Investment Team

Emile Du Toit

(Head of PAIDF 1)

BComm Honours, CA(SA) and CFA Charter, has 12 years Corporate Finance, Private Equity and Investment Banking experience.

Prior to joining Harith, he worked for the Development Bank of Southern Africa where he was Divisional Executive for Private Equity and Investment Banking. After completing his articles at KPMG he joined KPMG Corporate Finance and subsequently also SANIP, a joint BAE/SAAB investment initiative. He joined the DBSA in 2003 as a Senior Investment Officer, and was promoted to Head of Corporate Finance in 2005 and then Divisional Executive for the Investment Banking Division in 2008. He held that position since 2008 and also had overall responsibility for all Equity Investments at the DBSA, including the Private Equity Portfolio. He has represented DBSA on the Boards of various Investee Companies and also on the advisory Boards of various Private Equity Funds. In addition, he also serves on the board of the South African Venture Capital Association (SAVCA).

Lesiba Morallane

(Investment Director)

BComs Honours, MBA, has significant finance and telecommunications experience, with financial management expertise gained from both private and public sectors.

He joined Vodacom SPRL in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1999 as Head of Financial Management, has worked for Vodacom South Africa – Midrand, the Limpopo Economic Development in South Africa as Group Finance Director, and as a Chief Operating Officer for four years. He sits on several boards, including The South African Road Agency, Limpopo Province, and Checkers / Shoprite (Proprietary) Limited – Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province.

Sipho Makhubela

(Investment Director)

CA (SA), MBA, has ten years of merchant banking experience.

Prior to joining Harith, he worked for Investec Bank, Coronation Capital and African Merchant Bank in South Africa, with focus on aircraft financing, plant and equipment financing, and various acquisition finance transactions. He is responsible for CIVH and Main One Investments.

Roberto Ferreira

(Investment Director)

MPhil in Economics (Cum Laude), MBA (Finance), spent 14 years in investment banking focused on limited recourse projects, export and acquisition finance in the power and natural resources sectors prior to joining Harith.

He has transacted in numerous African countries and his roles have incorporated sourcing projects, evaluation and structuring thereof, securing mandates, and ultimately achieving financial close. He has spent time with Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank and Absa Bank Limited trading as Absa Capital in South Africa, and his experience includes time with the International Finance Corporation in Washington DC.

Souleymane Keita

(Investment Director)

BSc Actuarial Mathematics (University of Montreal – Canada), MBA (ESSEC -France)

Souleymane Keita joined Harith in 2007, where he has led and participated in a range of private and PPP transactions in energy, transport and telecommunications fields across Africa. He joined Harith after 5 years at the African Development Bank, where he was successively a Senior Investment Officer in the Infrastructure Finance Division, Senior Financial Analyst in Republic and a Senior Analyst in the Treasury Department. He was involved in a number of projects, including appraising a power project in Uganda, water projects in Burkina Faso and Nigeria and transacting transport programs in Morocco and Senegal. Before this he was an Investment Manager in charge of the development of new financial products at Dexia Public Finance. Souleymane’s prior experience includes stints Parabas Affaires Industrielles and Lazard Freres & Cie.

Orville Cachia

(Investment Director)

BCom Honours, was employed by Nedbank Capital in South Africa as an Investment Banker prior to joining Harith.

He has extensive experience in project and infrastructure finance, having specialised in the provision of advisory services and finance to large projects and concessions. He has over 24 years field experience and has been involved in the preparation, funding and implementation of a wide variety of infrastructure projects, including the New Limpopo Bridge between RSA and Zimbabwe, the N4 Maputo Corridor Toll Road, the New rail line and upgrading of existing railway lines between Beitbridge and Heavy Junction in Zimbabwe, and the first limited recourse BEE (Eyesizwe) Mining transaction. Orville is fluent in English, Afrikaans and French.

Ernest Nyarko

(Investment Director)

Masters (Economics with Finance), BA (Economics and Statistics), ACCA Certificate, Certificates in Project Management, Business Process Improvement, and Private Equity, has over 15 years experience and heads Harith’s West Africa Office in Accra, Ghana.

Before joining Harith, he occupied key positions of accountability in organisations based in Ghana involved with pension fund management, private equity fund management, investment and development banking, and economic research. He has worked on multi-million dollar projects spanning telecoms, banking and finance, energy, real estate, manufacturing, and hospitality across Africa. He has published finance and investment articles in world-class journals, including the Journal of Small Business Management and the International Journal for Financial Services Management.

Beryl Phalatse

(Investment Manager)

BCom (Accounting & Economics), higher Diploma Investment Management. Over 10 years of experience in structuring and executing project/structured financings and M&A transactions, with a focus on energy and infrastructure.

She was a Senior Account Manager in the Corporate and Structured Finance department of the Industrial Development Corporation in South Africa. Prior to joining the IDC, she was employed with Fieldstone, an international project finance advisory firm specialising in energy, for 7 years.

Candice Koffmann

(Investment Director – Legal)

BA LLB, LLM, has 5 years project finance experience.

She worked for Nedbank Capital’s Infrastructure Project finance team in South Africa prior to joining Harith, where she was involved in the debt funding of various projects, ranging from telecommunications to social infrastructure (PPPs). Prior to joining Nedbank Limited, she was employed as a tax lawyer for 4 years with Arthur Andersen, later KPMG. She is admitted as an Attorney in the High Court of the Republic of South Africa.

Somdatt Kurdikar

(Head-International)

Somdatt Kurdikar, based in London, is responsible for Harith’s fund raising from international investors and unlocking global capital for deployment in Africa. He will also be sourcing opportunities and partners globally to invest alongside Harith. Harith is the exclusive fund manager for Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund – a US$ 630 million fund – investing in infrastructure in Africa.

With over 13 years of corporate finance experience, prior to Harith, Som was responsible for the business development effort in Africa for an Indian conglomerate, Essar – a company with diversified infrastructure assets and a revenue of US$ 15 billion. Prior to that Som has been in investment banking having worked for Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital in London.

An MBA from INSEAD, he is a chemical engineer from India’s top ranked university Institute of Chemical Technology and a post-graduate diploma from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management.