Speaker Biographies Nairobi 2016 In order of appearance

Bonney Tunya Business Anchor CNBC

Bonney-Tunya is CNBC Africa’s East Africa Anchor. He has a wealth of experience moderating high-level financial economic debates like the World Economic Forum – ‘Road to Davos’ Debates and presenting real-time African financial news, providing actionable market information, insightful and solution-seeking interviews and well researched features through CNBC Africa’s broadcast to 48 countries across the African continent.

Prior to joining CNBC Africa he served as the business and general news anchor with the Kenya Television Network (KTN) hosting two daily television news shows. Before KTN, Bonney was a rapporteur and content generator for the Picha Mtaani – UNDP project in addition to hosting and producing the ‘Wednesday Night Live’ show. Together with his work at CNBC Africa, Bonney also contributes to Forbes Africa magazine.

Bonney studied Journalism at the United States International University (USIU) Kenya, and is an alumni of the Reuters News Foundation, The Global Short Film Project and the African Media Initiative.

Shannon Manders Editor Global Trade Review (GTR)

Shannon Manders is the Editor of GTR magazine, the world's leading international trade finance magazine.

She has extensive experience in moderating discussions, both at GTR’s own conferences and also at a range of other industry events hosted by the likes of the ICC, IFC and SWIFT (Sibos). She also regularly covers stories from international locations, and has hosted numerous roundtable discussions and webinars.

Shannon completed her degree in South Africa, and worked in the publishing industry there for five years before joining GTR in January 2009.

James Lockyer Development Director, Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT)

James Lockyer, Development Director, Association of Corporate Treasurers.

James started his career in engineering and speciality chemicals; he is a UK Chartered Accountant, MCT qualified, and he has some 20 years’ experience in treasury, corporate finance and risk management, gained in substantial international public and private companies. At the ACT he initially led education and training content development and delivery, and is currently responsible for raising the ACT’s profile and building capacity with stakeholders in key institutions worldwide.

James is currently leading a project to help build professional corporate treasury competencies among Chinese companies, which should assist both them and businesses worldwide in generating value from RMB liberalisation and the One Belt One Road initiative.

James is a regular participant in the International Federation of Accountants’ Professional Accountants in Business Committee, specialising in risk management issues and sustainable value creation. He has a strong interest in promoting the treasurer’s technical and wider, transferable skill set and its value in building successful careers for individuals, and enhancing business performance in employers.

Vijay Kumar Group Controller Finance Nakumatt

Professional Synopsis:  A Chartered Accountant and a CFA with M.B.A in Finance, besides other Finance and Accounting qualifications with a rich & extensive experience of over 22 years in Strategic & Tactical Planning, Accounts, Finance, Budgeting, MIS, Taxation, Statutory & Internal Audit, Internal Control Review & Risk Assessment, Legal Affairs, Statutory Compliances, Fund Management & Control, Commercial Controls and New System Implementation.  Presently employed as Group Controller – Finance, with Nakumatt Holdings Limited., Kenya.  A keen planner and strategist have ability to manage finance & commercial operations and accelerating the business growth.  Evaluator of accuracy and effectiveness of the existing systems and procedures, SOPs, audit systems and internal control and facilitate effective decision-making, reduction of revenue losses & leakages.  Proficient in preparing and maintaining statutory books of accounts with extensive knowledge in handling GL, AR, AP, Taxation, Auditing and all compliance related matters.  Extensive experience in preparation of audit plan and audit check list and recommendations to resolve audit findings, requiring corrective actions and responsibility of management representation to the external auditors.  Experienced in deploying ERP & customizing inventory, purchase, sales, fixed assets, accounts & finance modules.  Proven skills in managing teams to work in sync with the corporate set parameters & motivating them for achieving business and individual goals.  An effective communicator with excellent relationship buiIding & interpersonal skills. Strong analytical, problem solving & organizational abilities. Possess a flexible & detail oriented attitude.

