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Justin Andrews
Managing Director of DFCBased in Washington D.C., Justin Andrews is Managing Director of the Prosper Africa Transaction Unit (PATU) at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution. Prior to leading PATU, Justin was a Director in the Social Enterprise Finance Team focused on debt investments in impact-oriented investment funds and enterprises and an Investment Officer in the Housing Finance Team focused on mortgage securitization.
Before joining DFC, Justin managed an SME export working capital program at the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Prior to government service, he managed field programs for Doctors Without Borders in West Africa, Southeast Asia and Madagascar and was an Investment Analyst at Orient-Express, a hotel and real-estate group that is now part of the LVMH collection.
Justin holds both a B.A. in Finance and an M.A. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
Faizal Bhana
Director, Middle East, Africa & India of Jersey FinanceFaizal is a UK qualified lawyer and for many years has worked and advised, and is a trusted advisor to institutions, corporates and families across the Middle East and Africa. Faizal specialises in banking and finance and has advised both corporates and families including on their international investment and holding structures.
Will Buchan
Investment Manager at British International InvestmentWill is an Investment Manager at British International Investment, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, until recently known as CDC Group. He specialises in investments into Private Equity funds across Africa and Asia, with a particular focus on sector specialist strategies. Will sits on the advisory board of several funds with investments in East Africa. He joined the then CDC in 2015, and has been based in Nairobi since 2021. Will began his career as an investment banker in the UK after graduating from the University of Bristol.
Alexis Caude
Managing Partner at Adenia Partners- Plenary Introductory Presentation
- Main Plenary I: Fund Strategies that Work: Lessons from the Last 20 years of Private Capital in East Africa
Alexis Caude is a Managing Partner at Adenia. Based in Mauritius, he oversees numerous investments made in the Indian Ocean, East Africa and South Africa.
Alexis is as a serial entrepreneur, finding particular success in creating and growing digital businesses. He founded and chaired the Executive Board of NEWSWEB, a leading online publisher that went public on the Paris Stock Exchange (Euronext) in 2006 and was subsequently acquired by the LAGARDERE Group. He has also founded and co-founded two other digital businesses that he grew and eventually sold to two strategic players, achieving superior returns to investors. Following the sale of one of these businesses, Alexis reinvested in 2010 the proceeds to co-found VALUESTATE, a European-based hospitality group that now owns 15 midscale hotels in major cities in Europe.
Alexis is Chairman of the Board of Kanu and Red Lands Roses and serves on the Board of Quick Mart, ABL and Herholdt’s.
Alexis formerly served as an Officer in the French Navy Seals and holds an MBA (1998) from Harvard Business School.
Simon Clark
Simon Clark is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and author of ‘The Key Man: How the Global Elite was Duped by a Capitalist Fairytale’ (2021). Writing for publications including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, his investigative work has led him across the globe from the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the copper mines of Congo and many prestigious banks in the City of London. He has been a journalist since 2000 and reports on a range of financial, economic and political subjects.
Berhanne Demissie
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Cepheus Growth Capital PartnersMs. Berhane Demissie is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Cepheus Growth Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on providing growth capital to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ethiopia.
Ms. Demissie has over 10 years of Private Equity experience in Ethiopia and, prior to founding Cepheus, served as a Senior Consultant to the Public Financial Enterprises Agency in Addis Ababa for five years engaged in the Government’s reform program of the public financial institutions. She also worked for Citigroup in London as a member of their Corporate and Portfolio Risk Management groups.
Ms. Demissie holds a BSc (hon.) from Greenwich University, and a Higher Diploma (DIC) and an MBA from Imperial College in London.
Bella Genga
Financial JournalistProfessional and ethical financial journalist with over 10 years experience in print and broadcast journalism.
Bella writes about large companies in financial services including commercial banks, financial technology, telecommunications, and ESG. She also write about the capital markets, politics and economy.
Akshay Grover
Group CEO of CellulantAkshay Grover is the Group CEO at Cellulant with the responsibility for driving the strategic direction and expansion of the business across Africa.
