Team

Chief Executive Officer

Anton-Louis
Olivier

Mr. Anton-Louis Olivier is the CEO and Executive Director of Serengeti Energy.

Anton-Louis has a wealth of experience in all aspects of independent power producer (IPP) development and financing, and on hydropower specifically with the procurement, construction, and operations. He founded and served as CEO of the REH Group of companies (South Africa) from 2006-2021. He established REH as a hydropower development business and the group grew become a leading developer, owner, and operator of small hydropower plants in South Africa with activities across Southern Africa. In 2021 REH was acquired by Serengeti Energy Limited and now forms part of the Serengeti Energy Group. After his exit from REH he served as the Head Hydropower Africa for Scatec Africa (Pty) Limited in South Africa. In this role he was responsible for the business development of Scatec’s Sub-Saharan Africa hydropower projects.

Anton-Louis has a background in Mechanical Engineering and in Economics as well as key competencies in leadership, entrepreneurial business development, project finance structuring and financial close, power plant asset management, corporate governance including Environmental and Social Governance and business plan development, implementation, and capital allocation.

Anton-Louis is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

CHIEF FINANCE OFFICER

Solomon
Njonjo

Solomon is a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPA-K) with over 18 years’ experience in the energy sector working on utility scale infrastructure projects. Solomon has working experience in different countries in sub-Sahara Africa having worked on projects in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Guinea Conakry, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa.

Before joining Serengeti Energy, acting as Chief Financial Officer, he was a core member of the team tasked with construction & operation of the 61MW wind project in Kenya, Kinangop Windpark. He later joined Serengeti Energy in 2015 as Head of Finance, East Africa. Solomon is currently the Chief Finance  Officer in charge of Finance and Corporate Governance and a member of the Executive Management Team.

CHIEF DEVELOPMENT & INVESTMENT OFFICER

Wilfred van
den Bos

Mr. Van den Bos is the Chief Development & Investment Officer at Serengeti Energy. He and his team are responsible for the growth side of the business, which includes development, investment structuring, construction management and all other aspects required to bring the renewable energy projects to the stage of start construction and commissioning.

Mr. Van den Bos has 16yrs of development, investment, and structured finance experience in Africa, Asia and the Middle-East. Before joining Serengeti Energy in 2017 he has been working for 10yrs at the Dutch Development Bank FMO where he has been responsible for mobilizing over USD 1 billion of senior- and subordinated debt funding for over more than 32 (renewable) energy projects in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

He is driven by a passion for sustainable energy development – by this he strives to have a positive impact on the quality of life in emerging markets. He is recognized for his professional and pragmatic ‘can do’ mentality. He has a strong track record in closing transactions and managing teams.

Chief Technical Officer

Brian
Brooks

A distinguished career based on a Bachelors degree in Physics and Mathematics complemented by a Masters in Business Leadership spanning more than 30 years started in the multi national manufacturing industry before joining the renewables industry family in 2012.

Having made an indelible contribution towards operational excellence in the manufacturing industry, an opportunity to construct large scale solar projects across the length and breadth of Africa was too exciting to turn down.

Having spent the last ten years in Africa, joining the Serengeti Energy team as the Director Construction and Engineering is an opportunity to continue making a significant contribution to the decarbonization narrative whilst playing my part in growing our team and the business.

Self mastery is the central tenant of my life’s journey based on a principle centered outlook that derives satisfaction from achievement and growing other people.

General Counsel

Belinda
Odera

Belinda is the General Counsel at Serengeti Energy. She has over 10 years of legal and business leadership, and experience in providing legal and strategic advice to senior management, boards and regulators in heavily regulated sectors including financial services, telecommunications, and power sectors across Africa.

Belinda previously served as a Senior Legal Counsel at Industrial Promotion Services (Kenya) Limited (IPS), where she spent four years providing legal and business advice to companies in the infrastructure and manufacturing sectors in the region.

Immediately prior to IPS, Belinda was the Head of Legal and Compliance at the Nairobi Securities Exchange where she was responsible for legal and strategic advice to the Board, Senior Management and industry stakeholders particularly in respect of commercial, regulatory and policy initiatives.

Belinda is a graduate of the University of Sheffield. She is admitted to the Kenyan bar and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Chief Operating Officer

Strafford
Harris

Strafford Harris is the Chief Operating Officer and lead for the South African investments. He is an experienced finance professional who before his appointment as COO, he held the position of Serengeti Energy South Africa’s Country Director and prior to that, he served as the Head of Finance for Renewable Energy Holdings and its related subsidiaries. Strafford has over 15 years of professional experience, of which the last 9 years have been spent in the Southern African renewables’ environment with exposure to development, operational and financial close processes. Strafford holds board positions in the capacity as managing director on all South African operating assets and is the commercial lead on new in-country business.

