department: Capital Markets

Yusuf is an investment banking and structured finance specialist with over a decade of experience structuring and executing complex capital markets and infrastructure financing transactions across Nigeria. At FSD Africa, he contributes deep expertise in debt and equity capital markets, structured finance, and transaction advisory, supporting efforts to mobilise private capital and strengthen African financial markets. Over his career, he has advised on and executed transactions exceeding USD10 billion across the power, energy, industrial, financial services, and infrastructure sectors, with experience spanning the full transaction lifecycle.

Prior to joining FSD Africa, Yusuf served as Managing Director, Investment Banking at ARM Holding Company, where he led the establishment and operationalisation of the firm’s investment banking platform. He defined its strategic direction, built its transaction pipeline, and oversaw the execution of advisory and capital markets mandates, successfully launching the platform and delivering transactions within its first year.

Earlier, as Corporate Finance Specialist at Dangote Industries Limited, he played a key role in financing the Dangote Refinery, including structuring NGN300 billion in senior unsecured bonds and supporting the landmark divestment of a 20% equity stake to Nigeria’s state-owned oil company. These transactions demonstrated the capacity of local capital markets to mobilise long-term capital for large-scale infrastructure.

He also held investment banking, deal and strategic advisory roles at Sterling Bank, PwC Nigeria, and FCMB Capital Markets Limited, overseeing investor relations, as well as advising on project finance, capital raising, and M&A transactions.

Yusuf holds an MSc in Financial Engineering and Risk Management from the University of Essex and a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Lagos.

David is a senior investment banker and capital-markets advisor with over two decades of experience structuring, financing, and executing transactions across public and private markets across Africa. He has led and advised on equity, debt, and fund-level transactions involving institutional investors, DFIs, governments, and private sponsors—translating policy objectives and development capital into investable structures with clear risk-return frameworks. His work spans listed and private securities, SME and infrastructure finance, and blended-finance vehicles.

Alongside transaction execution, David is widely recognised for his role in building market infrastructure and investment ecosystems that enable capital to flow at scale. He has advised stock exchanges, regulators, DFIs, and fund managers on market design, product development, and catalytic-capital deployment—while remaining closely involved in live deal structuring and investor negotiations.

David has consulted for British International Investment (BII), African Development Bank and the Ghana Stock Exchange. For FSDA, he has led the scoping and design of funds in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda.

He holds an MBA and a Bsc Administration (Finance) degree from the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).

Henry is a seasoned public policy practitioner with over two decades of experience shaping Ghana’s economic diplomacy, debt management, and treasury operations.

At the Ministry of Finance, Henry served as Head of Treasury Operations, where he oversaw the preparation of the weekly Public Sector Borrowing Requirement and chaired Treasury Management Committee meetings that shaped government financing decisions. He coordinated Ghana’s engagements with the three international rating agencies, ensuring the country’s fiscal narrative was presented with clarity and confidence to global markets. Earlier in his career, he led the Bank Account Analysis, Reserves, and Interventions Unit, managing the timely deployment of resources to meet both recurrent expenditures and investment needs of government.

Henry served on several high-level committees, including the Open Market Operations Committee, Government Securities Auction Committee, Treasury Management Committee, Budget Implementation Standing Committee, Sovereign Credit Ratings Team, and Cash and Revenue Management Committee. His contributions consistently advanced transparency, discipline, and efficiency in Ghana’s public financial management.

Henry contributed to the development of Ghana’s credit risk assessment framework, participated in debt sustainability analyses, and helped design medium-term debt management strategies that strengthened fiscal resilience. His role in mobilising concessional and non-concessional financing unlocked critical resources for national projects and programmes. In 2020, he served on the technical committee for Ghana’s Eurobond Roadshow, which successfully raised approximately US$3.0 billion from international capital markets. He was also part of the technical team that drafted Ghana’s domestic market regulations, including the Primary Dealers and Bond Market Specialist guidelines, which continue to shape the domestic securities market.

Henry holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Tokyo and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Cape Coast. He is a fellow of the Mandela Washington Fellowship Programme, a flagship initiative launched by President Barack Obama to empower Africa’s next generation of leaders. He is also a member of the Chartered Economists-Ghana and the International Leadership Association (ILA), underscoring his professional credibility and commitment to excellence.

Henry is married and blessed with a beautiful daughter.

Bellarmine is a finance and investment professional with over 12 years of experience in sustainable finance, strategy, and blended capital solutions across Africa. He has worked with leading conservation, development, and financial institutions to unlock over $190 million in financing for high-impact projects.

He previously served at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), where he led the design and execution of sustainable finance mechanisms and Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) deals to support large-scale conservation outcomes. His work under the Enduring Earth partnership and USAID’s Heshimu Bahari initiative advanced innovative nature finance models for blue economy, biodiversity protection, and long-term ecosystem stewardship. Notably, he played a central role in structuring the Kenya and Gabon PFP deals, collectively valued at $985 million. Before this, at Parker Randall, he led investment and transaction advisory serving multiple mandates including M&A, end to end investment support and execution – buy & sell side, due diligence, financial structuring and post investment support for financial services, infrastructure, energy, water access, green and agribusiness projects across Africa. His work has helped design bankable proposals for multiple sectors, governments, NGOs, and private enterprises.

