ECA Advisory Group

Amanda Essery is a trailblazer in the beauty, personal care, and health & wellness industries, with over a decade of experience pioneering premium, innovative, and sustainable products.

As the Founder and former CEO of Lovekins, she led the brand to become a multi-award-winning women’s and baby care company, redefining health-focused beauty and self-care with Australian native botanicals and scientifically backed formulations. Under Amanda’s leadership, Lovekins expanded globally, gaining popularity in China, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, solidifying its position as a trusted international brand. Amanda remains actively involved in the business as a Director and Founder Relations Lead, continuing to advocate for women’s wellness and product innovation.

Now, as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Kinside, Amanda is shaping the future of youth skin wellness, developing a premium, planet-friendly lifestyle brand that empowers tweens and teens to embrace confidence, self-care, and authenticity.

Before transitioning into entrepreneurship, Amanda spent nearly two decades in banking and finance, working with Australia’s major banks and global investment banks across multidisciplinary areas including performance reporting, budgeting, and forecasting, treasury, and product control. She gained extensive P&L management experience, particularly in derivatives and commodities for global trading books, equipping her with the financial acumen and strategic expertise to operate businesses effectively.

Amanda holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and is a Fellow Certified Practising Accountant (FCPA) a recognition of her consistent contribution to the business industry, knowledge, integrity, and commitment to maintaining the highest professional standards and ethics.

Amanda’s leadership and innovation have been widely recognised, including receiving the University of Wollongong Alumni Award for Innovation & Entrepreneurship in 2024. Beyond product innovation, she is also a trusted business strategist, consultant, and industry advocate, dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs, driving ethical business practices, and promoting Australian businesses on the global stage through export growth and international trade.

Daniela Zuvela is a geopolitical analyst with Fortescue, a technology, energy, and metals group. She leads an internal advisory team on emerging markets of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Southern Caucasus. Her core expertise is in Eurasia but maintains a global perspective. She assesses geopolitical risks and identifies opportunities across six of seven continents to support corporate clients in the global push to decarbonise. Concurrently, Daniela sits on a foreign affairs branch within the West Australian government in which she co-leads discussions on geo-strategic issues facing Australia. Earlier in her career, she worked as a writer for various geopolitically focused research institutes and think tanks. She holds a post-graduate degree in international relations and national security from Curtin University. She speaks Serbo-Croatian, with additional limited proficiency in Russian and Levantine Arabic.

Originally from the Netherlands, Hester holds an LLM (Master of Laws) from the University of Amsterdam. She is a legal and compliance professional with 20 years of global experience as a trusted advisor to businesses on broad governance, structuring as well as legal/risk/compliance advisory.

Hester is the owner of Fit For Purpose Solutions Consultancy and  is a partner and responsible for the APAC region at Cableroad® Fiscal Representatives in the Netherlands. Furthermore, she is partner at Trade and Investment Corporate Services in Singapore® and at China Global Advisory®.  Hester sits on the Steering Committee Oversight Board of Dynamic Standards International®.  She provides consultancy services to SMEs as well multinational corporations.

Having lived and worked in Europe, Asia and now Australia, she leverages her global experience and partnerships in her mission to facilitate trade and business growth through sound and fit-for-purpose advice.

Dr Ivana Damjanovic is a Senior Lecturer at the Canberra Law School and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for European Studies of the Australian National University. Her research is interdisciplinary, encompassing issues of law and politics, with particular focus on international investment governance, the European Union and its external investment, trade and climate change policies and relations. She is actively involved in academic networks and research collaborations in Australia and Europe, and currently leads the EU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Critical Minerals at the University of Canberra.

Ivana worked in different professional roles, including as a career diplomat for the Government of Croatia, a trade advisor for the Delegation of the European Union to Australia, a lawyer and a consultant. She has guest lectured and presented her research at universities and conferences in Europe, Australia, Asia, North and South America, and provided training to the Australian government and to industry stakeholders on EU trade and investment.

