Board of Directors

Oliver Andrews has nearly 40 years’ experience in project development, infrastructure development, investing, public-private partnerships and strategic advisory. He has successfully directed and invested US$10bn and originated US$100bn of infrastructure deals across the African continent.

During his tenure as the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), AFC’s assets under management grew from US$1bn to more than US$8.4bn. He was pioneer of the project development asset class in AFC, having led the closure of several signature transactions including the 350MW Cenpower project, Djibouti wind farm and dynamic bauxite mine. He also led closure of ARISE, a pan-African infrastructure and industrial platform, and a manganese mine in Gabon.

Mr Andrews is the pioneer Chairman of Africa Infrastructure Development Association and led AFC’s accreditation with the Green Climate Fund.

With an MBA from the University of Wales, Mr Andrews has been a consultant for the World Bank, African Development Bank and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and served as CEO of TCI Infrastructure & the Gambia Ports Authority. His contributions to the investment industry were recognised by the award of the Champion of Finance by the 2017 EMEA Finance Awards.

Samaila Zabairu is the current President and CEO of Africa Finance Corporation, growing AFC’s balance from $3.5bn to $10bn during his tenure. Prior to this, he was the CEO of Africapital Mgmt Ltd, where he established a JV with Old Mutual’s African Infrastructure Investment Managers to develop the Nigerian Infrastructure Investment Fund1 for infrastructure private equity across West Africa.

As Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Dangote Cement Plc, Mr Zabairu launched Africa’s largest syndicated project finance facility for the Obajana Cement project. He has undertaken investments of over US$3bn, financing green-field project finance, acquisitions, corporate transformation, privatisation and equity capital market transactions.

Mr Zabairu has held several non-executive board positions including the Advisory board member for KSE Africa, a leading operations and management provider of captive power plants in the mining sectors in Botswana and Nigeria.

With a BSc in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, Mr Zabairu is an Eisenhower Fellow and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Nigeria.

With a career in the mining and metals sectors spanning over 35 years, Mr Prusty brings a wealth of experience to the Board.

Mr Prusty has extensive global experience, having worked in India, Africa, Latin America, CIS Countries, Indonesia, the Middle East and USA in various mining and metals projects, predominantly dealing with coal and iron ore commodities.

His previous roles include General Manager and Head of the Mineral Resources Department of Ispat Ltd, and Vice-President-Mining and Director of ESSAR Group where he was responsible for internal mining and mineral business development.

Pramod is highly proficient in business management, evaluation and assessment of mining assets both in technical and techno-commercial areas leading into a financial valuation.

Austine Ometoruwa has had a career in international banking for 35 years based in Nigeria, Egypt and USA. His previous roles include Credit and Marketing Analyst at Chase Manhattan Bank in Lagos, General Manager of the Lagos, London and Boston offices of the Bank of Boston, and a Strategy Consulting role at the Standard Bank of South Africa (Stanbic Nigeria).

He was appointed the First Nigerian Board Executive Director of Citibank Nigeria and Regional Director of Corporate Project Finance and Investment Bank, Citigroup West Africa and later the Middle East North Africa (MENA) in 2001. He left Citigroup in 2007 to found the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as its pioneer President and CEO.

Mr Ometoruwa is currently the founder of Trico Capital International Ltd, a financial advisory and infrastructure/natural resources platform for purely African development.

He holds a first Class B.Sc degree in Finance from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

An experienced Director in Main List, AIM and private companies, Mr Neville brings extensive infrastructure, finance, management consultancy and accountancy experience to the Board.

Mr Neville co-founded IMPLLP, a specialist asset management firm serving investors, projects and opportunities in the infrastructure and technology sectors. He also co-founded Infosec K2K, a cyber security company focused on regulating industries including finance, utilities, telecoms and the public sector. He is currently a Non-Executive Director at Infinity Energy and Board Advisor for Iona Capital.

He previously held Director and Executive roles with John Laing, an InfraMed Infrastructure fund, PWC, BDO, Guinness Mahon, Dow Chemical and Allied Lyons.

Mr Neville is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Rajesh Bagga brings more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing and service industries to the board.

Mr Bagga has held various CEO, CFO and board roles, notably as Vice President of Finance at Kion India, Group Chief Financial Officer at Lord of Seven Hills Minmetals and Director at Kohler Power India.

Rajesh is highly skilled in large-scale business management, global strategy formation and financial planning, with extensive experience in P&L management and funds management,

Mr Bagga holds a MBA in Marketing and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an associate of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.