# Manuel Ntumba

Manuel Ntumba is a Congolese-Togolese inventor, government advisor, and geostrategist. He is the Managing Partner and Executive Vice President of the global public-private partnership Tod'Aérs Global Network [TGN]. Ntumba currently advises governments, intergovernmental organizations and private sectors in the strategic planning and the strategic management of development programmes across various sectors.
Since October 2024, Ntumba serves as Lead Evaluation Expert for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), where he leads the evaluation of UN donors-funded projects. Since January 2024, Ntumba serves as Senior Advisor and Vice President for West Africa to the UNDRR Private Sector Alliance (ARISE), an initiative launched by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in 2015 to enable public-private partnerships [PPP] and global collaboration between private sectors, public sectors and other stakeholders; to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Prior to that, Ntumba served as Senior Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where from July 2023 to December 2023, he led a project focused on the planning and monitoring of governance reforms for public institutions. In June 2022, Ntumba was appointed 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).
Since June 2023, 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, policymakers, and private sectors with geospatial intelligence in fields such as geostrategy, technological innovation, socio-economic development.

## Early life and education

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.

## Career

From 2022 to 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). From July 2023 to December 2023, Ntumba served as Senior Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
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 Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tod'Aérs Global Network [TGN].
From 2021 to 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 Ambassador 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.