EVC AFRICA - Key Persons
Mr. O'Mara's career spans the natural resources industry across Africa and private equity industry on Wall Street, where he focused on the media and education sectors, portfolio management, capital raising and identifying investment opportunities. Prior to joining EVC Africa, Mr. O'Mara was co-founding partner of EarthWater Global.
Mr. O'Mara holds a B.A in Business Psychology from Harvard University.
Mr. LeConey has 15 years of professional experience in a range of areas including corporate contract law, capital raising, investment management, business strategy and operations. His career spans the hedge-fund industry on Wall Street, business intelligence & consulting within the ICT & financial services industry, project management in the consumer products sector, and market research within the asset management space.
Mr. LeConey holds a B.A. in International Relations from Georgetown University, and a J.D. in Corporate Finance Law from Fordham University School of Law.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Board ( Executive )
Mr. Villars is Founder of EVC Africa with close to 20 years of working experience in Advisory, Banking, Financial Services and Tech industries across the U.S., Middle East and Africa. His profound multidisciplinary knowledge across various sectors underpins his Advisory leadership in both commercial and developmental contexts. With EVC, Ed has championed several programs into and across Africa with various Think-tanks, multinational and local clients within the Banking/Financial Services Industry, Extractives and Natural Resources Industry and the Energy and Utilities Space.
Mr. Villars holds a B.S. in Finance from Anna Maria College and an advanced education in Encryption and Data Security.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Africa Group CFO at VODACOM
Kenneth is presently Africa group CFO at VODACOM providing strategic leadership to all subsidiaries outside of South Africa [Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, Ghana and Lesotho], to drive growth and deliver value to Shareholders. His Portfolio generates $1.5bn in revenue. He also sits on the board of all his subsidiary countries and Chair of Audit, Risk, and Compliance Committee (ARCC) in two. Kenneth is a business leader with 18+ years working experience in Audit/Advisory, FMCG and Telecommunications industries with multi-cultural experience across the African continent.
John is presently the Group Managing Director/CEO of CAMELOT and presently works from Accra, managing the entire Group's business across twelve (12) African countries. He sits on a few boards in Ghana and Nigeria, and enjoys corporate governance and business advisory.
He graduated from Richmond, The American University in London with a BA, Business Admin (Finance & Accounting), and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Industrial Financial Management from the Bergische Universitat Gesamhochschule (BUGH) in Germany. John also holds a Bachelor of Law degree (LLB) from the University of London.
Mrs. Villars is the Founder and Board Chairman of Camelot Ghana Limited. She has worked as a Systems Consultant with West African Data Services Bureau (WADSB). She is the past president of the AGI (Association of Ghana Industries) as well as a past president of the Governing Council of the PEF (Private Enterprise Foundation).
She is the recent past Chairman of the Steering Committee of the BUSAC Fund sponsored by USAID, DANIDA & EU.
Mrs. Villars has a long-standing track-record and several achievements within Ghana's Private Sector.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Partner
Mr. Gebara brings to EVC over 25 years of experience in Impact investing, Development consulting, and fund management' Nicolas contributes a wealth of knowledge from his tenure as Director and Fund manager for the BUSAC Phase I -III funds (over 100M USD) for clients such as Danida, EU, USAID across Africa and the EU. In these roles he managed all aspects of the grant cycle, liased with all stakeholders (Ministeries & Government, Private sector, etc) to deploy, evaluate, and successfully achieve the mandates.
Mr. Gebara holds a B.A. in Business Administration from American University of Beirut, Lebanon and a Master's Degree in Economics from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Paa-Ekow Brown is a seasoned financial services professional with over 15 years of experience in international investing and market analysis, specifically relating to the valuation, risk management and modeling of complex structured products. His extensive career in the financial sector has included executive positions at Citigroup, Blackrock, BNY Melon and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
Mr. Brown holds a B.A. in International Finance from Bishop's University, a Master's Degree in International Business from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, and a Master's Degree in Financial Engineering and Quantitative Analysis from Henley Business School.
Mr. Corbett brings to EVC Africa a wealth of experience as Co-Head of Aldwych Real Estate & Family Office. He has worked with Aldwych since 2009 focusing on family office, private equity and corporate relationship management as well as business development in domestic and emerging markets.
Mr. Corbett has extensive experience in the development and financing of projects in Sub Saharan Africa. Relevant sector experience includes power, water, financial services, minerals & mining, oil & gas across several countries, including, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Zambia and South Africa. Mr. Corbett has worked with Fortune 500 technical partners and EPC contractors along with regional governments, export credit agencies, development banks, commercial banks and private capital.
Mr. Corbett has also served as a policy analyst for the White House Economic Council.
Mr. Corbett holds an MBA from Columbia University with a concentration in finance, and a BA in psychology from Georgetown University.