Private Equity in Africa Summit

Gbenga Hassan has extensive private equity and corporate finance experience in the international and West African markets, spanning over 19 years.

Mr Hassan has played a leading role in Àrgentil vis-à-vis the origination and execution of Power, Gas and Infrastructure deals valued in excess of US$2bn. He also co-manages Àrgentil’s principal investment activities.

He was previously with Aureos Capital where he originated and executed private equity transactions in Nigeria and Standard Bank / Stanbic Nigeria as Corporate Finance Manager. He also worked at Syntegra, a Consultancy and Systems Integration business of British Telecom before moving to Standard Bank in London as Manager of Finance Projects.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Business Management from the University of Greenwich, and a Masters degree in Economics and Management from the University College, London. He is also a Chartered Certified Accountant in the UK (FCCA) and Nigeria (ACA).

Jean-Michel Severino succeeded Patrice Hoppenot in May 2011 as CEO of "Investisseurs et Partenaires" (I&P), an impact investing and private equity firm, which focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance institutions in Africa. Mr Severino now works on implementing the theories developed in his book Africa’s Moment, which he co-authored with Olivier Ray (2010). Mr Severino chairs the board of Ecobank International. He serves as chair of the audit committee for Danone’s board and is a member of its corporate social responsibility committee. He is also a member of the board of Orange (France Telecom) and its governance committee. He currently serves as a member of the UN General Secretary’s eminent persons’ panel on the post 2015 agenda.

Based in Amsterdam, Narina Mnatsakanian leads Sarona’s growth strategy across Europe and the institutionalisation of ESG (environmental, social, governance) management and impact measurement practices. During the previous four years, she worked for MN, a $100bn+ Dutch pension fund asset manager, where she was responsible for the ESG integration project across listed and non-listed asset classes including private equity.  Ms Mnatsakanian also co-led MN’s engagement programme with listed companies on sustainability and corporate governance with a focus on oil & gas and mining companies and led MN’s work on climate change.

Prior to MN, Ms Mnatsakanian was Head of Networks and Global Investor Outreach at UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and Project Manager for the PRI in Emerging Markets Project at UNEP Finance Initiative.  She began her career at KPMG in Strategy Consulting and at Ernst & Young in Advisory.  

Ms Mnatsakanian holds a BA (Hons) and MA (Cantab) degree in Land Economy from Cambridge University and an MSc degree in Financial Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is a CAIA charter holder.

Sarah Shackleton has been with DPI since its inception and has 15 years of finance experience. Before joining DPI, Ms Shackleton was an Associate Director on the Technology Equity Research Team at UBS in London. She spent seven years as an equity analyst specialising in the telecommunications equipment sector and covering large-cap European companies in that sector, including Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent. Her team was voted runner up or better in both the Thomson Reuters Extel and Institutional Investor surveys in the last three years of her tenure at UBS.

She was an operations risk analyst at UBS prior to this. Before UBS, she worked in various accounting and financial systems analyst roles in the finance departments of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and HSBC Investment Bank, both in London.

She holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics and Accounting from the University of Bristol and was born and educated in Zimbabwe.

At 57 Stars, Carl Balit is involved in the selection and monitoring of investments. Mr Balit previously worked at Maillot Baltex where he was involved in leading a shift of the Canadian manufacturing firm’s production platform to Asia. He holds a BA in Economics from Colby College and a MBA and a MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

William Prather is a Director of Natural Resources, where he helps direct the endowments’ investment activities within natural resources across public and private markets.  Mr Prather’s focus is on energy, services, metals, and mining.  Prior to joining UTIMCO, Mr Prather worked at BlackRock in New York City where he was a portfolio manager/analyst investing across the capital structure in both public and private markets.  He invested over $1bn into private markets and helped manage $300mm in long/short liquid investments.  Before BlackRock, Mr Prather was an Investment Banking Analyst at Lehman Brothers in New York City and an Analyst at Teton Capital in Austin, Texas.  He is a CPA and a CFA charterholder and received an MPA and BBA from The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business.

