Speaker: Dr Martyn Davies

Dr Martyn Davies is the Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Advisory - a leading research, strategy and capital advisory firm that specialises in emerging markets.

Martyn was selected in 2010 as a Young Global Leader, an honour bestowed by the World Economic Forum each year to recognise the most distinguished young leaders nominated below the age of 40 from around the world.

Martyn has chaired both public and private sessions at the World Economic Forum including chairing a session at the Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. He is a member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on China, the world’s foremost intellectual network that helps inform the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos as well as set the direction for global, regional and industry agendas. Martyn is also an Advisor to the WEF’s “Emerging Best Practices of Chinese Globalizers” initiative as well as serving as an industry expert to the WEF’s Mining & Metals Industry Group – an advisory body providing strategic advice to leading global mining and extractive industry companies. Martyn is a recipient of a Dangote Fellowship awarded by the WEF for young Africans selected each year for their outstanding leadership, professional accomplishments and commitment to society.
Martyn is a Faculty member at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria, South Africa. He has also lectured by invitation at Harvard University, MIT, London School of Economics, IE Business School, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the African Development Bank, the OECD, the European Commission, the British Parliament and the World Bank. He is widely published in academia and has written for the Financial Times and the Washington Post and is a regular media commentator for the BBC, CNBC, CCTV, Al Jazeera, Reuters and AFP.

Martyn was previously the (founding) Director of the Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) that was established under the South Africa – China Bi-national Commission at Vice Presidential level, a position he vacated in December 2009. During this time, he established the first Confucius Institute in Africa on behalf of the PRC Government in June 2004.

Martyn has been ranked the # 1 analyst in South Africa in the “Other African Economies & Markets” category as awarded by the prestigious Financial Mail in its Annual Analysts of the Year awards. He was previously appointed as an advisor to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) for its Global Development Outlook project . He is a member of MasterCard‘s Global Knowledge Panel– a group comprising leading international economists and is also a member of MasterCard’s Africa Knowledge Panel providing strategic advice to the Board of MasterCard.

Martyn holds a BA degree in Law, an Honours Degree in International Relations (cum laude), a Master's Degree in International Relations (cum laude) (University of the Witwatersrand), a Diploma in Asian Studies (Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea), and a PhD in International Relations (University of the Witwatersrand) – all completed by the age of twenty five. He also has a certificate from Harvard Business School & GIBS for its “Making Markets Work” course.

In 2010, Destiny Man magazine named Martyn in its “Power 40” of leading South African businessmen under the age of 40. M