Desiree Brouwer is an entrepreneur at heart with 15+ years of working experience in international business development, marketing & media in emerging markets. Her involvement ranges from concept creation to fundraising to project management, working with heads of state, investment boards, bi-lateral organizations, tourism boards, top 100 CEO’s, NGO’s as well as media and marketing agencies in (South Eastern) Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa.Desiree started her career as a global media consultant producing investment reports in untapped markets from Indonesia to Serbia and the UAE. Having mastered the art of cold market entry, she went on to support various organizations with their local and global expansion through her consultancy Stellar. Her working experience led her to develop a passion and expertise for nation branding initiatives as a tool to support the development and positioning of emerging companies and countries. Between 2014 and 2016, Desiree was in charge of business development in Africa for one of the continent’s leading business news groups Africa Business News (representing CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa). Her role was to develop strategic and commercial partnerships with business & government in Africa and grow the companies’ presence by opening new markets (a.o. Zambia, Congo Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, DRC). Desiree has been living and working in Africa since 2010. Together with Tania Habimana she founded NONZēRO Africa with the mission to leverage their entrepreneurial experience and expertise in business development and marketing and help SMEs and entrepreneurs in Africa grow. Today, NONZēRO Africa is a female-owned, female-led agency rooted in South Africa with a pan-African footprint and global client base.In her own words:“ We are venture builders and in everything that we do we apply a Robin Hood model of redistribution, leveraging our access to network, resources, training, and funding, and making this available to empower African homegrown small and growing businesses “Desiree is all about win-win partnerships and loves to connect organizations and individuals with shared beliefs because “ together we can achieve so much more.” Desiree gives back by providing hands-on guidance to grassroots entrepreneurs and NPO’s through her signature series of Masterclasses in Business Development & Fundraising.