2016 Conference

With a Bachelor of Commerce degree from The University of Witwatersrand, Ahmed joined Hello Group in 2009, tasked with launching Hello Mobile, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in partnership with CellC. Hello Mobile is the largest MVNO in Africa in terms of revenue generated. In addition, Ahmed launched both Hello Distribution, which has 16,500 points of presence in the informal retail network in South Africa and Hello Stores which is the Group�s retail arm.

Ahmed is the Managing Director of the Group’s Financial Services unit and oversaw the end-to-end licence application process with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) for Hello Paisa, the Group’s international money transfer offering which was awarded the ‘1st Independent Money Transfer Operator’ licence by SARB.

Akinwole Omoboriowo II (AOII) is a 1993 graduate of Economics from University of Jos, Alumni of the London Business School, from where he acquired specialist training in Electricity Pricing & Modeling course in 2006, and a 2011 Post-Graduate Diploma Alumni in Strategy & Innovation from the Prestigious Oxford University’s SAID Business School, U.K.

AOII has over 20 years of experience in the Oil & Gas and Power Sectors in Africa, where he has consistently led other equally distinguished colleagues in pioneering several initiatives including but not limited to Independent Power Producing companies, well-Structured Oil Companies (Oil Trading and Exploration), thriving Utility Companies, amongst others.

Alex von Sponeck joined Helios Investment Partners in 2015 as a Partner to focus on Helios Credit Partners, the pan-African direct lending business of Helios Investment Partners.

He has over 18 years of Emerging Market (“EM”) debt origination, structuring, and distribution experience. He also has direct lending, bond, loan and distressed debt origination and execution experience for sovereign, corporate and financial institution borrowers across Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (“CEEMEA”)

Ameel is an Adviser at Helios Investment Partners – the largest Africa focused private equity firm with investments in 40 African countries. Prior to Helios, Ameel worked in investment banking and private equity in New York and Toronto. Ameel holds a dual degree in Chemical Engineering and Economics from Queen’s University (top student) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ameel is a director of Wananchi Group Holdings (East African telecommunications platform), and Acorn Holdings (Kenyan youth housing platform). Ameel also serves on the investment committee of AHL Venture Partners, an impact-focused frontier markets investment firm, is a board member of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, and is a strategic advisor to Delfina Foundation.

Amyn Mussa is a Partner at ALN Kenya |Anjarwalla & Khanna (A&K). He heads the firm’s Projects and Infrastructure department and co-heads ALN’s Energy and Infrastructure Sector Group. Under Amyn’s leadership, A&K has developed a dynamic projects and energy practice and is regularly engaged on the most significant power and infrastructure projects in Kenya and the region. Amyn is the only lawyer in Kenya ranked in Band 1 in the Projects and Energy category by Chambers Global in 2018. Amyn’s clients include Mota-Engil Engenharia E Construҫao Africa, Globeleq, Orascom Construction, Egis Projects, Quantum Power, General Electric, Ormat, the sponsors of the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, Transcentury, Symbion Power, IFC, AIIM, Mitsui, Toyota Tsusho and Google.

Anne Kirima Muchoki is a leading real estate and property development professional with over twenty years’ experience. An innovator and investor, Anne has been at the forefront of shaping real estate solutions in Kenya.

Beyond her role as a successful entrepreneur, Anne serves as the Board Chairman of Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) where she champions Kenya as a suitable investment destination as the gateway to East Africa and has contributed to increased investment in Kenya. Anne has hosted international delegations in key business forums such as the recent UNCTAD, TICAD VI, and presidential meetings in Nairobi.

Anne participates in the Women Corporate Directors initiative and serves as Board Member for KCB Rwanda, and is Managing Trustee for the Kirima Trust. She holds an MBA in Project Finance, M.Sc. in Commercial Property Management, B.A. in Politics and Economics as well as Executive Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Arshad Dudhia is the Managing Partner of Musa Dudhia and Co, the ALN firm in Zambia. Arshad is ranked in Band One for Business Law and also for Dispute Resolution in Zambia. He is renowned for his expertise in “first in country” transactions and “bet the company” work for Zambia’s domestic champions. He represents private and listed companies, investment and retail banks, financial institutions, private equity players and international development finance institutions. He holds a First Class Law degree from Kings College, London University and is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK.