Sean Henry Drake is an investment professional and entrepreneur passionate about empowering investors and entrepreneurs to discover the wealth in what they do and who they are. Mr Drake is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of a London-based PLC called The Wealth Project Holdings PLC which is a leading sustainable investments company that aligns investment capital with attractive and sustainable returns by focusing on promising companies that solve todays’ global socio-economic issues through Education, Financial and Information Technology and Housing. He has personally built a network of over 5,000 investors across the UK, US, Asia and Europe and is also the founder of an online platform with 200 plus social-entrepreneurs connecting, collaborating and communicating. He is currently writing a book on Investing and entrepreneurship due to be published by December 2016.  He has coached and lead workshops on Leadership, management and communication, and he has been involved with and advised on transactions totalling over 20million USD.  He currently holds two non-executive directorships across the Europe and Asia. He is also a regular commentator on CNBC Africa on finance and investment issues.

Raj Shah is the Founder and Managing Partner of Latitude Capital, a global emerging markets power and infrastructure private equity firm and a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. 

A recognised leader in American foreign policy, Dr Shah previously served as the 16th Administrator of the US Agency for International Development, where he led the efforts of nearly 10,000 staff in more than 70 countries.  Under his leadership, he was credited with transforming a government agency through creative public-private partnerships and the application of innovative new technologies. He led President Obama’s Feed the Future and Power Africa initiatives and refocused America’s global health partnerships to end preventable child death on global scale.  These efforts earned support from Republicans and Democrats across the political spectrum for delivering real results and improving America's standing in many parts of the world.  Dr Shah also managed the government’s humanitarian response to global catastrophes, from the Haiti earthquake to the Ebola epidemic, and served on President Obama's National Security team. 

Previously, Dr Shah was the Undersecretary and Chief Scientist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he launched the National Institute for Food and Agriculture and at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he led efforts in global health, agriculture and financial services for the poor.  One important effort, the creation of the International Finance Facility for Immunisation has been credited with reshaping the global vaccine market and saving millions of lives.  

Dr Shah is a graduate of the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and the Wharton School of Business.  Twice unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, Shah has earned numerous awards and honorary degrees and has regularly appeared in the media. 

Tunde Kehinde is the Co-Founder of Lidya, modern bank for Africa, helping Africans access credit, savings, and personal investing products. Lidya helps the 335 million African businesses and individuals who use the internet, to open an account online in 15 minutes, deposit funds, and access credit in as little as 3 days.

Mr Kehinde is also the Co-Founder of ACE (www.ace.ng), a technology-enabled logistics platform, enabling eCommerce companies, financial institutions and Healthcare businesses to ship items directly to consumers across Nigeria with plans to expand across Africa. ACE shipped to close to 400,000 customers, and collected close to $12 million in payments on behalf of 1,000 merchants.

He is the Co-Founder and former Managing Director of Jumia.com, Nigeria’s Number eCommerce Platform which he helped grow the business from 5 employees to close to 1,000 employees serving customers all over Nigeria.

Prior to Jumia, he co-founded Bandeka.com, an online dating platform identified by Forbes as one of the hottest tech start-ups in Africa. Tunde has prior experience as a business development executive with Diageo in London and as an Investment Banking professional with Wachovia Securities in North Carolina and New York City. He holds a degree in Finance with honors from Howard University and an MBA Harvard Business School.

With 20 years’ experience in technology and startups, Chris Folayan founded MallforAfrica and MallfortheWorld. The award-winning global e-commerce company enables Africans and people in emerging markets purchase billions of products from over 200 of the best US and UK online retailers. Mr Folayan also sits on several boards globally and serves as Chairman of the Board of the African Diaspora Network, one of the largest US-based African diaspora networking groups focused on promoting economic development. Prior to MallforAfrica, he was the Founder and CEO of OCFX Inc. a globally recognized software and web design agency in the Silicon Valley serving clients such as Cisco, Tyco, EMC, LSI, Adobe, and CapitalOne Finance. He has also founded and sold numerous technology startups in the Silicon Valley and managed global relations with clients in over 50 countries and multi-million dollar projects.

Honoré Dainhi joined UNOPS as Regional Director for Africa in 2016. Previously, Mr Dainhi held various senior executive positions in the private sector. Most recently, he was Chief Executive Officer of Talem Africa (Supreme Group), an investment holding based in Dubai. Before that Mr Dainhi worked for Vivo Energy (Shell licensee in Africa) as Chief Operating Officer for Africa. He has also worked as Regional CEO and Managing Director for West Africa for Shell Oil Products, based in Ghana. During his time at Shell, he held a number of senior business positions in the Netherlands and the UK. Mr Dainhi has been board director for several entities: the Business Council for Africa in the UK, Elton Oil International in Senegal, and Shell companies in Botswana, Kenya, Morocco and Namibia. He has also sat as Chairman of the Board for GEPACO, a leading FMCG company in Tunisia, as well as Shell companies in Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritius, Senegal and Togo.

