Board Team

Afriyie is co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Axis Pensions. He has over 14 years’ experience in the Investment Management and Pensions industry. Afriyie has a thorough understanding of Investment Management and Administration business; skills acquired from direct field experience. He pioneered the establishment of Axis Pensions and the creation of systems, structures and operational strategies that have seen Axis become a leading pension provider in Ghana.

Prior to co-founding Axis, Afriyie worked at Databank. During his six years at Databank, he established employee benefit schemes for many blue chip organizations. Afriyie led the institutional funds management business at Databank and guided the firm to develop a positioning strategy for the pensions industry. He also steered several IT projects at Databank as technical analyst and guided software engineers to automate manual business processes.

Afriyie is a graduate of the University of Ghana Business School with a bachelors’ degree in Business Administration (Banking and Finance option). He is married with three children.

Ernest Kusi-Ababio is Chair of the Board of Directors of Axis Pension Trust Ltd.  Ernest is a Pharmacist by profession with over 24 years experience in Pharmaceutical Management, Product Development and Marketing.

He is also the Executive Chairman of Palb Pharmaceuticals Ltd –the exclusive distributor for Lifescan Johnson and Johnson a US company, Pharmalab Inc in Canada and a distributor for Sandoz DD.

He has developed major brands like Vitafol (Pre-Natal Multivitamins), Amoksiklav (Anti-infective) and Nifecard XL (Antihypertensive) in the Pharmaceutical industry, with market leadership. 

Ernest Kusi-Ababio holds an Executive Masters in Business Administration with emphasis on Entrepreneurship.

He is also a graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy.

Ernest is a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana. He is married to Elizabeth. They are blessed with two children.

Robert Bennin, APTD, CFA, MoID, MSc, B.A, Dip.

Robert M. Bennin is a member of the Board of Directors of Axis. He is also the Founder and Chief Learning Strategist at TEMPLE Advisory, a specialist research-based talent development and strategy consulting firm focused on accelerating the transformation of enterprises operating on the African continent. Robert brings to the Board of Axis many years of technical and managerial experience acquired over the past decade working with top managers across Africa.

As the founder and Chief Learning Strategist at TEMPLE Advisory, a talent development and strategy consulting firm. Robert has led the design and delivery of over 400 strategic, value-enabling learning programs in the domains of leadership, strategy and finance to 100+ clients from diverse industries in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa. His global perspective and intimate understanding of changes and trends taking place across several industries in emerging markets have made him an invaluable resource to leaders and organizations in their quest to resolve the challenges of building enduring and highly competitive enterprises.  

Robert has been deeply involved in the development of financial services industry as an advisor and trainer of several leading companies including banks, finance houses, investment advisory firms, microfinance companies, etc.

Robert has been a trainer and/or facilitator at several institutions, including, Institute of Directors, Boardroom Institute, National Banking College, Association of African Business Schools, Endeavor South Africa's BootCamp for CEOs and Owner Managers, Graduate School of Governance & Leadership and Ghana Stock Exchange Professional Education Programme.

Robert Bennin has MSc in Economics and Finance from the Warwick Business School (UK) and B.A in Economics from University of Ghana. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and a CFA Charterholder. He also holds the Associate Professional in Talent Development Certification.

Robert is married to Ewurama Bennin. The couple is blessed with 2 children.

Matthew is the Group Financial Controller of Axis. He has over 13 years’ experience in treasury, taxation, financial reporting and management controls. He also has financial and management experience in health, real estate and private media broadcasting sectors.

Before joining Axis, Matthew had been Finance Manager for Joy FM and Chief Finance Officer for the Ghana Slum Upgrading Fund; a UN Habitat project in Ghana. He is a Chartered Accountant with the ACCA (UK) and CA (Gh).

Matthew Mani is a product of the University of Ghana Business School with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Accounting Option) and currently studying for an MBA. He is married with two children.

Mr. Kelechi Okoro is a Partner at AFIG Funds. He is responsible for sourcing, executing and managing investments for the funds under management.

Prior to joining AFIG Funds in 2013, He was at Argentil Capital Partners where he originated and executed infrastructure transactions.

Prior to Argentil, he worked with the Infrastructure and Natural Resources Group of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and at ARM Investment Managers (with ~USD 2bn AUM), both in Nigeria.

He holds a Bachelor’s in Human Physiology from the University of Ibadan, and an M.B.A. from Lagos Business School

Mr. Papa Madiaw Ndiaye is the Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of AFIG Funds, a fund manager focused on growth and equity investments in West, Central and East Africa. He is also the Chairman of the Funds’ Investment Committee. Prior to AFIG Funds, he was one of the founding partners of Emerging Markets Partnership (EMP) in Washington (now ECP). Prior to joining EMP, he held senior responsibilities for IFC’s equity and debt investment activities in capital markets and financial institutions in Africa between 1996 and 2000.

He spent the early part of his career at Salomon Brothers and joined JP Morgan’s Emerging Markets Group in 1992. In 2000, He was named Special Advisor for Economic and Financial Affairs to the President of the Republic of Senegal and Chairman of the Senegalese Presidential Economic and Financial Advisory Council. He serves on the boards of several African companies and non-profit organizations pertaining to Africa. He graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business.

Maidie Arkutu is currently the Senior Vice President, New Business Development for Nutrifoods Ghana Ltd. (Olam & Sanyo Joint Venture). In this role, she is responsible for new product development for the snacks category and also for geographic expansion. Ms. Arkutu is also the past Vice President, Chairman and Managing Director of Unilever Francophone Africa. In this role, she led one of the 4 sub-Sahara Africa clusters for the Unilever Africa Group, managing over 10 French speaking countries and based in Abidjan. She was the Managing Director of Unilever Ghana prior to taking on the Francophone role. She held senior marketing roles across different African countries in her formative years with Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company.

A professional Marketer, Transformational Leader and International Executive, Ms. Arkutu has a PostGraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (U.K Board). She also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Business Economics with a minor in French, from Vesalius College, Belgium. Ms. Arkutu is currently a Non-Executive Board Member of GT Bank and a Steering Committee Member of the Skills Development Fund. At United Way Worldwide, she is a Member of the Leadership Council and the African Advisory Council. Ms. Arkutu is also a Stanford Seed Consultant, a role in which she volunteers to give free professional advice to small and medium size businesses in Africa.

Previous governance roles include: Lady Chair and Executive Board Member of the Executive Women Network (EWN), Non- Executive Board member at Barclays Bank Ghana Limited, Executive Board Member at Unilever Ghana Limited, Board Chair and Executive Board Member of Unilever Francophone Africa, Member of the BEEP Advisory Council and Corporate Advisory Group Member of the University of Ghana Business School.

Ms. Arkutu has been the recipient of several awards and recognitions, including the prestigious Marketing Woman of the Year (2015) at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana Awards and Outstanding Manufacturing Executive, Personal Products (2016) at the Feminine Ghana Achievement Awards. In 2017 she was awarded the Female Influential Leader Award by Ghana UK Based Achievements (GUBA), and Most Influential Woman in Business and Government in Ivory Coast and the West Africa sub-region by CEO Global. In 2018, the prestigious Jeune Afrique Magazine/ Africa Report Magazine named Ms. Arkutu as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business in Africa.