Mr Cairnes is the Founder of ManoCap. Manocap is a ManoCap is a private investment firm that has been making debt and equity investments in small and mid-cap enterprises in West Africa for over 8 years. ManoCap currently manages the ManoCap Equity Funds and the George Soros Funds. Mr Cairnes has been living and working in Sierra Leone since 2004, firstly as the private sector consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and since November 2005 in the development and operations of ManoCap. He has worked for Lansdowne Partners, a UK based hedge fund manager focussing on UK equities and as a management consultant for Marakon Associates in London, New York, Amsterdam and Mexico, focused primarily of the financial services sector.
He has an M. Phil in Development Studies from Cambridge University, and a BA in Human Sciences from Oxford University.

She has over a decade experience in the Financial Services Industry.  She currently works for Advanced Research & Intelligence Services. Prior to the aforementioned, she worked with Financial Derivatives Co. Ltd where she provided Finance and Advisory service where she advised clients such as Avis Nigeria and Phase 3 Telecoms. She also organized economic review sessions for clients, including Citibank, Diamond Bank, Access Bank, UBA, Sterling Bank, and Unity Bank. She also organised strategic retreats and management sessions for clients such as Chevron Nigeria, Mouka Foam, MTN, UBA, Custody, Associated Discount House, First Bank, First Trustees, and Fidelity Bank. She also served on the Presidential Sub-Technical Committee, reviewed tariffs and incentives as well as expenditures for the Ministry of Finance. She also worked with First City Monument Bank Plc and Stardust UK Limited. 

She has a MSc Finance and Investment (Distinction)(Queen Mary University of London, UK), BSc Banking & Finance GPA (First Class) Igbinedion University, Okada, Nigeria and is a Level II Candidate in the CFA Program .

Mr. George-Taylor is a dynamic, astute and result-oriented leader with over 25 years of experience in the banking industry and proven success in managing multi-billion Naira operations.

Mr. George-Taylor was an Executive Director at Guaranty Trust Bank (GT Bank) where he headed the Public Sector Group, Abuja & North Central Division, in this role he significantly grew the bank’s Balance Sheet, increased profit and doubled the bank’s share of Federal Government Business. Prior to this, George-Taylor served as the Managing Director of GT Bank, Sierra Leone where he completely turned around the bank’s performance by increasing profits by 800% in 4 years and under his leadership GT Bank Sierra Leone won several awards.

An adept negotiator who applies his in-depth knowledge of the banking industry to generate rapid revenue and profit growth opportunities; he is also skilled at cultivating, winning and maintaining excellent relationships with customers and key accounts. He was also instrumental in the Lagos State introduction of IST and Electronic Payments initiatives, introduced Card (ValueCard) and E-payment products for GT Bank joint marketing and led several other innovative initiatives.

He has served on several key committees and task forces including the Presidential Task Force on Financial Sector Reform Program Sierra Leone, Interswitch Implementation Committee, E-banking and Product Development Committee and the Executive Council – The West African Bankers Association, to name a few.

After he resigned from the bank, he set up FAFE International; a financial services outfit offering a wide range of advisory and consulting solutions with a strong focus on corporate, debt and project finance; and wealth management, servicing clients primarily in the Oil & Gas, Power and Real Estate sectors. FAFE International has successfully secured and executed several high-profile mandates.

Mr. George-Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from Clark University – USA and has attended executive education courses in institutions including INSEAD – Singapore, Cranfield School of Management – UK, IMD – Switzerland and Lagos Business School.

He was previously an independent non-executive director in Sage Grey Finance Limited, currently he is the acting Managing Director of Heritage Bank Plc.

 

Mrs Olagoke is the Managing Director, Phoenix Mode UK Limited, a business intelligence firm specialising in Due Diligence for organisations, from financial institutions to private investors.

She has over a decade experience in the Finance Services industry in United Kingdom. She has worked with clients, which include Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Barclays Plc (UK), Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. She also worked with Guaranty Trust Bank Plc for a few years prior to her United Kingdom foray. She has a MSc Energy Futures (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) and BSc Geology from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria.