Johanna is a Paris, New York, Cameroon and England and Wales qualified lawyer. Before founding Epena Law a boutique PE law firm based between London and Africa, Johanna worked as a managing associate at Linklaters and DLA Piper in London, and before that, King & Wood Mallesons in Paris. Johanna specialises in private equity and venture capital.

She assists clients in the creation of worldwide private investment funds and in setting up regulated portfolio management companies and carried-interest schemes for management teams, as well as in the drafting of related service agreements. 

Johanna also advises International and African clients on their acquisition and financing of companies based in Africa.

She has advised many DFIs and private investors in their investments in Africa and Africa focused funds. 

Having spent an equal amount of time in common law and civil law countries, Johanna has acquired a deep understanding of most legal systems in Africa.

Johanna also participates in many initiatives for the evolution of the practice of law in Africa.

Johanna holds an MBA from London Business School.

Hakim has over 20 years of experience in private equity including sourcing, negotiating, structuring and executing private equity transactions in Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa. Hakim led the development of AfricInvest in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2004, focusing first on West Africa prior to expanding AfricInvest to other regions. Hakim has also structured several exits from portfolio companies and sits on the board of many current AfricInvest portfolio companies. Prior to joining AfricInvest in 1999, Hakim was a Senior Analyst at the auditing firm Mazars & Guerard, in Paris, France. Hakim is a graduate of the engineering school Mines ParisTech, France. Hakim served on the board of the Africa Venture Capital Association.

Jeremy has been a Director of CDC’s Intermediated Equity (IE) business in Africa since 2011, where he is responsible for a number of fund relationships across Africa. These include single-country SME funds, regional funds, sector funds in microfinance, venture capital, technology infrastructure, mezzanine debt funds and pan-African funds.

Prior to joining CDC, Jeremy worked for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Sydney as a private sector development specialist. Prior to that he worked in investment banking for Macquarie Bank and Goldman Sachs. In the first half of his career, Jeremy lived and worked in China and Hong Kong.

Jeremy holds a BSFS from Georgetown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Yida joined Phatisa from Trans-Century, where he spent six years as Head of Corporate Finance and Strategy. Previously, he worked with JP Morgan, Actis and Aureos. Yida is experienced in investment banking, corporate finance and private equity. Between 2010 and 2013, he was a non-executive director of the Kenya Investment Authority.

Vibhuti Jain joined U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) as Regional Director for Africa in January 2020. As part of DFC’s focus on low-income and lower middle-income countries and increasing its development impact, Ms. Jain will lead the agency’s on-the-ground presence in Africa from its regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Prior to joining DFC, Ms. Jain was based in Pretoria, South Africa, where she led the project finance team of Power Africa, a U.S. Government energy generation and access program coordinated by USAID. In addition to her public sector work, Ms. Jain is an experienced corporate attorney, representing Fortune 100 companies in the financial services sector, and practicing law in New York and London. She also worked for a boutique investment banking firm in New York on transportation, energy, and other infrastructure transactions.

Ms. Jain holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.