After completing his articles at a medium sized firm of Chartered Accountants he held the positions of Audit Manager and Financial Accountant working with a wide range of clients varying from renewable energy developers to the commercial property sector where he gained valuable experience in restructuring, consolidations, and corporate finance.

He enjoys leading multidisciplinary teams of professionals in new and operational business initiatives. Strafford is a keen trail runner and golfer who spends most of his free time outdoors with his family.

Development Manager

West Africa

Lamine
Ndour

Lamine NDOUR is the Senior Business Development Manager for West and Francophone Africa, based in Dakar, Senegal. In addition to planning and managing the business development function to generate projects to establish the firm footprint in the region, he is also responsible managing the structuring and execution of equity investments and (project) financings required for bringing the projects to financial close along.

Lamine has over 20 year’s practical experience in investment management, technology development, project design, implementation and management across numerous sectors.

Lamine has worked for 8 years for a USDFI where he participated in the development and implementation of large infrastructure projects worth more than US 2 billion, in energy, roads and agriculture. He has held numerous roles in the private sector across numerous sectors. Lamine has worked in the US, Africa and Europe in banking, renewable energy and infrastructure investments. He started his career as an assistant portfolio manager and venture partner at Unus Capital in Birmigham, a venture capital investment boutique where he helped structure the company $400,000 angel investment into Bio-Nanomatrix, a DARPA funded and Princeton, which had developed a rapid nanotechnology genetic analysis. After numerous series financing and partnership, the company is now called BionanoGenomics Inc and listed in the NASDAQ(BNGO).

Lamine holds a Master in Energy Management with a concentration in regional electricity trading and renewable energy investment, in Europe along with a BS. with Honors in Economics and an MBA from the US.

Originally from Senegal, Lamine has studied, lived and worked in the US, Europe and Africa. He currently lives in Dakar with his family and enjoy playing basketball with his daughters.

Development Manager

Southern Africa

Christie
Burger

Christie is the Development Manager in Southern Africa responsible for managing the regional development team. He has almost 10 years of relevant experience in renewable energy project development and holds a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Stellenbosch. During his early career, Christie worked closely with the operator of hydropower facilities to improve plant performance and technical availability. He gained practical experience in the field and further exposure in Norway and Europe looking at manufacturing processes and hydro-operations. This experience gave him a strong technical foundation and a deep understanding of renewable energy design and operations.

Christie later transitioned to project development, where he took responsibility for technical workstreams in greenfield development and brownfield refurbishment projects. His responsibilities were expanded to managing and integrating all workstreams into a cohesive project to the point of being construction ready. He has experience in developing projects in the context of non-recourse financing and IFC Performance Standards. He built strategic relationships with consultants and suppliers and recognizes the fundamental value of a strong team in realizing these challenging projects.

Development Manager

Eastern Africa

Eugene
Obiero

Eugene Obiero is the Development Manager for Eastern Africa at Serengeti Energy, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He manages the East Africa development team whose roles involve, business and project development of renewable energy projects in the greater Eastern Africa region. Specifically, he is involved in origination, getting projects approved for development and allocated budgets and coordinating different project development workstreams such as project management, technical, legal, financial, environmental, social & governance with the aim of getting projects structured into bankability. The aim being to get projects to financial close and construction. He also represents Serengeti Energy on various project development company boards as part of his role.

He is also a Board Member of the Electricity Sector Association of Kenya (ESAK) since the year 2021. Initially he was the convener of the offgrid/C&I Workgroup, and he is currently the convenor of the Advocacy Board Sub Committee on the Association’s Board. He also serves on other Board Sub Committees.

Eugene has over 19 years work experience, eleven of which are in the renewable energy and energy financing subsectors. He has previously worked for ENGIE, CAMCO (REPP) and Shell in various roles including energy project development & financing, technical advisory, and financial and performance analysis in the Africa region.

Eugene holds an MBA in Global Energy from the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK. He is also a holder of a B.Com in Finance. He is a Kenyan national and with a pan African focus and a strong interest in matters climate change and infrastructure.

He also enjoys sports in general and is involved in various sports at a personal and family level.

Country Director

Malawi

Patrick
Silungwe

Mr. Silungwe is an experienced energy expert who has worked in the energy sector for over 12 years with several years at senior level. His most recent engagement was at the Ministry of Energy where he was the Deputy Director of Energy responsible for Rural Electrification.

Mr. Silungwe coordinated several projects while at the Ministry of Energy, including the development of an Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) which the Government of Malawi is developing in conjunction with Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL).

