JICA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Head of Growth at Catalyst Fund
Aaron leads growth at emerging market inclusive tech-focused Catalyst Fund, is a general partner in Africa focused founder backed pre-seed fund Sherpa Ventures.
He also co-founded Venture for Africa, a fellowship for talent on the continent and beyond to gain experience and build careers with early-stage African startups. His energy comes from building, scaling and investing in technology products in corporate and startup environments.
He has co-founded both B2B & B2C businesses, in Africa - he has led seed-stage equity investments in 30+ startups, driven the exit of 3 startups in Africa, he also sits on the board of startups ranging from AgriTech to Transport and has worked with 100s more through partners like Visa, MTN, Airbus, Société Générale and the World Bank. Prior to the Catalyst Fund, he was the Managing Director of MEST, Africa's Largest Pre-Seed Incubator, and Managing Partner for Africa at Nest.VC, a Hong Kong-based venture fund, which he joined after a career in financial services.
Job Titles:
- Founder, CEO the Brandling
Anne Miltenburg has sixteen years of experience building brands, first as a designer, then as a strategist and finally as creative director at world-renown brand agency Interbrand.
In 2014 she founded The Brandling, an educational company operating out of Nairobi that trains change-making entrepreneurs to build stronger brands. Anne is the author of Brand The Change, a guidebook, and her writing on branding has appeared in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Skoll and Forbes.
Job Titles:
- Investment Manager, I & P
Asif joined I&P in July 2020. I &A is an Impact Fund investing in startups and young businesses in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Prior to Joining I&P, Asif spent 7 years at Fanisi Capital, an East Africa focused private equity fund, where he led the investment team as a principal. He is a CFA Charter holder and an ACCA member.
Job Titles:
- Partner, Head of Corporate & Commercial, TripleOKLaw
Bryan holds an LLM in International Corporate Finance & Financial Regulation from Warwick University and an LLB from the University of Leeds. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb.) United Kingdom and Kenya branches.
Bryan deals with the full spectrum of commercial transactions and is noted for his international expertise in corporate finance and corporate governance. He conducts regular fireside chats with entrepreneurs at various stages of their business development and provides training on regulatory and legal compliance.
He has a keen interest in impacting society and sits on multiple steering committees that target special interest groups primarily comprised of members who are aged 40 and below.
Chiaki is a manager of AAIC Kenya. Since joining AAIC in 2016, he has been leading projects including growth strategy planning for electrical manufacturers and marketing/distribution strategy implementation in Africa.
He has also led growth strategy execution projects such as M&A and investment projects in new business domains (home appliances, retail, raw materials, real estate etc.).
Chiaki holds a Bachelor of Science in Science and Engineering from Keio University. He specialises in manufacturing, distribution and trading.
Job Titles:
- Head of Partnerships and Innovation Lead at Aceli Africa
Christabell is a strategist and development professional with experience in designing and leading the implementation of sustainable business models and partnerships to drive solutions that reach underserved populations, including women, youth, and smallholder farmers.
She has a strong background in strategy development and program implementation given her previous roles as Managing Director, Partnerships at IDEO.org; Mercy Corps' AFA Director for Strategic Learning, Global Strategy Lead, and Zambia Country Director; Program Manager at Dalberg Advisors; and Consultant at Trinity Partners, LLC. She holds AB and BE degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Dartmouth College and a Masters' in Global Business Administration from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Her skills span from strategy, product & process innovations, market research & analytics, technical writing, and financial modelling.
Job Titles:
- Group Head of Operations at ROAM Africa
Diane is the Group Head of Operations of ROAM Africa. She brings diversified experience in digital from corporates, SMEs, and start-ups.
Bolstered with an MBA at the University of Cape Town in 2017 and specialisation courses at Kellogg Business School, she brings a distinctive skill set to the team. She leads ROAM Africa through data-driven customer-first operations. She is passionate about leveraging the power of technology to enable economic opportunity, boundless knowledge, distribution, and social connection on the world's fastest-growing continent.
She embarking on a career journey through strategic excellence, business development, marketing mastery, and digital innovation. She has experience ranging from start-ups, SMEs, to corporate companies that have shaped her understanding and application of business acumen. Faced with B2C and B2B, she has proven results across various industries including retail, technology, agency services, and financial services. She is adept at managing teams, project management, stakeholder management, and analysis. She has a passion for technology and innovative change, particularly within Africa.
Emboldened with an MBA from the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business in 2018, she is ambitious and foresees the potential she has to create value for shareholders, colleagues, and customers alike across any industry she may pursue.