Kevin Njiraini is the Regional Lead for Private Equity Funds in Sub Saharan Africa at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). He previously worked with IFC’s Global Financial Institutions Group where he worked on transactions in Africa, Asia and Central America. Prior to joining IFC Kevin was the general manager of an investment bank.

As head of IDG Neil Brown is responsible for Actis global fundraising and investor relations activities. Mr Brown is a member of both the Executive Committee and the Valuation and Exit Committee. Prior to joining Actis in 2013, he worked in Sydney as a Founding Director of the boutique Private Equity advisory firm, Minerva Capital Advisors Ltd (2009-2013). Previously, he was an Executive Director and Head of Global Debt & Equity Capital Markets and Head of Funds Management at Alco Finance (Sydney, 2007-2008). He also brings experience from his time as Global Head of the Sales, Products & Client Services division with Citigroup Alternative Investments (New York, 2004-2007). He holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School and a First Class Honours in Industrial Chemistry from The University of New South Wales.

Murray rejoined CDC in January 2015 from Actis LLP where he was a Founding Partner responsible for the development of its Africa business. Actis was spun out of CDC in 2004.

He began his career as an engineer working on major infrastructure projects in Africa and Papua New Guinea.  His PE career began in 1988 with 3i where he worked for 13 years in the UK before joining CDC in 2001.  Murray’s investment and NED track record covered most sectors and regions across Africa.

Murray has a BSc (Hons) in Engineering from Edinburgh University and an MBA from London Business School. He has an MBA from London Business School and a BSc (Hons) in engineering from Edinburgh University.  

Joanne Yoo is a Managing Director with CBO Investment Management, an Africa private equity firm headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. Ms Yoo serves on CBOIM’s Investment and Management Committees and is involved in all aspects of managing the firm’s investment management activities.

Ms Yoo previously served as a Managing Director and founding member of Watermark Alternative Investment Management based in New York. Prior to Watermark, Ms Yoo was a Senior Investment Officer for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF). She began her career in the Financial Institutions Group at Salomon Smith Barney, now Citigroup.

Ms Yoo received a B.S. in finance and international business from the University of Virginia, an MPA from the Kennedy School at Harvard University and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was a Morgan Stanley Fellow.

She is a Co-Founder and Membership Co-Chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN) and is an Advisor to the Alternative Investments Program of the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO).

Hany Assaad is a co-founder of Avanz Capital, established in 2010 to pursue private equity investing opportunities across the broad emerging markets, focusing on middle market growth capital and buyout funds. As the Chief Portfolio & Risk Officer, Mr Assaad leads the sourcing, screening and negotiation of investments, risk management, and the environmental, social and governance aspects of Avanz Capital.

He has had a long career in emerging and frontier markets investments, including two decades at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). He was Chief Investment Officer in IFC’s Private Equity and Investment Funds, leading the investment process for sector-specific funds targeting investments in agribusiness, clean technology, clean energy, forestry, healthcare, information and communications technology, infrastructure, mining and sustainability funds. He also headed IFC’s private equity funds business in a number of emerging market regions. He has led IFC’s investments in climate change mitigation-focused funds from selection to commitment. He initiated and led the development of the first IFC $150 million investment program of climate friendly funds (clean energy, water, environmental services, clean technology and biodiversity). By the end of 2010, this new portfolio of funds comprised 9 commitments across all EM regions.

Prior to that he led IFC’s Financial Markets Sustainability Group and developed a new line of business that mainstreamed environmental and social finance through financial intermediaries across emerging and frontier markets. Mr Assaad was Divisional Manager for IFC’s Financial Markets, South and Southeast Asia department from 1997 to 2000, where he led investments in private equity funds as well as debt, mezzanine and equity financing to financial institutions in eight emerging countries. In October 1996, Mr Assaad assumed the role of Assistant to the President of the World Bank Group, Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, assisting the President on all aspects of his daily business. From 1987 to 1996, Mr Assaad worked in various investment positions in IFC covering North Africa, the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe, where he oversaw investments in companies in the manufacturing and services sectors.

