Hanani Hlomani holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB cum laude) from the University of Fort Hare, a Masters in Intellectual Property Law (LLM) from the University of Cape Town, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Commercial law at the same institution. The working title of his PhD thesis is “Data regulation: a bridge or wall to big data driven economic development. Lessons for a developing country.” Prior to joining Open AIR, Hanani worked as a research assistant and law reporter for organisations such as the African Legal Information Institute and the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit. He is also an Associate in the legal department at AfriConsultFirm, where he deals chiefly with commercial, entertainment, and intellectual property law in an advisory role. He is also a Mandela Rhodes Foundation alumni scholar (class of 2019). His interests include innovation, research and development, data regulation, the arts and music sector, entrepreneurship, and financial technology. Outside of the workspace, he is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist who firmly believes in the power of creativity and genius as the keys to economic emancipation.