Head of Lab

Hafou Toure Samb holds the position of Deputy Director of Cabinet for the Minister in charge of promoting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Côte d’Ivoire. In this role, she is responsible for structuring programs, mobilizing resources, and steering high-level discussions and policies to support Ivorian SMEs.

With a strong background in finance, Hafou brings a wealth of experience in advising and providing financing to African companies. She has worked extensively with multilateral development banks, notably the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the African Development Bank. Additionally, Hafou is the founder of HTS Partners, a financial advisory firm based in Abidjan, where she has successfully facilitated multi-million dollar fundraising transactions for clients across the African continent. Her focus has been on supporting women-owned enterprises and bridging the financing gap for women entrepreneurs.

Hafou’s expertise extends beyond her professional roles. She serves on the boards of several institutions, including the Africa Fintech Forum and Leaders de Demain. Her insightful perspectives have been featured in esteemed publications such as Jeune Afrique, Le Point, La Tribune Afrique, and Financial Afrik. She has also made numerous television appearances, notably on France 24 and the national channel of Côte d’Ivoire, NCI, where she moderates a weekly column called “Parlons business” (Let’s talk business).

Recognized as a young leader, Hafou was selected for the French African Foundation and is an active Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum. She is also a Millennium Leadership Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Hafou holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Hafou Toure Samb’s diverse background, expertise in finance, and dedication to empowering SMEs make her a valuable leader and advocate for economic growth and development in Côte d’Ivoire and across the African continent.

Dr. Dennis Addo is a highly accomplished health professional who is passionate about transforming healthcare in Africa and globally. With a diverse background in medicine, entrepreneurship, innovation, and public health consulting, he has gained a wealth of experience across multiple sectors in the health industry. Dennis is currently the Global Lead for COVID Safe Paths, a project at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is the Founder and CEO of Claron Health International, a Managed and Digital Healthcare Company in Africa with Global Ambitions. Claron Health International is an Innovative Corporate Health and Wellness Company delivering Medical, Occupational, and Preventative Healthcare Services across Africa.

During his military service, Dennis worked as the Senior Medical Officer with the United Nations Interim Mission to Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Mission to Ivory Coast (UNOCI), responsible for the healthcare of thousands of Soldiers and the health needs of many deprived and war-torn communities.

Dennis is a member of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons. He holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University, where he was an Edward S. Mason and Adrian Cheng Fellow. As a Cheng Fellow, Dennis is piloting Wala Digital Health, an Innovative Digital Marketplace for Blood Donation, Processing, and Delivery, to tackle the fatal consequences of blood shortages in developing countries. He obtained his Undergraduate and Medical Degrees from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and his postgraduate degrees from the Hebrew University and the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a graduate of the MIT Entrepreneurship Program.

In 2017, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in Ghana appointed Dennis as a Board Member to assist in reforming the NHIA, aiming to offer Social Health Insurance and Financial Risk Protection to all Ghanaians.

As a committed community leader, Dennis founded the Water, Energy, and Resources Conservation Club, an NGO that promotes the conservation of natural resources in Ghanaian schools. He has also served as a Technical Advisor and evaluator for multimillion-dollar projects funded by Rotary International in Northern Uganda and other parts of the world. He recently received an appointment as a Rotary Cadre Technical Coordinator for Africa.

Mr. Ahiaglo is co-founder and Partner at Constant Capital. He has over 25 years of experience in investment banking. Mr. Ahiaglo is currently directly responsible for the Firm’s Ghana Investment Banking and Growth Equity Investing activities. He is the managing director of Constant Capital Ghana.

Mr. Ahiaglo previously worked in senior roles in capital markets and investment banking at Lehman Brothers in New York, where he was involved in the origination and execution of convertible debt, preferred and equity-derivatives financing transactions, and strategic advisory mandates for blue-chip corporate and institutional clients. Before Lehman Brothers, he was a trader in the Derivatives Products Group at Republic National Bank/HSBC, also in New York, trading options (cross-asset: EM Fixed Income, Currencies, commodities, and Funds).

Notable deals he has worked on include the structuring and issuance of $350 million principal amount of zero yield puttable securities (ZYPS) for a NASDAQ-listed telecom services company; a $150 million PIPE investment by a major shareholder in an international telephone services carrier; and a $500 million financing for an LBO sponsor for a competitive cross-border bid for a global aircraft engine components manufacturer.

More recently, Mr. Ahiaglo has co-advised (along with two different global banks) on a $150 million financing for the development of downstream oil and gas infrastructure and also a $750 million structured financing proposal for the re-development of landside and airside airport assets in Ghana; advised on an equity and debt capital raise for a $450 million mixed-use real estate development project in Lagos, Nigeria; and has also led many high-profile capital raises, recapitalizations, restructurings, and other strategic advisory mandates for selected private and public companies and major parastatals in Ghana and Nigeria.

Mr. Ahiaglo has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and received his B.Sc. from the University of Ghana.

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