Kojo Parris

KOJO PARRIS "is chairman of A4e Africa (www.a4e.co.uk) & the African Social Entrepreneurs Network (www.asenetwork.org); the founding CEO of Social Private Equity South Africa (www.socialprivateentrepreneur.com) and a director of a number of social enterprises, including Khulisa (www.khulisaservices.co.za), Operation Hope, Gauteng (www.operationhope.org), Open Africa (www.openafrica.org) and Heart (www.heartglobal.org). He is a former investment banker with NM Rothschilds, Merchant Bank of Central Africa & African Banking Corporation Holdings, oversaw investment portfolios at TA Holdings and Takura Ventures Fund in Zimbabwe, and worked in operational management for Booker Tate in Papua New Guinea, Australia, Kenya and London. He was the Head of the Colloquium for Social Entrepreneurs @ GIBS, chairman of Homeless Talk and mentors young adults privately through formations such as Youth Alliance for Leadership & Development in Africa (YALDA). Kojo, who was born in Guyana for whom he is the Honorary Consul to South Africa, won the Cambridge Commonwealth scholarship where he read for an MA in Engineering (Manufacturing). He subsequently qualified with Deloittes in London where he worked also as a management consultant and completed the CFA (Part 1)."