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| Peter Baird Head Standard Chartered Private Equity Peter Baird is responsible for Standard Chartered’s Private Equity Principal Finance across sub-Saharan | |
| John Bellew Partner Webber Wentzel John Bellew is a partner at Webber Wentzel and joint head of the firm's private equity practice. Mr Bellew specialises in all aspects of private equity, including fund formation, merger and acquisition activity, management arrangements and acquisition finance. He is recognised as a leading expert in private equity and M&A by a number of prominent journals, including Chambers Global, Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer? and IFLR1000. He is a member of the Legal and Regulatory Committees of both the South African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) and the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA). | |
| Stuart Bradley Senior Partner Phatisa Stuart Bradley has 17 years of private equity experience in Africa with CDC Capital Partners, Aureos Capital and Phatisa Group. He has a strong track record in private equity across diverse industries and all key disciplines. He is the co-founder of Phatisa Group, which was the lead adviser to the Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF) and successfully first closed at US$625m with purely African capital. Prior to founding Phatisa, he was the Managing Partner of the US$50m Aureos Southern Africa Fund in Johannesburg. Before joining Aureos Capital, he was the General Manager of Takura Ventures in Zimbabwe, where he had overall responsibility for the fund’s success. | |
| Navaid Burney Managing Director One Thousand & One Voices Navaid Burney is a Managing Director at One Thousand & One Voices. With more than 20 years of experience with private equity investing in Africa, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Pangea Exploration (Pty) Limited in its joint venture with Denham Capital, where he led deal structuring and execution concluding transactions in DRC, Cote d' Ivoire and Gabon. Previously, Mr. Burney served as Director and Head of Private Equity for Africa at Standard Bank of | |
| Ngalaah Chuphi Partner Ethos Private Equity Ngalaah Chupi heads Ethos’ investor relations activities and played a critical role in the successful raising of Ethos Funds V and VI. He joined Ethos in 1999. His 14 year period with Ethos has included involvement in several portfolio companies where he has played significant roles in business building, in the engineering, franchising, retail and financial services sectors. His portfolio activities are backed by over ten years of prior international management consulting and project finance experience in various countries. His deal origination, execution and value-add capabilities are complemented by an extensive business network across sub-Saharan | |
| Christopher Clarke Director and Principal Inspired Evolution Christopher Clarke is a Founding Partner, Director and shareholder of Inspired Evolution - Sub-Saharan Africa’s first specialised clean energy and resource efficiency investment advisory business.Inspired Evolution currently has US$100m under management in its Evolution One Fund. He is also an Investment Committee member. He is the lead for the fund’s clean energy portfolio comprising more than 300MWs of renewable energy generation projects and chairs the boards of this suite of renewable development and asset management companies.He also assumes primary responsibility for Inspired Evolution’s sector investment strategies and sustainability performance. Prior to founding Inspired Evolution, he spent 15 years as an entrepreneur specialising in business model and technology innovation. His experience spans start up enterprise, business development and technology commercialisation, project finance, sustainability strategy, and corporate governance. | |
| Ndumiso Davidson COO South Point Ndumiso Davidson was appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2012, after being seconded to South Point in 2011.In 2005 he joined Metier Investment and Advisory Services as an Analyst in support of the Lereko Metier Capital Growth Fund. During the following seven years in Private Equity at Lereko Metier Capital Growth Fund and Metier, he served as a Deal Executive, Director and Associate Principal of the Fund. He provided coverage of the property and property related sectors, education and media and had day to day responsibility for the South Point investment which represented Lereko Metier Capital Growth Fund on the Board. Prior to this in 2004, he spent a year in investment banking at Merrill Lynch. | |
| Darshan Daya Partner Capitalworks Investment Partners Darshan Daya is a founding partner of Capitalworks, an independent alternative asset management firm. With more than US$515m in assets under management from top-tier domestic and international investors, Capitalworks provides investment access and specialist solutions to its clients across a wide range of industries and investment themes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Daya has 12 years of private equity and investment banking experience. He is a fund principal, member of the investment committee on Capitalworks’ private equity funds and serves on the boards of a number of Capitalworks’ portfolio companies. Prior to the formation of Capitalworks, He served as a Director of Brait Private Equity with executive responsibility for fund investments in various sectors, including payment services, environmental services and recruitment. | |
