The CGA Citrus Summit is a biennial event, alternating with the CGA Regional Roadshow every other year. The Summit creates a platform for citrus growers of southern Africa to discuss matters of common interest, and find sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the industry, in collaboration with our partners from government and other parts of the value chain. It also presents an opportunity for growers to meet and interact with staff of the CGA group companies.
SPOTLIGHT ON OUR SPEAKERS
*subject to change
Wandile Sihlobo
Agbiz
Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of two books, A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions and Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture. He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
Simon Freemantle
Senior Analyst, Standard Bank
Simon Freemantle is Standard Bank’s dedicated South African political economist within the bank’s research team. Ranked by Financial Mail as South Africa’s top political analyst for ten consecutive years (2015–2024), Simon combines deep political and economic insight with academic rigor. He is a frequent speaker at institutions like Oxford and NYU Stern, and has led a course on SA’s political economy for an executive MBA class at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Rocco Renaldi
CGA Representative Brussels
Rocco Renaldi has been the CGA representative in Brussels since 2007. He has over 25 years of experience as a lobbyist. After ten years’ experience in various agencies, he established Landmark Public Affairs, in 2007. He led the growth of the agency, establishing offices in London, Singapore and New York, until he sold the company to global communications agency Edelman in 2023. Rocco is currently Global Chair, Public and Government Affairs at Edelman. He also serves as Secretary General of the International Food and Beverage Alliance, as well as FoodServiceEurope. Rocco is Italian and married to a South African.
Graeme Codrington
Strategy Consultant
Graeme Codrington is a globally recognized futurist, scenario planner, and expert on the future of work. He has advised organizations in more than 100 countries, helping leaders navigate disruption, make sense of uncertainty, and prepare for what’s next. As CEO of the TomorrowToday Futures Institute, lead faculty for London Business School’s Global Leadership Program, and author of six bestselling books, he brings a practical and future-focused perspective to leadership.
Frans Cronje
Frans Cronje Private Clients
Frans Cronje is an analyst with 20 years of experience advising corporations and government agencies on South African and global strategic risks. He runs the advisory firm Frans Cronje Private Clients (Pty) Ltd, chairs South Africa’s Social Research Foundation, sits on the advisory board of the BRE-DE-RE think-tank in Germany, and chairs the US based Yorktown Foundation for Freedom.
Mikhail Fateev
CGA Representative, Russia
Mikhail Fateev graduated from St. Petersburg's State University in 1968. During the Soviet period, he worked in the State Committee of the USSR for Foreign Economic Relations, an organisation dealing with technical assistance to developing countries. His involvement included long-term postings in the apparatus of the State Committee in Egypt, Ethiopia and India. From 1992 to 1996 he worked in Department for Food Resources of Moscow Administration charged with fruits and vegetables supply.
He contributed to opening of the Russian market for fruit exports from Southern Africa in 1993. He has served in an advisory capacity to South African fruit industry since 1996 and has been the representative of the CGA in Russia since 2011. He has also been the head of the Food and Agriculture Sector of Russia-RSA Business Council since 2009.
Nicci Stewart
Nicci is a specialist business-to-business strategic marketing consultant. She started her career in the creative industry in 1999. As a strategic thinker, Nicci works closely with clients to spot and create opportunities that can be leveraged from a brand building and communications point of view. She has experience in working with various teams, internally and externally, to implement these opportunities to create the desired impact and meet intended objectives. During her career, she’s worked with public and private companies, non-profits and government organisations both in South Africa and internationally.
She holds two diplomas in marketing and public relations. She is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10 000 Women Programme for female entrepreneurs and Gordon Institute of Business Science Women’s Leadership programme. She is a regular speaker at local and international events.
