Murray Grant, Partner, Actis

Murray is one of Actis’s founding partners with an investment focus on Africa.  In addition to managing a small team in London, Murray is currently responsible for Actis’ private equity interests in East Africa and the Maghreb countries.  In his earlier years with Actis he played a lead role in re-establishing the business in Nigeria and then rebuilding the team in Egypt.

Murray joined CDC Capital Partners in 2001, prior to the spin out of Actis in 2004.  This followed a 13 year investment career with 3i Group plc in the UK.   Murray joined 3i from London Business School.  Prior to LBS, Murray was a consultant in the construction industry working on large infrastructure projects in Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Idris Mohammed, Partner, Development Partners International

Prior to joining DPI, Mr. Mohammed was a Vice President at WPA, Inc., the fund manager for Africa International Financial Holdings, a US$100 million private equity fund focused on the financial services sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Before that, Mr. Mohammed was a Vice President in the Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs where he focused on making principal investments in the energy, power, and infrastructure sectors. He executed over US$250 million in equity investments and acquisitions for the firm and helped build the group’s project finance and renewable energy investment businesses.

Mr. Mohammed began his career in finance at CoreStates Financial Corp (now part of Wachovia Corp) in the asset management business. Mr. Mohammed is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University (1992) and an MBA in Finance and Strategic Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (2000).

Todd Peterson, Partner, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge

Todd is a partner in the Private Equity and Venture Capital Practice Group of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP.  His work includes: working with emerging markets governments; forming private equity and similar funds, primarily directed at emerging markets, working on transactions for such funds; working on a wide array of cross-border joint ventures (again primarily in emerging markets); and working on various infrastructure projects in emerging markets (including a number of biofuel and carbon credit related projects).

For the past several years Todd has been listed in The Legal Media Group Guide to the World’s Leading Equity lawyers, as well as The Legal Media Group Guide to the World’s Leading Mergers and Acquisition Lawyers.  He has also been involved with Africare for a number of years.

Todd holds a B.A. from Brigham Young University, an M.Phil. from University of Oxford,  and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.

Karim S. Anjarwalla, Partner, Anjawalla & Khanna Advocates

Karim is a graduate of the University of Durham, England and the College of Law, London.  He worked with leading City of London firm Denton Wilde Sapte (then Denton Hall) before returning to Kenya.  He is presently practicing as a partner with the firm of Anjarwalla & Khanna, Advocates. Anjarwalla & Khanna is a member of ALN (previously Africa Legal Network) with offices in Kenya, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Zambia.

Karim has over 15 years practice experience and has been ranked first in Kenya and is described as, ‘a rainmaker and one of the market’s stars’ in Chambers Global 2009.  His practice is both transactional and regulatory and focuses mainly on private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, IT and telecommunications and joint ventures. Karim also advises foreign clients investing in Kenya on key local law issues.

Patrice Backer, Partner and COO, Advance Finance Investment Group

Patrice is a partner and the COO of Advanced Finance and Investment Group LLC (AFIG), a Mauritius private equity fund management company with offices in Senegal, South Africa, and the United States. AFIG is the manager of the Atlantic Coast Regional Fund (ACRF), a regional private equity fund covering West and Central Africa.

Prior to AFIG, Patrice was the Managing Director of PromoCapital Haiti S.A. He led several investment banking transactions in telecom, textile manufacturing and energy. Patrice started his career at JP Morgan in the Latin America Mergers & Acquisitions Group and eventually managed the firm’s Emerging Markets Finance Desk, a $7 billion portfolio of emerging markets fixed income securities, and co-managed the Credit Derivatives Desk.

Patrice holds a dual MBA/MA degree from the University of Pennsylvania (respectively from the Wharton School and the Lauder Institute/GSAS), and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Sciences from Harvard College.

Brian Frimpong, Associate, Emerging Capital Partners

Brian is an Associate at Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) based in Washington D.C.  With six funds and over $1.6 billion under management, ECP is a leading private equity manager focused exclusively on Africa. Prior to joining ECP in 2008, Brian started his professional career as an investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) where he was involved in capital raising, mergers & acquisitions and strategic advisory for global Fortune 500 companies in the Global Industrials Group. He then joined Freddie Mac as a senior financial analyst, where he was directly involved in the restatement and remediation process that resulted in reversing the company's $5 billion understatement in income for the 2000-2002 fiscal periods, and restructured the organization. 

Brian attended Howard University for his undergraduate studies, graduated summa cum laude Accounting and obtained a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) designation shortly afterwards. Brian also has an MBA from Harvard Business School.