Job Titles:
- Investor
- Managing Partner, Kingson
Gavin Reardon is an entrepreneur and investor. He is the Founder and
Hidekazu Ishida joined Eisai Co., Ltd. in 2020. Previously, he worked for an investment banking of SMBC Nikko securities and pursued deal originations in the Pharmaceutical/Healthcare sectors.
Furthermore, he was responsible for increasing the valuations of startups by supporting BD activities as IPO professional services, and achieved a lot, especially in the digital health field. He also took care of underwriting equity finance by venture companies as investment deals.
Before that, he engaged in planning and establishing new business with other sectors such as insurance companies in Otsuka pharmaceutical. His carrier started as a researcher to develop novel drugs for Tuberculosis and Malaria in the pharmaceutical in 2011. D.V.M, Ph.D (Immunology/Infectious Disease)
Job Titles:
- Chairman, White Rose Group
Irfan Keshavjee has over 25 years of commercial experience in East Africa as a Director of the White Rose Group of Companies.
He is a Director of Diamond Trust Bank and was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship and the Acumen Fund Fellowship for co-founding award-winning enterprises that impact the livelihoods of low-income Kenyans - Karibu Homes, that enables homeownership for low-income families, and Honey Care Africa, which enhances the incomes of smallholder farmers across East Africa through beekeeping. He has an MBA from the University of Oxford, UK and an Engineering degree from Queen's University, Canada.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Advisor
- Head of Africa & Middle East Business Development, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting Japan
James is an experienced business development advisor specializing in developing countries. Having graduated from a Japanese university, he began his career working as project manager for the supply chain operations of a global beverage manufacturer in Japan.
He also served as manager of household chemical business of a Japanese chemicals manufacturer, covering ASEAN countries and Africa, before assuming his current role as Head of M.E and Africa Business Development in Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC Japan.
His expertise is anchored on go to market strategy that involves strategic partnerships and joint ventures in developing countries. He has advised Japanese Multinational companies and Government agencies in Automotive sector, Food Value Chain sector, Financial and Insurance sector that includes financial inclusion in developing markets, Mining sector, Manufacturing, Healthcare and Life sciences.
He has also worked with the African Development Bank and the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) on Africa engagements. He has advised METI (Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, Japan) and MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan) on numerous projects and occasions.
He is also a frequent speaker on TV and at seminars on doing business in Africa for companies and local governments in Japan. Fluent in English, Japanese and Swahili. James is also the author of the Japanese book; Africa, The Last Frontier - Business Opportunities and Risks (Nippon Jitsugyo Publications, 2014).
Job Titles:
- New Business Development Manager at Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
From 2009, Kazumasa worked for seven months in Uganda as a member of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) and later became a non-profit organization.
He has been working with JICA, WHO, and the Ugandan Ministry of Health to promote the use of alcohol hand sanitizers in medical facilities to prevent nosocomial infections through hand hygiene. In 2016, he moved to the Nairobi Branch of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and has been engaged in investment projects and logistics business in Eastern Africa as a new business development officer. In the last couple of years, he has been focusing on start-ups, agriculture, manufacturing and healthcare investments in Ethiopia and Kenya, as well as developing internal business strategies for Africa.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate at Nishimura & Asahi
Kiminori Saito is a senior associate at Nishimura & Asahi, and was an international secondee at Bowmans Kenya (Coulson Harney LLP) one of the most prestigious law firms in Kenya.
Kiminori is admitted in December 2010 as a member of the Dai-ni Tokyo Bar Association, Tokyo, Japan. Kiminori graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree (straight As, valedictorian) from Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, and he has a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Duke University School of Law, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Kiminori has vast experience in the areas of litigation, cross-border dispute resolution, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate matters, pro bono activities in criminal cases and legal and business practice in the automotive industry.
Kiminori has advised several institutions in Kenya including domestic and international financial institutions and start-up companies, Japanese trading companies, Japanese automobile companies in terms of Olkaria PPP Geothermal Power Project (Kenya) matter and several joint venture matters etc.
Job Titles:
- Investment Director at Ascent Capital
Marieke is an investment director at Ascent Capital, based in Nairobi. She has 10 years of experience investing in and advising companies, mostly in emerging and frontier markets.
At Ascent, she is responsible for sourcing, analysing, and executing private equity transactions ($3-15m) as well as providing post-investment support to portfolio companies. She is also a non-executive director at Auto Springs. She has a background as strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company and experience in the entrepreneurial environment of Rocket Internet at Lazada Philippines. She holds a Masters in International Management (MiM) from CEMS and a MSc from Rotterdam School of Management.