Marc Watum

Marc Watum is a Congolese entrepreneur, development strategist, and pan-African advocate for economic transformation. Born in South Africa and raised across various African countries, including Mali and Uganda, his upbringing immersed him in both the challenges and opportunities facing the continent.

Professional Roles and Leadership:

Advisor to the Ministry of Industries & SMEs of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC):
Marc provides high-level counsel on industrial policy, SME development, and investor relations as part of the national agenda to formalize and transform key economic sectors.

Managing Director of Wakala:
He leads Wakala, a company focused on investment facilitation, supply chain innovation, and trade transformation in Africa. The firm also serves as a platform for onboarding international capital and supporting local entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Founder and Chairman of the Vision 2030 Fund:
Marc established this fund as a social innovation venture capital platform to tackle structural challenges such as food insecurity, climate resilience, and industrial underdevelopment in Africa through bold, homegrown investments.

CEO of Vertex Ecosystem:
As co-founder and CEO, he drives Vertex’s mission to empower a new generation of African entrepreneurs, bridging innovation, sustainability, and enterprise development across the continent.

Academic and Thought Leadership:

Marc holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Hult International Business School and a Master of Science in Globalisation and Development from SOAS, University of London. He also serves as a convenor at the School of Pan African Thought, where he delivers professional development education to African policy leaders, entrepreneurs, and civil society actors.

Impact and Global Engagement:

Marc has advised more than 1,000 entrepreneurs across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. He has played a central role in convening major innovation and development summits, including regional events on education, water, and industrialization. Through strategic partnerships and ministerial advisory roles, he works at the intersection of government, investment, and grassroots innovation to deliver practical solutions for Africa’s long-term prosperity.

Published Author:

Marc Watum is a contributing author in the international academic volume Implementing Sustainable Cities, published by Routledge in 2025. His chapter is titled:

> “Cape Town: Using the Sustainable Development Goals to Unlock Development Potential”

This chapter appears as Chapter 10 in the book, and showcases Cape Town's strategy for leveraging the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to drive sustainable urban transformation and economic development.

In addition to authoring a full chapter, Marc is also recognized in the List of Contributors, where his biography describes him as:

> “An African development specialist with backgrounds in consulting and finance. He advised over 30 governments across the EMEA region as founding chairman of the Vision 2030 Fund, a sustainability agenda for Africa that invests in climate adaptation and mitigation ventures... He also founded Vertex Ecosystem in 2017 as a climate tech incubator, supporting over 1,000 sustainable entrepreneurs, especially smallholder farmers, women, children, and marginalized groups.”

His contribution spans climate finance, food systems, carbon-neutral supply chains, and SDG localization strategies, all grounded in pan-African impact.