Spearhead Africa is a Nairobi-based full-service financing and advisory business, delivering private sector financing, implementation solutions and alternative sources of capital to businesses and public sector institutions. Through mobilizing private capital and innovative financial structuring, we tackle some of Africa’s most significant challenges including inadequate infrastructure finance and development, lack of affordable housing and the limited access to finance for small businesses.Our clients comprise primarily of institutional investors across the public and private sectors such as pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, private equity firms, development finance institutions and commercial banks, as well as government ministries, departments and agencies. Our financial structuring and advisory expertise cuts across various sectors of the economy including infrastructure, property, energy and MSME financing, and we are engaged to develop, implement and optimize our clients’ long-term organizational strategies and objectives.Our significant experience and extensive ties in both developed markets and across Africa enables us to deliver locally relevant solutions at the highest global standards. To date, we have been involved in the successful structuring and execution of projects valued over USD 700 million and have been engaged on the implementation of flagship public sector initiatives such as Kenya’s Affordable Housing Pillar under the Big 4 Agenda and the Kenya Pension Fund Investment Consortium.

KEPFIC is a consortium of Kenyan pension funds with approximately USD 5.25 billion in assets that have come together to jointly assess and invest in infrastructure and alternative asset investments opportunities in the East African region. KEPFIC aims to provide competitive returns and diversification opportunities to our member funds, build the technical and investment capacity of pension fund trustees and their stakeholders and be the collective voice representing the pension fund community on infrastructure investment policy and regulatory matters.As the Head of the Secretariat my team's current responsibilities include:• Deal origination, investment appraisal and due diligence.• Engagement with pension fund trustees, fund managers, project sponsors and development partners.• Engagement with government, regulators and policy makers.• Outreach and communication with KEPFIC members and external stakeholders.• Advocacy and community engagement initiatives.

Obama Foundation Africa Leader: Selected as an African emerging leader working on innovative ways to create transformational change and take on the biggest challenges on the continent.

Appointed by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works to the Taskforce on Reengineering & Transformation of Urban Development in Kenya.The objective of the Taskforce is to assist the Government of Kenya to develop strategies that shall lead to vibrant, responsive and transformative urban development institutions towards the establishment and funding of smart urban areas and cities.I am the Chair of the Urban Financing & Implementation Committee which shall: • Identify and develop financing model(s) that facilitate access to the domestic financial sector to fund investment in urban infrastructure projects and municipalities.• Identify finance and credit enhancement instruments that may facilitate sustainable urban development and management.• Identify and develop land value capture mechanisms including approaches, policies, and instruments for sustainable public infrastructure financing in counties.• Identify funding mechanisms for development of horizontal infrastructure required for establishment of sustainable human settlements by County Governments.• Develop a model for the establishment of standing conditional grants by the National Treasury through the National Urban Development Fund for the development of foundational infrastructure and services.

The Kenya Urban Support Program (KUSP) is a USD 300 million World Bank funded program domiciled in Kenya’s Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development & Public Works with the objective of establishing and strengthening urban institutions to deliver improved housing and infrastructure across Kenya.As the lead housing and infrastructure finance advisor I am responsible for:• Financial Structuring: Structuring of the financing framework and the financial modelling of the USD 12.5 billion Affordable Housing Programme.• Engagement with Local & International Investors: Engagement with institutional investors (pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers and savings and credit cooperatives), global commercial banks and development finance institutions.• Operationalization of Fiscal Incentives: Engagement with the National Treasury and Kenya Revenue Authority on fiscal incentives (tax incentives and infrastructure delivery), legislative and regulatory amendments to spur development of affordable housing and the requisite infrastructure.• Engagement with Regulators: Engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya, Capital Markets Authority, Retirement Benefit Authority, Insurance Regulatory Authority and Nairobi Securities Exchange to facilitate private institutional investment to affordable housing and county infrastructure development.

• Interest Rate Products: Responsible for the firm’s Africa fixed income coverage - primarily South African government bonds and interest rate derivatives - to banks, hedge funds, pension funds, asset managers and insurance companies.• Structured Finance: Responsible for the Africa structured finance business (origination, deal structuring and distribution), providing corporates and infrastructure investors with financing solutions throughout the capital structure ranging from vanilla loans/debt to structured equity investments.• Bank Funding: Focused on the provision of short-term financing solutions to African banks primarily through bespoke repos, total return swaps and secured funding arrangements against loan portfolios and various receivables.• Credit Flow Sales: Responsible for the Sub-Saharan Africa Eurobond, global credit, and credit derivative sales business to clients based primarily in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

• Constructed and automated debt analysis tools that identified refinancing opportunities in the firm’s existing loan portfolio, which led to significant savings in annual debt service and balloon payments. • Determined the valuation and acquisition price on various properties worth over $40 million and developed successful acquisition strategies with prospective lenders and equity partners.

I developed and implemented the firm’s foreign institutional sales strategy and maintained strong trading relationships with frontier market institutional investors, based mainly in Europe and South Africa.