BELIEVE IN FUTURE · AMAZING MENTOR · GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SERIES 2025
Adrienne Westman
Deal-Making
Financial Inclusion
Entrepreneurship
Ecosystem Building
Global Leadership Series 2025
Designing Growth in Complex Markets
From automotive finance to energy, mining, fintech and SME acceleration, Adrienne has spent more than
two decades building businesses, opening markets and shaping leaders across Africa and beyond.
In markets where volatility and opportunity constantly collide, Adrienne Westman has built her
leadership around one consistent ability: turning complexity into executable strategy. She began her
journey in front-line sales and customer care, learning how value is experienced at the last mile –
where products meet people and promises meet reality.
That experience created a lens she has carried through every role since. Whether working in automotive
finance, property, investment management or later in energy and fintech, Adrienne became the leader
organisations called when they needed to reposition, enter new markets or align scattered initiatives
into a single, coherent go-to-market strategy.
Her work has taken her into industries that sit at the core of developing economies: renewable energy,
industrial holdings, composite manufacturing, and embedded financial services. Instead of seeing
regulation, infrastructure gaps and fragmented distribution as obstacles, she treated them as design
constraints for better systems. Each new sector became another opportunity to build models where
commercial outcomes and community-level benefit could co-exist.
Today, this systems view is visible in her role with AKELO – a highly scalable fintech and media
distribution platform that consolidates rewards, payments, engagement and retail connectivity under one
architecture. As Head of New Markets, Adrienne helps translate that vision into on-the-ground
partnerships and penetration strategies across Africa and the Middle East.
industries and investors into the next decade.”
Beyond the transaction, Adrienne’s leadership is anchored in access. Through platforms like
The Lion Cage, she gives entrepreneurs a trusted environment to pitch to seasoned business
leaders and vetted investors – turning isolation into community, and ideas into investable deals.
where others can win, consistently and at scale.”
Global Interview with Adrienne Westman
A studio-grade conversation exploring Adrienne’s defining moments, her philosophy of ecosystem building,
and her playbook for entrepreneurs and executives navigating emerging markets.
Once the episode is published, update the embed link above with the final YouTube URL. The layout
stays the same for every leader in the series.
Segment 1
Origin Story & Early Lessons
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Take us back to the moment that truly shaped you into the leader you are today.
[Transcript snippet – once the interview is recorded, insert 2–3 short paragraphs here focusing on
the defining moment and what it changed in her thinking and actions.]
Segment 2
Building Ecosystems, Not Just Companies
›
You use the word “ecosystem” a lot. What does that practically mean in your world?
[Insert a curated segment capturing how she links investors, operators, communities and customers
into long-term value chains.]
Segment 3
Resilience & Recalibration
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What has been your toughest professional challenge – and what did it teach you about leadership?
[Use this for a powerful story that shows how she handles setbacks, risk and long-term recovery.]
Segment 4
Advice to Emerging Leaders & Founders
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If you had to give emerging leaders one framework to navigate uncertainty, what would it be?
[Capture her guidance in a concise set of principles, not a full transcript line-by-line.]
Career Timeline
returns and long-term value creation in key African markets.
East, integrating rewards, payments and engagement at the last mile.
cross-sector deals and partnerships across the continent.
building and brand positioning.
a focus on leadership, resilience and entrepreneurial growth.
- Advisory input into large-scale energy and infrastructure initiatives.
- Focus on long-term value rather than short-term extraction.
- Bridging investors, operators and communities.
- Embedded financial services for under-served consumers.
- Retail rewards and cash-displacement solutions.
- Linking brands, retailers and end-users into win–win models.
- Designing end-to-end business and brand strategy.
- Aligning leadership, teams and stakeholders around shared goals.
- Activating brands into targeted markets with clarity.
- Host of “The Lion Cage” – a platform for founders and investors.
- Curating trusted environments for honest deal-making.
- Turning isolated founders into connected ecosystem players.
Where Her Work Travels
and reaching audiences in over 100 countries through speaking, mentorship and advisory work.
Replace these blocks with real images to visually anchor the story and humanise her profile.
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