Hangwi Manavhela has experience in the sustainable development and corporate social investment sector spans 14 years. Over the years Ms Manavhela has been intrigued and passionate about sustainable development issues, central to which are social and environmental issues. Consequently, she joined the PIC where she is responsible for integrating Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) into the investment processes and to ensure consistent consideration of ESG components. This was preceded by her developing systems for consideration into the decision making processes. Ms Vhahangwele holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology with a Social Impact Assessment focus. She has served on the Principles of Responsible Investment Limited Partners Due Diligence Questionnaire (LP DDQ) Working Group.

Gail Mwamba is the managing editor of Private Equity Africa, a London-based financial publication that covers private equity fund and institutional investing in Africa.

Ms Mwamba’s financial journalism career includes roles at Unquote, a specialist Europe-focused private equity publication, FX-Week, which covers the global foreign exchange industry and Risk, a global risk management journal. Prior to joining Private Equity Africa, she was the US editor for a structured credit publication mtn-i.  She has also covered key markets for Africa-focused publications such The Financial Times’ This is Africa and the Africa Investor.

Her academic background includes a specialist Masters in Business Administration in Finance (MBA Fin) degree, specialising in financial risk management and mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Schonfeld holds an undergraduate degree in Law (LLB) from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an MBA from the INSEAD Business School in France & Singapore.

He has twenty years of experience in the fields of finance, strategy, economics, business development and law, with top-tier organizations such as McKinsey & Company, UBS and Ernst & Young. During this time he has led a large number of assignments in a broad range of industries, including infrastructure, construction, healthcare, energy, telecommunication, financial services and others, in many markets and regions worldwide, including Africa.

Mr. Schonfeld brings with him a strong foundation of business fundamentals and a rigorous, methodological approach to the analysis of potential investment opportunities by the Fund. 

In his role as Head of Finance, he oversees all of Vital Capital’s financial operations, manages all investment opportunity screening and evaluation work, monitors and oversees many of Vital Capital’s portfolio investments and in many cases represents Vital Capital on these companies Boards of Directors, and drives Vital Capital’s fundraising efforts.

Before joining Adenia in 2011, Christophe Scalbert previously worked as Senior Investment Officer and then Deputy Head of the Private Equity division of Proparco (AFD Group) in Paris for five years, making direct and fund investments in Sub Saharan Africa and MENA regions. He previously developed his deal skills at Lazard Frères (Paris) for three years as an Associate, involved in both French and cross-border merger operations. Mr Scalbert is a post-graduate from Sciences-Po (Paris) in Economic Development and Political Studies. He also holds a Master in Finance and Business Studies from EDHEC School of Management (Lille), in France.

Alon Lits joined Uber as its first General Manager in Africa in August 2013. Mr Lits began his career in the leveraged finance division of Investec Bank Limited, where he provided debt and preference share financing solutions to public and private companies in South Africa, as well as Africa’s largest private equity funds. Before joining Uber, he interned with the emerging market focused private equity fund - LeapFrog Investments - focusing on investment opportunities throughout Africa. He holds an MBA from INSEAD where he was part of the leadership teams of both the Private Equity and Africa Clubs.

Donald Anderson is Chief Financial Officer and the Partner of the Houston office of TD International (TDI), a strategic advisory and risk intelligence firm based in Washington, DC. Prior to TDI, Mr Anderson spent over 15 years working as an engineering and construction consultant. He has worked on a broad spectrum public infrastructure and private projects including power generation facilities, LNG and petrochemical plants, dams, wastewater and water treatment facilities, transportation projects, and marine structures.

Mr Anderson joined TDI in 2012 to provide advisory services to help clients manage assets and operations in challenging business environments. Combining the intelligence infrastructure of TD International with his personal experience working in a variety of geographies and market sectors, he delivers unique insight relative to risk management relating to market entry, crisis situations, expropriation, anti-bribery and corruption investigations, security, litigation support, and asset recovery. He has worked on investments, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital projects in Africa, North America, South America, and Eurasia.

Mr Anderson has BS and a MS in civil engineering from Louisiana State University, as well as an MBA from Rice University. He routinely lectures on the importance business ethics and government relations to universities and trade organisations. He is also a registered professional engineer and an active board member with several non-profit organisations.

Based in Liberia, Susan Edwards works with portfolio companies and leads fundraising efforts for PACG’s US$50m Liberia Economic Impact Fund.  Prior to PACG, Ms Edwards worked at the Abraaj Group where she focused on the Africa Health Fund, which focused on growing private healthcare companies in Sub Saharan Africa.  Prior to Abraaj, she managed a small business accelerator program for minority entrepreneurs in Chicago and spent five years at Abbott Laboratories in a variety of engineering, operations and new product development roles.  She earned her bachelors degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Paul Hinks is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Symbion Power, LLC, as well as the Chairman of Invest Africa, US. He is the former Chairman and a current board member of the Corporate Council on Africa in Washington.