| Ron den Besten Managing Director The Abraaj Group Ron den Besten joined Aureos in 2004, and is Managing Director, responsible for the US$386m Aureos Africa Fund's Southern Africa region and the US$50m Aureos Southern Africa Fund. Based in Johannesburg, he leads the team of professionals investing in Southern Africa Development Community countries. He has over 15 years of private equity and corporate finance experience gained from institutions such as Gensec Bank Ltd, where he was General Manager, Private Equity and responsible for a team of 14 with assets under management of US$300m. His portfolios included investments in over 60 listed and unlisted companies. He has extensive experience in deal structuring, negotiation, strategic development of, and exit from African companies. He serves and has served on the boards of directors as chairman or non-executive director of companies in a range of sectors, including financial services, agri-processing, chemical, communications, manufacturing and IT services and is a member of numerous investment, audit and remuneration committees. | |
| Simon Denny Director Deutsche Bank Simon Denny is a Director at Deutsche Bank in the South African Investment Banking team responsible for general corporate finance, covering the full spectrum of strategic M&A, equity and debt advisory. He has 11 years experience in Consumer & Retail, Healthcare and General Industrials investment banking and has advised on some of the largest cross-border M&A and capital raising transactions in South Africa in recent years, including the offers for Adcock Ingram, the sale of Barclays Africa’s private equity interests, the acquisition of 20% of Grindrod by Remgro, the sale of Savcio and the acquisition of 51% of Massmart by Walmart. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2008, he spent five years at Standard Bank in Acquisition Finance in both Johannesburg and London. | |
| Andrew Dewar CEO Rockwood Private Equity Andrew served his articles at KPMG and joined the partnership in 2000 where he initiated and managed the KPMG Transaction Services Team. Within this division, Andrew's focus was on the private equity sector and specifically on the provision of due diligence services to the local private equity market. In this role, he advised on over 300 transactions, with clients ranging from large international organisations to both listed and unlisted South African companies. He joined the investment team of Absa Capital Private Equity in May 2006. Between 2006 and 2008 Andrew led the acquisitions of Safripol, Tsebo and Enviroserv. He continues as a board representative on each of these companies. In 2009 he was appointed head of the Absa Capital Private Equity business. In 2013 he led the buy-out of this business from ABSA which resulted in the formation of Rockwood Private Equity. The transaction was funded by Harbourvest Partners and Coller Capital. This transaction represents the first and only carve-out of a bank’s private equity business by secondary investors executed in South Africa. | |
| Brandon Doyle CEO and Founding Partner Convergence Partners Brandon Doyle has run Convergence Partners since inception and is one of the founding partners. Prior to that he spent five years with Nedbank where he was head of Investment Banking and an Executive Committee member at Nedbank Capital where his areas of responsibility included Nedbank’s M&A, private equity and deal origination activities. Prior to joining Nedbank, he was head of Corporate Finance and Project Equity Finance at FBC Fidelity for three years where he was involved in a number of milestone BEE transactions. Prior to FBC Fidelity, he spent five years in the Corporate Finance team of Anglo American.He serves on the boards of directors of a number of companies in the Convergence Partners portfolio as well as on numerous board sub-committees focusing particularly on strategy and finance issues. He also serves on the board of the FTTH Council Africa. | |
| Emile du Toit Chairman South Africa Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) Emile Du Toit joined Harith General Partners in 2011 as the Head of PAIDF 1, a US$630m Private Equity Fund investing in both | |
| Michael Fischer Director DEG Regional Office Southern Africa
After completing his engineering and business administration degree at Karlsruhe Technical University, Michael joined Dresdner Bank Group in Germany. Michael worked in predominantly credit and corporate banking of which, 5 years he worked for the group in Southern Africa. After 8 years with the Dresdner Group, Michael joined DEG - German Investment & Development Company in Cologne as Vice President, New Business Africa. In this function he was responsible for DEG's new business in predominantly East Africa. In addition he was DEG's key account manager for the company's telecom projects. Since January 2004 Michael has assumed responsibility for the DEG / KfW Representative Office, Southern Africa in Johannesburg. Michael currently holds a directorship of Global Credit Rating, Brandcorp, and is Advisory board member of Ethos Private Equity Fund V as well as Vantage Mezzanine Fund and Kibo Capital Partners. Michael was born on 8 March 1967. | |
| J-P Fourie Head of Investor Relations Lereko Metier J-P Fourie is responsible for investor relations at Lereko Metier.In 2012 he joined Lereko Metier with a focus on driving its long term investor relations efforts.He is a board member of SAVCA and advisor to institutional investors seeking guidance in their private equity investment programs.In 2006, he was appointed as the CEO of SAVCA, where he gained extensive insights into the local and global regulatory, compliance and investor environments for the private equity industry. He started his career at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and was the head of the JSE's strategy team from 2001 to 2006. His work included the implementation of various strategic initiatives to foster the development of the stock exchange as a business, which culminated in its listing in 2006. | |
