We are a team of committed and experienced Africa specialists.
We also have over 100 in-country team members across the region, who provide advice, insights and bespoke research.
Our core team
Advisory Board Chairman
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Jyrki Koskelo leads Sofala’s Advisory Board. Jyrki has over three decades of experience investing in Africa. He worked at the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, for 20 years. As Vice President of Global Industries, he was responsible for the IFC’s global investment program, overseeing annual debt and equity investments of over $14 billion and an investment portfolio in excess of $30 billion covering financial markets, infrastructure, mining and agriculture, among other sectors. He previously served as Vice President, Africa, overseeing all advisory and investment operations during a period of unprecedented growth in the IFC’s activities on the African continent. Prior to joining the IFC, Jyrki spent more than 10 years in senior management positions in private sector engineering companies. He has also served as board advisor, board member or chairman at multiple African companies including RSwitch (Rwanda), ABC Holding (Botswana), Invest Solar (Botswana) and Africa Agri and Investment Fund (Luxembourg). He was previously Head of M&A and Corporate Development at Atlas Mara, the sub-Saharan African financial services group listed on the London Stock Exchange, and co-CEO of the African Development Corporation. Jyrki holds a Master’s in International Management/Finance from Sloan School of Management/MIT and a Master’s in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Helsinki.
Advisory Board Member
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Baïdy is a Senegalese national with over 30 years’ professional experience as a senior partner at EY. Before starting a new chapter as a business angel and entrepreneur in early 2019, Baïdy held a range of roles within EY, based in Senegal and covering primarily Francophone African countries as an audit partner and then advisory partner.
For his last 12 years at EY, Baïdy held senior leadership positions including Advisory Services Leader for French Speaking Sub Saharan Africa (FSSA), Business Development Leader for FSSA, and member of the Africa Advisory Executive Committee for the Africa Region. Since leaving EY in 2019, Baïdy has created an investment vehicle taking minority influential stakes in SMEs, while participating in Senegalese investment clubs and networks as a board member to support local private sector development. He has also served on the board of the Economic Policies Study Centre (CEPOD) of Senegal’s Ministry of Economy since 2003 as a private sector representative. Baïdy holds a Master’s degree in Management and Finance from the Paris Business School (ISC) and an Executive Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences-Po).
Senior Advisor
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Ashley is an experienced advisor with expertise in corporate strategy, investment advisory and risk management in frontier markets. Previously based in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Ashley established Sofala’s East Africa office and has a detailed knowledge of regulatory, political and investment trends across Africa, having led projects in more than 20 sub-Saharan markets. Previously, Ashley previously ran a Tanzania-based consultancy, in addition to consulting for the senior management teams of two of South Africa’s largest financial institutions, Old Mutual and Standard Bank. Before this, he was senior analyst for sub-Saharan Africa at Control Risks, a London-based consultancy, where he advised global companies on managing political and policy risk.
Early in his career, Ashley worked in the office of the director of strategy at the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. and at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nairobi. He holds a BA in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MA in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Managing Partner
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Anna is a strategy advisor and risk and reputation management specialist, having advised leadership from blue chip multinationals, investment firms, and development organisations across the African continent for the past 15 years. Previously, Anna established and ran the first risk advisory firm in Tanzania from 2011-2014 and subsequently led the Southern Africa business for africapractice from South Africa. Anna leads our work in Southern Africa and Lusophone Africa, as well as Tanzania and Senegal.
A dual Finnish-British national, Anna started her career as a reporter at the Finnish News Agency (STT) and later led advocacy for investors in Africa towards multilateral bodies at the Brussels-based Private Investors for Africa. Anna’s motivation lies in supporting private sector-led development in the region. Anna has degrees in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Helsinki, respectively. She speaks French, Spanish, Finnish, and Portuguese.
Managing Partner
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For the past 15 years Kitty has supported companies in their operations in Africa, conducting extensive first-hand research across the continent and providing strategic advice to assist clients in their decision making, including some of the largest blue-chip multinationals. Kitty was previously editor of the Sunday Times in Rwanda and has reported widely on the East and Central African regions.