Ashish J. Thakkar is the Founder of Mara Group and Mara Foundation. Ashish has driven the growth of the Mara Group from a small IT business in Uganda to the globally recognized multi-sector investment group that exists today. Through its investments, Mara Group now employs over 11,000 people across 25 African countries in sectors spanning technology, banking, real estate and infrastructure.

Asif Abdulla started Primefuels as the sole employee in 1996. After graduation he worked in UK for Deloitte and later for Shell companies. In 1999, he moved with his family to Nairobi to grow Primefuels which currently operates in 5 countries in East & Central Africa with over 600 employees. Since 2006, he has lived in Dubai from where he manages the business.

Atiq S. Anjarwalla is the Managing Partner of Anjarwalla Collins & Haidermota in Dubai, UAE, and a Senior Partner at ALN Kenya-Anjarwalla and Khanna. Atiq has over 33 years’ experience and his practice focuses on corporate, banking, project finance and capital markets. In addition, Atiq also advises on the creation and management of trusts. He has assisted private businesses and individuals on succession and estate planning matters, including setting up onshore and offshore trusts for both liquid and onshore investments. Atiq is a recognised speaker and has participated in a number of seminars on various aspects of commercial law, banking, capital markets and infrastructure projects and project finance.

Brett Hattaway is the Vice President & Head of Legal for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, supervising a team of 16 attorneys with responsibility for all legal matters arising in relation to DHL’s Global Forwarding and Express business operations in 94 countries in Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa. He is a member of the DHL Express Africa Management Board, and DP DHL’s global Legal Steering Committee. He is also the Chairman of DHL’s Africa Practice Group, which is a broad array of compliance, risk/insurance and legal professionals within DHL who are focused on mitigating the risks of doing business in Africa for DHL.

Bryce Fort is a Managing Director and Founding Partner of Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), responsible for identifying investments, performing due diligence, and leading transaction teams. Mr. Fort is also deeply involved with ECP Management Company operations and strategies.

Prior to joining ECP in 2002, Mr. Fort worked for Deutsche Bank AG’s European Healthcare Corporate Finance Group which executed mergers and acquisitions and equity and debt financing for pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies. Mr. Fort received a bachelor’s degree cum laude in computer engineering with a minor in economics from Lehigh University. He has served on the boards of Remitix Holdings, Java House, IHS Holdings, Cellcom Telecommunications, Wananchi Group Holdings, Maarifa Education, New Dawn Mining, and Central African Gold.

Responsible for expanding Agility’s footprint in Africa across all lines of business mainly focused on logistics, infrastructure and aviation services.

He brings with him 22 years of di erent leadership roles, having worked for British Airways for 16 years and Lonrho for 6 years. In his positions, Charles managed several departments and functions including business and investment development, legal and contracts, human resources, public relations and government a airs, corporate social responsibility, training as well as administration and facilities services for 28 stations in 16 countries.

Charles is a highly committed self-motivated business leader with a passion for challenging and driving business in developing African and Middle East countries.

Chris Genasi has advised multinational corporations and major public sector organisations in the US, the Gulf, Africa, Europe and Central Asia. He specialises in helping organisations use communications to manage risk and change the way people think and behave, in order to support commercial or policy objectives. Chris was named by PRWeek as one the UK’s most influential PR practitioners; and one of the most influential PR professionals globally. Chris is a Fellow and former president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. He is also the author of several books on public relations, including Winning Reputations: How to Be Your Own Spin Doctor and Creative Business

Daniel Menard is the Senior VP of Operations of Gardaworld International Protective Services, overseeing the Division’s operations, commercial and projects across Middle-East, Africa and Asia dealing with a wide array of clients from government, non-government to commercial sectors. He joined Gardaworld as the Managing Director for the Afghanistan region, then, was promoted to Managing Director of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and currently, as Senior VP of Operations. Prior to joining GWIPS, he served in the Canadian Army for 26 years, where he was promoted as one of the country’s youngest Brigadier Generals. His last appointment was to lead the Kandahar, Afghanistan Military Campaign in 2009\10.

David currently leads SCB’s Real Estate expansion strategy into Sub-Saharan Africa focusing on delivering Lending, Capital Markets, M&A and Advisory solutions in real estate markets. He is responsible for originating, structuring and executing Real Estate finance transactions for Developers, Investors and Funds in Africa and the Middle East.
Between 2008 and 2011, David set up Citi’s (Dubai) MENA Real Estate Equity Research platform, prior to which he was focused on European Real Estate Structure Finance and Principal Investment at JP Morgan (London).

