Hugo graduated from Cambridge University and started work at PWC working on a wide variety of audit clients and qualified as an ACA before joining the City and spending 26 years as a UK equity fund manager at Schroders and Blackrock. During that time, he established high-level connections within a wide range of corporate sectors.

Hugo is a co-founder and head of Damus’ investment committee responsible for approving both new investee companies and funds and sits on the board of various private and public companies.

James has over 20 years of experience building and running early stage businesses. He has spent 15 years in the City, predominantly working at Jefferies Investment Bank with a specific interest in small to midsized companies.

James has worked in Africa for 2 decades and has invested in and brokered the successful sale of various companies. He has retained strong links in Africa ever since and has established a vast network of local business partners.

James is a co-founder of Damus, responsible for the day to day running of the business. He sits on the board of various private companies and is a co-founder of a Venture Capital firm.

Will graduated with a Business Studies degree from Nottingham Trent University prior to joining the city where he has worked for 20 years. The bulk of his career was spent at Invesco Perpetual in the distribution team marketing a broad range of fixed interest and equity products. Will has also raised capital for tax efficient products including EIS, SEIS and VCT funds.

Will has worked with professional financial intermediaries for the majority of his career building strong and mutually beneficial long-term relationships.

Kevin has over 35 years' experience in financial services having spent his first 7 years in Private Client Stockbroking, before moving into the Asset Management industry.

Kevin was Associate Sales Director for Invesco Perpetual and Sales Director of Rensburg Fund Management. Kevin has a successful track record in raising assets in both the open-ended and closed-end markets and building strong relationships with Wealth Managers and Financial Advisers.

Holly is a digital marketing specialist with over a decade of experience in the field. Holly graduated from Exeter University with a degree in English Literature before beginning her career in marketing in Cornwall. Holly's marketing expertise spans social media management, email marketing, content writing, SEO, and strategic planning. She has worked with a number of businesses in the financial services sector, developing standout strategies to help them elevate their online presence, build engagement and distinguish themselves in a competitive market.

Caspar graduated from Edinburgh University and has spent the last 30 years working in Capital Markets particularly focussed on advising smaller companies. He has headed up teams at the likes of CSFB, DrKW, Jefferies and Cantor Fitzgerald and more recently has been working in the private sector advising and raising funds for early stage companies. Caspar currently sits on the board of 3 private businesses.

Adrian Wood is a TMT and investment executive with senior management and capital markets experience in 24 countries over 30 years.

Adrian has worked in both Private and Public markets with some of the world’s largest telecoms operators and was the first Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd.

Franklin Olakunle Amoo is a co-founder and the Managing Partner of Baylis Emerging Markets. As an active investor in a number of operating companies across Africa, Franklin serves on the boards of several African companies. Prior to co-founding Baylis, Franklin helped lead the Strategic Credit Group the $1.8 trillion Mizuho Financial Group, where he reported to the CEO and helped establish the CLO, High Yield sales and trading, secondary loan trading, structured finance and asset finance businesses.

Prior to Mizuho, Franklin worked at Deutsche Bank, Bank of America and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He began his career as an analyst in the Media & Telecom Investment Banking Group at Bank of America. Franklin is a co-founder of the Africa Pandemic Response Alliance, serves on the business advisory board of the Ooni of Ife, the traditional ruler of the Yoruba people of West Africa, serves as an advisor to the Ogun State government on investment promotion and facilitation and chairs the Loan Market Association’s Task Force on African Secondary Loan Trading.

A Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Franklin holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he was a Howard E. Mitchell and a Venture Incubation Program Fellow.

Paulo Pessoa de Araujo, an Engineering and Insead MBA graduate, started his financial services career at Continental Illinois Bank in Chicago in 1982. He joined Schroders in London in 1991 where he was responsible for Iberian Equities. He became a Board Member of Schroder Securities prior to its acquisition by CitiGroup in 2000 and remained as a Managing Director with CitiGroup until 2003. Paulo then joined Haitong (formerly BESI, the Investment Banking arm of the Espirito Santo Group) and is currently Senior Country Officer of Haitong Bank, SA - London Branch.