Robert Besseling Executive Director EXX Africa

Languages other than English: French and Dutch

Robert Besseling is a Principal Analyst to the Sub-Saharan Africa Country Risk and Forecasting Team at IHS. Robert is based in Johannesburg and London. Previously, he was the Deputy Head of Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis (acquired by IHS in 2012). He specialises in political and violent risks to natural resource sectors, especially mining and oil & gas within southern, east and central Africa. His most recent research includes sovereign and sub-sovereign influence mapping for Mozambique, projects on the power sector in South Africa, copper mining in DRC and Zambia, the development of the natural gas sector in East Africa and the political dynamics of Angola. He has traveled extensively in the region.

Robert makes frequent appearances on televised media, especially CNBC, BBC and al-Jazeera, as well as regular contributions to print media, including Reuters, AFP, Bloomberg and the Financial Times.

Robert is a graduate of the University of Cape Town in South Africa and St. Andrews University in the UK. His doctoral research was focused on natural resource development in southern and central Africa, particularly comparing Chinese, US and European investment and trading patterns. Robert also holds an MBA from the International University of Monaco.

Edward George Head Research Ecobank

Dr Edward George is head of group research at Ecobank, managing a team of ten analysts covering the fixed-income, currencies and commodities space in Middle Africa. Prior to being head of research, Edward headed the soft commodities desk, with a focus on cocoa, coffee, cotton, sugar and grains. Edward is also a specialist on Francophone West Africa and Lusophone Africa, and is the bank’s expert on intra-African trade and trade finance. Edward works closely with the corporate bank and trade finance teams, and regularly visits soft commodity producers, processers and traders across Ecobank’s 36- country African footprint. Prior to joining Ecobank in March 2011 Edward worked for The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for seven years as a Senior Editor in both the Commodities and Africa Departments. He was responsible for producing and editing reports on Lusophone and Francophone Africa, as well as on 25 industrial raw materials, food, feedstuffs and beverages. Before joining the EIU, Edward worked as a freelance writer covering the politics and economics of Sub-Saharan Africa. A linguist by training, Edward is fluent in French, Spanish and Portuguese and holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Bristol. His PhD thesis on the Cuban intervention in Angola was published as a book by Routledge in 2005 and came out in paperback in December 2012.

Tewodros Assefa Senior Manager Corporate Communications Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX)

Mr. Tewodros Assefa joined Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) from the United Nations Affiliated University for Peace, Africa Program (UPEACE-Africa), based in Addis Ababa. Mr. Besrat serves the Exchange in the capacity of Senior Manager for Corporate Communications and Market Data. He also serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors. Mr. Besrat has over 10 years of leadership and technical experience both in the private and development sectors. His prior roles include, Communications Consultant (UPEACE), Communication Manager (DFID-UK Project), and Owner and General Manager (ICO-Tech Computer Training Center).

Mr. Besrat is a graduate of University of KwaZulu-Natal (M.Com, Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies), Addis Ababa University (M.A, Social Psychology, and B.A., Business Management), and American Academy of Project Management (CIPM, Certified International Project Manager). He is also alumnus of UN University for Peace and American University.

Jan de Laat Managing Director Trade & Commodity Finance Rabobank

Jan De Laat, MBA, joined Rabobank International 9 years ago as Global Head Trade & Commodity Finance (TCF), Energy. In this position, he successfully built up the TCF Energy business within Rabobank. He moved in 2010 to New York as the Regional Manager, Americas. Jan became the Regional Manager for the Emerging Markets and Global Head Structured Finance, in 2012. In order to bring focus and dedication to the important growth areas of TCF in Emerging Markets and be better equipped to face the challenges and seize the opportunities in the rapidly changing Emerging Markets, Jan moved, in 2014, to Rabo’s newly opened office in Nairobi, Kenya. Jan holds the position of Managing Director TCF and is a member of TCF’s Global Management Team. Jan held different senior management positions with MeesPierson/Fortis and Glencore International where he was a Director Structured Finance, Energy in London and Finance Director, Agri-Commodities in South Africa

Bharat Gupta Regional Head Structured Trade Finance, Middle East & Africa Louis Dreyfus Commodities

A qualified professional from the reputed Charted Accountancy and Cost Accountancy Institutes of India, Bharat Gupta brings with him a rich blend of banking and corporate experience specializing in Trade and Structuring solutions over last 22 years of post-qualification. He spent more than 14 years working with reputed MNC banks like Citibank N.A. , American Express Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, getting exposure and experience in Corporate and Private banking sectors, Corporate Credit, Global Transaction Banking products and solutions. Over the last 8 years, he chose to move out to the corporate sector working with world leaders in agricultural trading. First with Cargill and now from last 6 years with Louis Dreyfus Commodities. Today he leads the Structured Trade Finance solutions business for the Middle East and Africa region, based out of their Dubai Office.