Dominic is a Partner in A&K’s Corporate department and co-heads the firm’s Competition Group. He has wide-ranging experience in corporate mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and private equity. Dominic has advised domestic, regional and international private and publicly listed companies on a variety of commercial transactions, including share acquisitions, privatisations, public listings and cross listings. Dominic has extensive experience advising tech start-ups and worked with FSD Africa on examining the regulatory and public landscape that governs crowdfunding in Kenya. He is recognised as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global 2018, recommended by Legal 500 and is ‘highly regarded’ by IFLR1000 for their Financial and Corporate category.

Dorothy Ooko is the Head of Communications and Public Affairs for East and Francophone Africa at Google. Dorothy is one of Africa’s leading communications professionals, with leadership experience at the nexus of technology, innovation and communications.

A multilinguist with qualifications in strategic management, Dorothy has a deep understanding of what it takes for companies in Africa to leverage digital media to meet strategic business objectives and connect with the African consumer. She has handled direct regional communications for some of the world’s most competitive, recognizable and renowned brands.

Prior to joining Google, Dorothy was the Communications Manager, East and Central Africa at Nokia.

Doug Lacey is Special Advisor to LeapFrog Strategic Africa Investments (LSAI), a Strategically Managed Account (SMA) between Prudential Financial and LeapFrog Investments. After serving as LeapFrog’s Founding Partner for nine years, Doug is now focused solely on the USD 350 million SMA which aims to invest in leading insurers in West and East Africa. LSAI has recently announced a USD 180 million investment into Enterprise Group Limited in Ghana.

Eddy Njoroge is the former CEO of Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), where he spearheaded the transformation of the company from a parastatal to a publicly listed company.

From 2008 to 2012, he was the President of the Union of Producers and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa. He currently serves as Chairman of Telkom Kenya and of the Nairobi Securities Exchange and is a board member of CfC Stanbic Bank, Real Insurance Ltd and Proctor & Allan among other companies.

Eithne Treanor runs a specialist media consultancy company based in Dubai. She is a professional conference moderator and facilitator and an expert media and communications trainer as well as a seasoned energy industry commentator.

Eithne acts as OPEC’s official on-air conference and webcast moderator. She has moderated at a large number of other conferences including the International Energy Forum, ADIPEC, World Energy Forum, the Africa Global Business Forum and the Excellence in Energy Awards. She is CNBC Arabia’s Special Consultant and she has worked as an international television journalist for ABC News, Sky News, BBC World, Bloomberg Television and CNBC Europe. She has interviewed thousands of leading politicians, dignitaries, energy ministers and high-ranking business people around the world.

Eva joined Africa Risk Consulting as Director for East and Southern Africa in 2015. She is a non-executive director for Stanbic Bank Uganda.

Eva has a profound understanding of Africa’s diverse investment environments having played a key role as General Manager International Business Development in MTN Group’s aggressive expansion strategy from 2001 to 2006. She led multi-disciplinary teams through complex due diligence processes,and developed business cases resulting in successful acquisition of 4 operations in Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Cameroon and Republic of Congo.

Subsequently, in diverse strategic positions in HR, Corporate Affairs and Customer Experience, Eva continued to prove her ability to lead virtual teams to deliver on transformation strategies across multiple geographies.

Eva has a Masters of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

A passionate African art collector, Eva is also involved in raising awareness of Africa’s need for remedial schools.

Mr G. Jayakrishnan directs Enterprise Singapore’s strategy to develop and strengthen Singapore’s trade and investment linkages with the Middle East, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Based in Singapore, he leads the Group’s operations in Singapore, Accra, Dubai, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, Riyadh and Sao Paulo. Enterprise Singapore is the government agency championing enterprise development and also supports the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups. Jaya serves as member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for African Studies in Singapore.

In 2015, he was awarded the Public Administration Bronze Medal by the Government of Singapore. He holds a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours from the National University of Singapore.

