Financial Times Alpine Forum 2023
Friday 3 February 2023
We are delighted to welcome Frank Gardner, BBC Correspondent, and comedian Marcus Brigstocke.
Created at the time of the move to Crans-Montana and the expansion of the event, the Financial Times Alpine Forum provides a tangible and growing business platform. Alongside the mental exercise of the competition comes the stimulation of the in-depth discussions regarding current affairs, trends, challenges and the future of our lives.
The Forum is composed of a discussion panel of leading journalists, executives and social commentators. The mix is intentionally eclectic, engendering deep, lively and above all entertaining discussions, cutting across a range of topics with a debate on current affairs, state of the markets and concluded with a Q&A session.
2023 FT Alpine Forum Panellists
Noella Coursaris Musunka
Founder & CEO of Malaika
Noëlla Coursaris Musunka, a Congolese/Cypriot philanthropist and international model, is the Founder & CEO of Malaika, a grassroots nonprofit that empowers girls and communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a school, a community center, and a clean water program. A unique and fearless spokesperson, and the face of leading fashion campaigns across the globe, Noëlla is a voice for the power of girls’ education worldwide. Founded in 2007, Malaika’s programs impact thousands of lives and are all offered free of charge. Crucially, Malaika acts as a local model that can be replicated on a global level, as demonstrated by the launch of the Malaika Model Toolkit during UNGA week in 2022. Noëlla has shared her insight at a number of world-class forums, spanning the World Economic Forum in Davos to the university halls of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and MIT. In 2017, Noëlla was named one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential & Inspirational Women of the Year, in 2018, she received an award at the 100 Years of Mandela celebration and in 2022 she was honored as a Daughter of Greatness from the Muhammad Ali Center. She is an Advisor at Concordia and an Ambassador for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She sits on the United Nations Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network and the L’Oréal Fund for Women Endowment Fund Advisory Committee and has been a two-time judge for EY’s World Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent
As the BBC’s Security Correspondent, Gardner is a leading authority on some of the issues at the top of the global news agenda, from terrorism and so-called Islamic State to espionage and the Middle East.
Inspired to travel to remote places from an early age after a chance meeting with the veteran explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, Gardner developed a fascination for the Arab world and was determined to read Arabic at university. After living with an Egyptian family in the backstreets of Cairo, he graduated from Exeter University and started a nine-year career in banking as an investment banker with Saudi International Bank and then Robert Fleming Bank from 1986 until 1995 before taking the plunge into journalism, working initially for BBC World.
In 2004, Gardner was shot six times at close range while on assignment in Saudi Arabia, leaving him severely wounded and dependant on a wheelchair.
He has since written three best-selling books: ‘Blood and Sand’, a memoir of life in the Middle East; ‘Far Horizons’ describing unusual journeys to unusual places; and ‘Crisis’, his widely-acclaimed debut novel.
Gardner has been awarded numerous titles and doctorates. In 2005, he was awarded an OBE for Services to Journalism, McWhirter Award for Bravery and voted Person of the Year by UK Press Gazette. In 2010, he was winner of BBC Celebrity Mastermind, and in 2011 he was elected President of The Ski Club of GB.
Damon Hill
F1 World Champion
Damon Hill OBE, is a British former racing driver and the 1996 Formula One World Champion with Williams/Renault. He started racing on motorbikes and became motorcycle champion of Brand Hatch in 1984. The Formula 1 champion has achieved 22 Grand Prix wins, 20 pole positions and 19 fastest laps.
After Hill retired from racing, he became President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club from 2006-2012. Since then he has worked as part of the Sky Sports F1 broadcasting team.