Prior to Cellulant, Akshay held multiple C-level positions at iSON, a diversified group with a presence in 30+ countries and 25000+ employees in the MEA and Asia Pacific region. During his stint at iSON, Akshay led the restructuring of its technology business, enabled multiple rounds of private equity capital raise for the BPO business and drove the expansion of the group into the ME, North and South Africa regions via multiple acquisitions. Akshay also played a vital role in evangelizing iSON tower – a newly created digital infrastructure platform in the south east Asia region. In his capacity as the Chief Investment Officer for iSON - Akshay co-led the creation, definition and execution of the investment strategy of ISONs technology investment arm – ‘i3’.
Prior to ISON, Akshay spent 10+ years in investment banking at Ernst & Young and leading investments at the USD4bn+ TMT investment arm of Dubai Holding. During this tenure he has closed transactions in excess of USD 5bn.
A management graduate with specialization in Finance from one of India’s premier business schools, Akshay was selected by a leading credit rating agency as the 'CRISIL Young Thought Leader' and was identified amongst the top 15 'Leaders' across the country by the Indian Institute of Management.
Stephen Gugu
Founder & Principal of InVhestia Africa LimitedStephen Gugu is a finance professional with over 15 years extensive experience in project and corporate finance. He is a founder and principal at InVhestia Africa Limited a financial advisory firm based in Kenya and working with entrepreneurs, investors, governments and development finance institutions across Africa. Under InVhestia he has handled numerous assignments in financial advisory including fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, financial modelling build, audit and training.
Stephen is also a co-founder and Director at ViKtoria Ventures the manager of Viktoria Business Angels Network (VBAN) a sector agnostic angel network out of Kenya focused on commercially viable early stage investments from East Africa which are post traction. Through VBAN and Viktoria Stephen has made several investments and assisted angel investors in Kenya access and make investments. He has consulted widely for early-stage innovative businesses training over 400 entrepreneurs, carried out valuations and assisted them in fundraising and deal structuring.
He is a Venture partner with Consonance Investment Managers a focused early-stage and growth investing platform that helps entrepreneurs build leading companies across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Stephen is an adjunct faculty member in Entrepreneurial Finance at Strathmore Business School. He has been teaching finance and entrepreneurship related courses for the past 10 years. In this capacity Stephen acts as the academic director for the private equity and venture capital program in the business school.
He sits on the board of several companies including Homeboyz Entertainment and the African Business Angels Network.
His education background consists of an MBA from Vlerick Business School in Belgium (Under the Kofi Annan Fellow Scholarship) (2011) an undergraduate degree in Law from the University of Nairobi and several professional courses in Finance and Accounting
During his spare time he enjoys travelling and interacting with different world cultures. He maintains that to travel is not only to discover but most importantly to learn!
Hiroki Ishida
Director of AAIC Partners AfricaHiroki is a Director of AAIC Partners Africa Ltd. He is based in Kenya since 2015. AAIC set up a its first fund focusing on the healthcare sector in Africa ($47m) and invested in 29 companies across African continent. In March 2022, AAIC launched its second fund. He primarily oversees East and North Africa and is the IC member.
Hiroki has about 20 years of financing and management consulting experience. He joined AAIC in 2013. Prior AAIC, he used to work for Accenture Japan Ltd. as a management consultant and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, which is one of the largest financial conglomerates in Japan.
Hiroki holds a Bachelor Degree in Managerial Accounting from Kobe University (2003), and an M.B.A from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2012).
Leon Kiptum
Country Director of ChippercashLeon Kiptum has more than 12 years of banking experience and over 5 years' experience in digital banking from his previous assignments in the banking sector including as Head of Digital Financial Services at Family and Sidian Banks. He has a wealth of experience in fintech as well as building global startups, which is very crucial in developing important partnerships, developing strategic alliances and expanding the Chipper cash presence in Kenya.
Norah Koigi Ngare
Director of Deal Flow FacilityNorah Koigi Ngare is the Director of the Deal Flow Facility at FSD Uganda. She is an investment professional with more than 15 years’ experience in impact asset management, corporate finance, investment advisory, and treasury management in East, West, and Southern Africa. Her sectoral expertise cuts across agriculture, financial services, education, health, water and sanitation, rural livelihoods, eco-tourism, and conservation financing. Norah is also an active angel investor with a focus on investing in tech-enabled businesses across the continent.