Prof. Gbolahan Elias (D.Phil. BCL Oxon.) is a partner at G. Elias & Co. He has been a Senior Advocate of Nigeria since 2005 and was once a Junior Research Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. Prof. Elias has been called to the New York State Bar, the New York Federal Bar and the Nigerian Bar, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He worked for 3 years at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a leading New York corporate law firm. His practice covers litigation, arbitration and mediation on taxation, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, electric power, oil and gas and telecommunications matters.

Gbolahan is ranked in each of Chambers and the Who’s Who Legal in the top tier of each of four categories: corporate, financial, energy and dispute resolution. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and of the Energy Institute, he teaches commercial law at Babcock University, Ilishan and has published a book and many articles.

Geoffrey White is the CEO and a strategic advisory board member of Agility Africa, a leading global provider of logistics and related infrastructure solutions for the oil and gas and FMCG markets. He is an expert on infrastructure development, retail supply chains, agri-business, and investment for African markets.

Prior to joining Agility, Geoffrey served as CEO of London-based conglomerate, Lonrho, for 8 years, where he developed product supply chains for some of the world’s largest retailers, as well as developed essential infrastructure and logistics facilities for Africa’s burgeoning oil and gas industry.

Mr. White is a regular author of editorials on Africa and has given commentaries on Africa for the BBC, CNN, CNBC and Forbes, as well as at various important African debates, including the World Economic Forum, African Union, and The Economist East Africa Summit among others.

Dr. Cheick Modibo Diarra is a leader in the business and civic community on the continent. A former Prime Minister of Mali, he is a distinguished leader in science, education, and public life and has been described as “the pride of Mali and Africa” by the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO).

His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan is the Minister of Tolerance in the new Cabinet announced in October 2017.

His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak joined the Federal Government in 1992 and held a number of government portfolios including Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Minister of Education and Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development.

His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak was also Chancellor of United Arab Emirates University from 1983 to 2013; Chancellor of Higher Colleges of Technology from 1988 to 2013; and President of Zayed University from 1998 to 2013.

His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan received his education at the British Millfield School until the high secondary level before joining Magdalen College at Oxford University-UK.

Mr. James M. Mworia is the Chief Executive Officer of Centum Investment Company Limited and its subsidiaries since October 2008. He has over ten years work experience including Investment Management at Trans-century and Centum. He is a CFA Charter holder, Certified Public Accountant, holds a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Nairobi and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

Jamie Simmonds was appointed the founding Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director of The Access Bank UK in January 2008. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School Executive Management Programme. Jamie is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, a Certified Financial Adviser and also a member of the Association of Foreign Bankers.

He has a wealth of experience in financial services having held a series of director roles for National Westminster, Coutts, Royal Bank of Scotland, Gerrards and Close Brothers. He has a proven track record in the start-up and turnaround of financial service businesses, delivering sustainable benefits for all stakeholders. He has extensive knowledge of Corporate, Retail and Private Banking services.

Jason Harel is the Co-Founding partner of BLC Robert & Associates and boasts substantial experience in corporate M&A, workout transactions as well as taxation. He generally practises in the areas of corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate insolvency, real estate, tax but also advises on litigation matters.

Consistently identified as a ‘leading practitioner’ in his field by legal directories, Jason acts for public and private companies, banks, hotels and real estate on a range of acquisitions and other corporate transactions. He sits on a number of boards of directors including JP Morgan Investments Ltd, ALN and IBL Ltd. He is also the chairman of a family controlled hotel group.

Jendayi E. Frazer is President and CEO of 50 Ventures, a private investment company that seeks to elevate Africa’s global standing by investing in its governance, education, enterprise, and stability sectors. 50 Ventures also offers expertise on internal affairs affecting Africa and African business investments.

Jeremy M. Skyrme is the Chief Executive Officer of Mara Xpress. Jeremy started his career in the Logistics Industry some 28 years ago and is an established Industry specialist with extensive working knowledge of the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South American Markets.

Jeremy started his first work assignment age 18 in Dubai having just graduated from Christ College Brecon, Wales, UK. As a recognized Commercial Specialist, Jeremy has driven key business developments initiatives across country domestic platforms, Cross border Road Networks in Middle East, Africa and South America, detailed supply chain understanding across multiple Industrial channels and detailed product development to drive new revenues and profits.

Jeremy is married with two beautiful children and lives in Dubai.