Ivana holds a PhD from the Australian National University, a Master of Economic Science from the University College Dublin (Ireland) and an integrated Bachelor and Master of Laws degree from the University of Zagreb (Croatia). She is admitted to practice as a lawyer in Australia and is a nationally accredited mediator. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law (FAAL).

Jacob is an experienced professional in the Australian Food and Native Food Industries with a proven track record spanning over 12 years of growing a small single operator family business into an innovative industry leader.

Previously, he held key positions such as Investments Analyst at IOOF, Site Engineer at Thiess where he built his corporate and professional rigor. Additionally, he served as delegate for ECA, in Brussels and Amsterdam contributing to European Agricultural Traceability Symposium.

Jacob has represented the Australian Bushfoods Industry in the EU, US and ASEAN nations enhancing his reputation as a skilled public speaker and ability to convey key messages from numerous key stakeholders.

He is known for being able to conceptualise issues prioritizing industry lead initiative to improve innovation, collaboration and data driven approaches to achieve impactful outcomes.

Currently he is working on projects with organisations such as WIPO to set frameworks for Recognition of ICIP in Bushfood Markets for export with DFAT. He is also a board member of Watarrka Foundation which builds community connections in Central Australia through engagement of Sport and Storytelling festivals.

He holds a degree in International Business and Engineering, with specialized skills strategies, acumen and being able to connect key stake holders in the Australian Bushfood Industry.

Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University

Member, advisory boards of International Governance and Performance Research Centre (IGAP), Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, and South Asia Forum.

As a professional Company Director, Peter is widely involved in Australia’s commercial engagement around the world at a policy and service delivery level. His board roles have included the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (Efic), the NSW Export and Investment Advisory Council, the Australia India Business Council, Australian Hearing Services and Reckitt & Colman subsidiaries across Asia.

Peter’s executive roles have included Managing Director of Austrade, Chief Executive of Australian Hearing Services (including the National Acoustics Library), Regional Director of Reckitt & Colman Asia as well Strategy Director, Reckitt & Colman PLC. He has worked in London, Jakarta and Singapore, as well as Australia.

A dedicated logistics and supply chain leader with a focus on building strong partnerships across industry, government and academia.

Currently the Director of Project Development at the shipping line ANL / CMA CGM (Australia), committed to delivering innovative, sustainable solutions that benefit customers and the broader community.

Vlad has extensive experience in all facets of ports & shipping having worked at the Port of Melbourne and Dubai Ports World (port & container terminal operator).

His educational background in Container Terminal Management, Ports & Shipping, Landside Logistics, Customs Broking and Computer Science complements his hands-on industry experience.

Notable achievements include leading green shipping and renewable energy initiatives, developing and implementing landside logistics strategies, and leading engagement with industry associations and advocacies, government and tertiary institutions, including lecturing and leading mentoring programs.

Originally from Hyogo, Japan, Yoshi holds an Executive MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the University of New South Wales and a Master’s degree in Digital Media Management from Hyper Island, Singapore. Starting his career at the Tokyo office of the advertising agency Leo Burnett (Beacon Communications) in 2001, he moved to Leo Burnett’s head office in Chicago in 2006.

With over 25 years of international marketing experience for global blue-chip brands, Yoshi specialises in building enduring brands and commercialising products in new markets. In 2009, he founded the cross-cultural marketing agency doq® in Sydney. By building a diverse cross-cultural team at doq® and partnering with clients from a broad range of industries—ranging from government institutions to start-ups—the company has won several awards and achieved significant growth in the area of innovative marketing products and solutions from Japan.

In 2014, Yoshi was invited to speak as a cross-cultural marketing expert at TEDxTitech in Tokyo. From 2014 to 2023, he served as the official Australian Market Advisor for the Organisation for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, Japan. In 2020, doq® launched a new media company, the “Nichigo Press Media Group,” to operate Australia’s longest-established Japanese-language newspaper, Nichigo Press, with Yoshi at the helm as chairperson.

doq® has been named a finalist for seven consecutive years since 2017 and won the Creative Industries category at the 2021 Premier’s NSW Export Awards.