AFRICAGLOBAL - Key Persons
Widely recognized as a thought leader and expert in the areas of project development and foreign direct investment on the African continent, Mr. Cortese provides strategic direction, executive leadership, and oversight of AfricaGlobal Schaffer's operations. As a senior executive with broad experience in finance and strategic investment in emerging and frontier markets, over the course of his career, he has successfully developed and led large multidisciplined and multicultural teams to create growth opportunities in uncertain and volatile environments.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Guinea Gas International
Following a highly-awarded 25-year diplomatic career, Ambassador Patricia N. Moller left active service with the U.S. Department of Sate to return to the private sector. Under the umbrella of her Moller Global Advisory LLC consultancy, she has counseled a number of corporations, including Fortune 500 companies, seeking guidance on doing business in developing countries, many of them in Africa.
Ambassador Moller serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Guinea Gas International. She sits on the Board of Directors of Hyperdynamics, chairing its Foreign Affairs Committee, on the Board of Directors of Orbis International and on the Board of Directors of Orbis UK. She is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Initiative for Global Development, and for the Global Situation Room. She acts as senior advisor to the Business Council for International Understanding. She is a judge for the Young Africa Leadership Initiative - YALI - grants awarded to entrepreneurs through the U.S. Africa Development Foundation and for the Lexlead Group annual scholarship competition.
Aubrey Hruby is a Co-Founder of Insider and an investor in African start-ups. As a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and advisor to Fortune 500 companies doing business in Africa, she speaks and writes regularly on African business issues for the Financial Times and Axios. She has interviewed with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, CCTV, and Africa24. Aubrey sits on the board of Invest Africa USA, the private sector advisory board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and two dynamic Nigerian companies. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Young Leader at the Milken Institute. Aubrey teaches at Georgetown University and the co-author of award-winning The Next Africa (Macmillan, 2015). She earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a MA from Georgetown University.
Mr. Ouedraogo leads all logistical operations for AfGS across the African continent. A known collaborator and leader in frontier environments, he is also the founder of International Business Center and Services (IBCS), a logistics provider headquartered in Ouagadougou and operating across East, West, and Central Africa. At IBCS, Mr. Ouedraogo serviced clients from across the world, including high profile engagements in support of US military operations across the Sahel region.
A Knight of the Burkinabe Order of Merit, Mr. Ouedraogo is also known for his philanthropic endeavors, having founded the BO Foundation, a non-profit entity supporting the empowerment of women and youth in Burkina Faso and the greater Sahel region.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Advisory Committee
- Founder of DFR Global
Daniel F. Runde is the founder of DFR Global, an advisory firm. A global thought leader and change agent, his work centers on leveraging U.S. soft power and the central roles of the private sector and good governance in creating a more free and prosperous world. Mr. Runde has been recognized for influencing the debate on USAID-State Department relations, as an architect of the BUILD Act, and led the debate surrounding the role and future of the World Bank Group. Mr. Runde has also influenced thinking about U.S. economic engagement with Africa (of which he is in favor of much more) and domestic resource mobilization. Mr. Runde holds the Officer's Cross in the Order of Isabel la Católica, a Spanish Civil Order.
Mr. Runde is the chairman of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA), and he also serves as the chair of the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM). He also serves on the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Advisory Council, the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), and the Ashesi University Foundation (a private university located in Accra, Ghana). Mr. Runde is also a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as well as a member of Bretton Woods. Mr. Runde is a regular contributor to The Hill and hosts a podcast series, Building the Future with Dan Runde: Freedom, Prosperity, & Foreign Policy.
Dr. Velupillai has over twenty-five years' experience in the field of international agricultural project design, development, and direction, including programs in Jamaica, Senegal, Mali, Liberia, Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, China, Vietnam, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Armenia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, and Zambia. He retired from academia in 2012 as the Associate Vice Chancellor, International Programs, and Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the Louisiana State University.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Executive Chairman
- Founder
Dr. Nedelcovych is the Founder and Chairman of AfricaGlobal Schaffer. Throughout his career, Dr. Nedelcovych has provided strategic consulting in project development, project finance, trade facilitation, and public-private partnerships in developing countries, with a particular focus on Africa. He has provided advisory services to a number of corporations with interests in agro-industry, renewable power, oil and gas, and major infrastructure investments, as well as to a number of African governments, US government agencies, and international financial institutions.