David Lekerai
Partner & Head of Corporate Practice at IKM AdvocatesDavid Lekerai is a Partner & Head of the Corporate -M&A and Private Equity Practice at DLA Piper Africa, Kenya (IKM Advocates). His areas of practice include private equity, mergers & acquisitions, corporate law, commercial law, structured trade finance (including Islamic Finance), corporate restructuring, tax law as well as capital markets. David has been involved in many local and cross-border transactions involving private equity investments and divestments, corporate reorganisations, and joint venture capital raising including by way of equity, debt, and convertible debt instruments
Milton Lore
Head of Partnerships at Open Capital Advisors LimitedFor over 25 years, Milton has positively contributed towards impact investing, commercial enterprise operations and public policy engagement in Africa and internationally. Deploying both financial and non-financial capital interventions, he has worked with a range of development agencies, philanthropic organizations as well as individual and institutional investors to champion innovative enterprise development across multiple sectors including agriculture, clean technology, financial services and healthcare.
In 2021, Milton joined Open Capital - a pan-African management consulting and strategic advisory firm - as Head of Partnerships based in Nairobi, Kenya. In this capacity, he leads the proactive cultivation of collaborative relationships between Open Capital and existing as well as new clients plus strategic partners.
Milton holds a graduate degree in intellectual property law and management from Queen Mary - University of London, for which he was a Chevening Scholar, and studied biochemistry and chemistry at the University of Nairobi.
Sandeep Main
Tax Associate Director, and Head of Enterprise at KPMGSandeep is an Associate Director in the Tax and Regulatory services department and doubles up as the KPMG Private Enterprise lead focusing on private, mid-market and emerging businesses,
He has over 12 year’s tax experience including international experience having been seconded to KPMG Canada office where he was engaged in providing tax advisory and compliance services to diverse clients there.
Sandeep has been involved in general and specialized tax compliance services, health check review services, VAT reviews, planning and implementing efficient tax structures, as well as in developing tax saving mechanisms for KPMG’s clients.
He has undertaken tax planning and tax risk management for various clients to help them structure their business operations in a tax efficient manner as they seek to set up in Kenya and other jurisdictions.
Sandeep has advised several international investors in tax efficient operational structures, and assisting clients during in-depth assessments by the revenue and regulatory authorities.
He has also been actively involved in offering strategic tax planning and tax advisory services to clients setting up, in mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations, investor tax advisory, due diligence reviews, computation of corporate and business tax liabilities, tax training, and corporation tax.
Sandeep’s portfolio of clients includes some prominent clients in the sectors of financial services, Non-Governmental organizations, Agricultural and Manufacturing companies, etc.
Sandeep is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and is currently the chair of the Advisory Board and leads the ACCA Public Policy Committee. He is also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya ( ICPAK) and is part of the training faculty at the institute.
In addition to his role as Head of Private Enterprise and Tax Associate Director, Sandeep has taken up the role of driving tax technology as the lead for tax transformation in East Africa.
Sandeep is also the people leader of the tax business unit in Kenya where he is charged with overseeing the people agenda within the tax business unit.
Noorin Mawani
Senior Director and Co-Head of Transform Health Fund
Tesh Mbaabu
Co-Founder & CEO of MarketForce- Rise of the retail investors: Angels’ perspective
- The Entrepreneur’s Circle: A Q and A session with leading names in East Africa’s start up scene
Tesh is an African serial technology entrepreneur who lives to blend commerce and technology. He is a creative and strategic thinker from both a product and commercial perspective; experienced in building startups in the African scene. He is the Co-founder & CEO of Mesozi Group, an information technology holding company offering and investing in tech-enabled solutions across several industries and markets in Africa. Their flagship product, MarketForce, provides an all-inclusive B2B Commerce and Fintech platform (dubbed “RejaReja” – Swahili for ‘retail’) that empowers merchants in Africa to source, order and pay for inventory digitally and conveniently, access financing, collect digital payments and make extra money by reselling digital financial services such as airtime, electricity tokens and bill payments.
As an avid adventure seeker, Tesh co-founded Cloud9xp, which helps travelers to easily discover and book the best leisure experiences, at the best price, across Africa. They exited to HotelOnline in 2020.
He is a Harambean 2020, Westerwelle Young Founder 2019, Alibaba and UN Fellow 2019, was awarded Techpreneur of the Year 2019 in the East Africa FOYA(Founder of the Year) awards and African Garage Top 25 under 25 Entrepreneurs in Kenya in 2015. He is a graduate of Computer Science from the University of Nairobi.
