Board of directors

Biographies:

Strive Masiyiwa

Strive Masiyiwa is a telecommunications and technology entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. In nearly four decades as an entrepreneur, he has founded and invested in businesses globally, spanning Africa, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, New Zealand, and the USA.

Some of his most prominent start-up companies and investments include Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria), Liquid Intelligent Technologies Group, Econet Wireless New Zealand (now 2degrees Mobile), Trilogy Capital Partners Canada (early investor), Cassava Technologies (including most recently, Cassava AI), Africa Data Centres, Sasai Fintech, and Telrad Group Israel. He continues to invest privately through his investment companies and family office.

Born in Zimbabwe and now living in the UK, Masiyiwa serves on the boards of Netflix Inc., Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and National Geographic Society, as well as global advisory councils including Bank of America, Stanford University, and Bloomberg New Economy Forum. Previously, he held board positions at Unilever Plc, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Morehouse College, among others.

A graduate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Cardiff University, Masiyiwa holds honorary doctorates from Yale, Morehouse College, Nelson Mandela University, and his alma mater, Cardiff University. His accolades include the World Food Prize Borlaug Medallion in 2019 for his role as Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (focused on strengthening food systems and supporting Africa’s smallholder farmers); election in 2023 as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal awarded in 2024 by Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.

Through his family foundations, Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies, led by his wife Tsitsi and eldest daughter Elizabeth Tanya, he has supported over 300,000 scholarships for African youth and continues to invest in catalytic social impact initiatives in Africa, focusing primarily on education, health, women and children, youth mentorship, rural transformation, sustainable livelihoods, disaster relief and preparedness. 

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Nic Rudnick

Nic is the Group Deputy Executive Chairman of Liquid Intelligent Technologies. After 18 years as the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), he took on this new role, reporting directly to the Group Executive Chairman, Strive Masiyiwa.

As the Deputy Executive Chairman, he will focus on growth and strategy, encompassing corporate development, mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, in this role, he will build, foster and maintain relationships with key strategic stakeholders, including shareholders, investors, customers, governmental/regulatory bodies, and suppliers.

Nic is an advocate of recognising access to telecoms as a human right and promoting open access to the internet across Africa. As the GCEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Liquid became Africa’s largest and fastest-growing technology company and played a lead role in laying the organisation’s pan-African fibre network, which stretches over 100,000 km. Under his leadership, Liquid was awarded Best African Wholesale Carrier for 10 years consecutively between 2012 till 2021.

He is a well-recognised entrepreneur and legal expert within the industry and was instrumental in the internationally recognised landmark constitutional cases resulting in the ending of the monopoly over fixed and mobile line telecommunication services in Zimbabwe. And he was only one of four Africans in the Telecom Business Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the telecommunications industry.

Nic holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of Cape Town and a Master of Laws in Information Technology and Telecommunications Law from the University of Strathclyde.

Hardy Pemhiwa

Hardy is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Cassava Technologies. Hardy was Group Chief Executive & Managing Director of Econet for six years, one of the pioneers of the mobile telecoms industry in Africa.

He has over 20 years’ experience of senior management experience including 5 years at Econet Wireless. He spent over 12 years as a managing director and co-founder of a regulated financial services firm in Kenya offering investment management and investment banking services across Eastern and Southern Africa. In this role, he helped companies in the region to raise more than $500m in debt and equity capital.

Hardy spent nine years as a senior executive at TDB Group (previously PTA Bank), of which five years were as an Executive Director and member of the Executive Committee. His responsibilities included overseeing the bank’s project finance portfolio across 18 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, managing relationships with clients and governments, and raising capital for the bank’s lending programs from local and global sources.

He is a seasoned board-level practitioner with extensive senior management experience across Eastern and Southern Africa in financial services, development banking, telecommunications, media, and infrastructure. Hardy holds engineering and business degrees from Queen Mary College (University of London) and the Edinburgh Business School.

