US versus US and Zimbabwe

The biography of the second American on the CBZ board, Rebecca  Gaskin Gain, was also impressive. It said:

Rebecca has more than 30 years’ experience in the emerging markets and 25 years of experience in Africa. She is a lawyer by profession and was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in 1990. Following completion of her clerkship at the Appellate Division for the Supreme Court of New York in 1993, she focussed on foreign direct investment, initially in Central and Eastern Europe, and subsequently in Africa.

Rebecca has worked for and advised Governments, Multilateral Agencies, Bilateral Agencies as well as large listed corporates and private investors. In 2000, she was the first female appointed by the Standard Bank Group to serve as Chief Executive Officer for a Group subsidiary, Standard Bank Congo, a position that she served for three years. In 2003, she was the first female appointed to the Group’s Africa Executive Committee. She also served as the Senior Energy Advisor to Power Africa for Somalia and led the due diligence of the Electricity Supply Industry in Somalia and Somaliland in 2017. Rebecca completed a Bachelor of Arts (History), Honors Program, from the Wake Forest University in 1986. In 1989 she completed a Juris Doctor Degree from the Emory University School of Law. She completed the third year curriculum for her Juris Doctor Degree at the Columbia University School of Law, (1990). In 1995, she completed the Foundations in Finance program at the Insead-Amsterdam Institute of Finance. From 2010 to 2012, she complemented her professional experience with the Islamic Finance curriculum of the Insaniah University of Malaysia.

Rebecca was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 November 2019.

This was the same for the third American,  Louis Gerken.

Lou founded San Francisco Bay Area-Based Gerken Capital Associates (“GCA”) in 1989. GCA is an alternative Asset Fund Management firm, with particular focus on emerging markets private equity/venture capital. Prior to forming GCA, Lou was the Managing Director and Group Head of Prudential Securities Technology Investment Banking Division, his biography said.

Earlier, Lou was a General Partner to Prudential Securities’ four venture capital SEC-registered funds with $336 million under management (“Prutech”). As one of the largest U.S. Venture Capital Funds, Prutech was responsible for completing fifty IT and bio-tech sector early and expansion stage investments, and was one of the first venture capital funds to pioneer corporate partnering as a co-investment strategy.

Prior to Prudential, Lou was associated with Montgomery Securities’ Venture Capital Funds, and Wells Fargo Capital Markets where he developed one of the first U.S. fund of funds. Earlier, Mr. Gerken was Founder of TCG International, a telecommunications consulting engineering practice responsible for the deployment of international Fortune 500 Telecom / Datacom projects. Prior to TCG, Lou was a Senior Research Analyst and Portfolio Manager with GT Capital Management, a London-based emerging markets investment management firm. Lou started his career with the Bank of California Trust Department as an Investment Officer and Research Analyst responsible for the technology and financial sectors, as well as all privately-held holdings.

He received an MBA from the Southern Methodist University Graduate School of Business, a Master’s Degree in International Business from the American Graduate School, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Redlands.

Louis was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 November 2019.

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