Ntoudi Mouyelo
Chief Investment Officer at KIFCNtoudi brings a solid international banking and finance experience to Rwanda Finance Limited having worked as a senior executive in various international financial centres in Europe and Asia over the last 20 years.
Before joining Rwanda Finance Limited, Ntoudi was the Country Managing Director of Wintrust in Singapore from 2017 to 2019. Previously, he has served in a variety of positions, including Director of Amicorp a corporate service provider, Executive Director of Banque Internationale a Luxembourg where he was in charge of the commercial activities for the Asia Pacific region and Assistant Vice President managing the European and Asian services to financial intermediaries.
He is specialized in risk management, structuring investment entities for financial institutions and large corporate. He has also developed an expertise in designing wealth planning solutions for family offices and high net worth individual.
Ntoudi is currently a non-executive board member of MC Square, a regulated financial
institution based in Luxembourg.
Ntoudi holds a master’s degree with distinction in banking and finance from the Luxembourg School of Finance completed with an executive week at Stern University in United States.
Furthermore, he holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, the largest engineering institution in Canada.
Joy Muballe
Management Consultant at Crescat AdvisoryJoy Muballe is a Management Consultant who advises Development Finance Institutions, SME Funds, large corporations, entrepreneurs and managers on sector, industry, and Firm level strategies for SME growth.
She supports clients with fresh insights and helps them understand prevailing trends, implications, and opportunities for businesses. She works with clients to develop sustainable solutions tailored to their unique goals and operating context.
Joy is also an Angel Investor and trusted advisor to entrepreneurs, and managers of innovative early stage companies that use technology to disrupt traditional and inefficient ways of doing business.
She is the Co-Founder of Crescat Ltd, and manages the company’s Angel investment portfolio. She is also an advisor to a network of Local and European investors. In her previous work with the Lundin Foundation, she was a portfolio manager for a $100 million portfolio of investments across East and Southern Africa.
Joy has a unique combination of experience in Software development, SME fund management, SME advisory, advisory to large Corporates, and advisory to development institutions.
Joy’s international qualifications are: MBA from Vlerick Business School, BSc Information Systems and Technology from the United States International University, Fund management Professional course by The Global Impact Investing Network fund manager development program
Anne Mubia
Associate Director of Viva Africa Consulting
Andreata Muforo
Partner at TLComAndreata Muforo is a Partner at TLcom LLP based in Nairobi. She is currently on the Board of Ajua and Twiga Foods. She is also a mentor for the Endeavor network and is engaged in local partnerships with entrepreneurs, accelerators and incubators for mentoring and deal flow generation. Andreata leads the ESG and impact measurement work at TLcom and is the Executive Director of the TIDE Foundation, a non for profit TLcom sponsored organization focused on improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sub Saharan Africa.
Prior to joining TLcom, Andreata was a Transaction Manager at Horizon Africa Capital Ltd, an M&A firm in Nairobi, Kenya. While at Horizon, she structured and advised on complex M&A, and capital raising transactions in the greater East African region. She covered a range of sectors including ICT, financial services, manufacturing, real estate, and fast-moving consumer goods.
Andreata also worked as an Investment Officer in the private sector department of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tunisia where she participated in the structuring of project finance transactions and evaluated the AfDB’s investments into private equity funds. While at the AfDB, Andreata also worked directly with President Kaberuka and his Advisors to support them on issues of corporate and strategic significance to the Bank. Andreata holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Economics from Grinnell College in Iowa, USA.
Mati Munuve
Partner, Corporate Commercial at Clyde & Co. LtdMati is a passionate commercial lawyer with demonstrated experience in advising across numerous sectors. He is dedicated to providing support and offering legal solutions that are well suited to client’s business needs. Over the years Mati has developed extensive legal, business, and regulatory networks in the region.
Mati trained in South Africa and holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management and an LLB (Hons). He is admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Lloyd Muposhi
CEO of APCFormerly Senior Executive Trade and Development Bank. He has over 25 years of diverse experience in corporate banking with FirstRand Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Citibank Zambia. He has prior experience with Quantum Capital and Loita Capital Partners. Prior to joining TDB as Head of Trade Finance in 2014, he held management roles at First Rand Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Citibank Zambia. Mr. Muposhi holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Zambia and a Master’s of Law from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law/EI University.
