Regional Coordinators

Alan Rides

Alan is an award-winning career professional in export. He has exported to 114 countries, visited 55 countries, and lived in 4 countries including Africa, the Gulf, a Former Soviet State, and the UK. He proudly serves as the CEO of the West London Chambers of Commerce, which has been recognised by BEIS as the Best Support for Export in the UK.

He began his export career in the export shipping department of Metal Box PLC and later worked in the export customer services department at Diageo, handling global exports of Scotch Whisky. After graduating from the Institute of Export, he worked as a front-line businessman across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East for 30 years. During this time, he worked for a UK export trading company, establishing manufacturing facilities in Africa.

He served as a dealer principal for major UK brands such as Land Rover, JCB, CAT, Terex and Rolls Royce Power, and set up successful local offices and dealerships for many UK companies. His success led to his promotion to Director level, and was honoured the Queen’s Award for export. Alan set up his own consultancy (ARC) and served as a British Government (UKTI / DIT) Trade Officer.

In addition to his professional roles, Alan is a guest lecturer at King’s College London, Brunel University, and the University of West London. He also delivers motivational presentations to local colleges in deprived areas.

Dr. Donald J. Lewis

Donald has over 40 years’ experience working with the Chinese in academia, business and government. A SOAS graduate, he was a law professor at University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law, for 23 years where he liaised with Mainland China and Hong Kong influencers, building an extensive “guanxi” network in Greater China, whilst also teaching and conducting research on China trade and investment law and China-related dispute resolution at HKU and later at Stanford Law School.

Donald has specialist knowledge of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), on which he has published extensively. He advises international law firms, investment banks, and multinational corporations on Chinese trade, investment, and arbitration matters.

He maintains connections in many cities in China, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as well as with national ministries (China Ministry of Commerce and China Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the courts (China Supreme People’s Court), and leading trade and investment arbitration institutions (CIETAC, HKIAC).

Donald is proficient in Mandarin Chinese.

Najla El Mangoush

Najla is a diplomat and lawyer, previously serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Libya. She has extensive expertise in the Middle East & North African region, developing a professional understanding of Trade and Diplomacy systems. She is currently a member of the Arab Investment Company, so able to provide strategic guidance to complex economic and trade related issues that arise within the MENA region.

Najla has considerable professional background working as a consultant for institutions such as Al Amana Centre, Development Alternatives (DAI), and the Arab Human Rights Fund, as well as other roles such the Head of Public Engagement Unit at the National Transitional Council (NTC). She was a Fulbright Scholar (2013-15) and has received an MA in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peace-building (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University.

She was named in the BBC 100 Women 2021 list for her role as Libya’s first female foreign minister and impressive success at building links with civil society organisations and In 2022 received the International Women of Courage Award from the United States Department of State. Najla is fluent in English and a native Arabic speaker.

Sarah Zohn

After decades in big-tech and earlier in the Mineral, Chemical and Petrochemical industries, Sarah has been coaching small and medium tech companies on Go-To-Market and Operational strategies since early 2009. Clients range from Internet to hardware and software infrastructure and instrumentation, and new economy services.

She brings broad experience from her positions as VP in mega multinational corporations as well as from coaching small-medium companies. With hundreds of consulting interactions with start-ups, Sarah also knows the entire start-up ecosystem - companies, M&A, and VC’s.

Before starting her consulting practice, she spent 15 years with EMC Corporation, holding Vice President positions in Data Storage Engineering, Open Software Engineering, Deputy Executive Vice President, Centera business incubator and in the EMEA sales organization. She is an expert in building growth strategies for Engineering, Enterprise Sales, Marketing and Services.

After receiving her B.Sc.E.E in 1975 from the Technion Institute of Technology, Sarah began her career as an Engineer, then Project Lead and eventually moved into management positions. She was exposed to international business from the start; over the years running projects in North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. In 1989 Sarah received her M.B.A. and M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Ben-Gurion University where she studied and taught Information Technology. Since moving to the United States in 1989, she held executive positions in three different industries, the computer industry as well as other hi-tech companies.

Rene Attoumbre

Currently supervising a team of almost 2000 sales agents world over, René is a Trade Finance Consultant for EURO EXIM BANK LTD. After earning his BBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, René went on to start his career in the financial industry, notably at Fidelity Investments in Boston MA. Returning to home country of Côte d’Ivoire / Ivory Coast, he held the position of Treasurer of Société Africaine de Cacao, a subsidiary of the multinational Barry Callebaut.

During his tenure there, he was responsible for banking relationships, cash management, financial forecast and was in charge of the treasury department. Being appointed Director for the sub-Saharian African Region for Nova Capital Global Markets, an investment bank based out of New York, he was responsible for over 20 countries.

René is a dual national of the US and CÔTE D’IVOIRE and regularly advises businessmen and companies with particular emphasis on the African Francophone world.