Pan-African Governing Board

Patrick Parring

CEO of Par Equity Group. He was the founder Chairperson of WECBOF, an organisation who represented small and medium size businesses in The Western Cape Province. He is concurrently Chairman of Synergos Southern Africa, a poverty alleviation think tank. Raised with his ten siblings by his grandparents in a poor environment in the midst of Apartheid. He founded his first company in 1989. Since then, he has sat on more than twenty (for profit and non-profit) boards. He of late has established a thinktank to explore «social impact» investment opportunities in the sectors of technology, food security and property.

Joseph Ogutu

Mr. Joseph Ogutu is Chief Special Projects at Safaricom PLC, including Safaricom Foundation. He joined Safaricom as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer in May 2005 from Telkom Kenya. He has worked closely with the CEO in formulating strategic direction for the business and focusing on developing Safaricom’ s position as an industry leader in driving innovation in products and services. He currently also serves as the Chairman of Safaricom Foundation and sits in the board of TEAMS Limited.

Mr. Ogutu has had a dynamic career in the telecommunications industry spanning more than 25 years of which the last 12 have been at Executive Committee level. During this period, he was actively involved in the reform of the sector including the drafting of the Postal and Telecommunication Policy Paper that led to the restructuring of the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation and subsequent establishment of CCK, Telkom Kenya and Postal Corporation of Kenya. He has also been involved in the establishment of the institutional framework for the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy).

Laureen Kouassi-Olsson

Laureen Kouassi-Olsson is the Founder and CEO of Birimian Ventures, an investment company dedicated to luxury and premium African heritage Brands. She is a seasoned executive in the African financial services and private equity industries. She has over a decade of experience in investing in private companies and financial institutions on the African Continent. Her professional achievements and commitments have gained significant recognition within the African financial services and private equity industries. Mrs Kouassi-Olsson was identified as one of the 100 most influential African Women by Avance Media and was nominated twice on the Choiseul Institute list of Emerging Economic Leaders. Leveraging on her track record and expertise, she serves as a Non-Executive Director to the board of financial institutions such as Fidelity Bank, Ghana 4th largest Bank and most recently, Orange Abidjan Participations, Holding in charge of the commercial Banking activities of the Orange Group in West Africa, She is also a Member of the Advisory Board of ARISE IIP, a leading institutional investor developing integrated industrial platforms across Africa. Until September July 2020, Mrs Kouassi-Olsson was Investment Director at Amethis. She headed Amethis’ practice in the Financial services industry in Sub-Saharan-Africa as well as Amethis regional office based in Abidjan. Ms. Kouassi-Olsson was responsible for Amethis’ investment strategy in the financial sector, including the sourcing, structuring and supervision of deals execution as well as the management of the Financial Institutions investment portfolio. As part of her duties, she served as board member for different blue-chip financial institutions on the continent: the NSIA Group, regional Banking insurance Group in Western & Central Africa; Fidelity Bank, 4th largest bank in Ghana; Ciel Finance Limited, diversified financial platform based in Mauritius. She was deeply involved in the governance of these institutions, sitting at their respective Strategic and Risk Committees. She indeed for instance chaired the Risk Committee of Fidelity Bank, Ghana’s largest indigenous independent bank. Ms Kouassi-Olsson also oversaw Amethis West Africa, Amethis’ investment vehicle dedicated to Francophone Western and Central Africa, for which she led the structuring and fund raising. She was thus responsible for the monitoring of Amethis’ major investments in the region, and essentially Côte d’Ivoire. Ms Kouassi-Olsson is founding member and General Secretary of the Ivorian Venture Capital Association created in 2017 and gathering the main actors of the Private Equity in Côte d’Ivoire. She is personally involved in various initiatives promoting women Empowerment, fostering entrepreneurship and philanthropy on the continent. Prior to joining Amethis in 2013, Ms. Kouassi-Olsson was Investment Officer in the Financial Institutions Group of Proparco, based in Paris, where she was responsible for the appraisal and structuring of investment opportunities in the Sub-Saharan Africa financial services industry. Previously, she worked in Mergers and Acquisitions for Lehman Brother’s Investment Banking Department in London. Mrs Kouassi-Olsson holds a dual French and Ivorian Citizenship.

Adedotun Sulaiman

Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) of Nigeria, and Executive Chairman of Arian Capital Limited, of Barclays Nigeria, and of SecureID Limited. Non-Executive Director of Cadbury Nigeria Plc. He has been Chairman of Helios Towers Nigeria, InterSwitch Limited, Mouka Limited, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, among others. He is Chairman of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, the Lagos Angel Network (LAN) and Trustee and Chairman of the Governing Board of the Corona School’s Trust. He is the private sector representative on the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC). He served as Managing Partner of Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting from 1993 to 1999 and as Country MD and Chairman of Accenture in Nigeria till 2006.