Phillip Myburgh
Managing Partner at Ethos Mezzanine PartnersFounded in 2005 and currently investing its fourth fund, Ethos’ mezzanine business provides growth, acquisition and replacement capital to mid cap businesses in East Africa, the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa. It has made 28 investments in the past 17 years, 25 of them realised. Before Ethos, Phillip worked in investment banking. He is a qualified solicitor and studied at Harvard University.
Nasra Nandha
CEO and ESG Lead of Kenya Green Building SocietyNasra is the CEO and ESG lead of the Kenya Green Building Society, an independent, non-profit, non-political, member-based organization formed to lead the transformation of the built environment in Kenya toward environmentally sustainable buildings, promoting a healthy and efficient built environment.
As a member of the World Green Building Council, the Kenya Green Building Society convenes businesses and the government, at both national and county level, to collectively drive environmental, economic and social impact within the built environment on a national, regional and global scale.
Nasra is a lawyer by profession and has a passion for ESG. She enjoys policy work, and is an active member of the Public Policy and Advocacy committee member of the Kenya Property Developers Association (KPDA), and a member of the Affordable Housing Taskforce in KPDA too. Separately, she also participated in the key stakeholder exercise with the Nairobi Stock Exchange by contributing to comments to the ESG Disclosure Guidance Manual.
In terms of experience in legal practice Nasra previously worked for the Kenya and London offices of the largest law firm in the world where she was a member of the global ESG practice group, Corporate Commercial, Real Estate, Environment and Natural Resources teams.
Nasra has an L.L.B from the University of Nairobi, and has completed the Materiality of ESG Factors, ESG Specialisation course from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Fatma Nasujo
Global Head of Operational Excellence at WasokoFatma Nasujo is currently the Global Head of Operational Excellence at Wasoko. A financial services professional with 12+ years of experience working in FinTech, EdTech & banking, her expertise is in Operations, Tech & Finance, and she has used her skills to serve businesses across East Africa.
She’s passionate about financially empowering the under-served, and to that end, has worked with various companies including 4G Capital where she was the Chief Operations Officer, assisting them in designing products for this market. She’s the founder of Nasujo.com, a blog on financial literacy and digital finance trends.
Wanjohi Ndagu
Investment Director of Pearl Capital PartnersHe is an investment professional with extensive experience in strategic oversight, governance and operational knowledge. Wanjohi is a founding member of Pearl Capital Partners a Private Equity/Venture Capital Fund Management company with USD 60 Million of assets under management and has served in Boards of several companies across the East African Region.
Prior to the establishment of Pearl Capital Partners, Wanjohi was an Investment Manager with African Agricultural Capital - AAC (PCP's former incarnation), responsible for six investee companies in Kenya and Tanzania. Wanjohi joined AAC in 2007 with experience from J.P. Morgan Chase where he worked as an Operations Associate and an Investor Relations Specialist.
Christine Ndiwa
Investment Officer at IFCChristine is an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries. IFC is the most active Limited Partner in Sub-Saharan Africa private equity with over 60 active private equity funds, more than 300 investee companies and over USD1 billion in its own account committed and USD6 billion mobilized from other investors. Christine focuses primarily on private equity funds and fund-like vehicles for IFC and has led a variety of transactions ranging from large growth-equity PE funds engaged in pan-African transactions, small business entrepreneurship PE funds looking at difficult markets on the continent, to global projects investing across Africa and Asia
Prior to joining IFC, Christine worked as an Associate Director at Acumen Fund, a social venture capital fund operating in New York, East Africa (including Ethiopia), India, Pakistan, West Africa and Latin America. Prior to joining Acumen, Christine worked with the corporate finance department of the investment arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Investment Promotion Services (IPS) and made investments in East Africa in infrastructure, telecommunications, agribusiness and manufacturing. She also took a lead role in actively supporting some of the project companies in balance sheet restructuring and streamlining of finance departments.
She is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from Kenyatta University, and holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) Degree from the United States International University. She is also a certified chartered accountant (CPA).
