ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Ram Kolluri

Starting with Merrill Lynch, New York, 34 years ago Ram moved on to co-found Global Wealth Management in 1981 then called Individual Asset Planning Corporation. He has been at the forefront of managing Investment Funds starting with Standard & Poors Funds in 1993 and managing over $2 billion in assets. He has been recognised by Mutual Funds magazine as a Top 250 Wealth and ETF Manager"; amongst the "Top 55 Financial Advisors by Bloomberg Press" and many more.

Ram holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Andhra University and an M.B.A. from Pace University, United States.  He also holds certificates as a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Financial Planner™ Practitioner from the College of Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado.

He is often invited as a speaker and panelist at numerous professional meetings and has appeared on CNN, CNN/fn, CNBC, PBS, and Bloomberg Radio and Television.

Philippe Kpenou

Senior Advisor

28 years of experience delivering business performance enhancements to corporate clients. As a specialist in Retail Banking, Card and ATM Services, Philippe has been able to use expertise in process engineering, marketing, management and turnaround services for Banking Groups across West & Central Africa. He also operated as corporate partner with KPMG between 2000 and 2003 until KPMG bought parts of Arthur Andersen and subsequently signed an agreement with Ernst & Young. 

Over the years Philippe has implemented commercial banking strategies that has seen over $800 Million deposited across various client Bank accounts. Some of the clients he has worked with in the past include ONA - Managem (Mining); ICB Banking Group (Banking); Union des Assurances de Paris (Insurance); Nestle (Agribusiness); ASECNA (Transport); Spacetel (Telecoms); UNIDO (Organisations).

Philippe is a Graduate of ENAss-Paris with a specialization in Insurances, Actuary Sciences and Risk Management and also holds a MPhil in Management Information Systems.

Ibukun Adebayo

Senior Advisor

Ibukun is the Co Head of Emerging Markets at the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) and responsible for business development activities in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Ibukun spends a majority of his time working with companies, international advisors and regulators in the region interested in London Stock Exchange's markets. In this capacity he has overseen almost 60 London IPO's from the regions as well as being the Exchange's regional contact for companies that have listed on London's Main Market Professional Securities Market, Specialist Fund Market and AIM.

Educated in Bath, United Kingdom Ibukun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and started his career as a foreign exchange trader for NatWest Markets in London in 1995. He went on to set up and run a successful business specialising in managing foreign exchange risk for African and Asian companies exposed to currency fluctuations as well as managing a Forex fund investing in the dollar major currency pairs.

Prior to joining the London Stock Exchange Ibukun worked for a financial communications company specialising in the dissemination of regulatory announcements, here he ran a team dedicated to blue chip clients from across the globe in the capacity of financial communications adviser and was special adviser to the Mittal family and their companies.

Christian Udechukwu

Senior Advisor

Christian is the founder and Managing Director of BusinessinAfrica Events (BIAE), an international known PR and Marketing firm focused on improving foreign investment flows into Africa. He is also Strategic Director of IC Publications (Publishers of African Business, African Banker and New African magazines).

Other notable roles he holds include being: the Africa Representative for Bloomberg Multimedia Group covering Bloomberg TV, Mobile, Bloomberg BusinessWeek & Bloomberg Markets; and a Partner with the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) and Corporate Council on Africa.

Christian was a Guinness Scholar at Leeds University and has had professional work experience with blue chip organisations namely Guinness Brewing Worldwide, London; Office of Fair Trading (OFT), London; and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, Paris.

He is a Consultant commentator on African Affairs to a number of global media organisations.