As the driving force behind Symbion, Mr Hinks has spent his entire working life in the power industry.  His career spans 40 years and in that period, he has worked in the UK, USA, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.  This includes the work Symbion undertook in Iraq and Afghanistan where the company played a leading role in the US led reconstruction.

Symbion Power is one of the largest US investors in the Power Sector in Africa. Since 2014 it has invested in 1,378 MW of installed generating capacity in Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya and Madagascar.

Symbion Power is a US Independent Power Producer based in New York City that has built, owned and operated electricity infrastructure in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.  With a deep commitment to empowering local communities we bring together the knowledge and operational know-how to succeed in the world’s most challenging construction environments.

Joe Falter is the Founder and CEO of Jumia Food Africa (formerly HelloFood), the #1 marketplace for ordering food in Africa. Since launching JumiaFood in Lagos in November 2012, Mr Falter has overseen the growth of the business to 9 African markets: Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana. JumiaFood (formerly Hellofood) won Best E-commerce Startup at the 2014 Europa awards.

He started out as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. in London, covering consumer, retail banking, climate change and healthcare. Mr Falter left to work with the ex MD of Waitrose, together developing new food retail concepts for FMCG brands, before helping launch an e-commerce business that reaches 9 countries. He has a degree in Government & Economics from the London School of Economics.

Lars Zimmermann is a Senior Investment Manager at DEG Deutesche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (“DEG”)  in the African PE team, responsible for Direct Equity Investments and Fund Investments in Africa with a special focus of the Mena Region.

Mr Zimmermann joined DEG in 2009 as an Investment Manager and since then has been responsible for several investments in a number of countries across the globe including India, Mexico, Central America, and mostly across Africa.

Mr Zimmermann has more than 16 years of experience within the Emerging Markets and private equity, with extensive experience in the areas of Acquisition, Structuring, Valuation, Due Diligence and Portfolio Management of both Direct and Fund Investments.

In addition to overseeing the Mena PE business in DEG, Mr Zimmermann has served on various boards and Advisory committees of DEG’s Investments in different sectors such as Healthcare, Refinery and Infrastructure.

Mr Zimmermann has a Masters Degree in Business Economics from the University of Cologne and Copenhagen.

Heleen Goussard, an Associate for RisCura, heads up RisCura’s unlisted investment advisory division primarily managing calculation of an independent unlisted valuation. Ms Goussard has performed and reviewed in excess of 150 valuations at RisCura and undertaken the valuation of Infrastructure projects at both Greenfield and Brownfield stages of development. She has developed specialised skills in the valuation of Infrastructure, including renewable energy, rail concessions, and refineries. Ms Goussard is a chartered accountant based in Cape Town. Her previous experience includes Corporate Finance Partner at PKF (CPT) Inc. She is a regular commentator on African private equity, and is part of the team that publishes the annual Bright Africa report as well as the quarterly RisCura SAVCA Southern Africa Private Equity Performance Report.

Cacious Siboleka Siboleka is an investment professional in excess of over 11 years’ experience in investment management working as a Private Equity Specialist for the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF). Mr Siboleka has gained considerable investing exposure in manager selection and review, ESG Integration, portfolio monitoring, asset allocation and liability driven investing. He is an acute analyst with strong valuation, research, due diligence, analysis, modelling and entrepreneurial Skills. He has spoken at various events and conferences locally and in SADC in the area of private equity, manager selections, regulations and due diligence.

Mr Siboleka currently serves a Working Group Committee member of United Nation Principle of Responsible Investing on Private Equity & Property, Member of the Office of the Prime Minister & GIPF – Benefit Optimization Technical Committee, Consultative stakeholder on the Formulation of National Risk Facility i.e. National Venture Capital Fund in Namibia, Ex-Official advisory executive – advising the Board of Trustees and Management of GIPF Employees’ Pension Fund on Asset Allocation decision in all asset class with special focus on Private Equity Investments, Governance and Compliance and Principal Officer – recently being appointed as a Kuleni Pension Preservation Fund Principal Officer.

