The EE's Advisory Board Members include:
Tokunboh Ishmael
Tokunboh Ismael is Managing Director of Alitheia Capital which provides fund management, business incubation, corporate strategy and business development services. In her previous role as Managing Director of Avante Capital Ltd, she advised on a number of acquisitions in the oil and gas sector including the acquisition and financing of a government owned refinery and led the first secondary listing of a Nigerian company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Prior to Avante, she was the Nigeria Country Partner for Aureos Capital where she successfully raised funding to complete a $50m fundraising exercise for the Aureos West Africa Fund. Other previous roles include M&A banker at Salomon Smith Barney. Tokunboh is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Institute; a member of the board of the African Venture Capital Association and a panelist on the TV show, Dragons’ Den Nigeria.
Maneesh Garg
Maneesh Garg is Chairman and Chief Executive of Nagode Industries Limited. This is a US$15M a month turnover Chemical and Allied products company operating out of Africa, Middle East and Asia. Maneesh is an economics graduate of Oxford University, with a masters in economics and finance from Northwestern University in Chicago USA.
He has a proven track record of successful businesses in emerging markets. He has interests in Business Day media - daily financial newspaper in association with Financial times of UK and Johhnic Group of South Africa. Prior to joining the family business Maneesh worked as a consultant for the World bank in Washington DC.
Kwabena Smith
Kwabena Smith, a seasoned entrepreneur is the founder of Orun Energy Global and Orun Energy Africa. Mr. Smith has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and business development. He has been involved in a number of business start ups in Ghana, South Africa and the United States. His main interests are in business strategy, bottom of pyramid markets, applied technology and renewable efficient energy. He has been the Chief Architect of Orun’s creative and non-conformist technology innovation process that has produced high performance and energy efficient solutions.
Mr. Smith is currently the Chairman of Susu Microfinance Ltd., a leading microfinance bank based in Lagos, Nigeria. Mr. Smith attended the University of Lagos, where he completed a first degree in French and History.
Ibukun Awosika
Mrs. Ibukun Awosika is the Founder and Chairman of The Chair Centre Ltd, a market leader in the office furniture and banking security systems industries. After the ban on importation of furniture by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2004, The Chair Centre Ltd went into a joint venture with Sokoa S.A of France and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc to set up Sokoa Chair Centre Ltd., and she was appointed the MD/CEO of the joint-venture company.
She also founded the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), a national career centre in Lagos which runs developmental programs/projects that focus on the employability, economic productivity and global relevance of the Nigerian graduate.
Mrs. Ibukun Awosika graduated with a BSc. in Chemistry from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife). She is an alumna of the Chief Executive Programme of Lagos Business School and the Global Executive MBA Programme of the prestigious IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain.
Ngozi Edozien
Ngozi Edozienis the Head of Actis West Africa. Ngozi is responsible for all aspects of Actis’s private equity business in West Africa. Actis is currently invested in a number of companies in West Africa including; Diamond Bank, Mouka Foam, UAC and Exoro (Seven Energy). In addition, the firm has real estate assets in Ghana and Nigeria as well as infrastructure interests throughout the region.
Prior to Actis, Ngozi was the founding CEO of EVHA, an innovative investment vehicle focused on expanding access to healthcare goods and services in sub-Saharan Africa. Ngozi began her career in investment banking at Solomon Brothers and then at JP Morgan. Post MBA, Ngozi worked for McKinsey & Co. in London and Paris. From 1999 to 2005, Ngozi was Vice President Strategic Planning and Business Development for Pfizer. Prior to joining EVHA, Ngozi was the Regional Director for Pfizer Inc in Anglophone East, West and Central Africa from 2005 to 2008.
Tokunboh Ishmael
Tokunboh Ismael is Managing Director of Alitheia Capital which provides fund management, business incubation, corporate strategy and business development services. In her previous role as Managing Director of Avante Capital Ltd, she advised on a number of acquisitions in the oil and gas sector including the acquisition and financing of a government owned refinery and led the first secondary listing of a Nigerian company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Prior to Avante, she was the Nigeria Country Partner for Aureos Capital where she successfully raised funding to complete a $50m fundraising exercise for the Aureos West Africa Fund. Other previous roles include M&A banker at Salomon Smith Barney. Tokunboh is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Institute; a member of the board of the African Venture Capital Association and a panelist on the TV show, Dragons’ Den Nigeria.
Maneesh Garg
Maneesh Garg is Chairman and Chief Executive of Nagode Industries Limited. This is a US$15M a month turnover Chemical and Allied products company operating out of Africa, Middle East and Asia. Maneesh is an economics graduate of Oxford University, with a masters in economics and finance from Northwestern University in Chicago USA.
He has a proven track record of successful businesses in emerging markets. He has interests in Business Day media - daily financial newspaper in association with Financial times of UK and Johhnic Group of South Africa. Prior to joining the family business Maneesh worked as a consultant for the World bank in Washington DC.
Kwabena Smith
Kwabena Smith, a seasoned entrepreneur is the founder of Orun Energy Global and Orun Energy Africa. Mr. Smith has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and business development. He has been involved in a number of business start ups in Ghana, South Africa and the United States. His main interests are in business strategy, bottom of pyramid markets, applied technology and renewable efficient energy. He has been the Chief Architect of Orun’s creative and non-conformist technology innovation process that has produced high performance and energy efficient solutions.
Mr. Smith is currently the Chairman of Susu Microfinance Ltd., a leading microfinance bank based in Lagos, Nigeria. Mr. Smith attended the University of Lagos, where he completed a first degree in French and History.
Ibukun Awosika
Mrs. Ibukun Awosika is the Founder and Chairman of The Chair Centre Ltd, a market leader in the office furniture and banking security systems industries. After the ban on importation of furniture by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2004, The Chair Centre Ltd went into a joint venture with Sokoa S.A of France and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc to set up Sokoa Chair Centre Ltd., and she was appointed the MD/CEO of the joint-venture company.
She also founded the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC), a national career centre in Lagos which runs developmental programs/projects that focus on the employability, economic productivity and global relevance of the Nigerian graduate.
Mrs. Ibukun Awosika graduated with a BSc. in Chemistry from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife). She is an alumna of the Chief Executive Programme of Lagos Business School and the Global Executive MBA Programme of the prestigious IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain.
Ngozi Edozien
Ngozi Edozienis the Head of Actis West Africa. Ngozi is responsible for all aspects of Actis’s private equity business in West Africa. Actis is currently invested in a number of companies in West Africa including; Diamond Bank, Mouka Foam, UAC and Exoro (Seven Energy). In addition, the firm has real estate assets in Ghana and Nigeria as well as infrastructure interests throughout the region.
Prior to Actis, Ngozi was the founding CEO of EVHA, an innovative investment vehicle focused on expanding access to healthcare goods and services in sub-Saharan Africa. Ngozi began her career in investment banking at Solomon Brothers and then at JP Morgan. Post MBA, Ngozi worked for McKinsey & Co. in London and Paris. From 1999 to 2005, Ngozi was Vice President Strategic Planning and Business Development for Pfizer. Prior to joining EVHA, Ngozi was the Regional Director for Pfizer Inc in Anglophone East, West and Central Africa from 2005 to 2008.
