AN EXPERIENCED TEAM WITH AN EXCEPTIONAL TRACK RECORD
Thank you for taking this opportunity to learn about Kamino Energy Ltd. and for letting us introduce our team to you. As you will be able to appreciate from a quick review of our experience and academic backgrounds, our team is remarkable academically, professionally, and personally. By letting us work together and allowing us to put our resources at your disposal, your plan and vision will succeed and bear fruit. Kamino Energy showcases over 70 years of combined professional energy, industry, and financing experience, having completed power project financings totalling billions of dollars throughout the respective careers of our respective team members, positioning us to undertake ambitious projects on the continent.
Mohamed J Ndao
Managing Partner
Mr. Ndao is a Co-founder of Kamino Energy Ltd. and is in
charge of the company’s business development activities.
He is also the founder and CEO of Okapi, dating from 2013.
Mr. Ndao has 25 years of experience in the energy Industry,
including upstream, trading and marketing. Mr. Ndao
holds a dual master’s degree in petroleum economics from
IFP school and the university of Oklahoma.
Luis Camara
Managing Partner
Mr. Camara is a Co-founder of Kamino Energy
and oversees the company’s business operations.
Mr. Camara has fulfilled managing director roles at both
Kamsar Petroleum and the Hummingbird Guinea Mining
Company. Mr. Camara is a successful businessman in his
home country, and was designated African Manager of
the Year in 2016 by the CIMA. Finally, he has been extremely
successful in helping many international businesses
gain access to and thrive in the African market.
KEY ADVISORS
Chris Valentine
Finance
Prior to Co-founding Celeres, Mr. Valentine was a Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner of TSU Capital, a boutique financial advisory firm headquartered in New York, offering capital raising and advisory services for institutional clients with a focus on structured finance, financial services, real estate, and energy. Prior to forming TSU, Chris was one of the co-founders and Head of Investment Banking at Bonwick Capital Partners, a boutique investment bank in New York. Prior to Bonwick, Mr. Valentine accumulated 10+ years’ experience in structured finance, private equity, and M&A. Experience in emerging markets via founding Dubai-based consulting firm Valentine & Company as well as being a Director – Private Equity & Real Estate at Istithmar World (a Dubai Sovereign Wealth Fund), with additional experience at Goldman Sachs & JP Morgan, plus significant investment exposure co-managing a $3.8Bn portfolio of private equity investments in global financial services and a $1.8Bn portfolio of real estate/lodging investments in Africa. He has extensive experience in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, and direct portfolio management globally, previously a member of several boards of directors for financial services companies internationally. Chris has a B.B.A. Finance (with an independent study in Actuarial Science) from Howard University.
Ira Ginsburg
Investments Advisor
Ira has over 35 years of energy project financing experience, principally in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a Partner in Boston based Energy Investors Funds and Managing Director of the Cayman based Caribbean Basin Power Fund, he bought stakes in Haina in the Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia Electric and Pacora in Panama (Chairman of the Board). He bought both Wartsila’s and Dynegy's stakes in Jamaica Energy Partners (“JEP”) before negotiating a 20-year extension of JEP's PPA plus a 50 MW expansion of JEP's capacity that brought rate relief to the Jamaican ratepayer. Ira contracted for the construction of a new power barge, restructured JEP’s debt, sourcing financing from the IFC and Trinidad. In 2017, he closed a long-term lease of an LNG fired cogeneration plant at the University of the West Indies in Kingston which went into service in July 2019. Ira has advised and invested the capital of entities including the U.K. Commonwealth Development Corporation, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, The Travelers, Citibank, John Hancock, Pacific Life, The InterAmerican Investment Corporation, Enron, Black Hills Power, Ansaldo of Italy, Westcoast Energy, Suncor, Zurn-Nepco, Marubeni, Mitsui, Seaboard, Noranda Forest Products, and the Pan Caribbean Investment Trust. He has structured financings with the IADB, the IFC, Dexia, The Royal Bank of Canada and First Citizen’s Bank and Clico Investment Bank, both out of Trinidad. Positions held prior to his involvement in institutional private equity include commercial lending and project financing at the Bank of Montreal in Montreal, New York and Caracas, Team Leader in Energy Project Financing at Fuji Bank (now part of the Mizuho Group) on power projects in Costa Rica, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Bangladesh. He was Senior Vice President and Manager in big ticket leasing at G.E. Capital in Stamford, CT and a Principal in and President and CEO of the Canadian Power Funding Corporation, a joint venture with RBC Dominion Securities. Ira earned a BA from NYU and an MBA from the University of Toronto.
