Africa’s Battery Metals Potential: Key Trends and Strategies

Kwasi Ampofo

Head of Metals and Mining

BloombergNEF

Kwasi Ampofo is the Head of Metals and Mining at BloombergNEF based in London. His team's research covers industrial metals, rare-earth metals, battery metals and the pathways for miners to reach net-zero. Prior to BloombergNEF, he was a mining engineer at Anglo American and a management consultant at Nous Group in Australia. He completed his PhD in Mineral Economics at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Juliet Akambce

Head of Mining & Metals

Stanbic Bank

Juliet is the Head of Mining & Metals for Stanbic Bank Ghana, with additional responsibility for the West Africa Region. She has more than 15 years of banking experience across Global Markets, Treasury and Capital Management, Credit, Sales and Relationship Management. She is passionate about helping clients explore financial markets to unlock real value while improving upon humanity and the environment for future generations. She believes in Women in Mining and Leadership and is committed to improve inclusion through advocacy. She has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Sales Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania - Wharton Business School and a Certificate in Mastering Strategic Client Management from the University of Cape Town - Graduate School of Business. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Ghana Business School and an Executive MBA in Strategic and Project Management from the Paris Graduate School of Management. She is a certified dealer by ACI, the Financial Markets Association. Juliet is a certified John Maxwell Team Trainer, Speaker and a Dream Releaser Coach.

David Brocas

Head Cobalt Trader

Glencore

David Brocas is currently heading the Cobalt Marketing and Trading activities of Glencore, based in Baar, Switzerland. He joined Glencore in 2013 where he has been trading cobalt and molybdenum products. He is a member of the LME Cobalt Committee. He is also Charing the Executive Committee of the Cobalt Institute since 1st July 2020. Prior to joining Glencore, he worked in the trading division of BP in London for 6 years, where he gained exposure to Gas, LNG and Oil products in various operational, commercial and analytical roles. He holds a Master’s degree from the French engineering school “Ecole des Mines” in Nancy, France where he studied Geology as well as a Master’s degree Energy and Markets from IFP School, Paris, France.

Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor

Minister for Land and Natural Resources

Republic of Ghana

Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor is Ghana's Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and a Member of Parliament for Damongo. He was Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of operations at the Office of the President of Ghana from 2017 to 2020. He was called to the Ghana Bar in 2012 as a Solicitor and Barrister of the Supreme Court. Hon Jinapor was then employed at the commercial and corporate law firm, Messrs Kulendi@Law, upon his graduation from the Ghana School of Law. His two years at the firm saw him rise from a pupil to senior associate. Samuel has a Master of Laws Degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the Faculty of Law, University Of Ghana; an LLB and a BSc in Physics.

Kome Johnson-Azuara

Associate Vice President, Investments

Africa Finance Corporation

Kome is an investment professional at the Africa Finance Corporation, a multilateral development finance institution established to help address Africa’s infrastructure needs with an investment portfolio of US$8+ billion. Her key knowledge areas include project development and principal investing across the power, heavy industries, telecoms, transport, climate finance, mining, and oil and gas business areas. Her primary responsibility focuses on leading the corporation’s sustainability initiatives across both development and climate impact areas. She has also significantly contributed to the successful closing of both equity and debt transactions across Africa with a total value of US$4+ billion. Kome’s responsibilities also include managing co-investment opportunities with the US$10 billion Green Climate Fund and representing the AFC as a lab member of the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance. Prior to joining AFC, she worked at Kaizen Venture Partners as an investments and investor relations professional; and at Goldman Sachs in the Securities Division focused on sales strategy. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France and an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering (with a Specialization in Architectural Design Engineering) from Stanford University, California, USA.