Kohei Muto
CEO

Kohei has experience in advising global and local firms on capital raising, acquisition, and investment. He has successfully executed more than 35 deals worth more than 30 billion USD in 5 regions (Asia, US, Europe, Middle East, and Africa) across sectors.
He started his career at Morgan Stanley and later joined Shurook, a private equity investment subdivision of the Office of the Quartet, led by Tony Blaire, covering investments in banking and clean-tech sectors in the Middle East. He graduated from a boarding school in Pennsylvania, US, and graduated from Tsukuba University in Japan. He enjoys traveling and flying planes.

Gayama Yannick
Managing Director

Former director at a global PR agency, Yannick advised multinationals in Stakeholder Engagement in various fields (life sciences, technology, etc.) and currently supports African embassies in investment promotion and and is co-founder the African Commerce Community in Japan (AfCCJ) project. Son of an Ambassador of the Republic of Congo, he was born in the U.S., raised in Ethiopia, Congo and Canada, holds a B.Sc. in Communications, a grad. degree in Game Design (University of Montreal), and a Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (University of British Columbia).

Ryuichi Shinohara
Managing Director

Ryuichi has over 30 years of experience in the Global Markets business in Tokyo, London, and New York. He commenced his career at the Industrial Bank of Japan in 1988 (now Mizuho), where he acted as the head of the bank’s UST and MBS portfolio. Later, he joined Bank of America (Executive Vice President, Head of Sales & Trading for Non-Yen Bond), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Managing Director, Head of Non-Yen Bond Sales), and Credit Agricole Securities (Managing Director, Head of Flow Sales). At Credit Agricole, Ryuichi notably spearheaded the expansion of the firm’s Securities Lending and Green Bond businesses.

Nobuko Steinmann
MANAGER

Nobuko holds a Ph. D. in Islamic Studies (University of Tokyo) and offered expert lectures, Arabic language training to the Japanese government and large corporations for over 14 years, while participating in Ministry of Foreign Affairs projects such as “Monitoring the Middle East through SNS” and “Research on The Roles of Major Tribes in North Africa”. She also worked many years as an Arabic media interpreter for major Japanese broadcasters and translated Arabic publications.

Albert Mbithi
ASSOCIATE

He has 10 years of experience as a financial expert in East Africa’s largest banks KCB Bank and Equity Bank. At Equity Bank, he made achievement in the field of Agency Banking by pioneering financial inclusion through use of mobile and POS terminals. He also has experience working at the Kenya National Highways Authority Corporation. He has Bachelors of Commerce in Marketing and Management from the University of Mount Kenya and a Diploma in Business Administration from the British Association of Business Executives. Based in Kenya

Kamil Orbisso Mohamed
Project Manager

Kamil obtained a degree in Global Studies and International Relations from Addis Ababa New Generation University in Ethiopia. He has been working in Djibouti and Japan expert in the fields of international logistics, maritime affairs, and supply chain of multinational corporations. He came to Japan as a Fellow of Awaji Youth Federation and served as an International Relations and Project Officer at Pasona Co., Ltd.

Adaeze Gbufor
Analyst

Adaeze holds a master’s degree in project management, a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology, and a diploma in Pharmacy from the International University of Malaya-Wales based in Malaysia. She won the Young Researcher Award in 2019 from FSTEM, with other awards of excellence. She has experience and expertise in project development and promotion of sustainable novel technologies. Her exceptional skills in research analysis, project management and laboratory techniques enabled her participate in a database analysis and software product testing for healthcare App development for Silicon Valley. She also passionately runs a foundation that caters for less-privileged children in Africa.

Koshiro Ashizawa
Analyst

Koshiro holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of California Santa Barbara. He managed projects for Nuovo Fiore Ethiopia, a charity foundation that promotes and supports basic education in the African continent. He graduated from an American boarding school in Switzerland.  Based in Tokyo, Japan.

Karthik Varada
ESG Advisor

Karthik has 6+ years of experience working with venture capital and impact investing firms and advised startups on social impact assessment. He is a Researcher at the University of Tokyo, where he also finished his PhD on ESG investing. Karthik was among the founding members of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Asia Women Impact Fund, an impact investment fund committed to advancing gender equality in Asia. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Tokyo and a bachelor’s degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad.

Takayuki Matsuo
Legal Advisor

Takayuki is a Partner at MM&N (Momo-o, Matsuo &Namba). He has expertise in emerging markets’ legal framework, and has experiences in information/ intelligence related laws (including AI). He is the author of several books and university textbooks, including “AI/HR Technology Related – Legal Practice on Personal Management & Labor Related Information Management”.
He graduated from Tokyo University Faculty of Law, Harvard University Law School, and Pekin University Law School.