Daniel Ngumy
Managing Partner at ALN Kenya | Anjarwalla & Khanna
Peter Njonjo
Group CEO & Co-Founder of Twiga FoodsPeter Njonjo is Co-Founder and Group CEO of Twiga Foods, a B2B e-commerce company that focuses on food and grocery in the informal retail. Twiga currently employs 1,000 people and has 100,000 customers, delivering to about 10,000 every day. The Company was named on Times Top 100 Most Influential Companies 2022 and selected as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, both in 2020.
Prior to taking up his current role, Peter spent 21years with The Coca-Cola Company with his last role being President of the West and Central Africa Business Unit, made up of 33 countries,
based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Previously, Njonjo also led the Coca-Cola business in East Africa, overseeing six countries including Kenya. Njonjo was President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kenya, a director of the American Business Council in Nigeria and has been voted among the top 100 young leaders in Africa by Forbes Afrique and “Top 40 under 40” by The Business Daily in Kenya. He currently serves on the Global Board of Junior Achievement, Endeavor Kenya as Vice Chairman and on the Executive Committee of the YPO Chapter in Nairobi.
A native of Kenya, Njonjo holds a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management, a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business Administration from United States International University in Kenya and an Executive Leadership Program from Harvard BusinessSchool. Njonjo is also a Certified Public Accountant.
About Twiga
Twiga is a B2B e-commerce company that builds fair and reliable markets for agricultural producers, food manufacturers and retailers based on transparency and efficiency.
Ken Njoroge
CellulantKen Njoroge is an entrepreneur, "lion-rider", husband and father of 3, and now a scale-up coach. In the last 22 years, he has run and built two tech companies, the first of which was a web development firm called 3mice, and the second, Cellulant, a world-class payments company that now offers digital payment solutions in 18 markets and 34 countries across Africa.
For Ken, building ventures has been a lifelong adventure anchored in his deep passion for the African continent and its potential. His newest venture- PANI is a boutique firm focused on supporting, coaching and investing in African founding teams to build transformational technology companies and ride a great journey. It takes a village to raise a great entrepreneur- PANI curates that village. Their goal is to put Africa’s future in African hands through entrepreneurship.
Bruce Nsereko-Lule
Principal at Chandaria CapitalBruce established and leads the operations of Chandaria Capital, a globally respected Venture Capital fund based in Kenya that has invested in over 35 pioneering start-ups, many of which are now confidently scaling across Africa. Through his efforts in Venture Capital, several million dollars of investment from local and international funds have been deployed to commercially viable start-ups that improve Africans' income, health, and lifestyles.
Bruce is an active supporter of initiatives that seek to empower entrepreneurs and sits on the board of several, including the Catalyst Fund's Inclusive Digital Accelerator (BFA GLOBAL).
Bruce worked in Investment Banking at Credit Suisse in London for several years. He holds an MBA from Strathclyde Business School and a BSc in Economics from Loughborough University.
Nnena Lily Nwabufo
Director General of African Development BankMrs. Nnenna Lily Nwabufo is currently the Director General, East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office and doubles up as the Country Director (Resident Representative) for the Bank’s Country Office in Kenya.
As Director General, Nnenna is responsible for leading and advancing in thirteen countries in East Africa by the Bank Group’s strategic objective of achieving significant and transformational developmental impact ensuring operational efficiency, effectiveness and an overall healthy portfolio in the region. Specifically, she leads high-level dialogues at country and regional levels and across Bank sector complexes as well as oversee the full implementation and integration of all aspects of the Bank's work in the region. She also spearheads regional business development and investment; and fosters resource mobilization efforts across the countries in the region to ensure focused growth of the Bank’s sovereign and non-sovereign operations. In addition, as the Bank representative in the region, she is tasked with building strong partnerships with countries, regional economic communities, and other development partners.
A Nigerian citizen, Nnenna is a versatile and seasoned executive with over 30 years’ professional experience in treasury and financial management, budget programming, planning and performance management, human resource and corporate services management, and country/regional operations. She joined the Bank’s Treasury Department in 1991 where she worked at different professional levels for over a decade. Subsequently, she took on progressive management level responsibilities including, Manager in the General Services and Procurement Department from March 2007, Director of Programming and Budget Department in January 2013, Acting Director, Human Resource Management Department and Acting Vice President for Corporate Services from May 2015 to May 2016. She was on a special assignment to lead the Bank’s Annual Meetings preparation team from June 2016 until her appointment as Deputy Director General, East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office in January 2017. She was the Acting Director General for the region effective 1st October 2019 until her confirmation in January 2021.
