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Speaker

Oliver Maponga currently holds the post of Economic Affairs Officer and is based at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Sub Regional Office for Southern Africa in Lusaka, Zambia. He possesses wide experience in the minerals sector and has supported African member States on policy development in the sector. Oliver was part of the ECA team which anchored the development of the Africa Mining Vision and its action plan and is actively involved in the continental approach to critical energy transition minerals exploitation. His current work also focuses on supporting inclusive industrialization in Southern Africa through industrial policy development and implementation, the development of regional value chains, strengthening regional economic integration, supporting the establishment of resource-based national and transboundary special economic zones and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement by regional member States. Oliver holds a PhD in Mineral Economics and has held research and teaching posts at the Western Australian School of Mines and the University of Zimbabwe’s Institute of Mining Research where he supported analytical work in the sector, especially focussing on artisanal and small-scale mining, mineral economics, mining investment, and socio-economic and environmental assessment of mining activities. He is a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe, McGill University (Canada) and the Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University of Technology (Australia).