| Adam Green Senior Reporter This is Africa, a Financial Times service Adam Green is Deputy Editor for This is Africa, an FT publication, and an Africa reporter for beyond brics at FT.com. His coverage has included interviews with Paul Kagame, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Morgan Tsvangirai, Alassane Ouattara and Jeffrey Sachs. He previously worked for the International Growth Centre, a research institution based at the London School of Economics which provided economic policy support to governments in Africa and Asia. His writing has also been published by The Guardian, China Post and the Middle East Institute. | |
| Andrew Hall Principal and Executive Director Trinitas Private Equity Andrew Hall has been involved with private equity since 2001 and established Trinitas, together with his partners, John Stipinovich and Soteris Theorides in 2008. Prior to Trinitas he was a Senior Portfolio Manager at a niche merchant bank, where he was responsible for all aspects of the private equity lifecycle. His responsibilities included the operational management of a portfolio asset for a period of 12 months and board representation on a number of portfolio company boards. His portfolio included companies across a diverse industry range, including retail, services, manufacturing and technology. | |
| Axel Hansing Senior Partner Coller Capital Axel Hansing is a Partner at Coller Capital and is responsible for origination, execution and monitoring of investments. Prior to joining Coller Capital in 2000, he was Chief Executive of Hansing Associates, a corporate finance boutique, which he founded in 1994.He was previously Managing Director of Equitable Capital Management, New York and London, a US firm managing investments in senior debt, mezzanine and private equity. During this time, he sat on the advisory committees of Apax European Buy-In Fund and European White Knight Fund.Before this, he spent seven years heading the International Division of Bayerische Hypotheken und Wechsel-Bank in Munich and New York, and four years with Merrill Lynch International Banking in London and Hong Kong, rising to Executive Director.His early career was in corporate banking at Marine Midland Bank in London and Continental Finance Corporation in Johannesburg. | |
| Stuart Harrison Head of Acquisition and Leveraged Finance Nedbank Capital Stuart Harrison is head of Acquisition and Leveraged Finance at Nedbank Capital. He is responsible for originating, structuring and executing leveraged loans, bridge loans and preference share facilities for corporations and financial sponsors supporting leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, private equity acquisitions and refinancings. During his time at Nedbank, he has held roles in credit, as well as structuring and executing transactions across a wide spectrum of industries including telecommunications, fast moving consumer goods, general industrials, pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry. | |
| Matthew Hunt Director Ke Nako Matthew Hunt has 19 years of professional experience and is currently lead portfolio manager for an established South African fund-of-private equity funds. He sits on the Advisory Boards of nine African private equity funds. Previously he was Vice President with JP Morgan Chase in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Johannesburg, where he spent 13 years working in the areas of corporate finance, tax-effective finance, debt structured products and derivatives marketing. His career spanned institutional client coverage across the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and South Africa. His areas of expertise are private equity, credit, foreign exchange and derivatives. | |
| Andrew Johnstone Managing Director African Infrastructure Investment Managers Andrew Johnston was appointed Managing Director of the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) in 2005. He is an infrastructure specialist in emerging markets including Africa, | |
| Michael Jordaan Entrepreneur and former CEO First National Bank Michael Jordaan is the CEO of First National Bank (FNB), a division of FirstRand Group, one of the largest banks in South Africa. The Bank’s Profit after Tax is over $1bn with a customer base of nearly nine million. With more than 20 years experience in the financial services sector and nearly a decade at the helm of the Bank, he led FNB to be named the “World’s Most Innovative Bank” in the 2012 BAI-Finacle Global Banking Innovation Awards held in Washington, DC. He has held various CEO positions throughout the FirstRand Group, including Origin Bank (which rebranded to RMB Private Bank), FNB eBucks and FNB HomeLoans. He headed up FNB’s Customer Solutions Division in the FirstRand Retail Cluster in 2002, and was appointed as CEO of FNB in 2004 when he was 36. | |
| Eddie Keizan Non-Executive Chairman Tiger Wheel & Tyre Eddie Keizan is the non-Executive Chairman and minority shareholder in Tiauto Investments, the retail and wholesale wheel and tyre business of Tiger Wheel and Tyre.He bought the tiny business of Tiger Wheels in 1972, and as its CEO saw it grow through various phases until his retirement in June 2008. Tiger Wheels Ltd was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 1987 – 2007. Its two primary activities were the manufacture of aluminium wheels for the auto industry and the retailing of tyres and wheels. The manufacturing business grew to being the sixth largest aluminium wheel manufacturer in the world (through its acquisition of ATS in Germany in 1998) with factories in Germany, Poland, the USA and South Africa until its demise in 2007. Over a course of 14 years, before Mr Keizan retired from motorsport in 1979, he won Production Car Championships 1969, 1970, 1977, 1978, S.A. Formula 5000 Championship 1972 and competed in three World Championship Formula 1 rounds in S.A., 1973 – 1975 and won the Roof of Africa Off-Road Race 1969 and 1972. | |
