The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) has strengthened its leadership as Paul Botha, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Metier and Danladi Verheijen, Managing Director at Verod Capital Management join its Board of Directors.
Danladi is the Managing Director of Verod Capital Management founded in 2008 which today is a leading investment firm based in Nigeria.
Verod is an Investment Firm focusing on investing equity and equity-linked capital in growth companies across various sectors, including Consumer Products, Services, Manufacturing, Agribusiness, Financial Services, Energy, Media & Technology. Verod seeks to partner with companies led by strong, result driven management teams that can grow large, dominant enterprises
Commenting on the appointments, Hurley Doddy, Founding Partner and co-CEO of Emerging Capital Partners, and Chair of the AVCA Board, noted: “We are delighted to welcome so many industry leaders to the AVCA Board and Advisory Committees at a time when the African private equity industry is going from strength to strength. Paul, Danladi and all those who will be joining the Advisory Committees have made significant contributions to the development of the industry. We look forward to their participation in AVCA’s work over the coming years.”
Before co-founding Verod, Danladi was a Vice President at Citibank Nigeria where he led corporate finance and investment banking transactions and also had responsibility over Citibank’s equity investment portfolio. Prior to that, he held roles at Ocean and Oil Holdings and at McKinsey & Company. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an M.Sc. in Engineering Economic Systems & Operations Research from Stanford University and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Calvin College. He is a Director of GZ Industries, SacOil Holdings, Spinlet, Rotoprint, Niyya Food and Drinks, and Shaldag. Danladi was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014.
AVCA also appointed nine experienced professionals to the following Advisory Committees –Compliance & Best Practice, Strategic Engagement, and Sustainability.
The new Board and Advisory Committee members are key influencers within the African private equity industry, and will deepen AVCA’s reach and impact as it continues to enable private investment in Africa.
The new Advisory Committee members are: Compliance & Best Practice Committee Eve Ellis – Partner, O’Melveny; Feizal Moossa – Chief Risk Officer, Adenia Partners; Shane Rogel – Managing Director, South Suez Capital; and Sarah Shackleton – Administrative Partner, Development Partners International.
The Strategic Engagement Committee members are: Pierre Guislain – Vice President, Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, African Development Bank (AfDB); Kevin Njiraini – Regional Lead, Sub-Saharan Africa, International Finance Corporation; Sev Vettivetpillai – Partner, The Abraaj Group; while Sustainability Committee members are: Tania Choufani – Managing Director and Head of ESG, The Abraaj Group; and James Magor – Manager, Responsible Investment, Actis.
Michelle Kathryn Essomé, Chief Executive Officer of AVCA, added: “The next 12 months are set to be an exciting time for AVCA. As we strengthen and diversify our membership, the Board and Advisory Committee expansion reinforces the extent of our ambitions to facilitate greater private investment in Africa. We are delighted about working closely with the new appointees to advance our agenda and to find new ways to deliver exceptional value to our members.”
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