John Woollacott is the Senior Vice President – Business Development for DP World. DP World is a leading Global Terminal Operator with operations in over 30 countries that continues. In his role he is responsible for the development of new projects globally as well as the expansion of existing sites. John has extensive experience in developing new port projects including greenfield developments, acquisitions, privatisations and expansion projects across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.

Kannan is a member of McKinsey Electric Power and Natural Gas Practice and Infrastructure Practice. Since 2014, when he joined McKinsey, he has been working mostly in with governments, utilities and development agencies on electricity sector reform, operations and capital productivity. He has over 18 years of experience in the electricity utility industry and 2 in mining. Before joining McKinsey, he worked in various executive roles at Eskom, the state owner electricity utility of South Africa, responsible for system operations & planning, supply chain, engineering and primary energy procurement at different periods.

Karanvir has over 27 years’ experience with helping Governments secure their country. He has an in-depth understanding of the threats and challenges faced by our world. His pragmatic hands-on approach, backed my real field experience, make him an engaging speaker. Karanvir is a sought-after keynote speaker and a consultant to many Governments on telecom legislation and homeland security.

Karanvir is currently building Smart Transport systems for developing nations, as well as infrastructure for secure micropayments. Additionally involved in developing in-flight entertainment and engagement systems.

Karim S. Anjarwalla is the Managing Partner of ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna (A&K) and a member of the firm’s Corporate department. He is consistently involved in the most prominent M&A transactions in the region, and has a wide array of experience advising domestic, regional and international clients on M&A, joint ventures and private equity investments.

Under Karim’s leadership, A&K founded and has been a key driver of ALN. Karim is regularly an invited expert at various international legal and business forums. He is rated as a Leading Lawyer by Chambers Global, IFLR1000 and Legal 500.

Koffi Klousseh is Principal Investment Officer at IFC, Africa Infrastructure Department leading debt and equity transactions in Energy, Transport and Water in Sub Sahara Africa. He is also part of the leadership team of IFC InfraVentures, the World Bank Group project development fund taking early stage investment risk with private sponsors to develop infrastructure projects.

Prior to joining IFC, Koffi was Vice President at Helios Investment Partners, a London-based private equity fund manager focused on Sub-Sahara Africa working acquisitions and divestitures across sectors.
He received a Bachelor in Business Administration from HEC Montreal, a Master in Finance from the George Washington University and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.

Kwame Parker is a Partner and Investment Director at Frontier Investment Management, a private equity fund focused on renewable energy opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa that is headquartered in Denmark and Kenya. Kwame previously ran the power & infrastructure business in East Africa for Standard Bank. Prior to Standard Bank, Kwame was a VP at Morgan Stanley and HSH Nordbank in New York City. Kwame has executed more than USD 5 billion in energy and infrastructure financings globally over the course of his career. He holds an MBA from Michigan Business School and a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from New York University.

Maneesh Garg is the Group CEO of Afriglobal Group headquartered in Dubai and with operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroun and Ethiopia. The flagship company in Nigeria, Nagode, is one the largest distributors of chemicals and industrial raw materials in Africa. The Group is also involved in forefront of logistics and healthcare in Nigeria through a world-class diagnostics centre.

Born in Kenya, he has lived in Nigeria and now Dubai. He has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford and a Master’s Degree in Economics from North Western University, USA.

Mark is an investment principal of the Investec Africa Frontier Private Equity Fund. He joined Investec Asset Management in 2010, following an initial period as a consultant in 2009.

For 10 years prior, Mark was involved in private equity investing, mostly with a Pan African focus. This included time as the managing director of Africa with Renaissance Partners, as a managing principal with Kingdom Zephyr and initially as an executive director with Cycad Financial Holdings. Mark also spent seven years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co, first in Sydney and then in Johannesburg. He has served on the board of several companies and also the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, and for five years was Chairman of the African Venture Capital Association.

Mark holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom where he was a Rhodes scholar as well as Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States of America.

Marta is Head of Enterprise Sales Transformation at Safaricom Limited, based in Nairobi since 2014, having previously headed product and business development.
Since joining Vodafone in 2007, Marta held several leadership roles across Europe, building a successful track record in sales, product management, marketing, commercial operations and business transformation.

She started her career as management consultant for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Germany, after studies in Italy, Germany, France, USA.

Marta speaks five languages, is member of Safaricom Women in Technology and Dubai Angels investor community and advises African startups. She is passionate about innovation, fintech and entrepreneurship.