| Jeffrey Leonard President and Chief Executive Officer Global Environment Fund (GEF) and Chairman, Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA) Jeffrey Leonard is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Environment Fund (GEF), one of the most experienced and most successful private equity firms dedicated exclusively to investments in the energy and environment sectors. Founded in 1990, GEF currently has approximately $1bn in aggregate capital under management. Mr Leonard is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), and has previously served as Co-Chairman of the Clean Technology Venture Network. In 2006-2007, he served as Co-Chairman of the energy transition team of Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and from 1992 through 1998, he was a member of the Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. He also is a member of the Advisory Board ofthe US-Brazil Biofuels Partnership. Mr Leonard is Chairman of the Board of The Washington Monthly and Chairman of the Board of CityYear (Washington, D.C.), and a Board Member of the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) and the New America Foundation. He is a founding board member and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Beacon House Community Ministry, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of children and their families in northeast Washington, D.C.Mr Leonard has a PhD from PrincetonUniversity, an MS in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BA, magna cum laude fromHarvardCollege. He is the author of five books and numerous technical articles relating to global environmental issues, international trade, energy production and technology development. | |
| Sbu Luthuli Eskom Pension and Provident Fund Sibusiso Luthuli is the Chief Executive and Principal Officer of the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF). EPPF is one of the largest self-administered defined benefit pension funds in South Africa with assets under management in excess of R100bn. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director of Ithala Development Finance Corporation Limited and has been Managing Director for its subsidiary, Ithala Limited since July 2004.He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Chairman of the Principal Officers Association. | |
| Leanne Manas Presenter of Morning Live on SABC2 Leanne Manas is a multiple award winning South African TV presenter and is currently the anchor of SABC 2's Morning Live. She has interviewed numerous high-profile personalities and celebrities.Ms Manas has a postgraduate certificate in Economics Journalism from RhodesUniversity, a BA (Hons) Degree in English and is also a qualified Speech and Drama teacher which she completed through LondonTrinityCollege. | |
| Brian Marshall Co-Head, Debt Products, Investment Banking Standard Bank Brian Marshall Co-Heads Debt Products for CIB at Standard Bank with responsibility for debt teams based in Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos and London covering leverage and mezzanine finance, corporate lending, real estate, mining, infrastructure and resource based financing. He is an executive voting member of the CIB Credit Committee and part of the Investment Banking management team. He has been involved in numerous high profile leverage finance transactions for many of the leading Sub-Saharan Africa private equity sponsors and has a deep understanding of the debt funding market for buy-outs. He joined Standard Bank in 2006 from RBS, London where he was part of the Leverage Finance team. | |
| Tapan Meshram Vice President Gulf Investment Corporation Tapan Meshram has been involved in private equity and venture capital since the late 90’s. Currently at State General Reserve Fund (SGRF), the sovereign wealth fund of Sultanate of Oman, he has been supervising the corporate direct investments globally. He is a Director on the board of several companies in UK, Netherlands, Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria, etc. He also advises and sits on the Investment Committee of SGRF’s private equity fund JV’s in several geographies including Vietnam. Moving forward into 2014, SGRF has decided to start allocating funds to Africa. He would be spearheading the effort for development of the Africa Investment Platform on behalf of the Oman Sovereign Wealth Fund.Prior to SGRF, he spent a considerable time as Vice President for investments in metals and chemicals sector at Gulf Investment Corporation, Kuwait, one of the oldest investment holding companies established in 1983 and held equally by the six GCC countries. He gained operational experience while working for GE and previously also managed the Funds and PE investments portfolio for Emirates Bank International, Dubai. He first entered the world of investments by accident when as an entrepreneur along with his Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) peers he sold his Indian information security company to a venture capitalist in the US. Since then he has managed over US$1bn in equity investments. | |