Nisrin Hala Head Africa Desk, Global Trade Finance SMBC

Nisrin heads the Africa Desk within the Global Trade Finance Department at SMBCE London. She manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio of assets across various markets in North, East, West and South Africa. Her portfolio comprises Central Banks, Commercial Banks, Corporates, multilaterals and DFIs. The Africa Desk primarily structures and provides short term debt solutions to FIs that are active in trade import and export.

Nisrin has been with SMBCE for 9 years; she has previously worked for an American Bank, and also had a career in the media industry.

Nisrin holds an MBA from London Business School, an MSc in international finance and a BA in Business Management & Economics.

Janet Mulu Trade Finance & Products Manager EAC Ecobank

Janet is currently the Trade Finance and Product Manager, Ecobank Kenya where she is transacting across wide business sectors; telecommunications, energy, financial services, commodities, manufacturing and retail within the Corporate and Commercial Banking space.

Over the past 10 years, Janet has held various positions in different capacities within Trade. Prior to joining Ecobank, she was the Manager - International Trade Centre, Cfc Stanbic Bank (a subsidiary of Standard bank of South Africa).

She has experience in Working Capital & Supply Chain Management, Structured Trade & Commodity Finance, Correspondent & Financial Institutions Banking and Transactional Banking She holds a Masters Degree in Finance from Newport University and completed the Finance for International Trade (FIT) Accreditation Program by International Finance Corporation (IFC) & International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Marc Harel Head Institutional Banking MCB

Marc started his banking career at Deutsche Bank in 1997 after obtaining a MBA jointly run by Cornell University and ESSEC. Within Deutsche Bank’s OTC Derivatives Reengineering team, he assisted in the acquisitions of Morgan Grenfell and Bankers Trust covering London, New York, Frankfurt and Tokyo. He then moved to The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) where he was involved in the Business Process Reengineering before being appointed as Head of Operational Risk and lead the Basel II programme. In 2007, he became Group Head of Operational Risk at Al Rajhi Bank. Two years later, he was appointed Director and Regional Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Credit Suisse Saudi Arabia. From 2012 to 2015, Marc moved to Switzerland as Director and Regional Market Officer of Credit Suisse for the Middle East. He rejoined MCB in 2015 as Deputy Head of International Business and is now MCB’s Head of Institutional Banking.

Simon Cook Partner Sullivan & Worcester UK

Simon Cook is a partner in the Emerging Market Finance and Trade and Export Finance Groups in the London office of Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP. He has experience in a wide variety of banking and finance transactions, including in particular in relation to structured trade finance, trade finance, project finance, invoice discounting facilities and borrowing-base facilities in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the CIS. His work in the structured finance area covers a range of pre-export, borrowing base, prepayment, project and receivables financings notably in the oil, telecoms, soft commodities, hydro and metals sectors with particular experience in the Middle East and Africa. Simon has acted for a wide variety of clients including banks, funds, corporate borrowers, sponsors, project companies and government agencies/parastatals across the emerging markets.

Simon is regularly included in independent guides to the legal profession. The Chambers & Partners guide to the world’s best lawyers says that Simon “is known for his hands-on approach and huge attention to detail” and he “paints a fair picture of what is possible and what is not”. He is “very commercial, which gives the flexibility to structure the transaction in different ways" and “is a good technical lawyer”. The Legal 500 guide meanwhile says “the cost-efficient, no-nonsense” Simon Cook is a “superb negotiator” and “focuses on the issues that matter”. He is a “great project manager who gets the job done”.

