Axel van Nederveen (Chair) | Axel is Managing Director and Treasurer of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with overall responsibility for asset management of the treasury, liquidity management and funding operations of the Bank, as well as the overall market risks associated with the Bank’s lending operations. He joined the EBRD in May 1995 and fulfilled several roles within Treasury before becoming Treasurer in April 2004. Previously he held positions in government bond sales and trading at ABN AMRO in Amsterdam and Paribas in London. Axel van Nederveen holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

Mike Bristow | Mike carries a wealth of experience spanning more than 30 years of executive management and Board roles in the financial sector. He is the Board Chair of the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation Limited in Kenya, an organization owned by several Kenyan institutions. Mike has worked as Managing Director of Barclays Bank, SSB Bank and Commercial Bank of Africa across four African countries – Kenya, Zambia, Ghana and DRC. During this time, he served on various industry professional bodies in each of these countries. In Kenya, he played a significant role in the evolution of mobile money products, including MPESA and M-Shwari. He has also coordinated and managed various finance sector schemes partnering with donors and NGOs in Kenya, Ghana, Zambia and DRC. Mike sits on other boards like that of FSDA and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers London. He earned a Master’s Degree in African Politics from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

Bokar Cherif | Bokar has near 20 years of experience in banking and in particular, interbank markets. In 2008, he joined Agence Française de Developpement (AFD) – the French development agency – as Deputy Head of Funding and Market Operations. In this role, Bokar had responsibility for funding, derivatives and cash products trading. In 2012, he became Head of Treasury and Cash Management and as of early 2018, Bokar was appointed Director Treasury and Capital Markets. Prior to AFD, he was Head of Back Office on derivatives and FX and Head of Mid-Office at OSEO (actual BPI) before moving to the front office in 2004. Bokar began his career in 1998 at SG Asset Management in Dublin as Mid-Office Operative. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the MBA Institute and a Master’s in Corporate Finance.

Thomas Heinig | Thomas is Senior Project Manager for Financial Sector Development/Global Funds at KfW, where he has been committed and active to support local banking and financial institutions since 2010. At KfW, he has been instrumental to the financial structuring of Frontclear, the African Guarantee Fund, Shorecap III and more. Thomas is also directly involved as KfW’s financial sector specialist to Mozambique and internal advisory for equity investments in SSA. From 1998 to 2010, he was a senior risk manager at private banks such as HSH Nordbank and Landeskreditbank in Germany. Thomas has a degree in business administration and is a Certified Credit Analyst (DFVA).

Joost van den Akker | Joost is Deputy Head for Financial Institutions in Emerging Markets for Rabobank International. Fresh from the university, he started his career at Rabobank processing corporate actions in wholesale portfolio. Joost quickly assumed senior positions as analyst specializing on Africa/Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and later on as head of Country Risk Research. During his stint at Rabobank’s Country Risk Department, he handled a team of eight (8) analysts and served as member of the Country Limit Committee and the management team of the Economic Research Department. Shortly after, Joost was tasked to head the International Economic Research team comprised of International Macro Research and Country Risk Research. He obtained his master’s degree in Social and Institutional Economics Universiteit Utrecht and attended a summer course on corporate finance at the London School of Economics.

Louis Sabatino | Louis is a former Director and Head of Africa Debt Capital Markets for WestLB in Johannesburg, where he spent 16 years involved in SSA Debt Capital Markets. He began his banking career with Standard Bank of South Africa, heading the bank’s International Trade Finance operations until 1983. In his latest position at WestLB Group, Louis was tasked with developing a non-South Africa trading and capital markets presence in Africa, wherein he created and managed active trading books in bonds, money market, derivatives and FX in 12 African currencies. Louis joined Exotix Partners LLP after WestLB’s closure, where he was responsible for the development and maintenance of the brokerage’s African client base. Louis currently assists GFI and Iroko Securities London in the origination and placement of debt capital market issuance for African borrowers and serves on the board of Africa GFI Fund Advisors in Mauritius. Louis is also a member of the Pricing Committee of The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX).

Ricardo Velazquez | Ricardo is Managing Director and Head of International Banking, Trade Finance and Financial Institutions Group for Grupo Financiero Banorte. He formerly worked for Ixe Grupo Financiero as Corporate Director of Treasury and ALCO and as CRO before the merger with Banorte. He served on the Board of Banorte-Ixe Fondos, Inter National Bank in Texas before its sale in 2017, Uniteller Transfer Services (Board Chair) and Banorte USA (Board Chair). He is also member of the Trade Finance Committee in Mexico and part of the Advisory Board for ICC Mexico Chapter. He actively participates in several Advisory Groups to top Financial Companies in the US and Latin America, supporting with expertise on Global Transaction Banking, Compliance and Money Transfers. Finally, Ricardo was a member of the Global Agenda Council on Financial Services to the WEF, has been a part-time professor at Universidad Iberoamericana and participated in several ALM and Risk Management seminars as guest speaker. He graduated with honors from both McCombs School of Business (MBA) at Texas University and Economics at Universidad Iberomericana (BSc).

Mark Napier (Chair) | Mark is the Director (CEO) of FSD Africa. His early career (1989-2003) was in investment banking in the City of London (Close Brothers), where he advised growth companies on M&A and capital-raising. However, he has now been involved in financial sector development in Africa for 15 years. From 2004 to 2009, he was CEO of FinMark Trust, based in Johannesburg. He then moved back to London where he became an independent consultant specialising in financial sector development in developing countries, mainly in Africa. He joined CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, as Director of Investment Innovation from 2011-2012 and moved to Nairobi to set FSD Africa up in December 2012. Mark has written papers and articles on financial sector development and was commissioning editor for a 2010 book of case studies on financial innovation in Africa – Real Money, New Frontiers. He has an MA in Modern Languages from Cambridge University.

Alice Chapple | Alice is an economist and a specialist in impact investment and international development. Her career has focused on identifying how companies and investors can have a meaningful positive impact on poverty and the environment, and how to drive more capital to the activities and places that support that agenda. Through her company, Impact Value, she currently works with several funds and companies to help them articulate, measure and maximise their impact. Current clients include the Private Infrastructure Development Group, CDC, FSDA, AgDevCo, Frontclear, Centrica’s Ignite Fund and Smart Pension. Alice’s other roles include Trustee of the Shell Foundation; member of the Advisory Board of Sainsbury’s Foundation; Chair of Investor Watch, a not-for-profit organisation established to drive more sustainable investment practices; and an advisor to the UK’s Department for International Development. Alice has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University and is a chartered accountant.

Thomas Heinig | Thomas is Senior Project Manager for Financial Sector Development/Global Funds at KfW, where he has been committed and active to support local banking and financial institutions since 2010. At KfW, he has been instrumental to the financial structuring of Frontclear, the African Guarantee Fund, Shorecap III and more. Thomas is also directly involved as KfW’s financial sector specialist to Mozambique and internal advisory for equity investments in SSA. From 1998 to 2010, he was a senior risk manager at private banks such as HSH Nordbank and Landeskreditbank in Germany. Thomas has a degree in business administration and is a Certified Credit Analyst (DFVA).