Nick Gutierrez
CGA Representative, USA
Nicholas Gutierrez has been employed by the CGA as the USA representative since 2018 after spending a long career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS). He was a foreign service officer for 35 years working in a number of countries abroad. While based in leadership roles in Brussels, Belgium, and Washington, D.C., he was also involved with APHIS efforts to provide plant health support towards South Africa in the late 90s followed by the launch of the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2003. He currently lives in Maryland with his spouse, Anita.
Tracy Davids
BFAP
With a PhD in Agricultural Economics and over 10 years of experience in the industry, Tracy is a Director and leads the Commodity Markets and Foresight programme in BFAP. Her passion for strategic foresight and its application to inform strategy and investment decisions in both the public and private sectors underpins Tracy’s specialization in commodity market modelling, competitiveness, scenario planning and policy analysis across an array of agricultural value chains. She is a frequent contributor to international outlook publications, a regular speaker at local and global events and a Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University.
Zak Laffite
Wonderful Citrus
Zak Laffite serves as President for Wonderful Citrus since 2020 and leads the vertically-integrated global citrus operation comprised of over 60,000 acres across California, Texas, and Mexico – collectively producing more than 1 billion pounds of citrus. Wonderful Citrus is part of the Wonderful Company.
With over 20 years of experience at Wonderful, he has held diverse leadership roles across the supply chain, including Sales, Operations, and Supply Chain.
Zak has a BS in Pomology from Cornell University and an MBA from Tulane University.
Sachin Khurana
QuikRelations
Sachin Khurana is the director of QuikRelations. He is a seasoned business leader with over two decades of expertise in food and beverage marketing, trade engagement, regulatory and international affairs, and consumer outreach. As a strong proponent of South African agriculture, Sachin has been instrumental in addressing trade constraints and advancing efforts to ease tariff and non-tariff barriers across the Asian region. His career is defined by innovative strategies that have reshaped how South African agricultural commodities, processed goods, and beverages connect with global audiences. QuikRelations owes much of its success to the exceptional team Sachin has built. With over 70 agricultural specialists across five countries, including several former diplomats, the team is dedicated to achieving impactful results and fostering growth in the agricultural sector. Their expertise and commitment have positioned QuikRelations as a leader in delivering innovative and results-driven campaigns that elevate South African produce globally.
Prof. Vukosi Marivate
African Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AfriDSAI)
Sachin Khurana is the director of QuikRelations. He is a seasoned business leader with over two decades of expertise in food and beverage marketing, trade engagement, regulatory and international affairs, and consumer outreach. As a strong proponent of South African agriculture, Sachin has been instrumental in addressing trade constraints and advancing efforts to ease tariff and non-tariff barriers across the Asian region. His career is defined by innovative strategies that have reshaped how South African agricultural commodities, processed goods, and beverages connect with global audiences. QuikRelations owes much of its success to the exceptional team Sachin has built. With over 70 agricultural specialists across five countries, including several former diplomats, the team is dedicated to achieving impactful results and fostering growth in the agricultural sector. Their expertise and commitment have positioned QuikRelations as a leader in delivering innovative and results-driven campaigns that elevate South African produce globally.
Eric Imbert
CIRAD
Eric IMBERT is an agro-economics and food technologies engineer. He has more than 20 years’ experience in fruit markets, initially in the commercial domain, and then in research. He is a manager of the CIRAD Market News Service, a research team specialised in the field of the international fruit trade. His work is focused on the citrus and avocado industries, and on the European market. He is involved in various international expert groups specialising in these products. He is in charge of several publications aimed at professionals in these industries: FRUITROP weekly bulletins, FRUITROP Focus and FRUITROP magazine. He is the Publishing Director of these reviews.
OUR SPONSORS
EVENT PARTNER
PLATINUM
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
HOSPITALITY
GROWER LEADERS
YOUTH LEADERS
MEDIA
THE VENUE
The Boardwalk Hotel and Convention Centre, Summerstrand, Gqeberha
ACCOMMODATION IN SUMMERSTRAND
Delegates book accommodation directly.
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