Event contact: Solveig Tangen
Welcome to NABA Africa Outlook 2024. This year’s discussions will take place under the overarching theme of “Navigating a New World Order”. This is in line with, and builds on NABA’s 2023 focus of a World in Flux, which emphasised Africa’s changing role in the shift towards a multipolar world order and the emergence of new economic centres of power.
Against this backdrop, and amid growing competition for opportunities from new partners seeking to strengthen ties with Africa, the realities of policy and business across the continent are evolving. In turn, this is spurring the need to rethink prevailing narratives amongst traditional partners in the West about the continent as a destination for investment, where a “business as usual” approach is increasingly unfit for purpose.
The outlook will explore the implications of a shifting global economy for the Norway-Africa relationship, and discuss the key question of how to effectively navigate an emerging new world order.
Speakers:
Mr. Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik
State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
Mr. Hackim Abdul
Africa Public Sector and Country Representative - Ghana, Citi
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Hackim is a Vice President in the London-based EMEA Public Sector Group and also doubles as Citi’s Country Representative in Ghana.
He is responsible for origination and coverage of sovereigns, central banks and DFIs in Africa. In the past 5 years, Hackim has overseen deal origination in the leading bank for sovereign Eurobond issuances in Africa. Prior to joining the Public Sector Group in 2019, he worked in the Leveraged Finance Portfolio Group from 2015, executing private equity sponsor-led leveraged finance transactions in Western Europe.
Hackim joined Citi as a Management Associate in 2013, spending his early Citi years on different desks (credit risk, equities research and structured trade finance) in South Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon. He has previously led or participated in public engagements, including panels at US Corporate Council on Africa for Critical Minerals, Harvard Business School Africa Business Conference and a judge on Jack Ma’s Africa’s Business Heroes entrepreneurship competition. He holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Ashesi University in Ghana
Ms. Agathe L'Homme
Senior Analyst - Country and Banking Risk, DNB
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Ms. Agathe L'Homme is an experienced country risk professional with more than a decade working in that field. She is currently using her analytical skills at DNB Corporate Banking, providing country and sovereign risk assessments to help determine the bank's credit risk appetite amidst renewed geopolitical headwinds. She previously worked as the lead of the geopolitical risk practice at KPMG Norway and as country risk analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit. She also worked several years in East Asia for the French government.
Dr. Alex Vines
Research Director; Director, Africa Programme,
Chatham House
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Dr. Alex Vines has led the Africa Programme at Chatham House since 2002 and became managing director for risk, ethics and resilience in 2019.
Previously, he has held roles at Chatham House as director for regional studies and international security, and director for area studies and international law.
He chaired the UN Panel of Experts on Côte d’Ivoire from 2005 to 2007, and was a member of the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia from 2001 to 2003. He was also a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group to Nigeria in 2023 (Mozambique in 2019 and Ghana in 2016) and a UN election officer in Mozambique (1994) and Angola (1992).
He worked at Human Rights Watch as a senior researcher on its Africa, Arms and Business and Human Rights programmes, and has served as a consultant including for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); JICA, DFID, USAID, the EU and for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
He has also written expert reports for the EU parliament and has testified to law makers including for the US Congress and Senate, the EU parliament, the UK and Finnish parliaments and the Angolan and Mozambican National Assemblies.
He is an assistant professor at Coventry University, and sits on the editorial and advisory Boards for the South African Journal of International Affairs, Africa Review (journal of the African Studies Association of India), and the Journal of Southern African Studies.
He also serves on the board of EG Justice – an NGO focused on Equatorial Guinea and is on the advisory board of the John & Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies (JEFCAS) at the University of Bradford.
Alex was awarded an OBE in 2008 in recognition of his work including founding and developing Chatham House’s Africa programme and holds a PhD from Coventry University.
