Council of Management (Trustees)
Akin Olukiran BSc, MSc.
Akin Olukiran is an accountant with over 15 years’ senior management experience in the Third Sector in the UK. He is currently the CEO of Disability in Camden (DISC). He was at various times in the past the CEO of CultureLink Ltd; Head of Finance & IT of SHP (Housing Association); and Executive Director of Adzido (one of the largest and most successful black arts group in Europe) - all Third Sector organisations within the UK. Among other charity positions he presently holds is the Chair of the Board of DanceAfrica Ltd and a member of the Hampstead Heath Committee of the Corporation of London. He holds an MSc degree from the London School of Economics and a BSc Honours degree in Political Science from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Annette Fisher
Annette Fisher has over 25 years of experience in design and construction, working in the UK, USA and Africa. Since 1983 she has worked for major London practices (T P Bennett, Rolfe Judd, Whinney Mackay Lewis). She was founding partner of The Littler Fisher Partnership in 1994. In 1997 she formed Fisher Associates. The practice work has included commercial Leisure, Offices, Retail, Restaurant and Residential projects. She is a Director of FA Project Management (FAPM)and was recently appointed a Director of TP Bennett LLP in the Health and Education Sector where she will develop the retail and leisure sector as well.
In 1997 she was awarded Nat west Award for African Professional of the year. In 1999 was elected to the RIBA Council and from 2000-02 was RIBA Vice-president Communication. In 2000 and 2001 she was a National Judge for Civic Trust Awards. She is a Places for People Group Diversity Board Member: Former Chairman of the Kush HA Board 2005-2008. She is has been a CABE enabler from 2005(Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
Audrey Brown
Audrey Brown is a South African journalist, curator and cultural commentator based in London. She presents the BBC World Service's flagship morning programme to Africa: Network Africa. Her love of the continent and curiosity about the people of the world provide delightful conversations in the most unlikely places. Most recently she found out how hard it is to laugh and reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro at the same time. She managed to do one and not the other. Audrey has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Wales and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and African History and Politics from Rhodes University in South Africa. She also has a diploma in film criticism and documentary film-making from Varan Institut, Cinema Direct in Paris.
Boko Inyundo, BA, MA
Boko is a Marketing & Business Development professional with Linklaters LLP, a global law firm
and one of the five members of the so-called “magic circle” of prominent UK law firms which advise some of the world’s leading corporations on transactions and operations.
Boko has over 10 years experience in the UK and African marketing and advertising industries. He has worked with Ogilvy & Mather (Kenya) and Saatchi & Saatchi (London), where he was an Account Director. During his career in the advertising sector Boko has provided consultancy services to various businesses including the launch of the largest ISP in sub-Saharan Africa – Africa Online -, South African Breweries and PepsiCo (East Africa) as well as clients such as Lloyds TSB, Procter & Gamble and UK public sector bodies such as Sport England and the Waste & Resource Action Programme. Immediately prior to Linklaters, Boko was the Marketing Manager aligned to Deloitte & Touche’s Technology; Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) industry group where he developed and implemented a variety of national client-facing programs designed to generate business and corporate relationship opportunities in the UK’s TMT sectors for this ‘Big 4’ global accountancy/management consultancy firm.
Boko holds a BA in German language & literature from the University of Birmingham and a Masters in Marketing Management from Westminster Business School, part of the University of Westminster.
Boko is half Kenyan/half English. He was born and brought up in Kenya where he also runs a charity focussing on water sanitation in one of the poorest areas of rural western Kenya – for more information visit www.kwdp.co.uk
Dr. Ben Jabuni BSc, MSc, C. Psycol, AFBPsS
Dr Jabuni currently works for the UK Stroke Association as a Director of Services. His professional background is in Psychology and Psychotherapy. He is a graduate of the University of London where he was awarded a doctorate with commendation in psychology following his first and second degrees at the same university. He also holds a post-graduate qualification in Business Administration from Henley Management College and is a member of the Chartered Management Institute.
Dr Jabuni has previously worked in the UK National Health Service both as a clinical therapist, specialising in the treatment of mental health problems and as a General Manager. He has a track record of general management in Local Authority Social Services and lecturing at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School and the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Queens Square.
Dr Jabuni hails from northern Ghana and has a deep interest in African history and the history of science and psychology in Africa.
Godson Egbo
Godson Egbo is a partner with architect practice Studio Seventi. He graduated from Portsmouth University in 1992. Following which, he worked at James Cubitt Architects in Lagos. It was whilst working here that Godson became enthralled by the frenetic energy of this huge, complex and vibrant African city.
Having returned to London in 1994, he eventually joined Gaunt Francis Architects in 1999 and was named project architect for the British Council building in Cairo. Godson, along with three colleagues, established Bukka Education and Research Trust (www.bukka.org) as a registered charity in 2003, to address the challenges of the modern African city. Bukka has held an exhibition and debate themed ‘Lagos: Future City???’ and several talks since then. Bukka is planning its inaugural African Architecture Summerschool in Lagos for August 2009.
Isa Abba Adamu
Isa Aba Adamu is the first African to become the Regional Executive Editor for the Africa and Middle East Region at the BBC World Service. He is editorially responsible for BBC World Service broadcasts – on radio and online - to Africa and the Middle East in English, Arabic, Hausa, Somali, Swahili, French, Portuguese and Kinya-Rwanda. Isa first joined the BBC in 1987 with the BBC Hausa service where he produced and presented various radio programmes. He also helped to coach and mentor the BBC Hausa team.
