Our Experts

Francisco Almeida Leite is a senior business executive, currently serving as Executive Director of UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, an organization that brings together more than 400 MPs in more than 140 countries, partnering with WHO, among other institutions. He is also President of the Club d´Africa in Lisbon and the Banking, Insurance and Financial Institutions Union of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (UBSIF-CPLP), two non-profit private associations that aim to develop institutional, diplomatic and commercial ties between the institutions of the CPLP, embassies, companies and African countries.
Previously, he was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, overseeing the Portuguese government's diplomatic relations with African states. He was also Executive Administrator of SOFID, a Portuguese Development Financial Institution that operates on a model of public-private partnership and which aims to contribute to the sustainable development of countries, especially in Africa, and Vice-President of Camões - Institute of Cooperation and the Language.
 

Pedro Esteves is Partner at Africa Monitor (intelligence production and consultancy company on Africa) since 2016 (www.africamonitor.net). He also been involved in competitive intelligence training as well as international business development, mostly on Africa and the Arab World. He worked for several years in the Portuguese intelligence service, as Defense Directorate bilateral relations director and Minister of the Interior political assistant. He published several academic articles, opinions in the press and books on intelligence and international politics. He graduated in International Relations, with a master in Political Science and post-graduation course on International Security at St. Andrews University.
 

Xavier de Figueiredo is the founder of the Africa Monitor information service, with several decades of experience in the field of intelligence. Former delegate (Maputo and Bissau) of the Portuguese news agency ANOP, he was also the first editor of Desk Africa. He was a consultant for several business projects in African countries, as well as a researcher and author of several books about his native Angola.