Ms. Nguyen Bao Thoa holds a doctor degree in Business Administration (DBA) at European University – Switzerland. She is currently working as Director at the Vietnam Rural Industries Research and Development Institute (VIRI). She has 20 years of experience in the field of market connection, branding consulting as well as capacity building for businesses and sustainable rural development in Vietnam. She is a Fair Trade expert in Business Support activities and has rich experience in community based tourism, ethnic cultural, environment, gender equality, livelihood and development of agricultural value chains. She has also been involved in developing export strategies for a number of agricultural products and handicrafts in Vietnam. She won Prof. Hiramatsu’s award in 2012 for her contribution for the development of OVOP movement globally.

Dr Kevin Murray, Australian, is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT School of Art. He is Coordinator of Sangam - A Platform for Craft & Design Partnerships in Australia. He was Director of Craft Victoria where he developed the Scarf Festival and the South Project, a four-year program of exchange involving Melbourne, Wellington, Santiago and Johannesburg. He is author with Damian Skinner of Place and Adornment, A History of Australasian Contemporary Jewellery. His recent international exhibitions include Live jewellery across the Pacific and Contemporary interpretations of the Garland. He is currently Senior Vice-President of the World Craft Council Asia Pacific Region and teaches at RMIT University, University of Melbourne and Swinburne University. He edits Garland magazine, a quarterly publication about craft and design in the Indo Pacific.

Joseph is from Senegal and speaks both English and French. He earned his Master in Business Communication in Senegal (2009) and MBA in Oita / Japan with the thesis on One Village One Product movement (2017). He has been working as a Consultant and Adviser for many international projects on agriculture and rural development, community development, surveys and capacity building training and marketing provided to OVOP Groups... Joseph is passionate about OVOP and Design Thinking. His publications are available on International Journal of Education and Research. Joseph is promoting OVOP network between the African countries as well as between Africa with the rest of the world.