The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) has strengthened its leadership as Paul Botha, Founder and CEO at Metier and Danladi Verheijen, Managing Director at Verod Capital Management join its Board of Directors.

The Association has 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 in the Compliance & Best Practice Committee are: 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.

In the Strategic Engagement Committee the new 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; and Sev Vettivetpillai – Partner, The Abraaj Group.

In the Sustainability Committee, the appointed members are: Tania Choufani – Managing Director and Head of ESG, The Abraaj Group; and James Magor – Manager, Responsible Investment, Actis.

Commenting on the appointments, Hurley Doddy, Founding Partner and co-CEO of Emerging Capital Partners, and Chair of the AVCA Board, said: “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.” 

Michelle Kathryn Essomé, CEO 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.”