Adrian is a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP and a corporate transactional lawyer. He specialises in advising on private equity investments and corporate finance work. He advises a broad range of corporate and M&A transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, re-capitalisations, joint ventures and strategic alliances, venture capital and private equity transactions (including management buyouts), acting for investors, corporates and management teams. His work is both domestic and international. Adrian advises a range of financial institutions including international private equity fund manager and banks, and also family owned businesses, large and medium sized corporates (both public and private) and individuals. He has a proven track record of working with multi-national clients undertaking complex cross-border transactions and acting on numerous projects in multiple jurisdictions. Adrian is Head of the Africa Group and spends most of his time active on African focused work and is very experienced in advising clients on transactions in that region across a number of industry groups and sectors, including real estate and construction, agribusiness, financial services, energy and natural resources and retail and leisure. He is an active participant in a number of African focussed bodies and pre-covid was a frequent traveller to the region. Adrian is an Alumni of London Business School, having completed its Corporate Finance Programme.

Tamer El-Raghy is the Managing Director of the Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF); a $58m impact fund and the world’s first equity fund designed to build the climate resilience of smallholder farmers. Tamer has more than 20 years of private equity, venture capital, M&A, entrepreneurial, and innovation experience in Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and Europe.

Prior to joining ARAF, Tamer was with responsAbility AG as head of Agri&Food PE Fund in Africa where he co-led the structuring, due diligence, and closing of transactions that impacted 35,000 smallholder

farmers. Before responsAbility AG, he led Cargill’s growth strategy and M&A activities in Africa with a focus on animal nutrition, animal protein, and commodities value chains in Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Zambia, and Ghana, impacting 50,000 smallholders.

Tamer started his career as a materials engineer, where he co-invented a new class of materials, held nine patents, and founded 3-ONE-2 LLC, as a joint venture, commercializing the technology for both civilian and defense applications. Tamer earned an MBA from the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business , a PhD in Materials Engineering from Drexel University, and a BSc in Metallurgical Engineering from Cairo University.

Avril has 25 years business & investment experience; Ex Allan Gray Ltd, co-founder AMB Private Equity; Executive director of Agri-Vie fund manager; Entrepreneur & Director of companies; and Multi-sectoral transaction experience across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Hannah is Director of AgDevCo’s Technical Assistance Facility and heads AgDevCo’s Enterprise Development Team which works across the portfolio to provide due diligence services and tailored technical advice on finance and tax. Hannah has been working on technical assistance solutions for African agri-businesses with AgDevCo for the last 8 years. Pre – Covid, Hannah was found much of the time on remote farms in sub-Saharan Africa solving problems. Hannah studied Spanish and Business Studies and trained as an accountant (ACA) with BDO LLP and managed a portfolio of clients in Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Deji joined Sahel Capital in 2016, and since then has led investments and provided portfolio company oversight of FAFIN’s portfolio. He has more than a decade of work experience; of which 7 years have been operating roles in the FMCG, agrochemicals, and seed sectors, and 4 years have been within food and agriculture private equity. He serves on the Board of Directors of L&Z Integrated Farms and Coscharis Farms Ltd.; and also oversees FAFIN’s Technical Assistance Facility.

Deji previously worked with Syngenta Crop Protection AG and Procter & Gamble; and has lived and worked in Nigeria and Switzerland. Deji is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and is also certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP). He has an MBA from INSEAD Business School, and holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (First Class Honors) from Obafemi Awolowo University.