Africa

Rodrigo Zavala joined Puma Energy in 2011 to lead the merger of Exxon’s Centam storage facilities into the business, and then became our General Manager in Paraguay as appointed COO for the Americas in 2014. He started in a finance role at Shell before spending 11 years at Petrobras in M&A, refinery logistics planning and… read more »

Raymond Taylor joined the Trafigura Group in 2011 before being appointed to the role of Puma Energy’s Australia General Manager in 2013 and most recently being appointed in 2017 to the role of Regional Commercial Manager. He was appointed to the Group Executive Committee in 2016. Raymond Taylor previously worked for BP as CEO Asia… read more »

Antonio Mawadstarted his career in 1983 with PDVSA-Venezuela and has worked in a variety of roles across engineering, refinery operations, logistical optimisation, and supply networks – joining Petroplus in Switzerland in 2007 and Puma Energy in 2013. Antonio Mawad holds a chemical engineer title from Simón Bolívar University in Caracas and an engineering degree in… read more »

Robert Jones joined Trafigura in 2002 as Project and Investment Manager in the oil asset division. Robert Jones previously worked for Arthur Andersen and Deloitte & Touche in a variety of roles within finance and M&A. Robert holds a first class honours degree from the University of Cambridge and is a qualified chartered accountant (ICAEW)…. read more »

Christophe Zyde was appointed Group Chief Operating Officer of Puma Energy this year, having joined Trafigura in 2010 and becoming Puma Energy’s Chief Operating Officer for Africa in 2011. He previously worked for Umicore in a variety of operational and general management roles. Christophe Zyde holds an engineering degree from École Polytechnique in Brussels.

Denis Chazarain joined Puma Energy in September 2008 as CFO. Denis Chazarain, Previously, he has held various finance roles at Total (Downstream), Addax & Oryx (CFO and GM of Downstream) and Vallourec (CFO of Oil and Gas division). Denis holds an MPhil in international relations from Panthéon-Sorbonne Université and a Masters from the Institut d’Études… read more »

Pierre Eladari joined Trafigura in 2004 and led the carve-out process of Puma Energy, having spent three years at the Boston Consulting Group on a range of international assignments. Before that, Pierre worked for Elf (now Total) in a variety of international roles in its Downstream and trading divisions. Pierre Eladari holds an engineering degree… read more »

Ronald Tamale was a founding member of Standard Chartered’s Africa Private Equity (SCPE Africa) division in 2008. SCPE Africa provides equity funding for expansions, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and management buyouts and considers equity investments from USD30 million to USD150 million in a single transaction. Ronald Tamale, SCPE Africa has invested over USD800 million in businesses… read more »

Frank Nicolas Julia Braeken, Extensive experience in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (“FMCG”) sector, including 26 years with Unilever where he lived and worked in nine countries on four continents. Frank Nicolas Julia Braeken External Appointments:Currently sits on the following boards: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Blue Skies Holdings Limited, Buhler AG, Feronia Inc.,… read more »

David Osborne, Cambridge University; Trinity College (Natural Sciences) Experience: Over 30 years’ investment experience in private equity and infrastructure structure in UK, Europe, Africa and Asia. Previously Managing Partner and Head of Islamic Infrastructure Fund at CapAsia. External Appointments: Director of Direct Equity Team and Head of Portfolio Management with CDC Group Plc. Committee membership:… read more »

Yusuf Koya, BSc in Geology & Economics (Keele University, UK); MSc in Economics (Keele University, UK); AIFS (UK) Experience: Over 20 years’ business management experience in corporate finance and credit risk management, both in the UK and Zambia (Africa). Previously Country Credit Director with Barclays Bank Zambia PLC. Yusuf Koya External Appointments: Director in Marhaba… read more »

Francis Grogan, BSc Agriculture (Ireland) Experience: Over 25 years’ experience in agriculture and meat, both in Ireland and Zambia. Co-founder of Zambeef. Francis Grogan External Appointments: Other directorships include Zambezi (Africa) Ranching & Cropping Ltd, Fraca Meat Company Ltd and Tractorzam Ltd. Committee membership: None.

Yebeltal Getachew (YG) is the Customer & Commercial Leadership Director for West Africa Business Unit. Since joining the company in the year 2000 as the Marketing Manager for Horn of Africa, Yebeltal Getachew has held several positions of increasing responsibility. In 2003, YG was appointed Operations Marketing Rep. for Ethiopia and Djibouti and as Country… read more »

Rocky Findley is the General Manager for the WIMA Franchise leading business strategies to deliver sustainable system growth and profit in 30 markets. Rocky’s broad career spans over 34 years – 16 of which have been spent within the Coca-Cola system. An experienced general management professional with marketing, asset management, financial Services, and Franchise Leadership… read more »

Bill Gray is an experienced brand builder with over 20 years’ experience in Consumer Packaged Goods Brand Management. Bill Gray joined The Coca-Cola Company’s US Sprite Marketing team in 2005 prior to which he had worked for Procter & Gamble and Nestle. He transitioned to the Coca-Cola Global Marketing team in 2008 where he worked… read more »