Meet the IIA Team

In 2011 William completed his MBA in London whilst also working as the fundraising director for 'Row2recovery', a campaign to raise £1m towards Help4Heroes.

In February 2012, William joined Invest in Africa as the Programme Director and has overseen its expansion.

Having trained as an investment advisor with HSBC Private Bank, William worked in the City for a number of years before going on to pursue a career in communications and branding, creating global campaigns for multinational clients.

Michael has been a Senior Account Manager at Invest in Africa since November 2012. He is responsible for delivering a $4m business skills training programme in Ghana.

Michael has worked in African affairs for over eight years. During this period, he has worked with Government, the Private Sector and Third Sector giving him a 360 degree experience of Africa. He has travelled extensively across Africa visiting Rwanda, Cote’d’Ivoire, Tunisia and Kenya. He has also lived in Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Yemen.

Charles Adjei has been an Account Executive at Invest in Africa since January 2015.

Charles received a BA in Management in 2013 after 4 years at Hope College in Michigan, USA.

He went on to receive a masters degree (MSc) in Management for Business Excellence at the University of Warwick, UK.

Clarence likes to describe himself as a Ghanaian by birth, a Pan-Africanist at heart and a Global Citizen by choice.

He is the founder(and CEO) of a start-up: 3i Consult Ltd, a Pan-African marketing & talent development consultancy which has over the past year generated over 120% growth through a client base across multiple sectors (FMCG, Advertising, Media, Clothing industries) in Ghana and Europe. Prior to setting up his consultancy, he was the Marketing Director for Unilever Ghana (and also served on the board of directors) from July 2013 to end of 2015.

His corporate career (with the multi-national giant, Unilever) spanned 15 years. During this period Clarence held several senior multi-functional roles in operations, audit, marketing and strategy development across South Africa, Turkey, Singapore and Ghana providing him with cross-functional business understanding and deep insights into consumers and markets in key developing & emerging markets.

Clarence is passionate about leveraging deep insights into consumers, markets and business to create value for businesses & consumers .He is a firm believer in Africa and has over the years continuously contributed to building capabilities of local/African talent –who are critical change catalysts in the ongoing transformation agenda on the continent.

Ibrahima was born in Ghana and moved to South Africa at the age of ten.

He holds a major in Economics from the University of Transkei and a certificate in financial products from Milpark Business School.

He has over 12 years experience in business development and has held several senior roles in different industries, ranging from Health Care to Construction and Marketing.

Driven by a solid work ethic, he has excelled in all positions he has held.

He is well adept to developing optimal relationships with key stakeholders and ensuring that targets are not only met, but exceeded.

As an experienced commercial director, he brings great commercial acumen including well developed strategic and operational management skills.

Having returned to Ghana over a year ago, he joins Invest in Africa as the APP manager.

Angelina is the lead on the Ghana SME Business Linkage Programme. This is an African Development Bank funded programme aimed at developing the capacity of Ghanaian SMEs to be globally competitive and build linkages with larger companies.

Prior to joining Invest in Africa, she worked at the British Council for 7 years in different capacities; with her last role being the position of Skills Development and Partnerships Manager where she lead on various capacity development programmes that supported fresh graduates and entrepreneurs to develop and grow their businesses.

She is passionate about youth development and is a certified PRINCE2 practitioner. She holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Wales.

Christina has a background in client service management with working experience in various sectors including the financial, insurance and telecommunication sectors.

Christina works as the Support Advisor for the Africa Partner Pool (APP). Her role involves managing customer registrations, validating clients’ database and providing general support to clients.

She holds a BSc in Natural Resources Management and a Diploma in Business Management and Administration.

Emefa holds a BSc Degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana. Her professional experience spans from education to human resource management across various industry sectors. At IIA, Emefa supports the Ghana SME Business Linkage Programme, an African Development Bank funded programme that seeks to develop the capacity of Ghanaian SMEs to be globally competitive and build linkages with larger companies.

William Mensah is a seasoned sales executive with over 8 years of experience in the sales environment.

He brings to Invest in Africa a unique sales acumen, with a strong desire to close the sale. Williams’s primary role is to sell the APP and its benefits to new users, both suppliers and buyers.

William holds a BSc. in Marketing from the University of Professional Studies (Ghana), and a Professional certificate in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK).

William’s passion for sales and customer service has seen him being named as the best customer service executive for Airtel retail outlets in 2016.