Simon has worked and travelled extensively in the Middle East and Africa, including spending over three and a half years based in Dubai. He has participated in a number of structured trade finance and project finance conferences and seminars throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including speaking at conferences on PPP in South Africa; on project finance and structured trade finance at Afrexim's annual structured finance conferences in Cairo, Ghana and South Africa; at ITFA’s annual conferences across Europe on various trade finance topics; and at structured finance seminars in London, Paris, Lisbon, Geneva, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Cairo and Dubai.

Sekete Mokgehle Head Global Commodity Finance Nedbank

Sekete Mokgehle is the Head of Global Commodity Finance and Nedbank.

Hardi Wilkins Chief Risk Officer Export Trading Group

Hardi Wilkins has been involved in agri-trading, finance and risk management in Southern Africa most of his career and oversaw the global risk management function for Export Trading Group over the past five years, plying his trade across the African continent and South East Asia. As a risk practitioner his key focus is quantification and mitigation of the risk inherent to the full commodity value chain including risk transfer and externalization.

Hardi has a degree in commercial law and received an honours in management accounting from Stellenbosch University, and studied financial mathematics at the University of Witwatersrand. Before joining ETG, he headed up agri commodity derivative trading and OTC solutions at Standard Bank supporting a foray into broader African agricultural market participation which included outgrower schemes, risk participation, market making and trading. He will be pursuing opportunities in the Africa credit space in the near future.

Amos Tumwesigye Eastern African Regional Manager Ace Global Depository

Amos Tumwesigye holds a regional manager position at Ace Global Depository and overlooks East Africa region for the company. Amos has over 20 years’ experience in trade transaction structuring and collateral management.

His expertise includes such as collateral management, field warehousing and warehouse receipt transaction management as well as credit structuring, analysis and evaluation. Amos has a vast experience in quality assurance, control and certification in several commodities including coffee, cotton, grains among others.

Amos has extensive experience in country level advisory, work on issues related to commodity trade, risk management and finance, including warehouse receipt system.

Amos holds MBA (Finance) degree from Makerere University Kampala.

Mubarak Elegbede Manager Corporate & Structured Finance International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC)

Mubarak Elegbede, Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa, joined ITFC in 2012 and is responsible for ITFC’s portfolio in the English-Speaking East African countries including Kenya. In addition, he is responsible for ITFC’s portfolio in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Before joining ITFC, Mubarak worked in Nigeria with the former American International Insurance Co. (now Aiico Insurance Plc), where he worked in policy underwriting and Claims management. He switched to the banking sector in 2001 with the then Reliance Bank Limited (Now Skye Bank Plc) and he subsequently joined Ecobank Nigeria Plc in 2003 and worked in the bank for over eight years in various capacities including Asset & Liability Management, Correspondent Banking, Sales and Treasury Management.

Mubarak, a Nigerian, obtained his University degrees in Insurance and Economics from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Lamin Sanneh Executive Director Business Development & Marketing Commodity Connect DMCC

Responsible for implementing CCDMCC’s strategies for market penetration, expansion and deal origination in the designated regional market. My role is to manage client relationships first hand and oversee the end to end implementation of the marketing strategy. This includes identifying prospective clients, evaluating their associated risks and structuring deals for trade finance products. Escalating client needs and ensuring seamless transitions between deals and client, providing advisory services on both Islamic and Conventional banking.

Walle Romijn Account Manager Commodity Trade Aon Risk Solutions

Walle Romijn have been involved in insurance industry since December 1997. His career path took off at AEGON Non-Life Commercial Lines, The Hague as underwriter Marine and Market manager. In August 2003 Walle joined Aon Commodity Trade as account manager.

Walle is responsible for a portfolio of marine cargo and Charterers Liability insurance policies for international commodity trading and/or producing clients and commodity trade finance banks, acquisition of new commodity trading and producing clients as well as maintaining contacts with commodity trade finance banks.

Keeping contact with insurance companies is one of Walle’s keys responsibility within his role.

Since 2014 Walle is also a teacher for The Royal Dutch Grain and Feed Trade Association.

