Dr. Thomas Hillig is founder and Managing Director of THEnergy. THEnergy assists companies in dealing with energy-related challenges. Renewable energy companies are offered strategy, marketing and sales consulting services. For industrial companies, THEnergy develops energy concepts and shows how they can become more sustainable. It combines experience from conventional and renewable energy with industry knowledge in consulting.
In addition to business consulting, THEnergy advises investors regarding renewable energy investments in changing markets. It is also active in marketing intelligence and as an information provider in select fields, such as renewables and mining, through the platform th-energy.net/mining or renewables on islands through the new platform th-energy.net/islands.
Mark Wopicho serves as the Technical Director at KAWI East Africa Limited. KAWI offers cutting edge solutions aimed at fast-tracking the adoption of efficient energy and water practices, and the use of alternative energy across Africa. The company serves energy-intensive operations that are looking to adopt efficient energy practices, reduce their operational cost, integrate alternative energy solutions into their energy mix, manage their waste and reduce carbon emissions.
Mark is credited with co-founding PowerGen Renewable Energy, a leading mini-grid and solar company in Africa, with over 100 employees across five countries and more than $50m of capital raised. PowerGen has brought grid-quality energy access to thousands of Africans with clean, renewable energy systems utilizing cutting edge technology including smart metering and mobile money payment systems. The company also provides Engineering, Procurement and Construction services to commercial and industrial customers using creative financing solutions and has realized over $2 million US dollars in annual revenue.
Mark is a graduate of Kenyatta University with a degree in Energy Engineering.
Freelance consultant with 30+ years in the field of electrical engineering. Worked as a procurement engineer for 15 years, shifting more towards the renewable energy field in 2007. Few of the most significant achievements include establishing the private renewable projects department in EETC, being a part of the ATMP program for reducing no. of birds death in migration seasons by controlling the wind turbine. Adding to that, leading the responsible team for contracting the consultants to do the social and environmental studies of EETC projects (substations and transmission lines).
Finally, contracting about 2000 MW solar energy projects (1465 MW in operation in Benban solar project in Aswan) and 3300 MW solar projects (500 MW in operation).
Eng. Lamya graduated from Ain Shams University Faculty of Engineering Power Systems Dep and completed her MBA in Strategic Management in 2013 from the Cairo licenced Victoria School of Business.
Adel is an Investment Director at Meridiam, he is currently involved in the development and investment of a wide array of infrastructure projects in North and West Africa.
Before joining Meridiam, Adel was a Director at Renewable Energy Partner (“RnE”) a project development company and advisory boutique firm specializing in renewable energy projects in the Middle East and Africa.
Prior to RnE, Adel worked at leading law firms in Paris and London. He was involved in the financing of energy and infrastructure transactions around the world. He is a qualified Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales as well as being admitted to the New York Bar.
African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) is one of the most experienced private equity
investment managers with a 20-year track record focused exclusively on African infrastructure. AIIM currently manages USD1.9bn in AUM out of 5 regional offices on the continent with a portfolio extending across more than 60 investments, 29 exits, and operations in 19 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa across its 7 African infrastructure funds. The funds are designed to invest in long-term institutional unlisted equity in African infrastructure projects such as toll roads, renewable energy, power generation, midstream energy, airports, ports, and digital infrastructure assets.
Patrick, an Investment Director at AIIM is responsible for transaction origination and business
development for French Speaking sub-Saharan African regions. Prior to joining AIIM, Patrick was an Executive at GE with a dual role leading Sales and Project Finance for their oil &gas business in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) all GE businesses (including Healthcare and Power) in French-Speaking SSA. He has held senior executive roles at financial advisory firm Africa Capital, Atlantique Telecom (Etisalat MNO subsidiary operating in 6 countries in West and Central Africa), and Alink Telecom (wireless and satellite connectivity provider). Patrick started his career in Corporate and Investment Banking for ING in Paris, with a focus on Telecoms. Patrick holds a Master’s in Management Degree from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris.
Antonio joined Trina Solar in 2019 to set up the regional headquarters in the Middle East and Africa Region. He has an extensive career in the solar industry and has been involved in the power sector since 2000.
Prior to this, he worked in several multinationals as PWC, Innogy SE and Abengoa Solar where he spent a large amount of his career working in all the steps of the value chain of solar power. He has extensive experience in solar power, IPP projects and renewable energy value chain Europe, North America and Middle East and Africa Region, with more than 8 years in the latter.
Antonio holds an engineering degree and a MBA degree from INSEAD graduate business school.
Elena Ortiz is experienced in Solar site installation. She has been working at the main global solar energy companies in several projects completing 2GW of Solar Energy with a large experience in Middle East region.
She started working as a Mechanical Engineer for CSP & PV Projects in Spain, before moving to UAE where she performed different roles at the biggest solar plants of MEA, as Operation and Maintenance Engineer, Mechanical Supervisor, Quality Coordinator and Project Manager.
She has a strong experience on design, construction, quality and commissioning aspects and spent a lot of time at site for solar projects. Elena has over nine years’ experience in solar sector and has an extensive experience in Middle East Market. She worked with many main players such as Abengoa, Masdar, Dewa and Acciona.
Thomas Chevillotte is Head of Finance and Africa at Enea Consulting since 2021. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector, having worked at JP Morgan, Standard Bank, and at Bboxx, a developer and operator of off-grid solutions in emerging markets, as the Group’s CFO. Thomas obtained his MBA from London Business School.
Over time, Thomas has developed a strong strategic and financial expertise. He is specifically knowledgeable on the topic of Energy Access in Africa. He participated in the debt restructuring of the Ruzizi project in the Great Lake region, and in the financing and structuring of diverse solar PV projects across Africa. Following Bboxx’s successful bid for the CIZO project in 2017, Bboxx Togo was created from Thomas’ leadership. He was highly instrumental in creating several Bboxx partnerships and Joint-Ventures, such as the 2018 strategic partnership with Orange across five countries such as Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, and the 2018 Joint-Venture with EDF in Togo. In 2020, Thomas’ guidance allowed for EDF to become a shareholder at Bboxx Kenya. He was Board member of five Bboxx entities.
Thomas was invited multiple times as guest speaker in international conferences, including the 2018 Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, the 2019 World Impact Summit in Bordeaux, the 2019 Greentechmedia’s Off-grid Energy Access Forum in London and the 2021 Africa Investments Forum and Awards in Paris.
Kathleen manages the strategic growth and pan-African operations of CrossBoundary Energy, Africa’s leading distributed renewable utility for business. She develops CBE’s partnerships with public & private stakeholders across the industry, directs the daily operations of CBE’s distributed energy platform and oversees ESG compliance and business analytics.
Previously Kathleen was a project developer for SunEdison’s commercial solar division on the U.S. East Coast. She has also consulted for Dalberg in Washington D.C. and Dakar, Senegal. Kathleen is an alumna of Princeton University’s School of Public & International Affairs.