| Nhlanganiso Mkwanazi Co-founder and Director Medu Capital Nhlanganiso Mkwanazi is the co-founder and Executive Director of Medu Capital. He has 19 years of experience in auditing, management consulting and private equity investing.He serves on various boards of companies and also served as an executive committee member of the Southern African Venture and Private Equity Association.He qualified as a Chartered Accountant (South Africa) and Chartered Financial Analyst. | |
| 0 | Rory Ord Head RisCura Fundamentals |
| Thiru Pather Associate Principal Public Investment Corporation Thiru Pather is responsible for Private Equity fund investments at the PIC and has been involved in Private Equity at the PIC for four years. She is a Chartered Accountant by profession and has 10 years post articles experience, with seven years in Private Equity and Corporate Finance. She holds the following Board and Advisory Board positions: Sphere Private Equity Fund I; Lereko Metier Capital Growth Fund; Medu Capital Fund II; Vantage Mezzanine Fund II; Trinitas Private Equity; Ethos Fund VI. | |
| Fagmeedah Petersen Lurie Chief Investment Officer Eskom Pension and Provident Fund Fagmeedah Petersen Lurie is an actuary with seventeen years of local and international experience in the pensions and investments industry. Fagmeedah was a principal pensions and investment consultant at Alexander Forbes, before becoming CEO of Prudential Investment Management Institutional. | |
| Soula Proxenos Managing Partner International Housing Solutions Soula Proxenos is Managing Partner of International Housing Solutions. She co-founded the South African Workforce Housing Fund, and is responsible for capital raising and business development. The fund has R1.9bn in capital; amongst its investors are OPIC, Citi, and DBSA. Previously, she was Managing Director of Fannie Mae’s International Housing Financial Services where she ran consulting services and training programs in over 35 countries. She has 26 years of financial services experience in international marketing, developing strategic alliances, and opening markets for South African and European companies. | |
| Michael Rudnicki Partner, KPMG Tax and Legal, Head of Financial Services and M&A Tax groups Michael Rudnicki is a Tax Partner at KPMG and leads the Financial Services and M&A Tax groups in South Africa and plays a coordinating role within Africa. He has been practicing tax in the Private Equity sector for around 10 years. During this time, working within a multi-disciplinary KPMG Private Equity team, he has advised on a number of Private Equity transactions including tax structuring and tax due diligence. He has also advised a number of Private Equity funds on their establishment in South Africa and Africa. | |
| Nadiya Satyamurthy Senior Director EMPEA's Consulting Services unit Nadiya Satyamurthy is a Senior Director in EMPEA’s Consulting Services unit. Nadiya authors content on behalf of the organization by leveraging EMPEA’s data program and engaging with EMPEA members and other industry stakeholders. Nadiya manages EMPEA’s Inside Perspectives series and has authored a number of research projects focused on institutional investors in private equity, including EMPEA’s 2013 Global Limited Partners Survey, 2012 Special Report on Asian LP Sentiment toward Private Equity and the EMPEA Insight on Local Pension Capital in Latin America. Nadiya previously served as Senior Director of EMPEA’s Research Department where she was lead manager of the organization’s research and data portfolio.Prior to joining EMPEA, Nadiya worked as a Public Finance Fixed Income Associate at UBS Investment Bank and Merrill Lynch. Nadiya holds a B.A.in International Studies from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs with a concentration in International Finance. | |
| 0 | Idan Segal Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner Convergence Partners Idan has been with Convergence Partners since inception and was one of the founding partners. In addition to executive responsibility for deal sourcing, implementation and post-investment, Idan is responsible for portfolio management, capital raising and investor relations.Idan serves on the Convergence Partners Investment Committee and on the boards of certain of its investee companies. Prior to the formation of Convergence Partners, Idan was a member of the Nedbank Capital Corporate Finance team for 4 years, during which time he advised on many M&A transactions and capital raisings, as well as several high profile BEE transactions. |
| Clive Smith CEO Tsebo Outsourcing Group Clive Smith has had leadership experience in every part of the Group over the last 20 years. Under his leadership, Tsebo Outsourcing Group has grown to unprecedented size, while enhancing its transformation credentials and delivering shareholder value. He has a strong financial background and many years experience in leading large employee groups and operating companies, whilst driving an organic and acquisitive growth strategy. | |
| Graham Stokoe Associate Director, Transaction Advisory Services EY Graham Stokoe is EY’s Private Equity Leader for Africa. He advises clients on the acquisition or sale of businesses in South Africa and across Sub-Saharan Africa. His transaction advisory experience includes buy and sell-side due diligence, M&A, working capital reports for stock exchange purposes, and advisory and support in respect to IPOs. He began his career with EY in London in 2004 and returned to South Africa in 2007. His nine years of experience has included
advising PE and corporate clients on transactions in various sectors including consumer
products, industrials, retail, telecoms, IT and real estate, among others. He
has advised numerous global and African PE funds.
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| Clem Sunter Scenario Planner Extraordinaire and author of 21st Century Clem Sunter was recently awarded an Honourary Doctorate by the University of Cape Town for his work in the field of scenario planning. He was also voted by leading South African CEOs as the speaker who has made the most significant contribution to, and impact on, best practice and business in South Africa. He has given scenario presentations in Europe, India, Singapore, Britain, Australia and various African countries. He has lectured at the HarvardBusinessSchool in Boston and at the CentralPartySchool in Beijing. | |
| Kevin Tidwell Principal GEF Advisors Kevin Tidwell joined GEF in 2004 and focuses on GEF's timber investment activities in Africa. He has expertise in identifying opportunities to improve silviculture, residue management, and value-chain efficiencies. His responsibilities include deal sourcing and value creation related to integrated, sustainable forestry projects. He plays an active role as a director of Cape Pine Investment Holdings and Ramanas Farms Pty Ltd in South Africa, Peak Timbers in Swaziland and Monte Alto Forestal in Chile. Mr Tidwell has a BA in History and Environmental Engineering from Rice University, an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science. | |
| Erika van der Merwe CEO South African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) Erika van der Merwe is CEO of the South African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA), a non-profit member organisation whose objective is to promote venture capital and private equity in South Africa. It has around 100 members, who collectively account for about R130bn in assets under management. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) accreditation and has a Master’s degree in Economics from CambridgeUniversity and from the former University of Natal. She joined the board of the CFA SA Society in 2012. | |
| Warren van der Merwe Chief Financial Officer Vantage Capital Warren van der Merwe is a Chartered Accountant and Chief Financial Officer of the Vantage Capital Group. Vantage Capital is a South Africa-based firm that specializes in mezzanine debt, renewable energy debt, corporate senior debt and debt capital markets transactions throughout Africa. Vantage Capital manages two mezzanine debt funds, a renewable energy senior debt fund, a technology fund and has a debt capital markets advisory business. Vantage has assets under management of over R5bn.Before joining Vantage Capital in 2007, he held various positions over 6 years at Standard Bank and ended his time at the bank in its acquisition finance team where he successfully concluded a number of leveraged finance transactions. | |
| Robert van Zwieten President & Chief Executive Officer Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA) Robert W van Zwieten is President and CEO of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA). Mr van Zwieten provides overall strategic leadership of EMPEA and oversees the continuous expansion of value to existing and prospective members and the organisation’s work to develop the asset class globally. Prior to EMPEA, he was the Asian Development Bank’s Director of Private Sector Capital Markets, based in Manila, Philippines, responsible for origination and structuring of US$2.5bn in transactions and investments across 40 Asian emerging and frontier markets.Previously, he served as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for an Asia-focused hedge fund venture, and prior to that as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Finance Officer for the Singapore Exchange. His experience includes leadership positions with Lehman Brothers; Managing Director and Global Treasurer with GE Energy; and Managing Director and Treasurer for GE Capital Asia-Pacific. He spent his formative banking years with ABN AMRO Bank. | |
| Keet van Zyl Co-Founder and Partner Knife Capital Keet is a ‘Venture Catalyst’ with extensive high-growth investment experience. He structured various private equity funds in Southern Africa for a US fund-of-funds investor and worked at industry-leading companies such as Procter & Gamble, Investec Bank and Mark Shuttleworth’s ‘Here Be Dragons’ (HBD) Venture Capital. In 2010 he co-founded growth equity fund manager: Knife Capital to continue the active management of HBD’s South African portfolio of investments. Keet is passionate about building the early-stage funding ecosystem in Sub-Saharan Africa. He engineers growth of scalable knowledge-driven SMEs through Knife Capital's Grindstone Business Accelerator and facilitates local angel investment deals. Keet is Chairman of the SAVCA Venture Capital Sub-committee and on the SiMODiSA Exco. | |
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