2009 Conference Speakers
Oby Ezekwesili
Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili, a Nigerian national, joined the World Bank, as Vice President of the Africa Region on May 1, 2007. Oby’s unique blend of first-hand experiences, especially in the more challenging and complex areas of energy sector reform and education, position her well to deal with the many challenges in Africa. A critical factor in Oby’s leadership style is her ability to achieve client “buy-in” no matter how extensive the reform strategy presented. Oby’s life is a testament to her dedication to Africa as is the high degree of respect in which she is held by the international community.
Oby began her career as an auditor and management consultant, where she focused on financial planning, SME financing, audit and regulatory compliance. From 1994 to 1999, she served as one of the founding members of Transparency International where she held the position Director, Africa. In 2000, Oby went on to serve as Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on Budget Monitoring, and the Price Intelligence Unit, where she spear-headed institutional reforms through the establishment of due process mechanisms and strategies.
Oby subsequently served as Minister of Solid Minerals Development, and later in 2006 as the Minister of Education in Nigeria. She holds a Masters in International Law & Diplomacy from University of Lagos, along with a Masters of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard.
Kola Karim
Mr. Kola Karim is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Shoreline Power Company Limited (formerly ABB Electrical Systems Limited). Mr. Karim’s first job was at the Guardian Royal Exchange, U.K, which he joined in 1988 as a trainee manager shortly after graduating from City University London. The experience he gained at the Guardian Royal Exchange lead to a senior management role at the prestigious H.K Beaumont & Associates. Shortly after, Mr Karim left the company to start Koda Trading Limited, a heavy machinery import and export company.
Currently, Mr Karim serves as a director of Industrial & Mechanical Services Limited, Davof Technical Services, Fortis Construction Limited and Shoreline Energy International Limited.His constant thirst for knowledge has lead him to attend many courses both locally and internationally including management courses at the prestigious Harvard Business School to satisfy his constant quest for knowledge.
Kola Karim is married to Olufunke Karim and they are blessed with three children. His interests include playing polo and football. He is an Associate of the Institute of Directors in Nigeria and also an executive member of the Lagos Polo Club and Lagos Motor Boat Club.
Hurley Doddy
Hurley Doddy has served as Chief Operating Officer of Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) and was a founding member of the investment team formed in 2000. With five funds and over $1.1 billion under management, ECP is one of the leading private equity managers focused on Africa. As COO, Mr. Doddy oversees the operations of Africa Fund I and Africa Fund II and is actively involved in the investment committees of the Central Africa Growth Fund, the West Africa Growth Fund, and the Moroccan Infrastructure Fund.
Prior to joining ECP, Mr. Doddy was an Executive Director at Sumitomo Finance International in London, where he managed the operations of a $200mm equity risk arbitrage book, creating arbitrage and convergence strategies. Mr. Doddy’s career in trading began at Salomon Brothers in 1984, lasting over 14 years with assignments in New York, Tokyo and Sao Paulo. While at Salomon, Mr. Doddy gained a wealth of experience in government bond trading, hedge management, fixed income derivatives, equity derivatives, and emerging markets trading. Mr. Doddy was appointed Managing Director, responsible for managing all fixed income and equity risk positions for Solomon’s joint venture with Banco Patrimônio in Brazil. In this position, he also oversaw the asset management, equity underwriting and customer fixed income businesses. During Mr. Doddy’s tenure, the bank produced an annualized return of over 50 percent, growing from 15 to 160 employees, and increasing assets from $4mm to $250mm.
Mr. Doddy received a bachelor’s degree in economics with honors from Princeton University and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute. He has served on the boards of Celtel International (Pan-African), Charaf Corporation (Morocco), Agromed S.A. (Tunisia), Continental Re (Nigeria), All Africa Airways (Mauritius), Air Ivoire (Cote d’Ivoire), Société Internationale de Plantations d’Hévéas (SIPH) (West Africa), and Horizon Portfolio Limited (Cayman Islands).
Jacqueline Musiitwa
Jacqueline Musiitwa, Esq, who is Zambian and Ugandan, started and runs, Hoja Law Group, a New York based boutique law firm which represents start ups, non-profits and small businesses in corporate and intellectual property transactions. Jacqueline began her career at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where she practiced in the area of corporate and outsourcing matters. Additionally, she is the founder and executive director of Transitional Trade, a non-profit whose mission it is to promote social trade, investment and entrepreneurship in post-conflict countries and transitional communities.
Jacqueline is an Adjunct Professor of International Law at Central Michigan University, Sociopolitics and Economics of Africa at Drexel University and Business Law at Briarcliffe College.
Jacqueline attended Davidson College where she received a BA in Political Science and International Studies in 2003. In 2005 she earned a JD from the University of Melbourne where she was a member of the Melbourne Journal of International Law. She is licensed to practice law in New York and Australia.
Abimbola Olashore
Mr Olashore is an Engineering Graduate of the University of Hull, U.K and a fellow of the institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. A seasoned investment banker, he has over the years acquired in-depth knowledge and vast experience in the capital markets as well as financial advisory services in the public and private sector.
