Manuel Ntumba

Manuel Ntumba is a Congolese-Togolese inventor, advisor, geostrategist and geospatial expert. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of the global public-private partnership Tod'Aérs Global Network [TGN]. Ntumba currently advises governments and intergovernmental organizations in the strategic planning and the strategic management of development programmes across various sectors.

Ntumba also works as Principal Consultant for Airbus Intelligence, a division of Airbus Defence and Space (ADS), where he is in charge of public relations (PR) and communication strategies for the Pléiades Neo satellites in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The Pléiades Neo satellite data and imagery services are delivered to support governments, intergovernmental organizations and policymakers with geospatial intelligence in fields such as geostrategy, technological innovation, socio-economic development.

Biography
Ntumba was born to a Congolese father from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Togolese mother. Ntumba graduated in engineering with a specialization in satellite telecommunications and geoinformatics. He also pursues a Master of Business Administration (MBA), specializing in Governance and International Economics from Porto Business School, University of Porto. Since 2022, he is also an Alumni in Public Policy and Management from the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), an initiative of the United States Department of State launched in 2010 by President Barack Obama.

From June 2022 to June 2023, Ntumba served as a Member of the diplomatic delegation to the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), within the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Ntumba completed an executive-level program in financial technology and digital economy from the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) and Alipay (Alibaba Group). Ntumba worked as an Advisor on space affairs and geospatial intelligence to the African Union Presidential Panel for the mandate 2021-2022, previously chaired by Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 19th President of the African Union (2021-2022). Where he worked with the current Congolese Education Minister Raïssa Malu [fr], who was then serving as a Member of the Presidential Panel, to develop a roadmap for the use of space technologies, digital transformation, and geospatial applications to achieve the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU).

This led later on to the implementation of the first-ever African Forum on Geospatial and Socio-Economic Progress (AfGSEP Forum) under the theme “Space Technologies for Sustainable Development in Africa”. The forum was organized on the sidelines of the ninth edition of the Science and Technology Week (SST), in collaboration with the UNESCO, the Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Technical Education, and Tod'Aérs Global Network [TGN].



From May 2021 to May 2022, Ntumba was a Regional Partnership Manager at the Space Generation Advisory Council - in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications, affiliated with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) based in Vienna, Austria. Where he was overseeing all regional strategic partnerships for all 54 African countries, and member-states of the United Nations.

Ntumba worked as an expert in geospatial information and earth observation within the consortium on geospatial information of the Erasmus+ Sector Skills Alliance of the European Union, alongside experts from all over Europe.

Ntumba previously served as the African Union (AU) Youth Advisor on Disaster Risk Reduction under the leadership of the African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment Josefa Sacko. In June 2023, he was elected as the new Chair of the African Union Youth Advisory Board on Disaster Risk Reduction (AYAB/DRR), jointly coordinated by the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE), the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Unit and the Youth Division of the African Union Commission (AUC).

Tod'Aérs Global Network [TGN], was co-founded by Ntumba in 2020 which is a global public-private partnership (PPP), established with a vision to support global sustainable development, technological innovation, and socio-economic progress worldwide. The network launches the Global Development Policy Initiative (GDPi) in 2022.

In January 2022, Ntumba gave a TED Talk on "Geospatial technologies for socio-economic progress". He recommended the use of geospatial solutions for socio-economic progress and sustainable development. In his presentation, Ntumba demonstrated geospatial-based solutions and applications in the perspective of climate resilience and sustainable development strategies to face climate change.