Having begun her career at the International Herald Tribune in Paris, Kitty speaks French and has worked throughout French speaking Africa, particularly in Gabon, the Republic of Congo and the DRC. Kitty ran the Africa desk at Aegis Advisory before heading their specialist investigations division. She has a Master’s in African politics and history from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. In 2009 she founded the charity ‘A Partner In Education’ which works to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Rwanda.
Senior Advisor
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Chiedza joined Sofala in January 2023. She is a strategy, stakeholder relationship management and communications expert who provides advice at ministerial and board level to governments and industries requiring in-depth understanding of the political economy. She has over 10 years’ experience, having worked with Fortune 500 multinational companies and non-governmental organisations across Africa in a number of sectors, including extractives, infrastructure, ICT, manufacturing and financial services.
Chiedza began her career with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, in the Department of Communications and Public Information as an environmental youth advocate. She went on to consult with various Africa-focused strategy firms where she worked closely with organisational leadership to increase visibility and helped them develop their local and global profiles. She has led teams in the research, strategy design and implementation of interventions intended to strengthen relationships with influencers within the stakeholder world, including host governments, regulators, consumers, rural communities and the general public.
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Kenya and the UK, Chiedza has had a longstanding interest in the application of advocacy principles to align the complex, disparate and sometimes conflicting interests of Africa and its investment community. She has a BA in Law and Sociology from the University of Kent and an MA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Sheffield. She also served as a Washington Mandela Fellow under President Barack Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative.
Associate Partner
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Joshua, an experienced advisor and strategic engagement specialist with particular expertise in the health and agriculture sectors in southern and eastern Africa, heads our office in Nairobi. He joined Sofala in January 2022 from Kenya-based healthcare start-up Penda Health, where he served as deputy director of external affairs. Joshua has deep experience in navigating government relations, regulatory compliance, risk management and investor due diligence across multiple African markets. He previously led stakeholder engagement and political and regulatory advisory for the One Acre Fund’s expansions into Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Nigeria, India and Myanmar.
Joshua’s early career included managing a Gates Foundation-funded WASH project in eSwatini with Sister Cities International, and supporting Eastern Congo Initiative’s US-facing advocacy campaigns to promote security sector reform in the DRC. He holds a BA in Political Science from Texas Christian University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington. He is a Fulbright public policy fellow and during his fellowship served as a special assistant on policy and budget in the Ministry of Agriculture in Malawi.
Director
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Sam, a risk management and integrity specialist, joined Sofala’s London office as a Director in October 2023. Drawing on his background in business intelligence and political risk, Sam leads on complex corporate investigations and integrity due diligence projects. As a certified anti-money laundering (AML) specialist, he also provides advisory services focused on financial crime risks when entering new markets or engaging with third parties. Prior to joining Sofala, he was a Senior Associate at The Risk Advisory Group, where he led investigations across Europe and Africa.
Sam began his career as an investigations consultant for Deloitte, before transitioning to journalism. During several years as a journalist, he spent time in Argentina and Germany, focusing on politics and the energy sector. Sam studied at the University of Sheffield, where he gained an MA in Politics (International Development and Political Economy) and a BA in Social Policy.
Principal
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Rennie joined Sofala Partners in August 2023. She has significant experience in conducting complex and multi-jurisdictional business intelligence and reputational due diligence assessments across a wide range of sectors in sub- Saharan Africa, particularly West Africa. A dual British-Nigerian national, Rennie worked as a compliance, forensics and intelligence consultant with Control Risks in Nigeria, where she supported investors on due diligence assessments in West Africa.
Prior to joining Sofala, Rennie worked as an analyst for a boutique corporate intelligence firm where she gained experience in asset tracing, litigation support, reputational defence and regulatory compliance reviews for clients operating in the Central Asia and the former Soviet Union (FSU) region.
