AVCA Appoints Verod MD, Others to Boost Private Equity Industry

The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) has strengthened its leadership with the appointment of the Managing Director of Verod Capital Management, Danladi Verheijen and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Metier, Paul Botha as members, Board of Directors of the association.

The association also appointed nine experienced professionals to its Compliance & Best Practice, Strategic Engagement, and Sustainability committees.

According to AVCA, the new members are key influencers within the African private equity industry, and they will deepen the association’s reach and impact as it continues to enable private investment in Africa.

Commenting on the development, the Chief Executive Officer of AVCA, Michelle Kathryn Essomé, said: “The next 12 months are set to be an exciting time for AVCA. As we strengthen and diversify our membership, the Board and Advisory Committee expansion reinforces the extent of our ambitions to facilitate greater private investment in Africa. We are delighted about working closely with the new appointees to advance our agenda and to find new ways to deliver exceptional value to our members.”

Market analysts said that Danladi, joining the board of AVCA is a very positive development as he will bring his wealth of experience to bear in the association and contribute growth of the private equity investment space.

Before co-founding Verod, Danladi was a Vice President at Citibank Nigeria where he led corporate finance and investment banking transactions and also had responsibility over Citibank’s equity investment portfolio. Prior to that, he held roles at Ocean and Oil Holdings and at McKinsey & Company. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an M.Sc. in Engineering Economic Systems & Operations Research from Stanford University and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Calvin College. He is a Director of GZ Industries, SacOil Holdings, Spinlet, Rotoprint, Niyya Food and Drinks, and Shaldag. Danladi was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014

Verod is an Investment firm focusing on investing equity and equity-linked capital in growth companies across various sectors, including Consumer Products, Services, Manufacturing, Agribusiness, Financial Services, Energy, Media & Technology. Verod seeks to partner companies led by strong, result driven management teams that can grow large, dominant enterprises.

Verod’s investment objective is to develop sector leaders, with a focus on companies with the potential for strong and sustained growth. Its investments typically utilise equity or equity-linked instruments with downside protection. Verod concentrates on growth capital investments, primarily in middle market opportunities.