Prior to joining the African Development Bank in August 1991, Nnenna worked as a Treasury Management Expert at the Chase Merchant Bank and Kapital Merchant Bank in Nigeria.
Nnenna holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a Master of Business Administration from Henley Management College, Henley on Thames, United Kingdom.
Audrey Obara
Head of Health Investments and Regional Office at Swedfund
Maryanne Ochola
Managing Director of EndeavorMaryanne is an entrepreneur support professional with experience spanning across commercial banking, impact investing and network building in 12 African markets. She started her career at Barclays Bank of Kenya and transitioned to impact investing after a decade.
Prior to taking on the Managing Director role at Endeavor in Kenya, Maryanne was the Head of Partnerships at Shujaaz Inc, where she worked on youth microentrepreneurship, before that she led the ANDE East Africa chapter for 3 years. Maryanne is a trained financial journalist and holds an MBA from IE Business School.
David Owino
Chairman at East Africa Venture Capital Association
Sheena Raikundalia
Director of UK-Kenya Tech HubSheena Raikundalia has over 15 years of experience in the legal, financial services and impact investment sectors in Europe and East Africa and over 7 years’ board experience. She is currently working with the Digital, Cultural, Media and Sports Department (DCMS) with the British Government in Kenya as the Country Director of the UK-Kenya Tech Hub.
Before joining the UK- Kenya Tech Hub, she worked as a solicitor in London. She moved to Kenya and joined a leading impact investing group, where she provided strategic advisory services to financial institutions, start-ups, corporations, development agencies and NGOs across the African market.
She has held non-executive director positions in the UK and in Kenya in institutions such as schools, SMEs, MFIs and currently is the co-chair of the ICT Donor Group in Kenya. She is a U.K. qualified solicitor with a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Bristol and an MBA from Lord Ashcroft International Business School.
Erwin Spolders
Founder and CEO of RedaviaErwin Spolders is Founder and CEO of Redavia, the leading provider of solar power farms for businesses in Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. Redavia’s fully financed solar farms provide clean, cost-effective power to commercial and industrial businesses, without up-front investment or long-term off-take obligations.
Before Redavia, Erwin was Director of Q-Cells’ solar farm construction business for the EMEA region, leading the financing and construction of >150MWp of solar farms. Previously, as consultant at McKinsey, Erwin led the start of McKinsey’s Sustainability Practice.
Erwin holds an MBA from the Wharton School, is a Dutch national and lives in Munich, Germany.
Michael Strain
Partner and Head of Corporate/M&A: East Africa at Clyde & Co. LtdMichael leads Clyde & Co’s corporate, M&A and private equity team for East Africa.
From the firm’s offices in Kenya and Tanzania, he advises funds, large corporates and high-net-worth individuals on a wide variety of matters– with a particular specialisation in cross-border M&A and private equity transactions.
Having previously trained, qualified and practised as a Solicitor in the City of London, Michael has now spent more than 10 years living and working in East Africa. He is active across the whole region – with a particular focus on Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda.
Michael is admitted as both a Solicitor in England & Wales and as an Advocate of the High Court in Tanzania.
Nick Vilelle
Founding Member at NaiBANNick Vilelle is an entrepreneur and investor. He has spent the past 18 years working to develop entrepreneurs and create a more enabling environment for entrepreneurship in 20+ African countries. Through this experience, he has had the opportunity to work with and advise hundreds of startups. In addition to supporting other entrepreneurs, he has founded two social enterprises and three companies of his own. Nick is now based in Nairobi and recently founded the Nairobi Business Angel Network (NaiBAN). This Kenyan angel group has quickly grown to over 50 members and has made 11 investments totaling over $400k in its first year of operations.
Njeri Wagacha
Partner, Corporate & Commercial at CDH KenyaNjeri Wagacha is a Partner in CDH's Corporate & Commercial practice and specialises in Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity, Competition Law, Employment Law, and Technology, Media & Telecommunications. Njeri is Head of East Africa for the Industrials, Manufacturing and Trade Sector. Njeri runs the podcast NjeriTalks Law.
