Energy Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ethan Zindler

Head of Americas

BLOOMBERG/ WASHINGTON DC

Ethan Zindler is Head of Americas at BloombergNEF, a provider of insight, data and news on energy, advanced transportation, commodities, and emerging technologies. He manages analyst and commercial teams in New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Sao Paulo while also overseeing Climatescope (www.global-climatescope.org), a project profiling clean energy conditions in developing countries. He joined BNEF (originally known as New Energy Finance) in 2005 as its first U.S. employee and has held several positions with the group. His prior employment includes stints at The Cape Cod Times, the White House, and MTV. Zindler is a Senior Associate (non-resident), at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Energy and National Security Program. Zindler holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Georgetown University.

Ulimmeh Ezekiel

Specialist, Quantitative Modelling

BLOOMBERG/ BNEF

Ulimmeh-Hannibal Ezekiel is a Specialist in the Quantitative Modelling team at BloombergNEF in London. In addition to developing a broad range of BNEF's models, tools and datasets, he covers the Nigerian energy market in depth. Prior to joining BloombergNEF in 2009, Ulimmeh graduated with distinction from UCL with an MSc in Statistics and prior to that completed a BSc in Mathematics at Imperial College London.

Faruk Yusuf

Ag. Director, Renewable & Rural Power Access (RRD)

Federal Ministry of Power, Nigeria

Faruk is currently the Ag. Director, Renewable and Rural Power Access (RRD) in the Federal Ministry of Power (FMP), Nigeria. He is the United Nations - Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) National Focal Point in Nigeria, as well as the Coordinator of the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), funded by the German Government and the European Union, and implemented by GIZ and Federal Ministry of Power. In February 2020, he was appointed to serve as the Chairman, Project Delivery Committee (PDC) for the 3,050MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State, which is the biggest Power Project currently in West Africa. Faruk currently seat on the Board of Directors of Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader Plc (NBET) representing the Federal Ministry of Power. During the last 17years he has championed the development of several Sustainable Energy Policies in Nigeria. He was the Technical Assistant (TA) to four successive Honourable Ministers of Power (State) at the FMP from Sept. 2010 - 2014. He obtained an M. Sc Degree in Electrical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 2010 and B. Sc in Physics here in Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto in 1991. Furthermore, holds a PGD in Electrical Engineering from BUK, Kano in 2002 along with a PGD in Computer Science and Engineering from ESUTECH, Enugu, 1997 all in Nigeria. Faruk is registered Ph.D research student in Renewable Energy at the Department of Electrical Engineering in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In the cause of his Ph.D research he has visit several renowned Universities around the world as a visiting researcher, In particular Faruk was invited as a visiting scholar to the famous – National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in the Republic of China, Taiwan in 2016. In the last 10 years Faruk has been invited to speak at over 50 high level regional and international conferences and seminars around the world including in Several European Union states, U.S.A., Canada, Asia and Africa on sustainable energy development, focusing on renewable energy, energy efficiency and rural power access policies. Faruk was recently Elected as Distinguished Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (FNSE), and Fellow of the Solar Energy Society of Nigeria (FSESN), and he is a COREN registered engineer.

Pieter Joubert

Chief Investment Officer

CrossBoundary Energy

Pieter Joubert is the Chief Investment Officer of CrossBoundary Energy, The CrossBoundary Group’s Commercial & Industrial solar investment platform. He is responsible for fundraising, portfolio and investment management, risk mitigation, and investor relations for CrossBoundary Energy. He previously led C&I project sourcing, diligence and management across East and Southern Africa. Previously, Mr. Joubert led transaction support on CrossBoundary’s investment facilitation team in Juba, South Sudan, and prior to that worked in J.P. Morgan’s investment banking group in Sydney. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Acct; Fin.) and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) from Bond University in Australia, and is based in CrossBoundary’s office in Nairobi.

Nicola Armacost

Managing Director

Arc Finance, Ltd.

Nicola Armacost is the Managing Director of Arc Finance whose mission is to link the fields of finance, energy, water and sanitation. Arc’s financial institution partners have provided access to clean energy for over 4.5 million people in a range of countries including Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nicaragua and Haiti. Arc’s partners offer financing for distributed solar, roof-top solar, e-vehicles and a range of other uses as well as micro and mini grids. Before founding Arc Finance, Niki worked at Women’s World Banking, a global microfinance network. Niki is an advisor to a number of companies focused on the off-grid energy space as well as MFIs and banks. Niki served as the Co-Chair of the Investment and Finance Working Group, of the SE4All Practitioner Network and on the Board of MISFA the donor consortium for microfinance in Afghanistan. Niki is the Mayor of Hastings-on-Hudson in NY, USA. She has served as Mayor since 2019 and before that as Trustee since 2009. As Mayor, she has been a champion of sustainability initiatives and building local resiliency to climate change. Under her leadership, Hastings-on-Hudson is currently the highest-ranking Clean Energy Community (CEC) and Climate Smart Community (CSC) in New York State. The municipality has adopted the New York Stretch Energy Code, expanded financing for energy efficiency and green infrastructure through Open C-PACE financing, and passed a Low-Embodied Carbon Concrete Resolution. Mayor Armacost’s approach is intentionally broad - her administration has made advancements on stewardship of natural resources, including dedicating over 85% of the municipal owned open space as parkland, investing in EVs and alternative fuel infrastructure, resiliency planning as well as “buy local” initiatives.

Ifeanyi Orajaka

Chief Operating Officer

GVE Projects Ltd

Ifeanyi Orajaka has over ten years’ experience in renewable energy systems design, entrepreneurship, business development and rural electrification planning. As the Founder/CEO of GVE Projects Ltd, he has led GVE from an undergraduate student project idea to become a globally recognized brand, a market leader in the Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and one of the fastest growing private companies in Africa as recently recognized by the London Stock Exchange. Ifeanyi is an alumnus of the Driving Profitable Growth and is currently participating in the Senior Executives Program-Africa Executive Education Programs of the Harvard Business School. Ifeanyi holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Electronics Engineering from the Federal University of Technology Owerri and a master’s degree in Power Systems Engineering from the University of Port-Harcourt; both in Nigeria. Ifeanyi is an Obama Foundation Fellow, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, an IEEE Smart Village Ambassador, a Mentor, and a member of the Africa-Europe High-Level Platform for Sustainable Energy Investments in Africa. His passion towards ending extreme energy poverty in the Africa have attracted him several international recognitions such as the Forbes Africa special 60th anniversary report on Nigeria feature, Guardian Newspaper’s One of Nigeria's 100 most innovative CEOs in 2019, 2016 Future Africa Award in Business, the 2016 Africa Energy Leader of the Year, the 2018 participant of the Dutch Visitor Program.