Rahim thawer

Chairman + Ceo

Rahim is the Founder and Hedge Fund Manager of EGX Securities Ltd (UK), an alternative investment Proprietary Trading Firm with $2.5B of its own capital focused on trading large to small capitalization European and African Securities with asset allocation across 3 independent funds originating in various jurisdictions.

Rahim is also the Co-founder and Director to EGX Credit Liquidity Ltd (UK), a Credit Fund Entity that focuses exclusively on internal credits & corporate credit facilities for various company engagements such as banks, insurance companies, brokerages, proprietary trading funds, margin funds, etc with exposure of over $1.2B in AUM. Previously, Rahim was a managing partner at a Venture Capital and Private Equity Firm with a secondary market portfolio of Bloom Energy, Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix, Tesla Motors, Zynga, etc. Rahim is also a founder and investor in a Securities and Derivatives OTC Bilateral Trading Platform referencing African Securities with a Daily Trade Volume of $120M with over 82 Institutional Funds engaged through Proprietary Trading Strategies. Rahim is also a Special Advisor to a number of International Central Banks, Pension Funds and Endowment Trust Funds advising from investment capital allocation, management to generating liquidity and returns.

Rahim is also a trustee of Social & Economic Development for Africa (USA), a Donor Advised Fund that allocates over $100M annually towards various causes geared towards creating synergistic solutions to eradicate poverty and enhance human lives in Africa. Rahim attended Mercer University and majored in Industrial Systems Engineering with a minor in Physics. He also serves on the board of director for a number of companies and also serves in an advisory capacity to a few investment funds.

Olusoji elias, esq

General counsel

Olusoji Elias was called to the Nigeria Bar in 1985, having read law at the University of London (LLB Honours LSE 1984; postgraduate legal research UCL 1996), and at the University of Hull (LLM with Distinction 1986; best performing candidate), and The Hague Academy (1989). He is the author of Judicial Remedies in the Conflict of Laws (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2001, with a Foreword by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Wilberforce PC CMG OBE QC), as well as many peer-reviewed articles, reviews and commentary in leading law journals.

He was previously a senior lawyer in a firm in Nigeria between 2001 and 2005, serving for example as a leading local counsel in an international consortium mandated by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to privatise the downstream subsector of the local oil and gas sector, among several other major privatizations conducted within the World Bank Guidelines; as a member of the Technical Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria to advise as to the consolidation of the local banking industry via M&A; and as leading counsel in the defence of a local bank involved in large-scale cross-border banking litigation; as well as in several top-tier international arbitrations under the ICC Paris Rules. He also led numerous capitalisations, private placements, IPOs, re-structurings, issuances and other financings and financial law items during this time, including an experts' delivery broadcast on national television.

Between 1990 and 1999, he was a law lecturer in English university and vocational legal education, often in CPD formats (giving, among several items, the Autumn Lecture of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London in November 2000 (as an Associate Fellow thereof), titled Globalisation and Private International Law- Reviewing Contemporary Local Law), as well as a consulting expert to solicitors' firms in London. His range has covered cutting-edge topics including globalisation and law, competition law and policy in reference to transnational corporate finance, the professions, and several others.

He is a member of several lawyers' professional organisations and associations, including the Inner Temple, the IBA, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and the Association of Attenders and Alumni of The Hague Academy of International Law and its Professional Lawyers' Intergroup. Olusoji Elias was elected to the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in October 2007. He divides his time between Nigeria and the U.K.

tamsin freemantle

senior advisor

Tamsin Freemantle has extensive experience working on the continent, with a focus on the development of capital markets. She was with the JSE for 8 years, in a business development role for Africa exSouth Africa. Her role involved working within the structures of CoSSE (Community of SADC Stock Exchanges) and ASEA (African Securities Exchanges Association), to further co-operation and development of the member exchanges.

Tamsin’s Masters research explored the topic of accelerating the development of African Capital Markets. In addition to this she has 5 years of experience in retail banking, 10 years of experience in general management and 3 years of professional services experience; these roles were at Nedbank and Allen & Overy LLP. Tamsin is passionate about building the African continent; she has set up her own business focusing on developing Africa’s capital markets through training and strategic advisory. She has an extensive global network in financial markets, and this includes government, regulators, DFIs, exchanges and corporate players and advisors.

Her clients include FMDQ Securities Exchange in Nigeria, Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria, and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as interim head of sustainability, on a consultancy basis. She also works with professional services firms such as Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie and G. Elias in Nigeria and Webber Wentzel in South Africa. She has supported the African Crowdfunding Association (ACfA), with regulatory policy and supervision, bringing crowdfunding to the capital markets on the continent, and recently, was contracted by FSD Africa (Nairobi) to conduct training for the Ethiopian Capital Markets Working Group. Her work has included training on capital markets and their development, analysis of the financial market infrastructures in Africa and other regions, and engagement with regulatory authorities across the continent. She is currently serving as a Vice President and board member of the South Africa-Nigeria Business Chamber. She is on the investment committee of a Guernsey-based Africafocused private equity firm, focusing on regulatory and sustainability matters, and acts as an advisor to UK registered Greyhorse Clearinghouse Ltd, a cross-border multi-currency blockchain based decentralized clearinghouse that provides non-custodial settlement services. Tamsin studied English, International Relations and Law at the University of Witwatersrand and has an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business in South Africa.

michael j levas

senior advisor

Mr. Levas is senior advisor to Greyhorse Clearinghouse & venture partner at Irongate Capital. Additionally, Mr. Levas is the Founder & Managing Principal of the Olympian Group, a boutique investment/merchant bank specializing in P.E, V.C. & the Public Markets. He has extensive experience in business creation and the management of those businesses,the capital markets, the investment management industry and boasts a comprehensive knowledge of securities, investment management, investment banking,and alternative funds. He is also the former Senior Managing Partner at Rosc Global Investments LLC, where he led the firm in all facets of deal origination,sourcing, negotiation and execution.  

Mr. Levas has also consulted to numerous entities on private equity/venture investments and capital raising in the public and private markets. His successful career, spanning over 25 plus years with leading Wall St. firms (Lehman Bros., S.G. Cowen, UBS Paine Webber, Bear Stearns, Advest) and as founder of the Olympian Group of Investment Management Co’s, Asclepius Life Sciences Fund, and Asclepius Ventures, encompasses all facets of capital growth, portfolio construction & development, risk management, and trading. With proven ability in the development of and marketing to a loyal client base of high net-worth individuals and institutional investors. Mr. Levas has strong business and financial insights, with demonstrated ability in valuation & market analysis,operational fortitude,and the development and implementation of prudent investment strategies. Additionally,Mr. Levas created and assembled a veteran team with a proven track record in investment management and life sciences; spanning hedge fund, Fortune 100 and start-up environments with M&A transactions exceeding $10 billion. Managed in excess of $500 million dollars in various investment assets during career as founder, managing principal & C.I.O. 

Mr. Levas has been a featured conference speaker and University lecturer throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe,and Asia and has appeared in numerous publications and media outlets including but not limited to Business Week, Bloomberg, CCTV Intl., Dow Jones Newswires ,NPR,Nasdaq, Smart Money, and Hedge Fund Manager Week.

He has also had considerable experience as an noted expert witness for the Federal Public Defenders Office ( Department of Justice for the southern district of Florida) The City of Los Angeles, California and several leading law firms throughout the United States.  Former Federal Registered Lobbyist for the Hedge Fund Association. (HFA)

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