Matthews is seasoned international corporate finance and banking lawyer with well over 21 years of experience in deal structuring and execution in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. He is Senior Counsel at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, which is focuses on private sector development. Matthews holds a BA (Law) and LLB, both from the University of Cape Town. Prior to joining IFC, Matthews was an associate at Edward Nathan and Sonnenbergs.

Mr. Mesfin Tafesse is the Principal Attorney at Mesfin Tafesse & Associates, one of the leading law offices in Ethiopia and ALN’s Ethiopia member firm. Mesfin has over 25 years of legal experience in the private, public, and civil society sectors in Ethiopia.

As an attorney, Mesfin has substantial experience representing foreign investors, setting up companies, and providing legal due diligence opinions in sectors including, but not limited to, M&A, banking and finance, mining and energy, and oil and gas. He is consistently recognized by Chambers and Partners as a Band 1 legal service provider in Ethiopia. Mesfin is a member of the Ethiopian Lawyers’ Association.

Michael Steiner is the Vice-President Business Development – Southern Africa at Engie. An energy infrastructure professional with 20 years of experience in the power sector he focuses on emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. He has considerable experience on origination and execution of deals, project structuring, joint venturing / partnering, negotiation of key agreements, permitting, licensing and project financing. He has been involved in gas, hydro, coal and solar/wind projects in South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.

Mohamed Amersi is CEO and co-founder of Emergent Telecom Ventures, a Dubai based Emerging Markets Consulting, Advisory and Asset Management firm specialising in Telecoms, Media & Technology. Prior to co-founding Emergent Telecom Ventures, Mr. Amersi ran Gramercy Communications Partners, a communications merchant bank, based in the United States that he co-founded with Telefonica.

Moses is a partner at MMAKS Advocates since 2005. He is a leader in the fields of civil litigation, arbitration and intellectual property. Moses is a past president of the Uganda Law Society and chaired the African Forum of the International Bar Association (IBA) in 2008/2009. Moses has been a member of the Uganda Public Procurement and Appeals (PPDA) Tribunal since 2014. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CiArb).

Moses has been a Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered Bank since 2006. Moses was educated at the University of East Anglia, Norwich United Kingdom (UK) and The College of Law Guildford (UK) He is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales as well as an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda. Moses’s major areas of expertise are Commercial Dispute Resolution, Litigation and Intellectual Property.

Nabeel has 18 years of banking experience (both conventional and Shari’a compliant) covering corporate banking, project finance, private equity and Investment Banking. Nabeel transacted across many sectors such as utilities, chemicals, oil & gas, retail in the GCC, the Emerging Markets; & Europe.

Nabeel started his career as a process engineer at the BAPCO refinery in Bahrain. Nabeel has Masters of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London and ACCA Diploma in Finance & Accounting.

Naval Sood leads Stanbic Bank’s Corporate Finance division in East Africa. He helps clients complete merger and acquisition transactions, create joint ventures, and tap capital markets to fund expansions – particularly in the financial services sector. Naval has over 30 years of work experience across Africa. Naval is a qualified accountant and holds a MBA degree from London Business School

Omid Kassiri is a Partner in McKinsey & Company’s Nairobi Office and leads their agriculture practice across Africa. He supports regional and multi-national clients in areas of market entry, joint ventures, growth and operational and capital efficiency, primarily across energy, financial services and manufacturing. He also works closely with national and local governments, driving transformative policy change and implementation.

Osman Qureshi is the Chief Finance Officer at Mubadala Infrastructure Partners Ltd. He specialises in investment banking and private equity. He also has M&A and financing experience focused on infrastructure, utilities, power and industrials.

Paul is the CEO of Catalyst Principal Partners. He has over 20 years of management consulting, entrepreneurial, investment banking and private equity experience. He has managed a significant and diverse regional investment portfolio and led several high profile merger and acquisition transactions across Africa.

Mr. Peeyush Garg is the Founder Chairman of Daraju Industries Ltd, an FMCG company with manufacturing and distribution of personal care, homecare and oral care products. Mr. Garg has over 30 years of experience in the various sectors: textiles, trading, plastics and paper products. The Group also has presence in India, Dubai and China.

Mr. Garg has been in Nigeria for the 30yrs and has a reasonable experience of the Nigerian business environment. In the past 6 years Daraju has grown significantly and intends to further invest in new product lines and expand within the ECOWAS region soon.

