Hannah Titilayo Seriki (Layo)

As the daughter of a Nigerian father and a German mother, Layo grew up in an international environment in Lagos, Nigeria. Due to her family background, she absorbed different cultural influences early on in her life and learnt to integrate diverse views and practices in developing new ideas.

After completing her studies of industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, she spent three years working for a leading international consulting firm specialising in strategic marketing and pricing. Here, she was able to combine her interest for people and scientific analysis and learnt many consulting methods and skills. Her clients during this time include multinational organisations in the automotive, building, and paper industries.

In 2004, Layo began working as a freelance consultant and embarked on her PhD study entitled “Teamwork for Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa”. This study was completed at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Koblenz, Germany in March 2007 and includes several case studies carried out in large technological and service sector organisations in Nigeria as well as South Africa. It reflects Layo’s special concern for people as the decisive factor in any business and for a region full of potential, which has been neglected by the Western world for a long time.

Since 2006, Layo has been teaching international human resource management to diploma students and MBA students at the University of Applied Sciences, Würzburg, Germany.

Peter Heinecke (Peter)

Peter was born and raised in Radolfzell at the Lake of Constance in Southern Germany. He fell in love with South Africa during his first visit in 1994 and has been interested in the development of this vibrant “rainbow nation” ever since.

After studying industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, Peter gained extensive consulting experience in the German automotive industry. He has been working as a freelance consultant since 2002. His focus lies on project management, optimising business processes and facilitating communication between different functions during the development of a product.

Clients have profited especially from Peter’s reluctance to unquestioningly accept a current state as is, from his conviction that there is always a better way to do things, and from his inclination towards unconventional solutions.

Ó 2008 CIELARKO