Our Team
The Founder
Najwa El Iraki is the founder & CEO of AfricaDev Consulting Ltd. She’s the Managing Director in Morocco for Opportunity Network, a global fintech matchmaking platform. She is also the General representative of Llyod’s of London in North and West Africa.
Prior to founding her company, Najwa was the head of business development at Casablanca Finance City Authority (CFCA), a public-private held organization dedicated to positioning Casablanca as a regional financial center and a premier gateway into African markets for multinational corporations, financial institutions and professional service firms. Najwa structured the project from its inception, contributing to the overall strategy for building a regional business and financial centre, advising institutional prospective investors and attracting close to 130 international companies.
Previously, she was Senior Manager within Mazars’ Financial Services Group in London. She was responsible for a team providing business advisory work and financial strategic planning across the banking, insurance and funds sectors. A role she took on after working within both large international investment banks (Lehman Brothers/Nomura) within their EMEA equity derivative business and a big four firm (KPMG London) advising financial institutions and corporates in various consulting areas including tax, corporate finance and restructuring.
Najwa holds a Master’s degree in Business Management and Finance from leading French and British business schools (Kedge Business School & Aston Business School). She has a leadership programme certificate from Harvard Business School. She is also a qualified Chartered Accountant, member of both international accountancy and UK tax leading professional institutes (ICAS & ATT).
She is also actively involved either as a co-founder or a member in a number of business associations and networks in Africa (CasaExpats – a business and social network for qualified English-speaking expatriates- , Africa Expert Network, Al-Sahm Women, Women in Business Network of the Africa CEO Forum etc.).
Najwa was named among the 60 most influential women in Africa in 2016 by “New African Woman Magazine” as well as Financial Advisor North Africa of the Year 2016 – Consultancy Award by the Corporate Vision Magazine based in London.
Najwa speaks fluently English, French, Arabic and intermediate Spanish.
Consultant Teams' Leaders
Amine Lahlou graduated in Finance in 2004 from Sup de Co Reims (France) and Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia), Amine Lahlou started in Venture Capital at Caisse des Dépôts Group to carry out investment study missions especially on sustainable and development projects. He also spent five years at Ernst & Young in Paris where he served as Senior Consultant in Transaction Advisory Services and Senior Auditor in the industrial sector.
Back to Morocco in 2009, as CFO of Mutandis group, an investment Holding. He finally launched in 2011, his project of renewable energy power plants, and created Maroc Renewables that became Quadran Maroc. At the end of 2017, he joined Global Nexus as Investment Director of the Green Innov Invest Venture Fund. In parallel, he was the director at Fieldstone, an independent investment bank focused on energy and infrastructure. He now serves as an operational director of AfricaDev Consulting Ltd.
Hind Berrada Sounni is an accomplished senior executive with a strong international experience (NAFTA, MENA, Europe and Africa) and over 23 years of combined Corporate Finance and Investment Banking experience.
As ex Deputy General Manager of Upline Corporate Investment Bank, subsidiary of Banque Centrale Populaire (2nd largest bank in Morocco and 5th in UEMOA and CEMAC regions), Hind co-structured and co-executed successful transactions in Equity Capital Markets, Debt Capital Market and Mergers and Acquisitions in EMEA.
Previously to that, she worked in M&A within CFG Bank and a Family Office ‘Omnium’ in Morocco as well as Bank of Montreal in Canada.
She also has an operational experience in real estate development and retail as a co-founder of a chain store and a co-lead in operating a large manufacturing agro-industrial company.
She holds an MBA from McGill University and a Bachelor in Finance from HEC Lausanne.
Consultants' Teams
Business Development Team
The Business Development team leads the creation of new business strategies, identifying and developing business opportunities that support these strategies and create long-term value. The unit creates and implements regularly recurring tasks to build and maintain a sustainable pipeline and portfolio of opportunities. Team members also lead proposal development efforts, both in terms of document creation and external partner development. An illustrative list of team responsibilities includes:
- Build, review and enhance internal business processes
- Build and leverage relationships with current and future partners
- Develop proposals and other project bids with internal and external coordination
- Develop and enhance market intelligence
Project Management Team
The Project Management team provides comprehensive operational oversight for discrete assignments, incorporating tools and support from other company business units to ensure efficiency and success. The unit develops process flows and management procedures for each project on a bespoke basis. Leadership on assignments is closely coordinated with both internal and external team members from opportunity origination until programmatic closure. An illustrative list of team responsibilities includes:
- Apply rigorous management procedures and internal coordination methods to ensure clear organization
- Ensure adherence to client regulations and deadlines
- Develop project process flows
Research and Analysis Team
The Research Analysis team we work with designs and implements quantitative, econometric and qualitative research methods for a range of project work. This unit has extensive experience working on investment, agribusiness, energy and SME projects in both the planning and implementation phases. An illustrative list of team responsibilities includes:
- Performing socio-economic and macro-economic studies of project regions and sectors
- Use econometric methods to identify, monitor and forecast project variables
- Measure the effectiveness of proposed solutions and tools
- Communicate complex data and findings via tables, graphs and written reports
- Prepare client deliverables, such as reports and presentations