Walle has an MSc Degree in environmental management and technology from Agricultural University Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Dolapo Oni Head Oil & Gas Analysis Desk Ecobank

Dolapo Oni is the Head of Energy Research at the Ecobank Group, based out of Lagos Nigeria. Prior to joining Ecobank, he worked as a ratings and research analyst for Agusto & Co. Ltd, Nigeria’s leading credit ratings and business information provider. At Agusto, he was responsible for the rating coverage of the non-financial corporate organizations, Municipals and their financial instruments. As a research analyst he was responsible for research coverage of the Pharmaceutical, Automobile, Oil & Gas (Upstream, Downstream, Oilfield Services) and Real Estate sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Currently at Ecobank, he was responsible for research and market intelligence on the Energy sectors of countries in Sub Sahara Africa, especially countries where Ecobank is present. His role covers the provision of business information and research intelligence on the oil and gas value chain, Power, Renewable Energy and fertilizers in Ecobank footprint countries especially. He provides market intelligence and identifies credible funding opportunities for the investment banking teams across the group. He also supports the corporate and domestic banking teams with credit analysis, due diligence and transaction review of oil and gas or energy-related transactions. He is responsible for preparation of several reports on the energy space in Sub Sahara Africa, shared across the banking network and to bank’s customers. As part of Ecobank’s initiative to present Africa as a credible destination for investments, Dolapo is also part of Ecobank’s LocalKnowledgeAfrica (LKA) initiative. Under this initiative, he connects investors looking to access African markets with companies in their desired sectors, using the Ecobank network to foster relationships and create business/funding opportunities for the bank. He has made several guest appearances on several international media (CNN, BBC, CNBC, BloombergTV and CCTV) to provide expert analysis on critical energy issues affecting African countries and is frequently quoted by international print media (Reuters, Bloomberg, VOA etc).

Dolapo Oni has a bachelors degree in economics from the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and a Masters degree in Economics with a specialization on Energy economics from the University of Ibadan. He is well travelled, speaks English and Yoruba fluently, with a little understanding of French. He’s married to Damilola Oni and together they have a daughter.

Nicholas Oliver Head Business Development NMS International Group

Nicholas Oliver co-founded The NMS International Group Limited to undertake national infrastructure projects in Africa. NMSI has spearheaded investment and contracts into West Africa to deliver projects that have a positive impact on the communities in which they operate. Some $ 575 million has been won in the last two years.

Nick Oliver has over 20 years’ experience of business development in developing countries and has generated significant exports from Africa and the Far East for Britain. He is a procurement specialist with extensive experience of structuring and delivery of complex international projects.

He previously spent 20 years as an officer of the British Army ( The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards ) after passing out from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, winning the coveted Sword of Honour for his entry.

Nick is also founded and is a Trustee of the Waterloo Military Families Fund raising funds for the families of British Military casualties.

David Ludlow Head International Business Development UK Export Finance

David Ludlow joined UK Export Finance as its International Business Development Director in 2014. His career prior to joining UK Export Finance spanned both government, in the Diplomatic Service, and international finance, where he held a range of senior roles in corporate and investment banking, including with Standard Chartered Bank and Citigroup in the Middle East.

David has spent a large part of his career abroad, holding positions based in Moscow, Brussels, Geneva and Dubai. Prior to taking up a global role at UK Export Finance he had worked extensively in Central & Eastern Europe, and across the Middle East.

Simon Margrave Associate Director Control Risks East Africa

Simon is an Associate Director within the Crisis and Security Consulting department. His role centres on the management of long-term projects in the region, including the recruitment, deployment and management of specialist consultants for assignments throughout East Africa. He currently manages a range of projects, with consultants deployed on tasks covering several sectors.

Simon also manages the Crisis and Security Consulting team in Nairobi and advises clients on security solutions for their operations in East Africa. He is based in Kenya, but travels regularly throughout the region. Prior to moving to Kenya he was based in London in Global Client Services.

Before joining Control Risks, Simon worked in operational research at the UK Civil Service. Previously, he worked as a researcher for two charities helping children with brain injuries. Simon has a degree in Behavioural Sciences, and a Masters in International Security and Global Governance.

Ed Harkins Head Export Credit Financing Fieldstone Private Capital Group

Ed Harkins is Head of Export Credit Financing, Fieldstone Private Capital Group.

