My journey from being an Entrepreneur to a Film Director! In conversation with Hamisha Daryani Ahuja

We are thrilled to have another trailblazer Hamisha Daryani Ahuja share her inspirational journey with us! Hamisha is an Entrepreneur, Film Producer and Director. She gave up her long-running business to pursue her dream of making movies. Two years later, she has directed her first feature film, the cross-cultural love story “Namaste Wahala”, which debuted on Netflix. Putting out hundreds of movies and television episodes a month, Nollywood is the world’s second most prolific film industry after India’s Bollywood. "Theres an important message, we are all actually one, and that’s the whole theme of the movie.” Hamisha believes that the world can be a better and happier place by applying a few simple tools, she trains individuals and companies on this subject. Her course “The Pursuit of Happiness” has impacted thousands of lives till date. She has been trained by the world renowned Lisa Nichols. She also founded Bistro 7 a chain of restaurants in Lagos. She ran the award winning establishment for seven years. It was successfully acquired in January 2019 by Chocolate City Group. She is now a shareholder of the newly formed company and serves on their board.

The session will be chaired by Dr Anino Emuwa. Dr. Emuwa is the Founder and Managing Director of Avandis Consulting, a strategy and financial advisory firm in France.  A former corporate banker with Citibank, she is an experienced Non-Executive Director and sits on the board of several organisations.

An award-winning international speaker on entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, and diversity and inclusion, Anino has been invited to speak at prestigious institutions and conferences including Forbes, Facebook, Association of MBAs Business School Leaders Forum, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and the French National Assembly. Dr Emuwa’s articles have been published in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Global Banking and Finance Review, and Business Chief Middle East and Africa.

Dr Emuwa is an advocate for gender diversity in leadership. She has received a global award for Women in Tech Ally by WomenTech Network in 2020, a women in Fintech Award from TechPArk Davos and is recognised as one of the 125 people to follow on LinkedIn about Diversity and Inclusion.

Anino convenes global and regional communities for women in leadership including 100 Women@Davos and African Women CEOs Network. She is a coach and mentor for Cartier Women’s Initiative, and the Women’s Development Programme at the Nottingham Trent University .