Bellarmine holds a BSc in Actuarial Science, an MBA, and is a CFA Level III candidate. He began his career in banking, business analytics, and risk advisory, and has consistently delivered financial strategies aligned with impact, scalability, and resilience. His work has supported institutions such as GIZ, FCDO, USAID, McKinsey, Chemonics, Sidian Bank & Continental-Re, among other firms. He brings a tested and proven ability to translate complex financial challenges into practical, mission-aligned solutions for sustainable development.

Cecilia Bjerborn Murai brings 25 years of experience in international and African settings, where she has been involved in developing and implementing programs and projects that focus on sustainable finance policy, investment strategies and instruments, and investor education.  She has been an active player in the global sustainable business and finance sector since its inception and has throughout her career established impactful strategies and partnerships for institutions engaged in sustainable finance.

She has worked for over 15 years with the United Nations and the World Bank Group. During this time, she worked on global initiatives such as the UN Principles for Responsible Investing and at IFC as Global Sustainable Investing Lead with institutional investors in the US, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East and Southern Africa on their ESG integration strategies.  She was part of pioneering projects such as the implementation of the first ESG equity indices in Brazil, MENA, and India. Before her work with the World Bank Group, she gained experience working for specialist sustainability management consulting firms in Sweden and the UK implementing Environmental and Social Management Systems (ESMS) and reporting for clients in the construction, manufacturing, and utilities sectors.

She has spent the last decade living and working in Africa, primarily in transaction advisory for sustainable infrastructure as well as developing the Green and Sustainable Bond Market as a consultant for FSD Africa, creating sustainable bond listing guidelines in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, and the SADC region, and providing training and technical support for green bond issuers, stock exchanges, fund managers, and regulators. She has also authored several market-leading Sustainability and Integrated Annual Reports for private sector companies in Kenya. She was a technical regional advisor for the EU Global Gateway project and led the Climate Finance pillar of the first African Climate Summit. Following that, she developed a program on debt sustainability initiatives and sustainable investment mobilization for UNECA and the African Union.

Cecilia holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering from Imperial College UK, is an Associate Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (AMIEM) UK and holds a certificate in Project Management from George Washington University, USA.

She enjoys spending time in nature with her family and supports the primary school’s extracurricular activities related to conservation and beach sports.

We are glad to announce that Lilian has joined the team in the role of Assistant, Capital Markets within the Capital Markets team. Previously she has interned with FSD Africa and later worked as a consultant for a period of one year. She had also interned with Kenya Power and Lighting Company.

Lilian is a passionate individual with a wide range of interests. She possesses a love for data and its potential to create positive change.

Lilian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Financial Economics from Strathmore University and is a recent graduate of the McKinsey & Co. Forward Programme that equips young talent with must-have practical skills to help them succeed in the future of work. Currently, Lilian is on course to becoming a certified Gender Equality Champion.

Outside of work, her interests include reading stories by African writers, watching National Geographic channel, sports and spending time in the great outdoors.

Cynthia brings over 6 years of experience in implementing administrative systems, procedures, policies and coordinating projects.

She previously worked at PATH as a Senior Programs Assistant for 3 years. Before joining PATH, she worked with Amref Health Africa Kenya as a program assistant within the WASH Unit. Her role involved program strategy planning, events management, record keeping, communication and advocacy for Health Projects in Kenya.

She holds a Bachelors degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and is currently pursuing a Masters in Project Management.

When she has time away from work and family, she enjoys swimming, travelling and reading.

Evelyne is a passionate Programme Coordinator with over 6 years of experience in coordinating different projects. She previously worked at MicroSave Consulting (MSC) a boutique consulting firm where she was responsible for training and project coordination at The Helix Institute of Digital Finance, the training arm of MSC. Some of her responsibilities included administration, logistics, marketing and communications, relationship management and alumni relations.

She holds a Diploma in Project Management and a bachelors degree in Business Administration from the Kenya Methodist University.

Joy is a Financial Sector Professional with a six years combined experience in banking operations and capital markets.

Joy previously worked at the Capital Markets Authority in Kenya (CMA Kenya). She was charged with reviewing new licence applications and approval requests whilst conducting compliance monitoring on existing market intermediaries. She is passionate about fintech and was a member of the Sandbox Review Committee (SRC) at CMA Kenya.

Prior to joining CMA Kenya, she worked with Citibank N.A as an Operations Assistant, supporting the Cash & Tellers and Operations teams. She is an alumnus of the Equity Bank Leadership Program, which was her entry to the corporate career space. She served at the branch level in different operations departments prior to joining the University of Nairobi.

Joy has a Master of Arts Degree in Economics and a Bachelors Degree in Economics, from the University of Nairobi. She is currently pursuing the CFA qualification (currently a Level 2 candidate). She is also a Certified Bank Graduate from Kenya Bankers Association.

Outside work, Joy loves spending time with family and friends, visiting new places and working on the farm.