Joining Invest in Africa, he believes will provide him the opportunity to help SMEs in Ghana access markets, skills and finance, as he has a passion for SME development.

Jessica, has expertise in working with and managing cross-functional and multi-cultural teams in project execution as well as customer relations management.

Prior to joining Invest In Africa (IIA) in 2016, Jessica worked as a programs support for the Environmental Protection Agency (HQ) and HSEQ Support at Total Petroleum Ghana Limited.

Jessica received her Bsc in Environmental Science from the University of Science and Technology, Ghana and loves to put together projects and events.

Patricia joined IIA as consultant Country Director in February 2016.

She is passionate about creating opportunities that improve people’s lives. Her love for identifying enduring consumer and commercial insights to support the development of brands and grow businesses’ was actualized in a career spanning 25 years across 3 global companies namely Unilever, Diageo and L’Oreal. In the last 7 years of this career, her focus was on setting up new organization and opening new frontiers as Managing Director for Uganda Breweries Ltd, then Managing director for EABL International and her last role setting up the L’Oreal East Africa subsidiary as its inaugural Managing Director.

She took a career break from the corporate world mid 2014 and focused on understanding the dynamics of MSME’s in the region and their impact on economic development, including offering mentorship for start ups in accelerator camps and entrepreneurship incubator programs. She also took time to understand the positive impact of development funding, a continuous journey through her board position on Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), the multi donor initiative with overall goal of reducing poverty in the east African region through increased trade competitiveness. Patricia also supports human capital development of African talent as a Council Member of a leading East African university, Strathmore, as well as the development of the private sector as Director of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) alongside other non executive board positions.

Patricia holds Bachelor of Commerce Honors degree and an MBA degree in Strategic Management.

With a track record of excellence in relationship management, credit management and marketing tact in the banking industry, Elizabeth’s capacity has been honed to deliver innovative management of organizational growth strategy.

She holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Psychology from Daystar University. Her undergraduate experience includes obtaining a dual degree in Business Administration and Management and Marketing. Also completed is a Certification in Project Leadership evaluated by Cornell University, Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing evaluated by The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) London, Association of The Kenya Institute of Bankers (AKIB) evaluated by The Kenya Institute of Bankers and Compliance & Institutional Strengthening for NGO’s carried out by The National Council of NGOs. She is currently pursuing a Certification in Human Resource Management.

She has worked in various financial institutions both in the local market and internationally. Her experience has enabled her to develop skills in relationship building, client service, credit provision and risk management, client acquisition, retention and revenue generation. Flexibility in dealing with diverse personalities at different levels and across different jurisdictions has enabled her to be instrumental in harmonizing team synergy and she plans to use this to contribute to the development of SME’s as well as economic growth which she is very passionate.

Julia brings 5 years of experience in business development and customer relations to her role as a Business Development Officer. Prior to joining Invest in Africa, she worked in business development and marketing for Henkel Kenya Limited and Hotpoint Appliances Limited.

She holds a Business and Information Technology degree from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and Post graduate Diploma in Project Management from Kenya Institute of Management.

Zippy is an emerging community development practitioner, passionate about children’s rights and social and economic development; having studied sustainable development and gained practical experience working with vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

She is a highly motivated and results-oriented community developer, bringing and energetic and innovative approach.

Philbert holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Public Administration from The University of Nairobi (Kenya), and a Diploma in Project Management (KIM, Kenya). He’s an alumni of former US President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Regional Learning Center, East Africa, from where springs his passion for SMEs Development as a way of empowering and growing small economies, which in-turn spur National economies towards prosperity.

Prior to joining Invest In Africa, he served as a Program Officer on USAID-Funded Afya Timiza Project in Samburu and Turkana Counties, specifically supporting the component of community involvement and ownership as a means of overcoming key religious and cultural barriers to various health interventions in Turkana County. Himself a founder of an SME - Kisuri Youth Development Group: a movement of youth and vulnerable women advocating for self-reliance and economic emancipation of the Rural Youth through community-based micro-finance initiatives and agribusiness. He is currently pursuing his Masters Degree in Development Studies at The Turkana University College, and believes joining Invest in Africa grants him the perfect opportunity to give back to the SMEs in Turkana, and Kenya as a whole by supporting them to get Market access, skills and finance, all because of his passion for SME growth.