DMM.com Co., Ltd. Overseas Business Division Manager, DMM.Tanzania Co., Ltd. Director, Representative Director of DMM.Staff Co., Ltd. After Joining DMM Group in 2002 and then being appointed the representative director of the sales department, Mr. Yoshimoto became the manager of the CEO office, an executive board director. Yoshimoto became the CEO of two publishing companies in the same DMM group in 2008. As the head of DMM.Africa, he helped lead the UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) × DMM.Africa DMM.make AKIBA Tour. Through this initiative, government and diplomatic officials including Japanese ambassadors of several African countries enjoyed the opportunity to tour DMM.make AKIBA’s state-of-the-art technology in Akiharaba district of downtown Tokyo. With a vision to lead a team that serves as the bridge between Africa and Japan, Mr. Yoshimoto has developed extensive and engaging network with both the public sector and the private sector stakeholder to better enable the introduction of Japan’s technology to Africa.

Mr. Kapungu is DMM.com’s first manager of African origin and currently serves as Executive Chairman of DMM.Hehe, after leading DMM.com’s first merger and acquisition project in Africa, with DMM.com acquiring HeHelabs, a Rwandan mobile technologies company. He also serves on the board of AC Group LTD, a Rwandan company that manages automatic fare collection systems for public buses, as executive director, after overseeing DMM.com’s first equity investment in Africa.
Prior to joining DMM.com, Alex worked at Rakuten Travel, as an Internet travel consultant, recruiting and facilitating online sales of over 100 hotel clients mainly in the Southeast Asia region, and as a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) specialist, promoting existing user flow and proposing strategies to reach and acquire new users to increase the platform’s user base.
Mr. Kapungu was born and raised in Tanzania, came to study in Japan in 2006 under the sponsorship of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, later receiving a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Tokyo in March 2013

DMM.com Co., Ltd., Overseas Business Division Manager. Having graduated from the Political Economics Department of Waseda University, Mr. Yoshioka worked at SDI (currently YCP Japan), where he was mainly engaged in industry research focusing on overseas markets for potential target investments. His prior work was based on requests from customers on a wide range of industries including machinery, parts, raw materials, agriculture, IT, building and construction, service, etc. Mr. Yoshioka worked on regional area of focus and scope of responsibilities, which mainly included industry research (competitive analysis, strategic partnerships development, etc.) for emerging markets such as Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

DDMM.HeHe Ltd., Executive officer in charge of new business development.
After serving at the Mitsubishi Corporation’s plastic for domestic and overseas sales for 4 years and 10 months, Mr. Ishimoto relocated to Ghana. Having worked in the processing and exporting of spices originating from West African at a startup venture, Mr. Ishimoto launched his own business of selling beef cattle and building materials. Later on, he established his own cassava processing plant and a bread factory. After joining DMM.Africa in April 2016, Mr. Ishimoto continues to enrich his cross-border expertise in trade logistics, new business development, partnership pipeline development, and M & A.

DMM.HeHe Ltd., CFO. After graduating from Waseda University Department of Commerce, Mr. Ichimiya worked at the energy department of a major Japanese general trading company. In the former position, he was dispatched to a UAE Abu Dhabi branch where he was a senior manager in charge of asset management of the electricity investment business. As a part of DMM.Africa team, he continues to hone his expertise offerings in accounting, finance, international taxation, financial modeling, internal control systems construction.

After having worked as a network engineer, Mr. Kasahara relocated to Kenya for 2 years as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer. After returning to Japan where he worked in overseas media production coordination. Teppei continues to strengthen his expertise offering, since he has worked locally in 20 countries worldwide including 15 African countries and some of the Caribbean countries where he has a strong network of connections with local media.

DMM.com Co., Ltd., Deputy Manager, Overseas Business Division. A graduate of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne Graduate School of International Politics and Economics. Mr. Gainche gained his first work experience in the Japanese Business Division of the Japanese Culture Center in Paris prior to relocating to Japan. He serves his current role, after having worked in both the marketing department and the business development department at a fashion school.

DMM.com Co., Ltd. Deputy Manager, Overseas Business Division. After acquiring a bachelor's degree in International Development and Environment Studies from a university in New Zealand, Mr. Kikuchi completed his master’s degree at the Helsinki University graduate school.
After completing his studies, Kei moved to Kenya to work as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer where he developed environmental protection activities with local NGOs. After working at JICA headquarters, he worked as a development consultant for environmental and governance fields in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia. In extending his offering of his expertise in local business incubation for Japanese companies entering emerging countries, Kei currently serves his position as a member of DMM.Africa team since 2016.

DMM.com Co., Ltd., Overseas Business Division, Manager, West Africa Division. Originally from Ivory Coast, Mr. Nanou graduated from the Tokyo International University, Graduate School of Commerce. Alexis worked as a system engineer and a business development professional at several Japanese companies. Most recently, Alexis established ANOHOU Solutions Co., Ltd., which provides system development and corporate consulting in Cote d'Ivoire.

