Our Board

Uche Orji

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NSIA
BEng. Chemical Engineering, Uniport; MBA, Harvard

Mr. Uche Orji is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and brings to the Board, three decades of global experience in banking, asset management and financial services.

In addition to his role as MD & CEO, NSIA, he serves on the Boards of the Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Ltd (InfraCredit) as Chairman, and Non-executive Director at the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Family Homes Funds Ltd (FHFL), NG Clearing Ltd and Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC).

Over the years, he has worked in various organizations including; UBS Securities, New York, where he was a Managing Director and Global Coordinator of Semiconductor Equities Research; JP Morgan Securities, London, where he was a Vice President and later Managing Director within the Equities Division and Analyst in charge of European Semiconductor Equities Research; Goldman Sachs Asset Management where he was an Executive Director serving as Analyst/Portfolio Manager covering chemicals and telecommunication equipment sectors, as well as co-manager of Global Technology Fund and pan-European equities fund. Prior to his international work experience, he served as the Acting Financial Controller at Diamond Bank Plc (now part of Access Bank Plc), Nigeria, and started his career in the audit group of Arthur Andersen & Co. He completed his National Youth Service in Bauchi, where he worked at the Nigeria Industrial Development Bank, NIDB (now Bank of Industry.

As an analyst, he advised leading global asset managers, ranking #1 in Europe and top 3 in the United States according to Institutional Investors Magazine All-Equities Analyst Ranking. As part of his sector coverage, he provided strategic advice to the Management of leading companies such as Intel Electronics, Nvidia, ASML, Philips Electronics, AMD and Texas Instruments; and as global coordinator covered global companies such as Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, Nikon, Canon and Hynix. He has authored/co-authored hundreds of research papers in the Semiconductor sector as well as the broader technology investment sectors and was a regular commentator on the technology sector on all major news media.

Uche studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, graduating in 1990, and subsequently obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1998.

Chinua Azubike

Chinua Azubike is the pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of InfraCredit, prior to this, he was the project lead for the establishment of a Nigeria Infrastructure Credit Enhancement Facility, where he assisted GuarantCo and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority to establish InfraCredit as its first employee. He holds an MSc. in Finance & Financial Law from University of London and studied law at the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Chinua Azubike has garnered over 15 years’ experience in corporate/structured finance and debt capital market roles. Chinua has a strong and practical know-how of local capital markets with a firm interest in market development and has acted as a lead adviser in the establishment of key development finance institutions in Nigeria. He was the Managing Director of a corporate finance advisory firm, based in Lagos, Nigeria and prior to this worked in a top-tier domestic investment banking firm.

Chinua Azubike is currently the chairperson of the Regulation Consolidation Sub-Committee of FMDQ Debt Capital Market Development Project. Chinua is a protagonist of Harvard Business School’s Case Study on “Infrastructure in Nigeria: Unlocking Pension Fund Investments” published in February 2018 and is being taught on HBS’s MBA Program.

Chris Vermont

Chris Vermont retired as the CEO of GuarantCo in December 2016 after leading the institution for over 10 years since its inception. GuarantCo is one-of-a-kind – the only local currency guarantee facility in the world targeting infrastructure in frontier markets.

Chris previously held senior positions with ANZ Banking Group in London (as well as assignments in Kolkata and New Delhi) where he was head of project & structured finance and latterly head of debt solutions & distribution. He has over 20 years experience of finance for infrastructure projects in the emerging markets. Chris Vermont is a Non Executive Director and Chairman of the New Business Committee of InfraCredit responsible for an initial review of potential transactions ahead of detailed due diligence & term sheet negotiation with the potential client, and also the Credit Committee of the Board.

Stella Ojekwe-Onyejeli

Stella Ojekwe-Onyejeli is the Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer at NSIA. She joined NSIA following a tenure as Director and Head of Operational Risk & Control at Barclays covering Emerging Markets and Africa. She served as Vice President and Head of Quality Assurance, Africa at Citibank with direct oversight of the enterprise risk and control environment in 14 countries across Africa. She had a decade-long career at professional services firms Arthur Anderson and KPMG in Nigeria and South-Africa, providing financial advisory and business assurance services.

Mrs. Ojekwe-Onyejeli was a Federal Government of Nigeria Scholar, and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria Prize Winner. She is a qualified Chartered Financial and Tax Accountant, who holds a first degree in Chemistry from the University of Lagos. She holds an M.B.A from Cranfield School of Management in the UK.

Banji Fehintola

Banji Fehintola is the Senior Director, Head of Treasury and Financial Institutions at AFC (or Africa Finance Corporation). Mr. Fehintola is responsible for managing the Corporation’s balance sheet and implementing its annual funding program in the international capital markets. He oversees the Corporation’s Trade Finance as well as the Syndications businesses.

Mr. Fehintola joined AFC in January 2008 as the pioneer Treasurer of the Corporation. Prior to joining AFC, he worked with the Fixed Income Currencies and Commodities team of Citibank Nigeria and in the Tax & Business Advisory team of Arthur Anderson. Mr. Fehintola has a B.Sc degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan and an MPhil in International Finance from the University of Glasgow. He is a CFA charter holder as well as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

Sanjeev Gupta

Sanjeev Gupta is Executive Director and Head of AFC’s Financial Services division. As head of Financial Services, Mr. Gupta oversees the Corporation’s Treasury, Trade Finance, Syndication and Advisory business units. He has a wealth of experience in working across various emerging markets, especially in Sub Saharan Africa for over 25 years. He was the Lead Partner of the Emerging Markets M&A Centre of Excellence at Ernst & Young (EMEA). He also served as CEO of Sanlam Investment management – Emerging Markets (South Africa) and CEO of Botswana Insurance Holding Limited. He was the founder and Managing Partner of Emerging Opportunities Consulting (EOC), a boutique advisory & consulting firm focused on MENA, India & Africa-based corporates.

Mr. Gupta is a Fellow for the ICAI (India), an alumnus of the Oxford University Said Business School (UK), and has been an active participant in the Commonwealth Study Group activities under the auspices of the Duke of Edinburg Foundation.

He is a keen supporter of the activities of several UK and India based NGOs including Childreach International and Common Purpose. Among his other interests, he likes to play golf and is a contributor to various publications, does regular motivational speaking and workshops with senior corporate management teams and continues to be a speaker at conferences globally. He also has his own blog with Forbes under Forbes India where he shares his experiences of doing business in emerging markets.