held leadership roles in Ireland, working extensively with governments, international agencies, and local organisations, driving impactful projects across Europe and Africa.
She was appointed to the Irish Government National Task Team on Agriculture for Rural Africa (NTTRA) and played a key role in the establishment of the Ireland–Africa Rural Development Committee (IARDC). Throughout her career, Dr Gavigan has advised investors, supported businesses in market extension, accessing funding opportunities across Europe, and championed entrepreneurship education for women and youth around Africa and Europe.
As a prolific author, she has published numerous journals, articles, and book chapters on business start-ups, investment, innovation, leadership, and women in business.
Nigel Sutton
Nigel has spent most of his life living and working on the African continent, having lived in both West Africa (Ghana and Nigeria) and East Africa (Kenya and Uganda).
His working experience has included, up until 2019, setting up, owning and managing the two largest marketing and advertising agencies in Uganda for over 25 years, as well as a very successful market research business. His agencies clients included many multinational brands (Barclays Bank, Diageo, British Airways and Nissan), pan-African brands (MTN, South African Breweries and Shoprite Holdings) and aid agency clients (UNICEF, USAID, the Gates Foundation, the European Union).
Through Nigel’s experience of working in diverse and challenging markets, he has a truly unique depth of knowledge of markets in Africa and has a wide-ranging understanding of the nuances of what it takes to do business on the continent. He understands what working in new and challenging markets involves and appreciates what it takes to run successful businesses in Africa, from immersing yourself in local cultures, to understanding the subtleties of the market, from deep-diving into the needs and wants and identifying key opportunities.
Having lived and worked in Africa, Nigel has built up an impressive database of contacts and partners across many businesses and industries across the continent that he can call on to assist potential investors who are looking to partner with African businesses.