Prejelin Naggan is Head of Primary Markets in the Capital Markets division of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). His role entails leading teams that drive new listings by local and international issuers across all the JSE markets. This includes focusing in particular on new equity and debt listings and related products such as ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), warrants and hybrid instruments.

Before joining the JSE, Prejelin was with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank for almost 8 years where he worked within the Investment Banking division advising clients in different industries on M&A and ECM transactions.

Pulane Kingston is born, bred and educated in Tanzania, is a Partner in the corporate practice and Head of Transformation at Webber Wentzel. Pulane’s expertise in the private sector covers legal and business management aspects of business. She has developed excellent relationships within regional governments and the investor community across Sub-Saharan Africa. Pulane joined Webber Wentzel from Absa Capital where she was managing principal and responsible for Absa Capital’s Human Resources, Transformation, Diversity, Marketing & Corporate Communication, and CSR Departments.

She also managed the sustainability aspects of the Corporate, Investment Banking and Wealth Cluster. Pulane previously co-founded Sphere Holdings, a new generation investment holding, empowerment company focusing on financial services, industrial services and infrastructure.

Romain is responsible for originating and executing infrastructure investments across the African continent for AIIM’s funds. Romain has an in-depth knowledge of infrastructure sub-sectors and has served on the boards of various infrastructure companies including Noatum, North Queensland Airports and Global Ports Holding and is currently a Non-Executive Director on the Board of AIIM Hydroneo.

Saad Aouad is the Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer at 54 Capital. He has significant experience in investment banking focusing on private equity fund transactions in Africa. He led the establishment of Bluebird, through which it acquired majority stakes into 5 FMCG manufacturing businesses in Ethiopia. Previously, he worked for private equity investment firms, including Kingdom Zephyr Africa Management and Duet Group, where he executed, managed, exited multiple transactions and managed their Africa private equity platform. Saad graduated from EM Lyon with an MSc in Finance.

Sachen is a successful Kenyan businessman with international multi-industry experience. Graduating in 1995 from Imperial College (UK) with an honours degree in Chemistry and Management, he joined the Kenyan family business. In 2002, he moved to Canada to operate the Property Development, FMCG, Insurance and Banking family businesses. In 2006, he returned to Kenya to run the family’s MEA businesses growing Orbit into the region’s largest FCMG toll manufacturer for Multinationals, while managing the Property Development, Chemicals, Packaging, Therapeutic Food Manufacturing, Financial and Investment Management businesses.

Sachen is involved with many community, leadership, philanthropic and CSR initiatives including the YPO, WEF, serving on boards, and as mentor for the Obama-created ABF.

Sadiq Abu is the Country Chief Operating Officer and Country Manager of Barclays in Nigeria. He mainly focuses on investment structuring, corporate/regulatory compliance, capital markets regulatory advisory, legal, tax/regulatory due diligence and start-up advisory support.

He has considerable experience in legal advisory and deal execution, covering equity-debt capital markets and M&A across Africa and other emerging and frontier markets.

He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Lagos and MSc of Finance and Financial Law from the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies). He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court.

Eng. Saed Mohamed Al Awadi, is now the Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Exports (DE), earlier being the Chief Operating Officer at EHS, the regulatory arm of Dubai World. Saed has over 20 years of experience in the Government and Private sector with in-depth local market and industrial expertise and knowledge that equip him with the necessary leadership skills to lead and guide organizations.

Samir is an entrepreneur and investor with a multidisciplinary and multinational background. Samir currently serves as the Managing Director of Brentford Group (a Dubai-based technical services company serving the Oil & Gas and construction verticals), Vice-Chairman of Dynamic Staffing Services (a leading project staffer, with over 300,000 resources in 25 countries), Director of eDynamic (a New York-based digital marketing technology agency), Board Member of Tellurian Capital (an investment fund), Commercial Director of Mina Petroleum (a regional US defence contractor) and Chairman of Adeya SA (A Switzerland based leader in encrypted secure communication).

He holds an Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the UK and has pursued Master’s level management & finance education in USA, UK and Canada.