Dr. Nedelcovych is past President & CEO of the Initiative for Global Development (IGD), a nonprofit organization that engages corporate leaders to reduce poverty through business growth and investment in Africa. During the four years of his tenure he had markedly grown the African SME participation in the Frontier 100 Leaders Program, and expanded IGD's Advisory capacity and strengthened the voice of private sector leaders on development issues.
Job Titles:
- Director, Consumer Foods
- Founder and Managing Director of Shine Bridge Global Incorporated
As subject matter expert working with the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria and Fortune 500 food companies in the US, Dr. Bello has over 28 years of experience in making public-private agribusiness partnerships work through the design, formulation, and commercialization of new food products. Prior to these experiences, Dr. Bello was a Senior Technical Adviser on Agribusiness to Dr. Akinwumi Adesina where he played key roles in attracting over $5 billion private sector investment commitments into Nigeria's agribusiness sector. He led the creation of Nigeria Agribusiness Group, the top agribusiness private sector platform in Nigeria.
In addition to his role wiht AfGS, Dr. Bello is the Founder and Managing Director of Shine Bridge Global Incorporated, a Virginia SPV focused on attracting public-private equity and debt financing to transform the food and beverage industry in Nigeria and other African countries, and H2A Foods, a food science and technology transfer company, bringing consumer food insights and value-added processing of locally grown staple foods in Africa, Caribbean and United States. Dr. Bello works extensively with farming cooperatives and private sector agribusiness investors in Nigeria to transform fresh produce and root vegetables into higher value packaged consumer food products through strategic partnerships with two agriculturally-savvy state governments in the Northern and Southern parts of the country.
Job Titles:
- President and Managing Partner at Equator Capital Partners LLC
Franklin Kennedy is the President and Managing Partner at Equator Capital Partners LLC, a fund management company that currently manages ShoreCap family of funds and invests in regulated microfinance small business backs throughout Africa and Asia. Before that, Franklin was the President and CEO of HSBC Equator Holdings plc. and major subsidiaries from 1988 to 2002. This was a UK-registered and regulated merchant and investment bank that focused on trade, project, investment, advisory, and correspondent banking services exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa. Equator was also Fund Manager for the Africa Growth Fund and the Kenya Equity Fund. From 1968 to 1976, Franklin was the Vice President of the Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal, Quebec.
Ms. Contini has 35 years of international agribusiness, management, and commercial experience in various capacities within the Schaffer Global Group, the original entity from which AfricaGlobal Schaffer was born. Geralyn currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer at AfGS and is responsible for controlling resources to ensure the sustainable and managed growth of the company.
Mr. Gaspar Martins has a longstanding carreer in public service. Presently he serves as a Non-Executive Director of the Angolan Sovereign Fund. He was appointed by President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço on the 12 th of February 2018.
Mr. Gaspar Martins was a founding member and Co-President of the Angola-South Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1996 to 2000. He held concurrently the position of Managing Director of Gaspar Martins and Associates International Business Consultants. From 1996 to 2000, he also served on the Southern African Development Community Task Force at the World Economic Forum Summit.
Among other positions, from 1989 to 1995, Mr. Gaspar Martins was the Executive Director of the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. From 1982 to 1987 he served as Angola's Minister of External Trade, and from 1977 to 1982 he served as Minister of Finance. From 1976 to 1977, Mr. Gaspar Martins was Governor of the Central Bank of Angola. In 1975, he was external and economic affairs adviser to the President of Angola.
From 1972 to 1975, Mr. Gaspar Martins served with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), working as an economic affairs officer overseeing studies and policies on the issue of economic integration in Africa and on trade negotiations between the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the European Union. From 1971 to 1972, Mr. Gaspar Martins held the position of research officer on agricultural development policies in Africa for the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva.
Mr. Gaspar Martins holds a Bachelor's degree in economics from Lycoming College in Pennsylvania, United States. In 1969, he completed post-graduate studies in economics at the University of Mannheim, Germany. From 1969 to 1971, Mr. Gaspar Martins attended Oxford University, receiving a diploma in economic development.