Dr. Donald Kaberuka

Dr. Donald Kaberuka is the Senior Independent Director on our board of directors. He is Chairman, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of SouthBridge, a pan-African financial and investment advisory firm. He also serves as the chair of the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and as a Special Envoy of the African Union on the Peace Fund and Sustainable Financing of the Union.

He was the seventh President of the African Development Bank Group and served as Chairman of the African Development Bank’s board of directors for two successive five year terms between 2005 and 2015. Prior to joining the African Development Bank, Dr. Kaberuka was Finance Minister of Rwanda between 1997 and 2005. He currently serves on the boards of several corporates, global philanthropic foundations and think tanks, including as a board member of the Centre for Global Development, the Brookings Institution, Centum Investment Company, and was formerly a Senior Adviser to the global private equity firm, TPG-Satya, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Dr Kaberuka is an alumnus of the University of Glasgow.

Anil Dua

Anil Dua is a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director on our board of directors. He is currently a Partner of Gateway Partners, a private equity firm focused on Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Prior to Gateway, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, West Africa, after having served in a number of senior positions with Standard Chartered Bank, including head of origination and client coverage for Africa and global head of project export and structured trade finance. Mr. Dua has been a Non-Executive Director at Forte Oil plc since 2015, and a Non-Executive Director at African Export-Import Bank since 2010. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics.

Udo Lucht

Udo Lucht is a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of the Group’s Board of Directors.  He is currently Chief Investment Officer at Royal Bafokeng Holdings (Pty) Ltd. He is also on the board of Royal Bafokeng Platinum Limited and YeboYethu (RF) Limited and is an alternate director on the boards of RMH Holdings Limited and Rand Merchant Investment Holdings Limited.  Previously he worked for Rand Merchant Bank in various roles and Deloitte & Touche.  He is a Charter Financial Analyst and a Chartered Accountant (South Africa) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the University of Natal.

Lorraine Harper

Lorraine is the Group Chief Financial Officer at Cassava Technologies. She has previously served in several senior finance positions at Liquid Intelligent Technologies between 2018 and 2023, including as Deputy Chief Financial Officer.

During her career, Lorraine has worked in the finance teams at various internationally listed organisations in the retail, FMCG, and telecommunications sectors.  She brings over 25 years of experience and deep knowledge having been responsible for capital raising, refinancing, audit, group financial reporting, tax and treasury functions.

Lorraine holds a dual Honours Degree from Keele University LLB Law and Languages, she is also a qualified Chartered Accountant in the UK, having trained and qualified at KPMG.

Wiebke Schlömer

Wiebke Schlömer is currently the Director for Turkey and Central Asia at the International Finance Corporation (IFC/World Bank Group). She has over 25 years’ experience investing in Africa, Central and East Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, supporting companies to grow and maintain sustainable value, in line with the highest environmental, social and governance standards. Ms Schlömer has had several leadership positions in IFC across the globe, working with companies in the telecoms, technology, power, transportation, utilities and construction industries. As a global emerging market investor, she has wide experience with asset and portfolio management as well as comprehensive risk assessment and mitigation. She has further been supporting governments in strengthening approaches for private sector growth in their countries and worked extensively with Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs)

Ms. Schlömer is an experienced board member, currently serving on the Board of Hassan Allam Holding, a family-owned construction and utilities company in Egypt, and, on a pro-bono basis, of EIT Climate KIC, a non-profit foundation focused on supporting climate change through system transformations and innovation. She is also a member of the advisory committee (LPAC) for Actera, a Turkey focused private equity fund.

Before joining IFC, she worked with the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg and the German Development Bank DEG/KfW Banking Group in Cologne, Germany. Ms. Schlömer has a Master degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Göttingen in Germany, a Postgraduate degree in Development Policy from the German Development Institute, and completed the Corporate Director Program at Harvard Business School, Executive Education.