John Sayer Partner Simmons & Simmons

John is a partner in the London office of Simmons & Simmons LLP and focusses on trade & commodity finance and the energy sectors.

John advises regularly in developed and developing markets on ECA financings, renewables development financing, supply chain finance, pre-export and pre-payment finance structures, borrowing base financing and structured trade payment financings. John is included in the elite "Leading Lawyers" list for trade finance in the 2015 edition of Legal 500 UK and recommended in connection with investment grade & syndicated lending and emerging markets finance. John joined Simmons & Simmons in 1999. John’s experience includes advising:  the arrangers of three project financings of wind farms in round 3 of South Africa’s renewable energy IPP programme - the wind farms (located at Khobab, Loeriesfontein and Noupoort) have a combined capacity of 360 MW and represent an investment of approximately ZAR9bn as at February 2015;  advised Mainstream Renewable Power on its US$1.4bn joint venture with pan-emerging markets investor Actis for delivering 600 megawatts of wind and solar projects in Chile;  MRI Trading AG on a USD110 million secured borrowing base facility to finance its metals concentrate storage, blending, sale and related margin financing operations in Middle East and S.E. Asia;  the arrangers of project financing for the 138MW Jeffreys Bay wind farm on the Eastern Cape, the 50MW De Aar solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Northern Cape and the 50 MW Droogfontain solar PV project near Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa, in round 1 of South Africa’s REIPP programme. The total investment value was ZAR 5.8 billion as at November 2012;  the lenders on an umbrella structured export credit facility for Transnet’s ZAR 80.5 billion capital expenditure, involving ECAs such as Atradius and Finnvera;  an investment fund client on a potential financing of the acquisition of central African mobile telecommunication network assets.

George Kiluva Head Trade Finance Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA)

George Kiluva is the Head of Trade Finance for the Commercial Bank of Africa Group (CBA). CBA Group is the largest privately owned commercial Bank in Kenya, and a Trade Finance leader in the 3 core East African countries. The Group has a regional focus and plans to be in 16 African markets in the next 8 years.

George was formerly Director & East Africa Head of Trade at Citibank N.A., and previously headed Transaction Banking, Local Corporates E.A. at Standard Chartered Bank Ltd.

George holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Business Administration, and an MBA degree in Strategic Management, both from the University of Nairobi, School of Business. He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB), and a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS) – ifs School of Finance.

He is married with 3 Children.

Carl Kachale Chirwa Head Trade Finance, Sub-Saharan Africa Citi

Carl is responsible for developing and managing the Trade Finance Business in all of CITI’s 11 presence countries in Sub Saharan Africa, which include Nigeria, Cameroun, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon and the DRC in West & Central Africa and Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in East Africa as well as South Africa.

Carl joined CITI in March 2014 from Standard Chartered Bank PLC where he was the Regional Director responsible for developing Structured Trade Solutions for Corporate Clients in East Africa.

He brings 16 years of experience in Structured Trade & Commodity Finance as well as an intimate and intricate geo- political knowledge of most of the markets on the African subcontinent having spent five years as a Senior Manager Trade Finance at PTA Bank with coverage of 19 countries that form the COMESA Free Trade Area in Eastern and Southern Africa and previously in Corporate Banking with Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe Ltd.

Carl holds an Honors Degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University and is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (UK).

Rennie Kariuki Underwriter, Kenya African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI)

Rennie joined ATI in 2008 as a financial & credit risk expert. She is now responsible for underwriting and liaising with local and international companies for business development. Prior to ATI, Rennie worked as a credit risk analyst at Commercial Bank of Africa where she evaluated risks within the bank’s lending portfolio at the corporate level. In the course of her 12 year career, Rennie has developed expertise in risk mitigation on financial transactions and she has been involved in structuring some of Africa’s most prominaten coprorate and project finance deals. Rennie is a Kenyan national, who holds an MBA in Strategic Management and a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Kudakwashe Matereke Regional Manager, East Africa Afreximbank

Kudakwashe Matereke, Regional Manager – East Africa, for Africa Export-Import Bank (the “Bank”). Afreximbank is an African multi-lateral trade and development bank headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. Kudakwashe’s responsibilities are, among others, business development, deal structuring, risk mitigation, transaction appraisal including negotiations with customers and counterparts and deal implementation, representing the Bank in the various African countries, with specific responsibilities for East Africa region. He joined the Bank in January 2011 from Nedbank Africa offices in Johannesburg, where he worked in a similar role for Nedbank’s African subsidiaries. Prior to that Kudakwashe also worked for a trade and development bank specializing in structured trade finance for at least four years, covering the Southern and Eastern Africa regions.

