Directors and Advisory Board Members

Directors

Jignesh Shah - Founder, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, Financial Technologies Group

Jignesh Shah is the Founder, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Financial Technologies Group. Mr. Shah has a Bachelors’ Degree in Engineering from the University of Mumbai and a degree from the New York Institute of Finance to study capital markets and futures and options trading. Mr. Shah returned to India after his studies with a vision to bring ‘Wall Street to the man on the street’, driving inclusive and equitable growth through technology. He has received numerous recognitions for his achievements, including the ‘Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ award for Business Transformation and the ‘US-India Businessman of the Year’ award. He has also been recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a ‘Young Global Leader’ and by Rotary International as a ‘Global Social Entrepreneur’.

Chris Goromonzi - Managing Director - Bourse Africa Limited

Chris Goromonzi is the founding Managing Director of Bourse Africa Limited. An economics graduate with over 20 years experience in various fields in the financial sector, Mr. Goromonzi worked for a commercial bank as well as a development bank before pioneering the venture capital industry in Zimbabwe, joining a small team of officers to establish the Venture Capital Company of Zimbabwe (VCCZ). Mr. Goromonzi was involved in the establishment of Trust Merchant Bank (Zimbabwe) as a co-founder and a significant shareholder, with specific responsibilities for Business Development and Corporate Banking. Trust Bank converted its license to a commercial bank, at which point Mr. Goromonzi assumed the position of Deputy Managing Director, responsible for Merchant Banking. The Bank evolved into Trust Holdings Limited, and Mr Goromonzi assumed several key responsibilities within the Group. Mr. Goromonzi was involved in founding Pivot Capital Partners in South Africa, as the director responsible for Structured Trade Finance. Mr. Goromonzi is a regular speaker at the African Export – Import Bank’s conferences and has also been a resource person and speaker at several agricultural and commodity finance conferences sponsored by the United Nations.

V. Hariharan - Director of Strategy, Financial Technologies Group

V. Hariharan steers the Financial Technologies Group’s strategy and corporate development efforts, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, strategic and global expansion partnerships. He has been overseeing Group’s exchange ventures including the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX India), Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), Global Board of Trade (GBOT) and Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX). He has over twenty five years of experience in financial services industry covering strategy, architecture, delivery and operations of IT solutions with a track record of planning and delivering robust and efficient front, mid, and back-office for exchanges and brokerage firms. Since 2001, Mr Hariharan has been working with Financial Technologies and as a core member to ensure that the company continues to build its leadership in innovation and growth. In this role, he works directly with the CEO on major strategic issues and opportunities for the company.

Lamon Rutten - Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, MCX India

Lamon Rutten is a world-renowned authority on commodity markets. His main area of focus at Financial Technologies / MCX India is to drive the development of the entire commodities market value chain in India, as well as to deploy the Group’s expertise in its international ventures. Mr. Rutten previously served as Chief - Finance, Risk Management and Information in the Commodities Branch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva. He was a part of UNCTAD from 1990 until 2006, with a secondment in 2000-2001 to serve as a senior advisor to the International Task Force on Commodity Price Risk Management of the World Bank. In UNCTAD, Mr. Rutten was responsible for developing the organization's work on commodity price risk management and structured finance. He has conducted extensive work in the areas of commodity policy and regulatory development, commodity market reform, institutional development for the private and public sector, and capacity-building in the financial sector. He has published as well as given training and policy advice on issues including the practical modalities of use of risk management instruments and structured commodity finance; prudential rules for the use of risk management markets; the development of national and regional commodity exchanges; and the improvement of the legal and institutional framework for commodity price risk management and collateralized finance.

Advisory Board Members

His Excellency, Mr Festus Mogae - Chairman

His Excellency was President of the Republic of Botswana between 1998-2008, and is an esteemed African statesman. He is the second and current laureate of the prestigious Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the most valuable individually awarded prize in the world. Other positions held include: Chairman of the South African Development Community, Minister of Finance of Botswana, Governor of the Bank of Botswana, and Alternative Governor of the African Development Bank. His Excellency has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards.

Mr Felix Adahi Bikpo

Mr. Bikpo, an Ivorian, is a former Managing Director of Ecobank, Niger. He has extensive knowledge and contacts in the East and Central African region, having worked for a banking group that is represented in twelve West and Central African countries. He is currently Group Chief Executive and Board member of Atlantic Financial Group, a bank that has eight subsidiaries in seven countries.

Mr. Christopher C. Edordu

An economist from Nigeria, retired in 2005 after a successful career as a banker, Mr. Edordu has experienced banking at rural level, having been a Chairman of the National Agricultural Credit Study which formed the basis for the establishment of Community Banks in Nigeria. At national level, he pioneered and launched the Exim Bank of Nigeria as the founding Chief Executive Officer and at continental level, he was the pioneer President of the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank).

Mr. Siyanga Malumo

A well-travelled banker from Zambia with 36 years track record, Mr. Malumo has travelled and done business in 115 countries, including many African countries. From 1986 through 1995, Mr. Malumo worked for Meridien Bank in numerous capacities, both as executive vice president for corporate relations and chief executive responsible for the network of 16 West and Central African countries. From 1980 to 1986, Mr. Malumo worked at the African Development Bank as the chief of the Information Division. Currently Mr. Malumo is Director at Fieldstone, an investment banking firm with a focus on energy and infrastructure financial advisory.

Dr Kombo J Moyana

An experienced Zimbabwean economist who has had an illustrious career in international finance and banking. Dr Moyana worked as an International Finance Economist under UNCTAD before joining the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) as a Deputy Governor. He was elevated to become Zimbabwe’s first post-independence Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, a position he held until 1993 when he left the Reserve bank to set up his own Investment bank. Dr Moyana is currently the Executive Secretary of COMESA Clearing House, reporting to Central Bank Governors of the participating Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries.