Mathias Bogaert is a Belgian diplomat, currently the Consul General of Belgium in Cape Town, South Africa, since January 2021.

Mathias obtained his Commercial Engineering degree from the University of Antwerp in 1999 and entered diplomatic service three years later in 2002 when he was appointed Diplomatic Attaché at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussel. He was appointed First Secretary at the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the United Nations (UN) and the World Trading Organisation (WTO) at end of 2004, for a mandate of 4 years. In July 2008, Mathias stepped into the role of Economic Counsellor at the Embassy of Belgium in New Delhi where, among others, he coordinated the economic aspects of the Belgian State Visit to India in 2008 and later a Princely Economic Mission to India.

In 2012, Mathias joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium in Brussel where he coordinated the EU Foreign and Security Policy for Belgium. This position he held for three years, and in 2015 he was asked to join the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the UN in New York as Political Coordinator for the Security Council. Belgium was a Member of the Security Council in 2019 and 2020. Mathias held this position until the end of 2020, after which he stepped into his current role as Consul General in Cape Town.

Jacques is general manager of Southern Sun The Cullinan in Cape Town, appointed to run this premier destination in the Mother City after a stellar career in the hotel industry which took him rapidly up the managerial ladder, gathering numerous awards as he went.
He has worked for Tsogo Sun Hotels since 2003, holding general manager positions in seven different Tsogo Sun Hotels in different provinces.
He was previously vice-president and director on the Board of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a Chamber Council member, chairman of the Cape Town Central Chapter and serves as a director on the Board of the Cape Castle Control Board.
Jacques has a degree in Strategic Management, Diploma in Hospitality and Business Administration. In his spare time, he practices as a qualified business coach.

Tim Harris is the CEO of Wesgro, the Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape.
Tim previously served as Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister of Finance for the Democratic Alliance (DA), the official opposition party in South Africa.
He holds a BA in English Literature and a Masters in Economics from the University of Cape Town.
Tim currently sits on the board of the Cape Town Film Studios, CapeBPO, and the Atlantis Special Economic Zone.

Jean-Pierre Muller, born in 1960, earned his degree in Business Administration from the University of Liege. He started his diplomatic career as an intern at the Embassy of Belgium in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 1983. Later, he was successively posted in Islamabad, Karachi, Shanghai, Houston, New Delhi and, since August 2012, Johannesburg.
Within the Embassy of Belgium in South Africa, he is the head of the AWEX, the Wallonia Export & investment Agency. From Johannesburg, he covers 12 Southern African Countries. His duties include assisting international companies source technology products from Wallonia and establishing job-creating physical presence there. Wallonia is the Francophone Southern half of Belgium.

Lies Deneys, born in Ninove 1977, came to South Africa in 2000 to do research for her Masters Degree in Political Sciences, obtained in 2001 at the University of Ghent.

Subsequently she got involved in the SA wine trade. Soon thereafter she established a wine import company in Belgium and became a ‘négotiant’ in wine. Later she extended her function into becoming a wine consultant as well for various Chinese clients.

In 2013 she left the wine import and export industry to focus on raising her son. During these years she established a successful guesthouse and was instrumental in the creation of a Montesorri based pre-primary school in Greyton where she lived.

In 2017 she returned to Cape Town, completed studies in Events Management at UCT and became the project coordinator for the African Centurion Endurance Race. At the same time she set up her bakery ‘Pajot Flemish Bakery’ through which she then became a committee member of the Belgian Chamber of Commerce Cape Town (BCCSA CT). Her initial role included being responsible for the (end to end) administration around members and for organisation and coordination of the various events of the BCCSA CT.

In 2019 she founded Mappa Pty. (LTD), which is the holding company for Mappa PRP (import of medical supplies), Mappa Travel (medical tourism concierge), and Mappa Projects (brand strategy and marketing).

In March 2021 she was appointed as General Manager of the BCCSA CT where she aspires to build a solid business network of Belgian and international members.

Steven Verhasselt joined Liege Airport as Cargo Development Manager Asia in 2006. Now he is the commercial director of Liege Airport, Belgium’s leading cargo airport. He is responsible for the global cargo development as core business, but is also in charge of passenger, real estate and Liege Airport Consulting. Steven is based in Asia, works for a leading European Cargo Airport in a global role.

Mr. Verhasselt entered the aviation world in 2001 running a project to start up a cargo airline based in Brussels. The project led him to the Middle East and Asia. In 2003, Mr. Verhasselt established a consulting company in Hong Kong to work with airports, airlines and aviation related companies to develop business in Asia.

Steven Verhasselt graduated in Brussels, from Ehsal with a Master Degree in Business Administration. He started working for the Regional Development Agency, focused on assisting startup companies with business plans, seed and venture capital. One of the projects lead him into cargo aviation, and once you are in, ...

Ingrid has built up operational and commercial experience within the logistic sector for 15 years. She started working as a forwarder on import and export operations, dealing with complex files handling goods movements to and from all regions in the world.
As business changed rapidly the last decennia and customer needs where increasing due to high competition and growing transparency within the supply chain, there was a need to set up new tools and services. Ingrid assisted to create a business implementation and customer service team into the current forwarding organization. With a strong focus on developing new procedures and tools together with customers and stakeholders.
She joined Port of Antwerp 2 years ago and works as Business development advisor at Customer Relations department, within the team shippers and forwarders .Her strong expertise helps her to understand the needs of the customers. Her mission is to promote the port of Antwerp and to provide and to develop new business opportunities. She’s responsible for the segments cold chain, containerized transport, retail and logistics.
Ingrid joined WISTA Belgium as a board member in 2020. WISTA, Women's International Shipping & Trading Association is a well-known international organization. Ingrid is a strong believer and supporter of diversity in the maritime sector. She likes to connect with other members around the world.

Julie Tirtiaux is a trade, investment and legal advisor at the Wallonia Export & Investment Agency (AWEX) in Johannesburg. Former associate in Ashurst’s Competition and EU law department in Paris, she also practiced as legal consultant at Freshfields. She graduated from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and is a qualified lawyer at the Paris bar.