Before joining the BBC Isa worked as a producer and presenter with the Gongola Broadcasting Corporation and as a TV news editor and reporter with the Kano Broadcasting Corporation, both in Nigeria. In August 2007 Isa was awarded the Distinguished Medal of Honour by the Congress of Mass Communication Students' Association (MACOSA) at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria.
Kaye Whiteman BA
Kaye Whiteman is a writer and journalist, specialising in west African affairs, but with wider interests in Europe-Africa relations, international organisations such as the Commonwealth and La Francophonie, as well as a general interest in African societies and culture. A graduate in history from the university of Oxford, from 1963-73 he was Deputy Editor of West Africa magazine, then moved to be a senior information officer in the European Commission in Brussels dealing with development issues, especially in Africa, for ten years. In 1982 he was asked to return to West Africa, (by then Nigerian- owned) first as Editor, then as Editor-in-Chief and General Manager.
In 1999-2000 he was Director of Information at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and in 2001-2 he worked in Lagos first as Editor of a newsletter called Business Confidential then as Editorial Adviser to Nigeria's new financial daily newspaper Business Day (Nigeria), a function he has continued to occupy since 2003 from London, where he continues as a freelance writer. Kaye is currently working on a book on Lagos as a "city of the imagination".
Mark Thomas BA, FCCA
Mark is an experienced senior management accountant and IT project manager, currently specialising in the integration of social care client management software with corporate financial systems. Born in 1964, Mark read Economics and History at the University of Leeds, from where he graduated in 1985. Mark went on to study for the professional examinations of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, passing his finals in 1989. He is now a Fellow of the Association (FCCA).
Throughout his career, Mark has combined a solid financial management background with experience in the implementation, development and administration of a number of IT solutions. He has worked in a number of sectors, including energy and local government, but the longest period of his work history to date was spent at BUPA. Mark left BUPA in 1992 to pursue a career as a self-employed IT project manager, and has worked for a number of local authorities, on both a full-time contract and part-time consultancy basis. He has also carried out consultancy work in relation to reporting on the progress of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Infrastructure Short-Term Action Plan (STAP).
Oliver Andrews MBA
Oliver Andrews is the Chief Executive Officer of TCI Infrastructure Limited (TCII). TCII is an Infrastructure developer and project finance company, which specialises in the provision, development and financial engineering of infrastructure projects in Emerging Markets with a focus in Africa.
An entrepreneurial transport economist with a background in engineering, business development and corporate finance, Oliver has over 30 years experience in the transport sector and 20 years as an infrastructure project developer and strategic adviser. Oliver holds an MBA from Cardiff Business, University of Wales and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Chartered Institute of Transport.
As the Chair of the Africa Centre since September 2004, Oliver has been instrumental in leading the Centre's redevelopment, which has had stakeholder consultation and the development of strategic partnerships at the core of its strategy.
Dr. Patrick Wilmot BA, PhD
Patrick Wilmot was born in Jamaica where he attended St Georges College. He studied at Yale and acquired his PhD from Vanderbilt. He taught for 18 years at Ahmadu Bello University until he was kidnapped and expelled by the dictator General Babangida.
Patrick Wilmot has written several books, including Sociology: a New Introduction and Seeing Double, a novel. In 2006 he was appointed visiting Professor at 3 Nigerian Universities.
Peter da Costa BA, MSc
Peter da Costa is a communication for development specialist who has worked extensively in Africa over the last 16 years. He initially trained as a journalist and reported extensively from West Africa during the early 1990s for print, broadcast and multimedia outlets. During this period he diversified into communication for development and undertook assignments for a number of development organizations.
In 1994 he was appointed Regional Director for Africa of Inter Press Service, a leading global media and development communication agency, and moved to Zimbabwe. In 1997 he became Senior Communication Adviser to the head of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Ethiopia, where he led efforts to build and strengthen communication for development partnerships and capacity in Africa. In 2003 he left the UN to pursue doctoral studies and is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK. He remains actively involved in communication for development initiatives in and on Africa.
Peter has recently moved to live in Kinshasa, DRC, with his family and is now a corresponding member of the Council of Management.
Steve Cameron
Steve Cameron is the Director of Cameron Maritime Resources. He is chair of the UK panel on container issues at the chamber of shipping, and also represents the UK at the International Chamber of Shipping. He has a proven record in developing and auditing business processes, operational and container asset management, strategic planning, cost benefit & trade analysis. He has more than 35 years experience in the maritime industry of which, 10 years were spent at sea as a cargo officer and navigator and then ashore with Cunard Cargo Shipping, 20 years experience developing a specialist Roro/container line serving Africa as operations and container logistics director and 6 years as principal of Cameron Maritime Resources providing management consultancy to ports, terminals and container logistics operators.
Tapiwa Mashingaidze
Tapiwa Mashingaidze is a qualified corporate finance professional with extensive experience of structuring, advising and fund raising in the asset management sector; he brings together excellent project management and client service skills with outstanding strategic and commercial acumen. Tapiwa has exceptional communication skills, with a proven ability to present, persuade and advise at all levels. He has an MBA from the Kellogg school of management where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award and was elected vice president of the Students Asociation.
Wayne G. Callender BSc, MBA MRICS, Dip IR (UWI)
Wayne is a Management Consultant and Construction Project Manager; he has training in Surveying, International Relations and Business Administration. He has designed, organised and delivered training programmes and modules for construction technicians, graduate engineers, construction professionals, contractors and other practitioners in the Built Environment at technical colleges, and in public and private sector companies and development agencies in the UK and the Caribbean.
Wayne was a member of the team, which was responsible for the implementation of the Egan Report - "Rethinking Construction" dedicated to improving the performance and efficiency of the UK's Construction Industry. Wayne specialises in delivering Best Practice in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Lean Project Delivery System and Project Management.
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