Mr Olashore joined the LeadBank Group in 1991 and became the Managing Director in 1997. As Managing Director of Lead Bank, he established the bank as one of Nigeria’s top investment banks. The bank has repeatedly won the Reuters/SBA award as the leasing Nigerian Issuing House for three consecutive years. After the end of banking consolidation exercise in December 2005, he went on to join the Board of Ecobank Nigeria Plc as Executive Director. In this role, he helped set up their Investment banking arm before returning to LeadCapital (A member of Leadbank Group) in July 2007 as he Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Philip Wharton
Philip Wharton is the Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Costain (West Africa) Plc. Philip received a Construction Degree from the Huddersfield University in 1971 and has successfully completed various in‐house and external training programmes which include presentation skills, team leadership techniques, team management techniques, financial analysis, budgetary control skills and operational management techniques.
Philip started his career as a Quantity Surveyor with Kier Limited and Henry Boot Civil Engineering. He has since held many positions as Managing Director of Miller Patterson (subsidiary) SIG Plc, CDL Limited (subsidiary) SIG Plc. He was President/Chief Executive Officer of SIG Southwest / SIG Plc and Aggreko International Power Projects prior to joining Costain.
Mr. Foluso Phillips
The Managing Director of Phillips Consulting Limited (PCL), graduated as an Industrial Economist from the University of Wales, Cardiff in 1974. He joined the British Gas Corporation as a graduate Trainee Accountant where he qualified as a Cost and Management Accountant in 1976.
In 1977, he joined the Lucas Electrical Company before leaving the UK for Nigeria in 1979 to work with the Pfizer Group. Mr Phillips later took on a role as Management Consultant at Coopers & Lybrand International, a UK based company in 1985. During his tenure, he undertook and managed, financial management, costing, computer systems and organization development assignments in the UK, Northern Ireland, parts of Europe and West African countries. In 1990, he returned to Nigeria after being appointed the General Manager, Finance for the SCOA Group in Nigeria. He held the position for two years before setting up Phillips Consulting Limited. He is a certified Management and Chartered Accountant.
Eric Smucker
Eric Smucker joined Pan African Capital Group, LLC (PACG) in August of 2007. Eric works at identifying and evaluating investment opportunities in West Africa and beyond. He also actively helps to improve the portfolio companies’ market share, profitability, and overall performance, while determining future exit strategies. His areas include financial modeling, leveraged buy-outs, mergers-and-acquisitions, and private-equity investments. Eric has spent one year living and working in Chad with Mennonite Central Committee as an English teacher and health-services volunteer. He also has worked for the United States Institute of Peace as a graduate research assistant in the Jennings Bryan Randolph Fellows Program. Eric received his B.A in Political Economy from Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences, and received his M.A. in Conflict Resolution from the Government Department at Georgetown University. Eric is an American citizen and has traveled extensively in Africa, Europe, and South America.
Farooq Oreagba
Mr. Farooq Oreagba is currently the Head of Strategy and New products at the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Managing Director of NSE Consult (the financial advisory arm of the Nigerian Stock Exchange). He is a member of the Nigerian Bond Market Steering Committee which has been key to the development of the Nigerian Bond Market over the last couple of years as well as the Presidential Commission on Affordable Housing which is looking to address the problem of affordable housing in Nigeria. In 2004, Mr. Oreagba joined AFS, a Dutch Institutional trading group as the head of the Eurostoxx 50 derivatives desk, catering for a strictly institutional client base. Before then, he served as Head of Equity Products at Cube Financial. Mr. Oreagba received his B.Eng in Civil Engineering and BTEC HND in Business and Finance. He is an SFA Futures and Options Representative.
Jide Iwarere
Dr. Jide Iwarere joined the Department of Finance, International Business, and Insurance in 1986, after serving as Marketing Officer, Construction Financing, Citibank Lecturer, Applied and Managerial Economics at Kwara State College of Technology, Ilorin, Nigeria. His primary research areas of interest include: Race and Residential Mortgage Financing Decisions, Market Behavior in Emergent Land Markets, Site Selection and Location Analysis, Valuation of Power Plants in the Context of Privatization, and Contingency Evaluation and Social Impact Analysis of Electric Power System. He has taught Real Estate Finance and Investments, Real Estate Principles, and Finance Principles. Iwarere holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration (Real Estate and Finance) from the University of Georgia, an M.S. in Business (Real Estate and Investment Analysis) from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and a B.Sc in Economics from the University of Ibadan.
Brian Frimpong
Brian Frimpong is an Associate at Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) based in Washington D.C. Prior to joining ECP in 2008, Brian started his professional career as an investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) where he was involved in capital raising, mergers & acquisitions and strategic advisory for global Fortune 500 companies in the Global Industrials Group. He then joined Freddie Mac as a senior financial analyst, where he was directly involved in the restatement and remediation process that resulted in reversing the company’s $5 billion understatement in income for the 2000-2002 fiscal periods, and restructured the organization. Brian also focused on disclosures to investors related to complex new financial products to keep the company’s competitiveness in the secondary mortgage markets.
Brian attended Howard University for his undergraduate studies, graduated summa cum laude Accounting and obtained a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) designation shortly afterwards. Brian also has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a citizen of Ghana.
Abraham Tiamiyu
Abraham is a final year student at Georgetown University majoring in Political Economy. Currently, he works at Pan African Capital Group LLC, a firm that provides investment banking services to the African markets. At Pan African Capital, Abraham advises African companies on ways to raise capital and improve their operations so as to enable them compete on the global market.
Last summer, Abraham interned with the Investment Banking Group at JP Morgan in New York City. He has also interned at the United States Congress as well as with the energy trading arm of BP Oil Americas, the world’s third largest global energy company. Abraham is a Nigerian citizen and has lived in West Africa for more than 15 years.