Kudakwashe is Africa-optimist who firmly believes that the continent is much ready for business today and that the future is brighter.

Betty Maloba Senior Manager Trade Finance Kenya Commercial Bank

Betty Maloba is a Trade Finance Practitioner with over 10 year’s experience in Trade Finance. The experience is in both Trade sales and Trade operations.

My experience cuts across both local and international financial institutions. I have been involved in the structuring of various trade finance transactions across various industries.

Academically I have a Masters in Business Administration-International Business specialization.

Dorcas Mugambi Head Trade Finance Co-operative Bank of Kenya

Dorcas Mugambi is the Head of Trade Finance at Co-operative Bank of Kenya.

Hiren Singharay Chief Executive Officer Global Finance & Capital

Hiren is the CEO and Member of the Supervisory Board of Global Finance and Capital limited, a London based Investment Banking firm. He has been responsible for originating and directing origination, structuring, execution and distribution for the Standard Chartered Bank’s loan syndications business in Europe, Africa and South Asia between 2001-2015. Hiren’s team had won the Best Loan Syndication Bank in Sub Sahara for five years running for lead arranging many significant and repeat transactions for borrowers such as Sonangol, and Ghana Cocoa Board amongst other. He led the Bharti’s acquisition deal for Zain in Africa.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Hiren worked at Citibank London for 17 years where he covered syndications in Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa arranging amongst others the first Syndicated loan in South Africa in the post apartheid era (Rand Merchant Bank 1994) and the first commodity deal in Senegal (SONACOS in 1994), first Syndicated Loan Deal in Saudi Arabia and several milestone deals in South Asia.

Prior to this, Hiren worked in Continental Illinois Bank in Frankfurt and State Bank of India in Calcutta and Frankfurt. He has over 40 years of Banking experience in most aspects of corporate banking including relationship management, trade finance and syndications across Europe, Africa and South Asia.

Hiren holds a first class degree masters degree in Economics , speaks fluent German and has co-authored “Syndicated lending in Emerging Markets”, a Euromoney Publication.

Robin Bairstow Chief Executive Officer I&M Bank Rwanda

Robin is Chief Executive Officer of I&M Bank.

Baiju Shah Chief Executive Officer eBiashara

Baiju is founder and Chief Executive Officer at eBishara as well as Project Director at BT Vision. Baiju is technology entrepreneur working with global technology partners to develop the Financial, Technology, Media and Telecommunication verticals in East and Central African Markets. Further developing specialist knowledge of Supply Chain and Supply Chain Collaboration within the East African Regional Markets.

Maarten Susan Managing Director FACTS

Maarten Susan is the Regional Director, East Africa for Financial Access, based in Nairobi. He manages the Kenya office, oversees business development for East Africa and leads our Agri-finance and Rural Banking programmes known as Finance 4 Agriculture (F4A) in Kenya and Uganda (www.f4a.co.ke). In addition he serves as Director of our Supply Chain solutions provider called eBiashara Africa Limited (www.ebiashara.com) and acts as Chairman of FACTS – the factoring arm of Financial Access with operations in Kenya and Uganda (www.factsafrica.com).

Mr. Susan has close to 30 years of financial sector experience. He started his career with ABN AMRO Bank in the early 1980s and worked for the bank in various commercial banking roles throughout Asia Pacific, North and South America as well as Europe. In 1999 he was appointed as Executive Director of Aviva’s banking operations in Continental Europe, followed by a 5 year term as a CEO of ReMark International, a global leader in B-to-B direct marketing insurance solutions.

