Co-founder and Managing Partner of a $20M dual-purpose VC fund focused on bridging the investment gap by financing black-led technology startups

Jacobs Foundation / TRECC – Impact Finance Investment Manager/ Deputy Country Director, Abidjan

• TRECC is a CHF 60M evidenced-based program with a focus on quality of education.
• Main achievement: Led the successful turnaround strategy of the distressed companies on our portfolio, from restructuring boards and management teams to securing follow-on funding.  

Designed and tested a diaspora investment assessment tool for African governments.
This work was developed for the African Development Bank and was positively received by key stakeholders from both the private and public sectors (central banks, stock exchanges, etc.).

Various consultancy roles, but most relevant: tinyDAVID Ltd – Transition CEO, Accra

• Strategy: Formalization of strategy and vision of the company;
• Marketing: New approach that generated a 4-fold increase in social media followership and engagement and partnership with Ghana’s largest street festival (est. 60K attendees).

EWB Ventures is an impact fund managed by Engineers Without Borders Canada and providing seed capital (USD 10K to USD 100K) to innovative early stage initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Established the fund’s operations in West Africa: in charge of building relationships with key stakeholders, understanding the regulatory environment, sourcing investment opportunities and performing due diligence;
• Strengthened the portfolio monitoring process and supported investee companies with financial modelling, HR strategy and fundraising support –as a result one of the companies I oversaw successfully leveraged our investment by 5x.

M2S Capital is a private equity fund investing in financial technologies with a target AUM of CAD 150M. The fund started its operations in April 2015.

• In charge of setting up the fund structure;
• Responsible for sourcing and analyzing investment opportunities.

Sarona is a fund of funds investing in private equity firms located in emerging and frontier markets.

• Responsible for sourcing and screening investment opportunities, performing desk due diligence and writing investment memos;
• Conducted monitoring visits to companies and funds located in Lima and Kigali.

Performed in-depth market analysis and review of country-specific strategy.

• In charge of the rebalancing and FX hedging process for all funds of funds on the platform;
• Managed the index replication fund (CAD 30M), which involved weekly rebalancing of our positions based on volatility spreads and MATLAB code maintenance;
• Performed compliance functions to ensure the funds were respecting the investment guidelines;
• Monitored the liquidity and counterparty risks of a CAD 2.5BN portfolio.