Hatim Karimjee - Outgoing Chairman

Hatim Karimjee's entire business career from 1966 to date has been in the family business. He was Managing Director of a large tea and sisal company, Karimjee Agriculture Limited, until 1996. He has been actively involved in the family's motor business and is currently Chairman of Toyota Tanzania Limited. He is presently Chairman and Managing Director of the family's holding company Karimjee Jivanjee Limited.

Mr Karimjee has been very active in public and private service and his senior appointments have included Chairman f the Tanzania Tea Authority, Tanzania Tourist Board, Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute, Jane Goodall Institute and Africa Online Tanzania Limited. He has also served as a Trustee of Tanzania National Parks.

Mr Karimjee was educated in England and Switzerland and graduated from IBI Leysin with a MSc in International Business.

William Kalema - Incoming chairman

William Kalema is Chairman of the Kilimo Trust, AAC's majority shareholder, and also a Trustee and Chairman of the Board of the Uganda Gatsby Trust. As a leader of private sector development in Uganda, William was appointed to the Commission for Africa. He also serves on the Boards of many respected East African businesses, including among others the Development Finance Company of Uganda, Multichoice Uganda and East African Breweries.

Dr Kalema began his professional career in the Zambian mining industry before taking up a senior position in business development with Du Pont in USA. He returned to Uganda in 1991 where he embarked on a successful business and consultancy career.

He holds Master's and Bachelor's degrees in chemical engineering from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Tom Adlam - Managing Director

Tom Adlam is a Chartered Accountant by profession and has lived and worked in East & Southern Africa for the past 5 years. Before taking up his current position of AAC's Managing Director, Tom was the Chief Financial Officer of CDC Group plc's African agro-industries investment portfolio, based in Harare, Zimbabwe. He has also held a range f senior financial positions with aid organizations, including Oxfam and the International Red Cross, a senior Consulting role with Pricewaterhousecoopers in Kenya, and two senior corporate development positions with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Tom Adlam is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He holds a MA from Oxford University in Philosophy & Psychology and has recently completed his MBA programme with Manchester Business School.

Laurence Cockcroft - Non-executive Director

Laurence Cockcroft has worked either in Africa or on Africa related issues since 1966. His experience has been particularly focused on agricultural development and on agri-business and he has worked for Governments (Zambia, Tanzania), the corporate sector (Booker Agriculture International), international development organisations (as a consultant to FAO, IFAD,UNCTAD, the World Bank) and private sector Foundations. He has worked closely with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation on its Africa programme since 1985.

Mr Cockcroft holds an economics degree from Cambridge University. In 1989 he published a book on the interface between economic development and political and social issues in Africa in 1989: Africa's Way: A Journey from the Past.

He is a founding Board member of Transparency International and is currently Chairman of its UK chapter.

Joseph Kibe - Non-executive Director

Joseph Kibe pursued a career with the Kenyan Civil Service for 17 years after independence, during which time he rose rapidly to the rank of Permanent Secretary for the Ministries of Commerce & Industry, Economic Planning, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Water Development, Lands and Settlement and Tourism and Wildlife.

He was also the Chairman of the Agricultural Finance Corporation in Kenya and of Egerton College (Agriculture). Since his retirement from the Kenyan Civil Service in 1979, Mr Kibe has pursued an independent career in private business, principally in agricultural investments growing French Beans and Runner Beans for export and in property in Nairobi.

Mr Kibe holds a BA from Makerere College (now Makerere University), Uganda.

Simon Rutega - Non-executive Director

Simon Rutega is currently the Chief Executive of the Uganda Stock Exchange. Previously, he worked for the American Express Advisory Service Group as a Business planner/Financial analyst where he was charged with providing comprehensive financial planning for business and individual clients, investment portfolio management, insurance coverage, tax planning and general financial management.

Mr Rutega sits on a number of Boards. He is the current Chairman of the East African Stock Exchange Association, the Vice President of the Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda, a director on the DFID East African Financial Deepening Board, East African Regional Central Depository Board, Good African Coffee Limited and also sits on the Uganda Private Sector Foundation Audit committee and SME committee.

Walter Vandepitte - Non-executive Director

Walter Vandepitte is currently the Chairman of the Aveve Group in Belgium, Vice-Chairman of the Boerebond (the Belgian Farmers Union) Chairman of VLAM (the Flanders Agricultural Marketing Board) and recently retired as Professor at the faculty of Agricultural Science at the Katholieke University of Leuven.

His particular field of expertise lies in livestock breeding and selection and he has a wealth of advisory experience around the world. After 20 years of service to the Boerenbond in Belgium, he took up an academic career at the University of Leuven, but also took up a range of senior non-executive positions with Belgian agricultural organizations, including the Boerenbond and Aveve Group (a substantial group of agriculture-related businesses).

Professor Vandepitte has published numerous articles on agricultural economics, development and animal production.

Grace Rubambey - Non-executive Director

Grace Rubambey is a Tanzanian economist and microfinance expert with more than 35 years professional experience, the majority of which was gained with the Bank of Tanzania, where she established and led the Directorate of Microfinance, and oversaw the development of the regulatory and supervisory framework for Microfinance Institutions.

She is a member of many boards and policy development committees, including the Tanzania National Economic Empowerment Council and the Advisory Board to the President’s Empowerment Fund.

She also served as the first non-FAO Secretary-General of the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association and, in recognition of her efforts, was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre National by the Government of Burkina Faso. 

Michael Turner - Non-executive Director

Michael Turner is based in Nairobi as consultant to the private equity investment manager, Actis. Until recently, he was a partner in Actis and he remains responsible for Actis's agribusiness investments. He has been instrumental in some of Actis's key successes in Africa, including the launch of the Acacia Fund, the first private equity fund in Kenya, the US$16 million equity investment in Flamingo, and investments in Banque Commerciale du Rwanda and the Development Finance Company of Uganda.

He joined Actis in 1988 as an investment manager focused on Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Prior to joining Actis, Mr Turner spent three years in investment banking in London for Lehman Brothers and Kleinwort Benson, having started his career with Price Waterhouse.