Archives: Speakers

Suresh Samuel is Managing Director for Africa at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) where he is responsible for managing business development activities for project and corporate finance, political risk insurance and private equity investments.  Previously, Mr. Samuel worked in OPIC’s Structured Finance department where he was responsible for the underwriting and execution of investments… Read more »

Ayodele holds a First Class Honours degree in Applied Accounting from the Oxford Brookes University, U.K. and is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and an Authorised Dealing Clerk of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants… Read more »

Alex has lived in Tanzania for over 5 years, and worked in the Oil and Gas industry before starting Africa Insight Advisors in 2015. Africa Insight Advisors (AIA) is based in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and operates throughout East Africa. At its core, the company leverages strong local understanding and combines it with Western business… Read more »

Zain is a seasoned private equity professional with extensive experience across the entire private equity spectrum from fundraising to origination and exit including managing troubled assets. Prior to co-founding Kleoss Capital, Zain was at Emerging Capital Partners between 2006-2012. With seven funds and over $2.0 billion under management, ECP is a leading private equity manager… Read more »

Leading Accion’s Africa Board Fellowship program, focused on strengthening governance and risk-management practices, technology trends and innovation as well as developing strategic leadership abilities in Africa through peer learning for board members of banks, MFIs and Fintechs. More than 27 years of experience in microfinance management, banking and credit. Managing Director Akiba Commercial Bank, Tanzania,… Read more »

Cédric Mbeng Mezui is Chief African Bond Markets and leads the African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI) www.africanbondmarkets.org at the African Development Bank. Since 2008, he has carried out field missions to finance projects (public and private) and the implementation of financial sector reforms in more than 40 countries in Africa and for more than $… Read more »

Cobus co-founded Africa Merchant Capital in 2012 as a privately owned boutique merchant bank, focused on the high growth private capital markets of Sub-Sahara Africa. In 2016, AMC Trade Finance was launched, which provides flexible, secured trade finance to importers and exporters through a transactional trade finance model, to add to our existing corporate finance… Read more »

Douglas Bennet is the COO of GuarantCo’s Management Company and has been involved with GuarantCo since 2007.  Douglas started his career as a lawyer and has been advising, structuring, financing and arranging transactions, mainly in emerging and frontier markets, for almost 20 years.  GuarantCo provides contingent solutions to help bridge the gap between the local… Read more »

Jussi is leading the origination and execution of Digital Infrastructure and Solutions investments at Finnfund. Digital Infrastructure and Solutions (DIS) is a newly established team within the investment function. We invest in commercially attractive high impact businesses within the emerging markets digital value chain (Telecom & Tech), focusing on rural connectivity, access to data, and… Read more »

SeSeasoned Cotton Trader, New York Cotton Exchange, Memphis Cotton International, Newcot S.A, Loius Dreyfus Cotton International, Rio Verde S.A. Business Development Director – Petrovillage AG. managing operations for Africa South of Sahara. Alternative Investments and Structured Trade Finance trainee – UBS. Co-founder Serenity Capital Fund – Tanzania.