Dubai, United Arab Emirates
With over 35 years of experience as a CEO, Chairman, and Board Director, I bring a unique blend of strategic leadership, transformative expertise, and relationship-building skills to the boardroom. My journey has taken me across diverse industries and regions, where I've navigated challenging markets in sub-Saharan Africa, East and West Africa, and the Middle East, driving initiatives that have driven exponential growth and transformation. Notable achievements include leading the acquisition team for a US$1 billion deal in Ethiopia, where I played a pivotal role in expanding our market presence. I'm particularly proud of growing market share in Nigeria from zero to 24% within four years and managing the Middle East region with revenues exceeding US$260 million. My leadership style is characterised by an entrepreneurial mindset, resilience, and a commitment to sustainable business practices. I've demonstrated success in M&A, market entry strategies, and operational optimization, notably transforming JTI's Ethiopian business into a fully vertically integrated company. Beyond my corporate roles, I am deeply passionate about making a positive impact. As the fractional CEO of Molten Minds and Chairman of Rift Valley Energy Exploration, both companies operating in the renewable, green energy space, I am dedicated to driving transformative results that benefit both the environment and communities. My involvement in organisations like YPO reflects my commitment to giving back, continuous learning and investing in the future. With my extensive experience, integrity, and focus on building exponential and sustainable businesses, I am eager to bring my diverse perspective and ability to deliver impactful results to any board.
Dragonfly has engineered a modular HEFA refinery to convert biogenic lipid-based waste into SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) or HVO (Renewable Diesel). Built in modularised 32,000 tonne per year standard formats in a factory, our compact, fast-deploying and infrastructure-light sites co-locate within existing refineries or terminals to create a biofuels stream from local waste. We have secured a 40-year, 350,000 tonnes per year feedstock supply agreement for our first 10 refineries, and we are negotiating two further long term agreements. We have licensed the world’s best operational SAF technology offering construction and performance-guaranteed refineries combining proprietary pre-treatment, licensed hydro-processing and in-house equipment fabrication. We target minority ownership in each joint venture project with investment and free-carry equity, reducing upfront Capex and aligning delivery with long-term project operating success.
I was asked to join Rift Valley Energy Exploration at the behest of the founder to advise on Company set-up, Strategic planning, Stakeholder relations and the raise of the next round of financing. Rift Valley Energy Exploration, a renewable energy start-up company, Headquartered in UAE with operations in Ethiopia. The company’s purpose is to Power Africa and bring affordable, reliable, sustainable energy to everyone, giving them the ability to have economic freedom and enable the children of Africa to study safely at night.
Symphony42 – the world’s first AI customer acquisition platform – PERSUASIVE AI Agents selling to consumers
In my role at The VAB Community, I've been dedicated to bridging the connections between accomplished senior professionals worldwide and CEO's and Chairpersons from various industries. Our mission is to offer a personalised & exclusive platform for our advisors and clients. In the past months i've committed to continuous up-skilling in the advisory and boardroom space, learning from top professionals in our network. This has enabled me to forge meaningful connections and gain valuable insights into global boardroom influences, associations and key players, contributing to my ongoing journey in advisory and board of directors.