Ms. Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen
Executive Vice President, Green Infrastructure and Scalable Enterprises, Norfund
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Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen joined Norfund as EVP for Scalable Enterprises in March 2020. In 2021 she also took on the role of EVP for Green Infrastructure. Prior to Norfund, Ellen held several senior positions at Yara, the world's leading fertilizer company. Her last position in Yara was as VP of Sustainability Programs and Global Projects, prior to that, she was country manager for the Ivory Coast. Earlier in her career Ellen spent four years as EVP for Agrinos, an international agriculture input provider, responsible for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Ellen has also had various management positions at Norsk Hydro and served as a board member for SINTEF. She studied economics in Norway and France.
Mr. Sameh Shenouda
Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer,
Africa Finance Corporation
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Sameh leads origination, execution and portfolio management of transactions across a wide range of sectors and products at AFC.
With over 27 years of experience in infrastructure investments, project development and fundraising in international capital markets, Sameh has a deep knowledge of African markets as well as power, transport & logistics and oil & gas sectors.
Prior to joining AFC, Sameh was the Chief Executive Officer of Zarou, a developer, owner, investor and operator of infrastructure projects in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, that is 100% owned by The Blackstone Group.
Sameh previously spent 5 years as Head of Infrastructure at CDC Group Plc, the UK’s development finance institution. He built the institution’s direct infrastructure equity business, investing in excess of US$2 billion in Africa and South Asia. His earlier experience also includes Natural Gas Industries Director at Orascom Construction Industries and Investment Principal at Actis.
Sameh holds an MBA in Financial Management from the University of Exeter, UK and degrees from the American University in Cairo, Egypt in Development Studies and Economics. He is also a graduate of INSEAD’s International Executive Program.
Mr. Kai Simon Eikli Yuen
International Advisor, The Norwegian Shipowners' Association
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Kai Simon Eikli Yuen is an international advisor and works on the international engagements of the Norwegian Shipping Association. He is also a member of the board of the Norwegian African Business Association and the Arctic Economic Council.
Kai holds a Master of Science in International Energy from Sciences Po, Paris, and a Bachelor of Science in International Marketing from the Norwegian School of Business and Fudan University, Shanghai. He has nine years of experience from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including postings to the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi and Norway’s delegation to the EU in Brussels.
Kai has previously worked for the UN in Haiti, for Orkla in China and with investments in developing markets for Norfund.
Mr. Sanjeev Gupta
Executive Director, Financial Services, Africa Finance Corporation
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Mr. Sanjeev Gupta is Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) Executive Director for Financial Services where he is responsible for Treasury, Trade finance & Syndication and Corporate Advisory lines of business. Mr. Gupta was the managing partner of “Emerging Markets Mergers and Acquisitions Center of Excellence” at Ernst and Young, the CEO of Sanlam Investment Management Emerging Markets Operations, and a founder and managing partner of Emerging Opportunity Consulting.
Mr. Funsho Allu
Founding Partner: TIA Capital Management | NBST | Urban Africa Partners
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Folorunso (Funsho) Allu is a Founding Partner of TIA Capital. He is based in Nairobi and oversees the East-African and Francophone business. Most recently Mr Allu was a founding partner of 46 Parallels 1 LLP a joint venture between TIA Capital and the JMH Group. Over a three year period Mr Allu along with his fellow TIA Capital partners built 46 Parallels, specialists in Private Debt in SSA-ex SA.
Before co-founding TIA Capital, Mr Allu headed the EMEA Hedge Fund business for AIG and PineBridge’s MultiStrategy Hedge Fund allocation business. His earlier career was at Goldman Sachs and Petercam Capital. Mr Allu has a First Class Honours Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol.
Ms. Mina Karina Weydahl
Leader, Assistant Director, Section for Energy, Norad
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Mina Weydahl, assistant director, leads the energy section in the Norwegian Development Agency, Norad. She has worked for more almost two decades on renewable energy and energy access based in Norway and abroad, amongst others in DR Congo and Burundi, the latter with UNDP. Her posting with UNDP also led her to spend two years on the Pacific Island of Samoa, piloting renewable energy solutions. Mina holds an MSc in Environmental technology from Imperial College, and an MA in Political Economy from the University of Kent.