Born on 12 January 1940 in Luanda, Mr. Gaspar Martins is married with four children.
With over 30 years of experience in trade matters and conditions, economic policy formulation, and corporate management, Harouna Niang has a storied history as a leader, worker, team member, and person. Each brings additional tenants to his current role and has allowed him to successfully engage with government, enterprises, associations, and other stakeholders.
Outside of his day-to-day work, Harouna is a board member of several banks and companies in Mali and he continues to be an independent consultant.
A former Senior Vice President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) and Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East at USTDA, Mr. Richter is a well-respected member of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) community. He was instrumental in helping to create legislation designed to lift the economic growth of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. His efforts to support the development of infrastructure projects in SSA, together with his work to finance the export of U.S. equipment, technology, and services, have generated more than $3 Billion in U.S. exports to Africa. He has done this by advising hundreds of U.S. exporters on all aspects of international trade, including market identification, sales, marketing, and financing.
Julie Howard is an independent consultant on international agricultural development. She is Senior Adviser (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member of the World Vegetable Center Board of Directors. From 2011-2014, Dr. Howard served as the first chief scientist in the Bureau for Food Security and senior adviser to the USAID administrator on agricultural research, extension, and education. Previously, Dr. Howard served as CEO, Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, and as a faculty member and Senior Adviser at Michigan State University. She holds a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from MSU and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.
Justin Chinyanta, a former Vice President at Citibank and HSBC Bank's Africa offices cofounded the Loita Group in 1994, a pioneering pan-African investment banking and financial ICT group (headquartered in Mauritius), which inter alia through wholly-owned subsidiary Loita Capital Partners International has advised on, structured and arranged in excess of USD 6 billion in various funding transactions, in addition to its activities in financial technology (through another wholly-owned subsidiary Fintech International) as well as the digital payments and switching space (Loita Transaction Services).
Marian has over 25 years' experience in the international agribusiness industry with the Schaffer Global Group of Companies, from which Africa Global emerged. Currently, Marian is Chief Operating Officer at AfGS directing the operational management of the organization and coordinating major project activities. She is responsible for coordination of personnel on sales efforts, project scheduling, project execution, and personnel administration. She also assists with the production and quality control of client reports, operational studies, feasibility studies, evaluations and appraisals.
Marian previously served as a Project Manager on the Finchaa Sugar Project located in Ethiopia assisting the Project Manager in various administrative and commercial aspects of the project, including contract negotiations, project execution, and government/client relations.
Job Titles:
- Director, International Projects
A Mozambican raised Portuguese, Engº. Mario de Matos possesses over 40 years' experience in the Agriculture and Agro-industrial sectors, devoting most of his professional career to Africa. Mario possesses vast proven experience in the development of agriculture projects in Angola, Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo Kinshasa, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
Mr. de Matos' expertise extends to green and brownfield project appraisals and evaluations, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, and the management of large commercial agriculture and agro-industrial projects in a multitude of social, technical, and cultural environments. He is experienced in the design and development of capacity building activities, as well as organizing and managing workshops and conducting "on the job" training programs for senior staff professionals.
Tom Sheehy has decades of public policy and communications success, particularly in the foreign policy, national security, and international economics fields. Before founding Quinella Global, he served as Staff Director of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives for six years. Chaired by Representative Ed Royce, the committee has jurisdiction over all elements of U.S. foreign policy, including operations of the State Department, Agency for International Development, and Development Finance Corporation. Tom was responsible for all committee functions, including goal-setting, its $7.5 million annual budget, oversight hearings, communications, working with congressional leadership offices and other national security committees, and managing legislation.
Tom speaks often to outside organizations on policy and politics, most recently to a congressional national security forum, the HACC/NACC Joint Shipping Conference, the American Society of International Law, Trinity College alumni of New York City, the Union League Club of Philadelphia, Bucknell University, and JP Morgan Chase. He earned a B.A. from Trinity College (Hartford) and an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Virginia. Tom and his wife Elizabeth live in Arlington, Virginia.