Karima Ola is a Partner focused on African investments at LeapFrog Investments, a specialist investor in emerging markets. A deeply experienced operator and investor, Ms Ola has significant experience working across the continent.

She is widely recognised for her work shaping the investment landscape in Africa and was recently named one of “Africa’s women to watch” by Bloomberg.

Previously, Ms Ola was Chief Investment Officer and a member of the board at ADC African Development Corporation, where she initiated the company’s entry into Nigeria and ran a number of multimillion-dollar transactions. Prior to this, she was a Managing Partner at Chayton Capital LLP, where she led the creation of the company’s first Africa Agriculture fund. Earlier, Karima was Executive Director, Global Equities, at HSBC in a role that spanned the UK, Hong Kong and South Africa.

Ms Ola is a Member of UK Institute of Directors and holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a postgraduate diploma in Economics from the University of London. She speaks French and Yoruba and is learning Swahili.

Dabney Tonelli is  Investor Relations Partner at Helios Investment Partners. Ms Tonelli is responsible for leading Helios’ efforts to develop and maintain its relationships with existing and prospective investors. She joined the firm in 2012 from Chayton Capital LLP, an emerging markets private equity investment advisor, where she was Chief Operating Officer. She was jointly responsible for Chayton’s Africa business, executing the firm’s strategy on the continent, with a focus on operations, transactions and key investor relationships. Prior to Chayton, Ms Tonelli was at Goldman Sachs for 12 years. She held a variety of management roles in Global Investment Research in London and was previously in the Investment Management Division in New York, where she was responsible for product development and management, as well as marketing and client coverage. She began her financial services career at American Express and received a BA, cum laude, from Georgetown University.

Henry Obi is a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer for Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”), an Africa-focused Private Equity firm which operates a family of funds and their related co-investment entities, aggregating more than $2.2 billion in capital commitments. He is responsible for the operations of the firm and is a member of Helios’ investment committee.

Prior to joining Helios, he was a Partner for several years at Aureos Capital in London. He started his investment career in the power investment team at CDC and has also worked at Actis and Dynegy, a US energy trader. Mr Obi has an MBA from  the London Business School. He is Chair of the Emerging Market Private Equity Association’s  Africa Council and sits on the advisory board of Maris Capital.

Mark Florman was founder of the merchant banking group Maizels Westerberg and has since founded a number of businesses in the technology, advisory, financial services and investment sectors. He was Managing Director of the private equity firm Doughty Hanson, Chair of LM Glasfiber (the global renewable energy group) and started the African venture capital firm 8 Miles LLP with Bob Geldof. He has been active in policy ideas and campaigns related to social mobility and poverty fighting in the UK and across the world. He co-founded the Centre for Social Justice, the Early Intervention Foundation and B Labs (UK). In March 2015, he was appointed to the Board of the BBC Trust, and was the Trustee for England for two years. Mark was a member of the G8 Social Impact Investment Task Force in 2014, and was appointed to the Triennial Review of the Big Lottery Fund by the UK Cabinet Office in the same year.

Mark is a leading authority on some of the world’s most entrenched socio-economic challenges, speaking widely on reforms that must be made to drive improved governance and productivity, and always championing the power and social impact of good business. He is the author of the External Rate of Return with the London School of Economics. He was appointed as a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Institute of Global Affairs, London School of Economics & Political Science in November 2016 and a Visiting Professor at the Policy institute, Kings College London in January 2017.

Aubrey Hruby is a Co-Founder of the Africa Expert Network (AXN), Insider PR and an investor in African start-ups.  As a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and advisor Fortune 500 companies doing business in Africa, she speaks and writes regularly on African business issues for the Financial Times and Axios.  She has interviewed with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, CCTV, and Africa24.

Aubrey sits on the board of Invest Africa USA, the private sector advisory board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and two dynamic Nigerian companies.  She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Young Leader at the Milken Institute.  Aubrey teaches at Georgetown University and the co-author of award-winning The Next Africa(Macmillan, 2015). She earned a MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a MA from Georgetown University. 

Adrienne Klasa is Editor of the Financial Times’ This Is Africa. Her writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Slate and Forbes, among others. She holds a BA from McGill University and an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Jonathan Wheatley is the FT's deputy emerging markets editor. He was Brazil correspondent from 2005 to 2011, when he moved to London. He lived in São Paulo from 1992, writing for the FT, Business Week, the Economist Intelligence Unit and many others. He previously worked in television news, current affairs and documentaries in London.