Rennie holds an MSc in International Development (Africa) from The London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Politics from the University of York. She is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
Principal
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James joined Sofala's London office in January 2024. A South African national and a proficient French speaker, James has a deep understanding of the commercial landscapes of both Southern and Francophone Africa. He has substantial experience overseeing large investigations and strategic advisory projects for clients investing in these regions' energy, extractives, logistics and health sectors.
Prior to joining Sofala, James was an associate at S-RM, a global corporate intelligence and cyber security consultancy, based in their Cape Town and London offices. He also previously worked as a researcher at South African non-profits and economic consultancies. James holds a BCom in Economics and International Relations from the University of Cape Town.
Principal
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Based in Nairobi, Alice joined Sofala in October 2023. She is an external relations expert and has extensive experience advising Africa-focused companies and social enterprises on compliance, policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, business intelligence, and political risk.
Prior to joining Sofala, Alice worked as the external relations manager at One Acre Fund in Tanzania. She led the government relations department, establishing stakeholder engagement strategies in the agriculture sector, before becoming a global compliance manager, overseeing compliance across nine African countries.
Alice holds an LLB in Law from the University of Dar es Salaam and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law School of Tanzania. She also holds a Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility Certificate from London Business School. Alice is also fluent in Kiswahili.
Principal
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Since first joining Sofala in September 2021 Duncan has led many complex, multijurisdictional projects across Sofala’s due diligence and political risk analysis services. Much of his work in this space has focused on the banking, infrastructure, and power sectors, and Duncan is Sofala’s lead analyst for Lusophone Africa.
Duncan appreciates the client-side of the business, having spent six months at Deutsche Bank as a Sub-Saharan Africa specialist in an internal risk advisory role. At Deutsche Bank, Duncan supported due diligence and reputational risk analysis for structured export finance and debt capital markets transactions across Africa.
Duncan began his career in Kenya in the intelligence team of a private security company, producing regular country risk reporting in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. He has also consulted for several Africa-focused political risk and market intelligence companies as an analyst.
Duncan holds an MA in International Conflict Studies from King’s College London’s Department of War Studies and a BA in History from the University of Bristol. He has travelled in Africa and has a working knowledge of Portuguese.
Principal
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Victoire joined Sofala in August 2022. She has significant experience conducting integrity due diligence, risk analysis and sector mapping assessments in West and Central Africa. She plays a lead role in delivering much of Sofala's integrity risk due diligence projects. In her work, Victoire specialises in evaluating prevalent integrity risks at the nexus between public institutions and private actors.
Prior to joining Sofala, Victoire worked as an analyst within Risk Advisory Group's Africa practice. There, she conducted enhanced due diligence investigations for asset management firms and private clients, enabling them to assess and manage integrity and regulatory risks across African jurisdictions. She has extensive experience leading projects in the renewable energy, infrastructure and logistics sectors. Victoire began her career with a financial services networking platform, specialising in investment research projects in emerging markets. Victoire holds a MSc in African Politics and a BA in Politics and International Relations from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Victoire is fluent in French and Spanish.
Senior Analyst
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Wambui joined Sofala in October 2022 as an Analyst in our Nairobi office, having previously worked on human rights and good governance in Kenya and the wider region.
Wambui has a legal background and started her career at a boutique commercial law firm in Nairobi, before joining the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). There, she assisted in the prosecution of major anti-corruption cases and worked on the ODPP’s Law Reform Committee. She has previously worked with the World Youth Alliance, providing training on human dignity and human rights across Africa and advocating for the eradication of poverty and preventable disease with the ONE Campaign in East Africa. She holds an LLB in Law from the University of Nairobi and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law. She is also an alumnus of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).
Analyst
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Abubakar joined Sofala's London office in January 2024 as a Junior Analyst.
Abubakar holds a BA in Human, Social, and Political Science from the University of Cambridge. His dissertation surveyed environmentalist social movements across sub-Saharan Africa. Abubakar is fluent in Somali.
