The Corporate Finance Team

Stephan Ganon CA, MSc Fin Director, Corporate Finance Stephan graduated from HEC Montreal, and holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School. A Canadian Chart ered Accountant, Stephan has held managerial posts with Grant Thornton and Arthur Andersen. Before co-founding StarGate, he headed the City team of a venture capital advisory firm. As a corporate advisor, he has completed over 20 transactions, some from seed funding to exit and he is a founding Director of African Emerging Ventures and Green Gold Forestry, two projects being incubated by Stargate. stephan@stargatecapital.co.uk
Bryan Lemar Senior Advisor Africa A British national, Bryan has lived and worked in the southern African region since 1980. During this time he has lead the development of several manufacturing facilities, including acting in the capacity of in-country CEO for a fortune 500 company. He has played major roles acting as Board Member for the American Business Council of Botswana, Chairman of the US-SADC Business Council and Director of the Botswana Export Development & Investment Authority. His extensive network of high-level regional and international contacts in all private and public sectors brings significant support for anyone thinking of investing in African-based projects.. bryan.lemar@stargatecapital.co.uk
Gareth Hughes Green Gold Forestry Gareth Hughes has more than 25 years of entrepreneurial experience and has spent the last 14 years in Peru, where he set up and managed several social enterprise businesses. He was awarded an OBE in 2004 for his achievements in Peru and his 7 year service as President of the British Peruvian Chamber of Commerce. Since 2002, he has been involved in sustainable forestry in Peru, first owning a 10,000-hectare concession and then as a founder of Frontier Forestal SA with a 150,000 hectare operation. Gareth returned to the UK in 2007 to set up Green Gold Forestry, a sustainable forestry asset management company. Gareth holds a BA in Business Studies from Oxford. gareth.hughes@stargatecapital.co.uk
Yury Dubas BSc Group Accountant Yury has several years of accounting experience (he has been preparing Stargate’s accounts over the past year) with an expertise in providing accounting solutions to small and medium businesses. His role at Stargate is to prepare financial statements for the Group, its subsidiaries and associates. He has managed a diverse portfolio of over 530 clients for a London-based accounting firm. Yury graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London, with a degree in Economics and Management. He is currently at Stage 2 of his ACCA accreditation. Yury is fluent in Ukrainian, Russian and English. yury.dubas@stargatecapital.co.uk
Joshna Raghwani BSc,MSc Associate Corporate Finance Joshna joined Stargate in early 2009 focusing on projects based in Southern Africa providing transaction support. Previously, she worked for the investment banks UBS in New York and Morgan Stanley in London in institutional client services for futures and options and in project management. She also worked for the Central Bank of Seychelles as a researcher. She has a BSc in Economics and MSc in Development Economics, both from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). joshna.raghwani@stargatecapital.co.uk
Ravi Shah BA, MSc Associate Corporate Finance Ravi has lived and worked both in London and Kenya. He joined Stargate in July 2009 performing research and analysis on the firm’s Sub Saharan Africa projects. Previously, he worked in Kenya for 4 years as General Manager for the country’s largest wire manufacturing company, overseeing its internal operations and supply chain. He graduated from Nottingham University in Industrial Economics and has a MSc (with distinction) from Cass Business School in Supply Chain, Trade & Finance. ravi.shah@stargatecapital.co.uk