Sanjeev Gupta is Head of Financial Services and an Executive Director in the Board of Directors of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). He heads AFC’s Treasury, Trade Finance, Syndication and Advisory Business. He has more than 25 years of experience working across the emerging markets in Africa, India, GCC and South Asia, focusing on Corporate Strategy, M&A , Asset Management, Private Equity and Advisory services.

Over the years , he has developed strong relationships with global funding and development agencies, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, banks and political leaders in these markets.

Sanjeev is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (India), and holds an alumunus from Said Business School, University of Oxford.

Shamiza Ratansi is the Managing Partner at ATZ Law Chambers. She focuses on Banking and Finance Real Estate Corporate, Commercial, Mergers and Acquisitions, Conveyance, Private Equity, Mining and Capital Markets matters. She is a member of both the Tanganyika Law Society and the East African Law Society. Shamiza is recognized by international directories such as Legal 500, Chambers Global, IFLR1000, and Who’s Who Legal.

Mr. Silvester KASUKU, MBS, CMILT is the Director General/ CEO, LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority which is charged with the responsibility of planning, coordinating and managing the implementation of the LAPSSET Corridor’s 7 infrastructure Project Components, namely; Lamu Port, Railway and road networks connecting South Sudan and Ethiopia to Lamu Port, Airports, Resort Cities, Crude oil Pipelines from South Sudan, Uganda and Kenya oil fields to Lamu Port and a planned refinery in Kenya.

Until February 2013, Mr. Kasuku was The Secretary for Infrastructure and LAPSSET Corridor Project Secretariat at the former Office of the Prime Minister. Previously, Mr. Kasuku had been a Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, School of the Built Environment since February 2003.

Sonal has been a full-time Director with Anjarwalla & Khanna (A&K), a leading corporate law firm in Kenya, for over 21 years. Sonal also provides support to ATZ Law Chambers, A&K’s affiliate firm in Tanzania. She is a Solicitor of the Senior Court of England and Wales with experience in aviation finance, banking, energy, infrastructure projects and project finance, restructuring and capital markets. Sonal is a regular speaker at various seminars and has contributed to publications. She is ranked as a leading lawyer in Kenya in Chambers Global, IFLR 1000, and Legal 500.

Tara O’Connor is Founder and Managing Director of Africa Risk Consulting (ARC), a risk consulting firm, and ARC Briefing, an Africa-focused country risk information service. Tara brings 25 years of global risk management. Since 2006, ARC’s team of pan-African experts has carried out over 2,000 projects on 40 African countries providing integrity due diligence, political assessments, market intelligence and anti-bribery and corruption consulting.

Over the past five years Tara has developed the ARC Briefing service to report on 21 of the continent’s main markets. Since September 2018, ARC Briefing’s archive reports have been available on LexisNexis. Tara has spent her career supporting investment across Africa and enabling companies to operate with integrity. It is ARC’s core belief that greater investment is the main accelerator for political, economic and social change that is transforming the continent and the lives of people on the continent. A child of Zambia, Tara is an Africa-optimist!

Tas Anvaripour is the Global Partner for Energy Infrastructure at Abraaj. She has 27 years of experience in public sector finance, corporate and project finance in Asia, Africa and North America. Prior to joining Abraaj, she was the chairperson at THEMIS Infra, CEO of Africa50 and Director of Business Development at African Development Bank. In 2014, she was decorated as a Commander, National Order of Merit of the Republic of Ivory Coast. A World Bank Fellow, Tas holds a BSc in Finance from Ankara University in Turkey and an MA in Economics and Policy Management from Columbia University, United States

Tony Soh is the Chief Corporate Officer of The Ascott Limited, the largest international owner and operator of serviced residences. He is responsible for Ascott’s global operations and corporate functions. He also oversees Ascott’s operations and business development activities in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Indochina.

Mr. Yogesh Manek is a well-known and reputed entrepreneur from Tanzania who started his professional career in his early ages.

Initially managing the family trading business, he established his first manufacturing venture in 1975 – Chemicotex industries. He then established MAC Group in the 1980’s and expanded the business portfolio to Insurance, Banking, Real Estate, Agribusiness,
Shipping and Logistics and Services sectors, within Tanzania and the East Africa regions.

He is currently the Chairman of Mac Group, Heritage Insurance Company Tanzania, Strategis Insurance Company, Chemi & Cotex Industries and PIL Tanzania. He also sits on the Board and advises on several other successful businesses in Tanzania and East Africa.