Julio Garrido-Mirapeix

Julio has spent thirty years overseas working in emerging markets, the last twenty-three years based in Africa. Until fall 2019 he was a Partner in KPMG for fourteen years - in 2006 he founded and led IDAS for ten years www.kpmg.com/das. Prior to this he has been in Executive positions with international agencies working across Latin America and Africa. His portfolio has encompassed impact investments in three hundred and sixty companies in thirty-two African countries. Julio is currently involved in several social and impact investment ventures. He is a Board Member of https://www.bomuhospital.org/, a Senior Executive Advisor with a Family Office, a private Foundation https://www.socialcapitalfoundation.org/ and an Impact Fund https://www.oryximpact.com/.

Florença Antonio Dengo

Florença is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of working experience including interlia Development Finance, Private Equity, Banking (Corporate and Institutional Banking), Non-Profit Organization, and Chemical Engineering. She spent the last 13 years of her professional career at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), where she built a solid track record in developing, negotiating, and closing transactions in the Financial Markets sectors across several countries in Sub Saharan Africa and in Brazil (Latin America). Prior to IFC, Florenca held several senior positions including Assistant Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager at HSBC Bank; Administrative and Financial Manager at World Vision International,  and an Industrial and Production Engineer in the largest edible oil and soap production plant in Mozambique. She is an excellent Relationship Manager and a change agent with a track record of entering new financing sectors and transforming business presence in competitive geographic markets. Florença holds an MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management, USA Arizona, and an Honors Degree ("Licenciatura") in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique. She is fluent in Portuguese and English and has knowledge of French.

Gunilla Carlsson

Mrs. Gunilla Carlsson has had a distinguished career, holding senior management positions as well as positions of trust with highly reputed institutions. With extensive experience at the highest level in politics and complex multi-and bilateral negotiations –Mrs Carlsson has dedicated her life to sustainability and global health, human rights and sustainable development. She has a broad background in development and foreign policies, social issues, research, innovations and governance. Mrs Carlsson served as Member of the Swedish Parliament from 2002 to 2013 and as the Minister for International Development Cooperation from 2006 to 2013. She also served as Member of the European Parliament from 1995 to 2002. Mrs Carlsson was the Chair of the Swedish-initiated Commission on Climate Change and Development in 2007 and served on the United Nations High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.2018 –2020, Mrs Carlsson worked as the UN Assistant Secretary-General, serving as Deputy Executive Director of the Joint United Nations programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS). For six months Mrs Carlsson served as UNAIDS Executive Director ad interim. Mrs Carlsson has a background as a financial manager in the private sector and has lately served in several corporate boards, some of them listed at Nasdaq Stockholm. She is a Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Vice-Chair of the Strategy Committee of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as a Fellow at Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) to mention a few positions of trust.

Uwa Osa-Oboh

Uwa Osa-Oboh is the Head, Corporate Development at Capital Alliance Nigeria, a member of the African Capital Alliance (ACA) group, an Investment Management firm with investments in Sub Saharan Africa. She joined the firm in 2013 and facilitates its strategy definition and implementation.At various times in her career, she has worked as a lawyer, banker and management consultant. She served as the CEO of ReStraL, a research, strategy and leadership-development consulting firm, for eight years prior to joining the African Capital Alliance group. Uwa has, over the years, worked with and consulted for various corporations and government agencies.Uwa is personally committed to principles of enduring individual and organizational effectiveness, and how to translate these to the larger society.She sits on various boards and is a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative West Africa (ALIWA), a chapter of the Aspen Leadership Global Network

Paul Carttar

Paul Carttar is a partner with IVPC, an organization working to advance social investment globally. He is also a Senior Advisor to and co-founder of the Bridgespan group. From 2010 to 2012 he was the initial Director of President Obama’s Social Innovation Fund (SIF), which mobilized more than USD one billion in public and private funds to grow social-purpose organizations with evidence of impact in low-income communities. Prior to the SIF, Carttar was an executive partner with New Profit, Inc., where he worked to build strong nonprofit organizations and expand their scale and impact, and Chief Operating Officer for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he oversaw all programs and grant-making activities. Carttar’s private sector career included several years with Bain & Company, the international corporate consulting firm, and executive positions in two early-stage venture-capital funded companies in the healthcare industry.

Allison Hollowell

Allison Hollowell is the COO of the International Venture Philanthropy Center (IVPC), an organization dedicated to growing the social investment ecosystem globally. Prior to IVPC, she spent 5 years on the leadership team of AVPA's sister network in Asia – The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN). During her time in Asia, Allison led AVPN's strategic expansion into India, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam and later, led the development of AVPN's capital mobilization team and AVPN's Academy and Fellowship programs. 

Prior to AVPN, Allie worked in brand management and marketing for more than a decade at Mondelez, Richemont, and Roberto Coin and has mentored numerous social entrepreneurs and NGOs through her volunteer work. Allison has an MBA from NYU Stern and a BA from Villanova University.