Johan Richards
Founder & Managing Partner, Synergos Venture Partners
Business Transformation Advisor on Stanford Seed Transformation Program
Angel Investor in various African start-ups & early stage venture capital investor
Lecturer at various prominent business schools
Certified Leadership Coach, Mentor & Mediator
Johan Richards has 35+ years of Africa-focused entrepreneurial and consulting experience and has assisted 80+ entrepreneurial start-ups across 15+ different industries in 18+ Sub-Saharan African countries. One of his most notable successes has been his involvement with the start-up and scaling of AfriSki. AfriSki is the largest snow ski and adventure mountain resort on the African continent and the mountain kingdom of Lesotho's biggest tourism project.
Johan is also a Business Transformation Advisor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business Seed Transformation Program - A Program for developing entrepreneurs in emerging economies. He also consulted with and assisted many other significant national and international companies operating on the African continent or wanting to expand onto the African continent.
- 35+ years of Entrepreneurial Experience
- 15+ Industry Sectors
- 18+ Sub-Saharan African Countries
- 80+ Entrepreneurial start-ups
- 10+ VC/Angel Investments
- Diversified by stage, sector, and geography
Ken Molosi
General Partner of Synergos Venture Partners
Business Transformation Advisor on Stanford Seed Transformation Program
Director of the Botswana Central Bank
Ex Chairman of Barclays Bank of Botswana Pension Fund
Ex CEO EOH Botswana
Ken Molosi has 35+ years of Africa-focused management consulting experience and has assisted numerous corporate and entrepreneurial clients throughout Africa. One of his most notable successes has been as Chairman of the Barclays/ABSA Pension Fund which during his tenure has grown to $1 billion and while being part of the Board of Directors of Barclays/ABSA turning Barclays Bank into the 2nd largest and the most profitable bank in Botswana with Revenue over a $1 billion per annum.
Ken is also a Business Transformation Advisor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business Seed Transformation Program - A Program for developing entrepreneurs in emerging economies. He also consulted with and assisted many other significant national and international companies operating on the African continent or wanting to expand onto the African continent.
- 30+ years of Management Consulting Experience
- 10+ Industry Sectors
- 10+ African Countries
- Diversified by stage, sector, and geography
GP's Investment & Consulting Experience
Previous Angel & Venture Capital Investments:
Previous Consulting and Entrepreneurial Development done for
Zacharia George
Leading African Tech Angel Investor;
Managing Partner @Launch Africa Ventures;
Chief Investment Officer @Startupbootcamp Africa;
Former Wall St Investment Banker;
Stanford and I.I.T. alum; MENSA; Harambean; Musician; Dad
- Managing Partner at Launch Africa Ventures – the most prominent and active early-stage Venture Capital Fund across the African continent.
- Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at Startupbootcamp AfriTech – the leading multi-corporate backed venture accelerator program in Africa.
- investments in 100+ of the leading tech startups in Africa including Flutterwave, Kudabank, MPost, Peach Payments, RecoMed and several others.
- co-featured on the cover of Fast Company Africa in May 2018, Destiny Man Magazine in November 2019, and in December 2019 was recognized as one of the Top 10 Most Influential People in Technology in Africa.
Andrew Zalasin
GP, RRE Ventures (17 years)
Top Social Influencer
Ranked Among Most Loved VCs
- 25+ years of venture capital and private equity investment and operational experience with entrepreneurial growth companies
- Early investor in Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Venmo, Wisdom Tree, MakerBot, Magnolia Cupcakes, Concur, Massive
- Former General Partner for 17 years at RRE Ventures, a leading technology venture capital firm with $1.5B across seven funds
- Involved in nearly 200 investments and has served on more than 30 boards in the US, Europe and Asia, and has been instrumental in generating industry-leading returns and providing experience and resources to help companies build teams, attack new market opportunities, identify and secure strategic initiatives/partnerships and achieve profitable growth in all phases of development
AgriTech
Elias Chikoto
Elias Chikoto has over seven years of strategy and management consulting experience gained at Gemini Consulting, IBM, and Zariro Consulting. He started Zariro Consulting in 2011, and is currently working with clients in private equity whose focus is Africa.
Before starting Zariro Consulting, he worked for Syngenta Agro AG, spending five of the six years he worked there at the company's headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. He had various roles there, including Head of Strategy and Planning CP for Africa Middle East.
Specialties include Strategy, operations, business development
Agribusiness, Private Equity, Energy, Mining, FMCG.
FinTech
Terence Singh
Terence has 25+ years experience in consulting finance and general management with a focus on financial services, having spent 12 years in banking and 5 years consulting in financial services. He worked in the banking strategy function as well as in the operational and client facing areas.
- MBA (Finance) at Wits Business School
- MSc (Chemistry) at UKZN
- BSc (Hons) at UKZN
Sandton
Lané Richards
Lané completed her BAcc degree Cum Laude at the University of Stellenbosch (2019) and completed her BAccHons (2020). After joining the CA(SA) Entrepreneurship Programme at the VAT IT group, she was one of the founders of Zee - Importer of Record (2021), where she fulfilled various leadership roles. Currently, as Commercial Transactions Manager, she structures cross-border trade transactions to facilitate global deployment of networking equipment.
Throughout her journey, she is continually involved in philanthropic causes and committed to having a sustainable and significant impact on her environment.
She is ambitious, has an inquisitive mind, and seeks to continually broaden her knowledge and current skills, making her a unique high performer. She is known to be conscientious but values interpersonal relationships. Affinity for business development in e-commerce through global expansion, investing by way of venture capital & private equity. Entrepreneurial spirit and proud business owner.
- CA (SA)
- Co-founder of multiple Entrepreneurial Startups
- Previous Exco member of the Johannesburg Article Clerks Association
- Golden Key International Honours Society member
- Stellenbosch University, BAcc (Cum Laude) & BAcc Hon
www.linkedin.com/in/lané-richards-593647129/
San Francisco
Aakash Jain
- Venture Fellow, Jump Capital
- Co-Founder, Booth Bay Area Angel Network (Booth BAAN)
- Technology Investment Banking (Growth Equity), Financial Technology Partners
- Fixed Income Quant Trading, Morgan Stanley
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA
- Cornell University, MEng (Computer Science)
- Jacobs University, BA (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
New York
Arpan Ajmera
- ZX Ventures (CVC arm of InBev)
- Perdue University, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
- https://www.arpanajmera.com/
Chicago
Jenna Fernandes
- Venture Backed Serial Entrepreneur
- Co-Founder & CEO of The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25+ of the top accelerators and VC investors
- Ranked Top 10 Female Tech CEO by Women 2.0
- Former CEO of Largest Student Run Business in The Country (Tufts Student Resources)