In 2008 Mr. Susan joined Rabobank as CEO of Banco Terra in Mozambique, and later moved to Malawi to coordinate and execute an IFC-sponsored MSME Programme for First Merchant Bank. In his capacity of Programme Director, he was one of the architects behind the successful design and roll-out of FMB Bank’s successful retail banking franchise in Malawi. He subsequently worked in Uganda on a regional Bank of Africa SME assignment, before moving to Nairobi in 2013.

Mr. Susan’s knowledge of the African banking market is profound. He serves on several Boards, and has been a founding Director of the EUR 20 million Annona Sustainable Investment Fund. He has been educated at the Nijenrode Business University in the Netherlands and the London School of Economics.

Ivan Mbowa Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer Umati Capital

Prior to launching Umati Capital, Ivan worked with Citigroup for 8 years across a wide variety of countries including Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. He worked across treasury, operations, credit risk management, investment banking and financial institutions banking. Ivan was a business credit officer in Citigroup within the financial institutions team covering Ghana and East Africa. In his last role with Citigroup he was part of a two-man team that launched their first wealth management consumer business in East Africa, where he was a senior investment advisor overseeing customer assets invested offshore. Ivan developed an interest in utilising his experience within Citigroup to address both the level and cost of funding available to SME’s within Africa by creating Umati Capital Limited. He has completed the Chartered Financial Analyst Level 1 certification and is also qualified to U.K. Financial Services Authority Threshold Competence Level 2. Achievements: BA Economics cum laude and BA International Relations cum laude (Tufts University, USA)

Rupert Cutler Managing Director Financial & Political Risks CGNMB

Rupert is Managing Director of insurance broker CGNMB LLP’s Financial & Political Risks Division. Rupert has over twenty-nine years’ experience of arranging insurance and collecting claims to support the finance of structured trade commodity and project finance transactions and investments including non- payment, expropriation, political violence and war on land for financiers, traders, producers the extractive industries and NGO’s with private and public export credit insurers.

CGNMB is a leading independent Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance broker part of the GGSC network, we have leading specialisms in Energy, Property, Marine, Reinsurance and Specialty insurance. We have established a reputation for service delivery and professionalism and service delivery in our chosen fields. We believe in specialist focus, motivation relationships and sheer hard work.

For more information please visit:- www.cgnmbinsurance.com

Bolaji Sofoluwe Director Planning & Strategy ETK Group

Bolaji is passionate about entrepreneurship in Africa. Her career started from the Research Department at the Central Bank of Nigeria and since then, she has had several roles in Translation, Management Consultancy and Financial Services. She has focused on Planning and Strategy – offering this service to SMEs in both French and English speaking Africa. Working on several projects with a joint value of over $2 billion, she has overcome the challenges of a stringent business environment and uses these skills to help companies get ahead with the changing structure of the global economic stage.

As Co-founder of the Enterprise, Training & Knowledge Group, Bolaji has worked on the content of the African Business Management Course with the Centre for African Business Education Team, lending her experience in developing over 200 small businesses in Africa from start up to fundraising, to management advisory roles. Bolaji is a graduate of French Language with Linguistics and has attended several business management courses. She is also fluent in English and French.

Yvette Ondachi Managing Director Ojay Greene

Yvette Ondachi is a Managing Director for Ojay Greene.

Mbugua Njihia Chief Executive Officer Symbiotic

Mbugua Njihia is a Chief Executive Officer for Symbiotic.

Gilbert Manirakiza President & Chief Executive Officer Newmark Group

Gilbert is a brand leadership, Public Relations and Marketing Communications expert with the added advantage of multilingual communications/localization expertise (AIIC member Fr–A, En-A). In 2010, he founded the Newmark Group, a panafrican market intelligence and brand marketing company which now has a footprint in over 24 African countries. He advises and supports the work of Fortune 500 companies, United Nations agencies, multilateral development institutions and intergovernmental organizations such as the African Union.

Having worked in practically all the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, he has an intimate knowledge of the potential, challenges and complexities of the African market place. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (UK) and sits on the boards of several development initiatives and corporations.

Malele Ngalu Business Development Director & Chief Commercial Officer Zindua

Madele is Business Development Director & Chief Commercial Officer for Zindua.