Funké Michaels has over 21 years ‘hands-on’ sales, marketing and advertising experience – with multimillion budget brands like Coca-Cola, Peugeot, Rothmans, Heineken, Subaru and Samsung. Working globally across Sub-Saharan Africa, North-Africa/Middle East, Europe and the UK, Latin-America and the Caribbean as a Creative-Communications practitioner. Funke speaks 7 languages and works well across English and French-speaking communities. She has won several awards for her work in Marketing Communications, especially with new or renewed product introductions. Funké is an MIT Sloan Fellow, and Harvard Mason Fellow; a Fellow of The Nigerian Institute of Marketing, and The Institute of Brand Management. She co-founded the MIT Africa Investment Forum which convenes on campus bi-annually. She is co-founder of The Pro-NICHE Network, a not-for-profit organization providing free concept incubation, niche-networking and consulting services for African start-ups. Funke teaches a postgraduate course in International Brand and Sales Excellence – IBX (360-Degree Marketing) at The Orange Academy, Lagos; She is a member of The MIT Think Tank, and a USAID ‘Young African Leaders Initiative’ (YALI) Partner.