CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, has announced the appointment of Seema Dhanani to head the organization’s office in Kenya. It has also appointed Benson Adenuga to head the Nigeria office.
Seema Dhanani joins CDC from Mauritius Commercial Bank, where she was the Chief Representative Officer for East & West Africa, holding responsibility for the bank’s office in Kenya. She was overseeing governance, reporting, compliance and strategic client and regulatory coverage across East and West Africa for the MCB Group.
Seema previously worked for Standard Chartered Bank as head of Private Clients and Executive Director for Strategic Promoter Initiatives, where she led the offshore business initiatives across the region, deepening engagement with promoter families and on-boarding new private banking relationships. Prior to this, Seema spent 12 years working for Standard Chartered Bank in the City of London. Her career includes setting up an $18bn leveraged credit fund. Seema will be based in Nairobi.
Benson Adenuga
Benson Adenuga joins CDC Group from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where he was the Equity Lead for the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). He has oversight for a wide-ranging portfolio of equity investments across SSA, including banking, insurance, microfinance and other non-bank financial institutions. Prior to that, he was the FIG’s Hub Leader for Anglophone West Africa, where he oversaw more than 12 transactions totalling over $350 million in aggregate value.
Before joining the IFC, Benson worked at Actis in West Africa for eight years as an equity investor where he was involved in landmark transactions in the Nigerian market, and at KPMG Professional Services as a Senior Manager in the audit and business advisory services department. He will be based in Lagos.
CDC Group plc is the UK’s development finance institution, wholly owned by the UK Government. CDC has invested in Africa and Asia for over 70 years. CDC aims to help countries in Africa and Asia to build thriving communities that provide sustainable opportunities for all citizens. CDC takes a flexible approach and provides capital in all its forms, including equity, debt, mezzanine and guarantees, to meet businesses’ needs and achieve development impact. CDC has net assets of £5.8bn. CDC works across multiple sectors including financial services, infrastructure, food and agriculture and real estate.