DMM.com Co., Ltd., Deputy Manager, Overseas Business Division. A graduate of Keio University Undergraduate School of Law, Ms. Matsuzaki has worked at Dentsu Inc., where she specialized in media planning/buying for magazines and web publishing in fashion/beauty industries.

DMM.com Co., Ltd., Deputy Manager, Overseas Business Division. A graduate of Nagasaki University, Undergraduate School of Education. Mr. Yoshimoto has worked as a newspaper reporter and then as an international cooperation organization staff, Kyohei serves his current new role as a member of DMM.Africa and engages in assisting the operations for "master's program and internship" program for the African Youth Industrial Human Resource Development Initiative (ABE Initiative). Kyohei’s expertise is in matching the best of the African youth talent with the businesses that can help realize their potential.

Originally from Morocco, Mr. Moulay holds a master's degree from a French graduate school. Moulay also acquired an engineer qualification at the same time. Prior to his current role as a member of DMM.Africa team, Moulay has worked at companies that conduct businesses with Japan, utilizing his IT engineer skills as well as his interpreter skill given his fluency in Japanese, Arabic, as well as French. Following that, Moulay worked as a program officer at the JICA Morocco office for 4 years. Moulay’s industry areas of expertise are IT, ICT and IOT. In his current role engaged at DMM.Africa, Moulay leads projects that involve sales of animation, manga, game contents as well as tangible exotic products such as Argan oil, Moroccan Argan oil, Ochiaha cactus oil and more.

Originally from Egypt and a graduate of Cairo University, where he pursued Japanese Language Studies. Mr. Osman served as a Japanese/Arabic interpreter at Taisei Construction Co., Ltd. Amr also served as a tourist guide for Japanese people in Egypt, a producer at NHK Cairo branch office, and as an overseas expansion coordinator for a Japanese healthcare tech company. Amr’s expertise is to introduce Japanese products, technology and services to the Middle East and North Africa region.

In charge of global PR & communications content at DMM.com Group. After graduating from Middlebury College in the United States where he majored in International Politics and Economics, Mr. Suzuki worked in enterprise sales at IT companies of various sizes and shapes including a project controls software manufacture, EcoSys LLC, as well as a consumer hardware/software provider, Apple Inc. He also brings his cross-border localization design experience from having worked at btrax, a localization design agency in San Francisco. In his current role at DMM Group, he serves both the Overseas Business Division of DMM.com and the DMM.make AKIBA division for their outbound communication efforts.

Originally from Kenya, Mr Ntara serves his current role as a member of DMM.Africa, having previously worked as a supply chain manager at Proctor & Gamble.

Originally from Kenya. Mr. Chepkwony graduated from the Department of Management Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, to which he transferred while studying at Jomo Kenyatta Institute of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. Mr. Chepkwony started his work experience in Japan at a Japanese company where he was put in charge of platform development, online marketing, semiconductor development (super LSI). Having returned to Kenya in 2009, Justus started an EC platform business as well as automobile body and parts business. Justus came back to Japan again in 2011 teaching English. In 2016, Justus joined DMM.com Lab Inc. and now serves for the Business Service Development Department within the Systems Division of DMM.

Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. Behuhuma completed his studies as well as his practical on-field work experience at a law firm, a congressional Diet, prior to relocating to Japan in 2011. He completed his Japanese program at Tokyo Gakugei University and then received a master's degree in Public Policy from the Meiji University Graduate School. Patrick then worked as a teacher at an English language school. Patrick’s expertise is in business project management and government projects for law-related projects in public and private sectors. Patrick also has extensive network in both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Japan where he also showcases his talent as an event MC, TV personality and serving as one of the iconic personalities of DMM.Africa and DMM.com.

Graduate of Waseda University School of Commerce. Mr. Hirozane studied abroad in the Philippines as a student. Takafumi joined DMM.Africa in 2016. Takafumi helped make happen a discussion event, which was held at Waseda University between two high profile figures in Japanese business: Mr. Soichiro Tahara and DMM Group Chairman, Mr. Keishi Kameyama.

Originally from Senegal. After earning a Master 's degree in English Literature from Dakar University, Ms. Ndiaye relocated to Japan. Marie spent two years at Soka University where she majored in Japanese Language and Japan-Asian economics. After that, Marie completed the Masters course on General Studies of Peacebuilding Conflict Prevention at the Tokyo University of Foreign Languages. In 2013 Marie participated in the 5th African Development Conference as a Japan-residing university student representative. Marie became a member of DMM.Africa in 2017 where she hopes to dedicate her work serving as a bridge between Africa and Japan.

A graduate of Chuo University School of Commerce. While in college, Ms. Ishikawa studied abroad in the Philippines. Hikako has gained an internship experience at a market research firm in Vietnam, as well as at a Ugandan environmental venture company. Hikako became a member of DMM.Africa team in 2017.