Michael Sudarkasa is a Co-Founder of the Integrated Cooling Energy and Development consortium, and through this collaboration, serves as the Managing Director of DGrid Energy – Africa (“DGrid”). DGrid is a leading manufacturer of cold chain technology and specializes in solar powered walk-in cold storage systems. DGrid’s global headquarters are in Maryland in the United States and its continental operation headquarters are in South Africa. Michael is also Chairman of Africa Business Group (ABG), which he founded in 2005. ABG is a South Africa based, continentally active, African economic development company.

An American commercial attorney by training, Michael is an internationally recognized African economic development specialist. He has lived, travelled, and worked in 53 countries around the world, including 35 in Africa, and is the author of several publications, including: The African Union Commission’s Africa Business Directory: Toward the Facilitation of Growth, Partnership and Global Inclusion (African Union, 2014), A Field Guide to Inclusive Business Finance (UNDP 2012), Investing in Africa: An Insider’s Guide to the Ultimate Emerging Market (John Wiley & Sons, August 2000) and The African Business Handbook (1991-92; 1993-94; 2007-08).

Michael is a member of the Global Board of the Rainforest Alliance, of the University of Michigan Provost’s Advisory Committee, sits on the Advisory Board of the African Center for the Study of the United States of the University of Witwatersrand, and serves as Chair of Impact@Africa, an initiative focused on the development of communities of practice within Africa’s impact investment ecosystem. Michael holds a B.A. degree from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (High Honors in History) and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. Of American, Bahamian and Nigerian heritage, he is also fluent in French.