The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has announced the appointment of Samaila D. Zubairu as the corporation’s third President & Chief Executive Officer.
He succeeded Mr. Andrew Alli whose tenure ended recently, having successfully served in the position since 2008.
Zubairu is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and an accomplished infrastructure development finance specialist with over 29 years of professional experience.
He is the CEO of Africapital Management Limited, in which position he established a joint venture with Old Mutual’s African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) to develop the Nigerian Infrastructure Investment Fund1(NIIF1) for infrastructure private equity across West Africa. He also recently coordinated the US$300 million acquisition of Eko Electricity Distribution Plc.
He was the pioneer CFO for Dangote Cement Plc, during which he launched Africa’s largest syndicated project finance facility for a local corporate to actualise the Obajana Cement project and managed the watershed unbundling of Dangote Industries Limited to listed subsidiaries on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. He has led finance transactions for over US$3 billion covering: green-field project finance facilities, acquisitions, corporate transformation initiatives, privatization and equity capital market transactions.
The appointment of Zubairu followed a six-month search process that saw over 100 candidates apply for the role.
The Chairman of AFC, Dr. Okwu Nnanna, while commenting on the appointment said, “On behalf of the Corporation, I am delighted to welcome Samaila Zubairu to AFC.
“In Samaila, we have identified an individual with the exceptional qualities across deal origination, execution, and capital raising that will continue to facilitate AFC’s ability to deliver transformational change through infrastructure investment as it moves into a new era.â€
