Duo set for TOPEX
THE Top Executive Conference (TOPEX) 2021 has been confirmed to take place from November 12 to 13 and this week’s speakers feature International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for Pacific Island Countries (PICs) director Matin Karimli and Vodafone chief commercial officer Ronald Prasad.
Mr Karimli started his career with the ILO in February, 2020 with the posting in the ILO Office for PICs supporting eleven ILO member states (Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, Tonga, and Cook Islands).
His office also provides technical support to nonmember Pacific island states.
Mr Karimli oversees a wide range of work including promoting international labour standards and social dialogue, employment creation and skills development, rural and labour intensive infrastructure development, national employment policy, youth employment initiatives, elimination of child labour and forced labour, gender equality, labour law reform, labour migration and mobility, and social protection.
He is from the Republic of Azerbaijan and has served in various government agencies for over 16 years.
Before taking up this assignment in Fiji, Mr
Karimli was the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection for six years; director of international relations
Brussels, Belgium.
He holds a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (USA), Master in European Studies from the Strasbourg University (France) and a Bachelor of Arts in International
Relations from the Baku State of University (Azerbaijan).
Mr Karimli currently resides in Fiji with his wife and three children.
The next speaker, Mr Prasad, is the chief commercial officer for Vodafone Fiji and heads the commercial, enterprise, ICT and business marketing functions.
He has over 26 years of experience in both the public and private sectors and has previously worked for the Judiciary, Legal Aid and Exxon Mobil.
Mr Prasad has been instrumental in leading the transformation of Vodafone Fiji into a total communications and ICT solutions provider.
He has also proven his ability and experience in leadership, business development and sales.
Mr Prasad holds various qualifications including a double major BA in Information Systems, Management and Public Administration, PGD in Finance and Project Management and MBA from the USP.
He also received Professor Nowak’s Prize for Academic Excellence and has completed a highperformance executive education in leadership, strategy and organisation from the Stanford University, Silicon Valley, USA.
Mr Prasad will be speaking on corporate health check from a technology perspective, focussing on areas of rise of cloud based technologies, cyber security, data analytics and eCommerce.