Ngetha Waithaka
General Partner at Norrsken22Ngetha is General Partner of Norrsken22 based in Nairobi, Kenya. Ngetha joined Actis in 2011 and has 10+ years of investing experience on the African continent with investments primarily in the financial services and consumer sectors spanning Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. Notably, he played a pivotal role in Actis's investment in Fawry, the leading payments enablement company in Egypt, where Actis anchored a $100m secondary sale and subsequent IPO. He was also an integral deal team member in Actis's investment in Credit Services Holdings (CSH) to establish the leading independent credit services business in Africa. Ngetha brings significant experience developing and implementing value creation and operational improvement strategies within his portfolio companies. Prior to Actis, Ngetha worked with PCG Capital Partners, a growth stage private equity firm in California, USA investing non-control equity in mid-market companies. He started his career within the Investment Banking division of Credit Suisse in New York.
Ngetha holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Timothy Wambui
Group Investment Manager at CPF Financial Services Ltd.
Ruth Wanjiru
Senior Healthcare Advisor at Zoscales Partners AGRuth is a Senior Healthcare Advisor to Zoscales Partners and brings a wealth of healthcare investment experience from her 12-year career working for several private equity firms in the region.
She is a healthcare consultant for Actis where she is actively involved in exits of healthcare assets in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria. Ruth has hands-on experience in deal origination, portfolio management, and portfolio exit and structuring a public-private partnership for a healthcare investment in Zambia. In addition, Ruth has served as board member and chair of Audit and Risk committees for a portfolio of investments in Kenya, Zambia and Nigeria. Ruth holds a BSc in Statistics from the University of Nairobi (Kenya), is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Environmental Impact Assessor and Environmental Auditor.
Martin Warioba
Founder of Warioba VenturesMartin Warioba is Founder and Managing Partner at Warioba Ventures, Africa-focused investment and advisory firm that provides pre-seed and seed investment funding and builds sustainable ecosystem to support fintech and other technology-related startups focusing on tackling Africa’s great challenges. Martin oversees management and operations of Warioba Ventures.
He has over 20-year experience in Information Technology and payments, both as consultant, project manager and software developer. Martin is one of key Payments and Digital Financial Services (DFS) experts in Africa and he was instrumental in development of payment scheme rules for world’s first mobile wallet-to-mobile wallet interoperability between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Tanzania as well as Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. He advices Central Banks, Commercial Banks, MNOs, FinTech, Startups, Public and Private Sector, NGOs on Corporate Strategy, Technology, Payments, DFS Interoperability, Policy & Regulations, and Digital Economy
Previously, Martin was a founder and Managing Partner at WS Technology Consulting, a technology advisory firm that operated across East Africa for 11 years. He also worked with Deloitte Consulting US LLP and Central Bank of Tanzania. Mr. Warioba has Computer Science degree with a minor in Mathematics from Louisiana State University as well as MBA and MSc in Information Management degrees from Arizona State University. Martin sits on the board of CRDB Bank PLC and its Audit committee as Independent, Non-Executive Director since January 2020, overseeing CRDB operations in Tanzania, Burundi and other subsidiaries. Martin is committed in mentoring young African professionals in areas of technology, corporate governance, and leadership. Due to his well-rounded technology and management expertise, Mr. Warioba is a regular speaker in many conferences and events across Africa. In his spare time, Martin enjoys reading, traveling and sports especially golf, basketball, athletics, and soccer.
Marcus Watson
Director of KawisafiMarcus is a Director at KawiSafi where he leads the team across investments and portfolio management. He has extensive experience in renewable energy and climate finance across the region, having for the past decade advised investors, corporates, and governments on strategy, policy and investment in the sector. Prior to KawiSafi, he was a Partner in Dalberg Advisors’ Nairobi office where he spearheaded Dalberg’s Africa energy & infrastructure practice. He has advised on $500 million in transactions and fund formations in African renewable energy sector.
Previously, he also worked at IFC and in private practice as a corporate attorney where he advised on M&A and private equity fund formation. He has a BA from Trinity College Dublin, a LLM from College of Law London, an MA in International Development and Economics from Johns Hopkins University SAIS, and is a qualified attorney in England & Wales