MEET THE JUDGES

Tezera Ketema

Tezera is an Ethiopian residing between Ethiopia and Canada, has primarily devoted his adult life to the leather industry, with a particular focus on footwear design and technology. In 2005, he founded Podo Pal, and the company was selected to design, manufacture, and supply parade boots for the Canadian Winter Olympic and Paralympic Team in 2006, held in Turin, Italy. The Team was named the best-dressed of the 2006 Winter Olympics, and the company was consequently awarded the Hudson Bay Company Premier National Partner Award and the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Award.

Judy Mania 

Judy is the founder and CEO of Siafu Leather, a bespoke leather manufacturing company based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is an incredibly creative designer with a passion for circular economy, ethical and sustainable fashion. She showcases her interests through her production house. Judy also engages with the audience physically in meetings, round tables, and through her online writings on various media platforms.

Preston Viswamo 

Preston has work experience that spans over 25 years, he has acquired skills and knowledge from a variety of industries, including leather, NGO and education sectors. His proficiency covers leather value chains, cluster development and management. It also spans footwear design, production technology and vegetable (organic) leather technology. He has experience in NGO management, tertiary education management, and micro enterprise/microfinance programmes.

Jacqueline Brown (neè Shaw)

Following 16 years’ experience (with brands and retailers including Puma, C&A, Russell Athletic, Animal, Fila and Wilson) living and working in four countries in four continents, fashion designer Jacqueline Shaw created Africa Fashion Guide, the only sourcing consultancy and information platform for African fashion, as a tool to educate, inform and retune the perceptions of Africa’s fashion and textile industry. Also the author of ‘Fashion Africa’, a guide to the continent’s designers, materials and their application of sustainable practices, a university lecturer and public speaker, Jacqueline is proud to be an ambassador for ethical African fashion.

Mike Redwood

Mike Redwood studied Leather Science at Leeds University and has been involved in the leather industry continuously for around 60 years. He has held senior roles as a technician and general manager in plants in the U.K, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, also sourcing raw material for the latter two. For 15 years he was a Visiting Professor in Leather at Northampton University and a part-time Teaching Fellow in Marketing at Bath University. During this time he became a leading volunteer spokesperson for Leather Naturally promoting the sustainability aspects of leather. Currently he is a Trustee of the Leather Conservation Centre where he has been involved for close to 25 years. His work today is based around the circular economy and ESG Agenda.