February will see the ASIS International, Chapter 203 annual conference taking place in Cape Town from 4 to 6 February 2015. Titled Africa: A New Dawn – Opportunities and Challenges, this is an international security conference focusing on strategies for securing assets in Africa for the next 10-15 years. It features an array of renowned international guest speakers as well as interactive sessions, panel discussions, round tables, table-top exercises (all under Chatham House rules) with real-life experiences and solutions to deal with the many opportunities and challenges of doing business in Africa, a very dynamic and fluid continent.
Two of the speakers in this year’s conference are Dr Robert Besseling and Brian Gonsalves.
Dr Robert Besseling is a Principal Analyst to the Sub-Saharan Africa Country Risk and Forecasting Team at IHS. Besseling is based in Johannesburg and London. Previously, he was the Deputy Head of Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis (acquired by IHS in 2012). He specialises in political and violent risks to natural resource sectors, especially mining and oil & gas within southern, east and central Africa. His most recent research includes sovereign and sub-sovereign influence mapping for Mozambique, projects on the power sector in South Africa, copper mining in DRC and Zambia, the development of the natural gas sector in East Africa and the political dynamics of Angola. He has travelled extensively in the region, including regularly to Mozambique. His most recent visits were specifically to meet RENAMO leaders staging on-going attacks in the country and to research opportunities and obstacles for SME development on the back of the planned LNG mega-projects in northern Mozambique.
He makes frequent appearances on televised media, especially CNBC, BBC and al-Jazeera, as well as regular contributions to print media, including Reuters, AFP, Bloomberg and the Financial Times.
Besseling is a graduate of the University of Cape Town in South Africa and St. Andrews University in the UK. His doctoral research was focused on natural resource development in southern and central Africa, particularly comparing Chinese, US and European investment and trading patterns. Robert also holds an MBA from the International University of Monaco.
Brian Gonsalves is currently Vice President: Global Security for AngloGold Ashanti, one of the world’s leading gold mining companies.
Gonsalves hails from a military intelligence background. He started his career in the mining industry (Anglo American Corporation) in 1988 in the information technology field, where he qualified as a Project and Networking Specialist. He spent 8 years in IT, in various capacities, before he was appointed as a Project Manager for Security, to lead a project in implementing an Integrated Security Management System across the company. This involved alignment of people and technical security systems in mitigating security risk. Three years later, after successful implementation of the project, Brian served in various Operational and Regional Security Management positions within his company, before being appointed to his current position as Head of Group Security in 2009.
He holds a business management qualification from the Gordon Institute for Business Science (University of Pretoria), numerous Risk and Security Management certificates, complemented by his IT qualifications and experience. He is currently completing his MBA degree.
He is a current member of the Security Executive Council and ASIS International and also serves on several national and international forums for Security. Most notably he has served on the Steering Committee for the Global Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights Initiative and was a founding board member for the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights Association.
For more information about the conference contact [email protected], or go to www.asis203.org.za
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