Speakers

Leo Howden is a Founder and Managing Director of DEScycle, a deep-tech company developing and commercialising a proprietary iono-metallurgical platform based on Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) for the sustainable recovery of critical metals from electronic waste and complex secondary resources.

Leo holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nottingham, where his research focused on computational fluid dynamics and the modelling of complex fluid systems. Following his doctorate, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher before moving into finance.

Leo later joined German investment bank WestLB AG in London as part of the Structured Commodity Finance team, where he originated and structured financing solutions for natural resource companies across the metals, mining and commodity trading sectors.

He has since co-founded several ventures spanning natural resources, corporate finance advisory and technology commercialisation.