NEPAD Business Monitor brings you a professional and knowledgeable editorial team with extensive experience of African development processes and challenges. 

Managing Editor: Christie Christelis

Christie is responsible for overall editorial content of NEPAD Business Monitor, and coordinates news and analysis sources from developed countries, and from other editorial staff. He is resident in Toronto, Canada.

Christie is an electronics engineer by background and was involved in engineering design and development in the aerospace industry early in his career. He has an MBA degree, a postgraduate engineering diploma, and has studied international relations at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. 

Christie has worked in the market research industry for many years, and was founder of two technology market research companies—one in South Africa and one in Canada. Christie has authored innumerable industry and economic reports throughout his career. In addition, he has extensive experience of the African development environment, gained over many years through study of the regional economies and markets in Africa. In 1999 He was appointed as project manager of the executing agency team on a three-year bilateral Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) project aimed at industrial and economic development of Southern Africa. He has recently completed an in-depth study of fifty three developing countries, twenty seven of which are African.

He was formerly editor of the trade publications Canadian Card News and Technology and Management Perspectives. He is currently a volunteer editor of the Canadian Survey Research Council newsletter, and serves as Vice Chairman of the Canada-South Africa Chamber of Business.

Africa Editor: Wendy Richards

Wendy is responsible for editorial content and coordinating news and analysis sources throughout the African continent. She is a South African citizen, residing in Gauteng, South Africa. 

Originally qualifying in Fine Arts, Wendy has a Master’s Degree in Business Leadership. She has worked in the industrial market research industry where she concentrated on market analysis and competitive intelligence studies for a wide range of indigenous and multinational companies, governments, and state-owned enterprises in Africa. She was the author, editor and co-author of a number of economic and technical reports.

She went on to join the Get Ahead Foundation, an NGO specialising in providing credit facilities to micro black businesses in South Africa. This position afforded her the opportunity of being at the forefront of the democratic changes which were taking place in South Africa. Her responsibilities included negotiating with foreign leaders, donor governments, IFIs and local bankers. She represented the micro economic sector of South Africa at numerous international conferences.

In 1995 she co-founded a technology company, Laser Measurement (Pty) Ltd, and was appointed Managing Director in the same year. Laser Measurement has become a world leader in laser technology and, under her leadership, received numerous South African and International awards, including the coveted South African President’s Export Award in 2001. 

Her responsibilities at Laser Measurement necessitated close contact and liaison with numerous diverse governmental and private sector organisations at a global level. She has represented South Africa on various trade missions and trade shows in several countries on every continent throughout the world. As a member of the South African Capital Equipment Export Council, she has been closely involved with economic and technological developments taking place throughout the continent of Africa.