Valentine is a chartered accountant (MA Development Economics - Cambridge, UK), who worked with Meridian Bank before becoming CEO of the Zambia Privatization Agency, where he oversaw the disposal and privatisation of around 240 businesses. He was previously Central African Director for CDC Capital Partners, where he initiated and executed a number of transactions. Currently an entrepreneur, Valentine has made a number of private equity investments in the Zambian economy and the region. He holds several board positions in Zambia, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, and is Chairman of Zambian Breweries, MTN (Zambia) Limited and ALBIDON (Zambia) Limited, including his recent appointment as Non-executive Director, CDC Group plc (UK). Valentine continues to be at the forefront of promoting both local and foreign investment into Africa and has a portfolio of interesting investments in the financial, mining and property sectors.
Duncan Owen
Managing Partner
Qualified as a chartered accountant and engineer, Duncan’s resume begins at Unilever, where he spent 18 years and rose to the position of MD of Unilever, Zambia. He then joined CDC Capital Partners as Business Director - Africa, responsible for the company’s businesses across the continent. His portfolio comprised more than 10 companies with 28 000 employees in eight countries. Duncan was also the Deputy CEO of AFGRI Products, the largest division of a JSE-quoted agri-services company. He has completed in excess of 40 ‘change of control’ transactions, and has lived and worked in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Ghana.
Stuart Bradley
Partner
Stuart has 14 years of private equity experience in Southern Africa with CDC Capital Partners, Aureos Capital and the Phatisa Group. As an Investment Executive in CDC’s private equity funds in South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to name a few, Stuart's experience spans several countries within Southern Africa. He was Managing Partner of the Aureos Southern Africa Fund and General Manager of Takura Ventures in Zimbabwe. Stuart co-founded the Phatisa Group, which specialises in private equity and BEE transactions in Eastern and Southern Africa. At Phatisa, he was lead advisor to the Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF), which successfully first closed at US$ 625 million with purely African capital.
Thato Mahlong
Deal Principal
Thato, a Rhodes graduate joined Phatisa from Nedbank Capital. He has extensive experience in corporate finance, financial modeling, mergers and acquisitions.
Colin Watson
Agri Business Africa
An agricultural graduate with an MBA, Colin is an agri business development professional with more then two decades of experience worldwide. Now focusing exclusively on Africa, he has worked in more than 20 African countries in West, East and Southern Africa. He is an experienced manager, consultant and analyst, with excellent strategic, commercial and interpersonal skills. Colin has lived for over five years in West Africa (Gambia/Ghana) and for eight years in Southern Africa (South Africa and Zambia).
Peter MacSporran
Phatisa Zambia
Peter is a qualified agriculturalist with 28 years' experience in hands-on farm management. Previously director of Tanganda & Seed Co., and past President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) and Commercial Oilseeds Producers Association in Zimbabwe, as well as the founding board Chairman of the Zambian Commodities Exhange (ZAMACE). Peter is now consulting in Zambia on agricultural project investments, with a focus on foreign project identification, implementation and oversight. He is a registered financial advisor and consultant to Barclays and Stanbic banks, director of AFGRI Corporation and Chairman of Afgri Leasing (Zambia) Ltd.
Paul Wythe Phatisa East Africa
Qualified as a chartered accountant (ICAEW) in 1985, Paul spent three years with Deloitte in Central London. His career has seen him being Head of Internal Audit at Lonrho East Africa (Nairobi), Finance Director at The British Printing Company Limited, Country Finance Director at Lonrho Africa Plc (Malawi), and Corporate Development Director: Africa with the James Finlay Group (Africa). He has also been involved in interim management and consultation work. With extensive international experience in Africa and a wide range of strengths, from finance, supply chain management and project management to restructuring, HR and change management, Paul currently heads up Phatisa East Africa.
Izelle le Roux - Owen
Head of Marketing
Izelle, a post-graduate from the University of Johannesburg has more than 17 years' experience in the South African corporate, financial, electronic communications, marketing and advertising industries. Previously National Marketing, Branding and Communications Manager for Ince (Pty) Ltd, South Africa and managed her own boutique advertising agency, Izelle currently heads up Marketing, Branding and Advertising for the Phatisa Group.
Duncan Pringle
Head of Agri Business South Africa
Duncan is an agricultural economist with 22 years' experience in agri business development and development finance. He was previously the Divisional Manager: Agri business at Ithala Development Finance Corporation South Africa (DFI), a position he held for 13 years. In this role, he specialised in agricultural and agri business credit schemes, quasi-government equity investment in agri business ventures, and specialist advisory services. During this time he also served on a number of boards of agricultural companies, development trusts, in the position of Vice-chairman, Chairman of the Audit Committee and Non-executive Director. Duncan is currently Managing Director of Phatisa Equity.
Danie Jordaan
Agri Business Consultant
Danie is an agricultural economist with a particular interest in agri business and with additional qualifications in project management. He is experienced in strategic management, market analysis and strategy development, capacity building, brand development, project management, supply chain analysis, business modelling, sector analysis and agri business entrepreneurship. His career includes appointments at the University of Pretoria and more recent - Regional Agribusiness Coordinator, Southern and East Africa, Market Matters Inc (USA based agri business SME development agency). Danie is an agri business associate with Phatisa Equity.