Donald H. Gips

Donald H. Gips is an Independent Non-Executive Director on our board of directors. He is also currently CEO of the Skoll Foundation.  Previously he was a Principal of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategic advisory and commercial diplomacy firm, also serving as Chair of the U.S.-South Africa Business Council, Senior Advisor at Blackstone, and outside director on the boards of Zayo, Black Rhino, Nextnav and Omnispace. Over the course of his career, Mr. Gips served as the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, ran the Office of Presidential Personnel for the Obama Administration, served in the White House during the Clinton administration, and served as Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. In addition, from 1998 to 2008, Mr. Gips was group vice president of global corporate development at Level 3 Communications. He received an MBA from the Yale School of Management, where he was honored as a Donaldson Fellow, and an undergraduate degree from Harvard University where he was presented with the Ames Award and the Paul Revere Frothingham Prize.

Lesley Goldwasser

Lesley Goldwasser is an Independent Non-Executive Director on our board of directors. She is currently a Managing Partner of GreensLedge. Prior to joining GreensLedge, Lesley headed up the Global Hedge Fund Strategic Services unit at Credit Suisse Group AG. Prior to Credit Suisse, Lesley spent twelve years at Bear Stearns where she was co-head of Global Debt and Equity Capital Markets and had global responsibility for Structured Products. Prior to her tenure at Bear Stearns, Lesley spent 12 years at Credit Suisse in a variety of management positions including responsibility for both the Asset Backed and Non-Agency Mortgage Trading Desks. Lesley was born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and is a graduate of the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 licensed.

Dr. Omobola Johnson

Dr. Omobola Johnson is an Independent Non-Executive Director on our board of directors. She is a former Minister of Communication Technology for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She served in this capacity between July 2011 and May 2015, under the Presidency of H.E. Goodluck Jonathan. Prior to serving in a public sector role, Dr. Johnson worked as a consultant with Accenture and Arthur Andersen for 25 years before taking early retirement from Accenture in March 2010 to complete a Doctorate in Business Administration, whose main research focus was looking into the improvement of business leadership development in companies in Nigeria. Since Sept 2015, Dr. Johnson is a Senior Partner at TLCom Capital LLP, a technology-focused venture capital firm, with specific responsibilities for fund raising, deal flow generation, and investments in technology companies in West Africa. Dr. Johnson has previously served as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Diamond Bank, currently Chairs the boards of Custodian and Allied Insurance, and Phoenix Africa Development Company, and sits on the Nigeria boards of FBNQuest Merchant Bank and Guinness Nigeria plc. Since 2001, she is a Founding Chairperson and member of the Board of Trustees of Women in Management and Business, an NGO whose mission is to elevate the profile and influence of women in management, business and public service through annual conferences and mentoring programmes. She holds a BSc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester, an MSc. in Digital Electronics from Kings College London, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Cranfield University.

Mark Nisbet

Mark Nisbet is an Independent Non-Executive Director on our board of Directors. Mark is a Director, Head of Transactions and Legal Counsel at ICECAP Limited, a Jersey regulated corporate services company. Mark has worked in the corporate and banking practice group for the majority of career and has had extensive involvement in a wide variety of corporate matters under Jersey law, including M&A and capital market transactions, windings up, director’s duties, distributions, share buy backs, drafting of articles of association and shareholder agreements and preparing all board and shareholder resolutions. He has advised various companies in acquisitions including HSBC in respect of funding the acquisition of the Jersey Royal Company Limited and PPG Group on the €2.25 billion sale to Generali of its 49% interest in the Generali PPF Joint Venture Group. Mark holds professional qualifications including Advocate of the Royal Court of Jersey and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Eric Venpin

Eric Venpin is an Non-Independent Non-Executive Director on our board of directors. Mr. Venpin is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is currently the Managing Director of The Lins Consulting Ltd and sits on the board of several companies. He started his career in London, UK, where he was involved in international tax planning and restructuring. He then became a Partner at Deloitte, Mauritius in charge of fiscal services and information technology. He was also one of the founder members of DTOS Ltd, one of the main service providers in the global business industry. In 2005, he was appointed as Managing Director of Mauritian Eagle Insurance Co Ltd, a listed insurance company in Mauritius and a year later became the Chief Operating Officer of the financial services sector of IBL, one of the largest listed conglomerates in Mauritius and was in charge of insurance, leasing and global business clusters.