Mr. Silungwe holds a BSc in Electronic & Electrical Engineering and BENG (Hons) in Electrical and Energy both from the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland and a Masters Degree in Electrical Power Systems obtained from universities of Oviedo (Spain), Coimbra (Portugal) and Nottingham (United Kingdom).

Head of Technical Assistance & Strategic Partnerships

Marian
Grabowski

Marian Grabowski is the Head of Technical Assistance and strategic partnerships at Serengeti Energy. He and his team are responsible for supporting early-stage development projects of Serengeti Energy, managing the Technical Assistance Trust as well as engaging with stakeholders active in the renewable energy sector in sub-saharan Africa.

Marian has more than 8 years of experience in the impact investing and renewable energy space. Before joining Serengeti Energy in 2022, he worked as senior project manager in the Technical Assistance team of responsAbility Investments AG where he focused on supporting off-grid companies as well as financial institutions through grant funding to make them bankable. His passion lies in promoting sustainable development through meaningful cooperation and supporting Africa’s renewable energy movement.

Marian obtained his Master’s degree in Finance and International Affairs from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and Sciences Po Paris and also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics from Witten/ Herdecke University.

Group Operations Manager

John
Ndegwa

John is an energy professional with over 13 years’ experience in the Power Generation and Transmission industries in the UK and across Africa, including key roles in plant operations at KenGen, East Africa’s largest power producer.

He currently supports safe, reliable and efficient energy generation across the Serengeti Energy portfolio of operational power plants. He also provides technical support to the development and construction phases of upcoming projects.

He has a background in Mechanical Engineering and is passionate about renewable energy and its positive impact on economic and social development across Africa.

Group Operations & Maintenance Manager

Henk
Hattingh

Henk joined the group in 2013 as General Manager O&M for the organisations three hydro power stations in South Africa. In 2023 he was appointed as Group Operations and Maintenance Manager for the Southern African region. This role focusses on all aspects of Operations & Maintenance, with a specific emphasis on developing maintenance management structures to effectively support plant operations, construction & commissioning and providing input with regards to concept design during development phase. He is passionate about creating value through the sharing of knowledge, offering operational and technical support, streamlining maintenance processes, and mitigating operational risks.

He obtained his Electrical Trade Certificate in 2002, a Wireman’s License in 2004, completed a National Diploma in Business Management in 2019 and a further Occupational Health & Safety diploma in 2021.

He has since been involved in maintenance scheduling and refurbishments to power stations, as well as Safety and Environmental compliance in a variety of fields and has more than 20 years relevant experience in the construction and industrial field.

Deputy General & Commercial Counsel

Ndolo
Maliti

Ndolo is an Energy & Corporate lawyer, with over ten (10) years Pan-African post-admission experience. He is currently the Deputy General & Commercial Counsel at Serengeti Energy, supporting on all project development fronts – from deal origination, project due diligence, project execution/implementation/construction, project finance and project operations. He joined Serengeti Energy in November 2020 as Senior Legal Counsel, a role he held for seven (7) months before being promoted to his current position.

Prior to joining Serengeti Energy, Ndolo worked for GL Africa Energy, part of Janus Continental Group (a pan-African group with business interests in energy – electric power generation, mid-stream hydrocarbon trading and real estate & hospitality) where he supported energy & infrastructure businesses in five (5) countries in Africa. His work included pre-investment due diligence, project documentation, pre-commissioning due diligence, licensing and support during operations.

He started his career at Iseme, Kamau & Maema Advocates (DLA Piper Africa Office in Nairobi) where he was part of the Corporate, Energy & Infrastructure teams advising clients on energy and infrastructure deals, including on project due diligence, project documentation, equity documentation and project finance.

Ndolo holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Moi University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law.

Health, Safety &

Hydrologist Manager

Jerry
Owuonda

Jerry Owuonda is the Environmental, Social Governance (ESG) Manager and Hydrologist with 10 years ESG implementation experience. He has been responsible for developing and overseeing implementation of E&S Management Systems across the business. He is conversant with the application of IFC performance standards, local laws, ILO core labour requirements, as well as Good International Industry Practices. He believes in ‘Zero Harm’ and that all undesired events can be avoided through proactive approaches such risk assessment, training, and strict enforcement of E&S controls.

Additionally, he provides technical advice on resource assessment (hydrology, hydropower design optimization, climate change, biodiversity, environmental flow) and on sustainability risks in the design, preparation, implementation, and supervision of Serengeti Energy operations taking into consideration best industry practices and standards. He has a background in BSc. Earth Sciences and NEBOSH trainings on safety implementation. Prior to joining Serengeti Energy, he was the Environmental and Social Officer at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbei (GIZ).