Highly motivated and result oriented chemical engineer with MBA Finance with expertise in business development, sustainability & ESG, Health &Safety, Carbon management, operational excellence and change management in manufacturing, process metallurgy and mining. Experienced in international management systems, (ISO 9001, 14001, 26000 and 45001) and sustainable management.

Trained and practice with Lean Six Sigma manufacturing processes and operational excellence tools. Participated in conferences and seminars in the area of business development, process engineering & productivity improvement. Has developed capacity over the years to understand how the macro environment impacts on the success of a business especially in developing economies & markets. Experience in project feasibility and financial appraisal in manufacturing sector.

Francis is currently the Director Product Management and Business Development at Heidelberg Materials West Africa region.

Robert Makila Sambian is a Chartered Accountant with over a decade of experience in the aluminium industry. Robert joined VALCO as a Management Trainee during the period of his National Service Person in 2006 and left, following completion of the program in July 2007, Robert received a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree program in Development Finance at the University of Stellenbosch Business School with Research Assistantship from the Africagrowth Institute, South Africa. As a Research Assistant, Robert worked on a number of projects on investment climate in Africa including the quarterly publications of the South African Business Confidence Index (BCI) and a book entitled: “Voices of Success: Cases from African Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises”.

Robert would later return to build a career in finance and has since risen to become the Finance Director. Prior to re-joining VALCO in January 2011, he had a brief stint as an Accountant at Grand Oak Limited, a subsidiary of Lexcel Group, Nigeria. At VALCO he soon gained a depth of knowledge in all facets of the finance functions. His firm grasp of the business across functional areas and its place within the global milieu allows him to provide nuanced insights into shaping strategy. In recent years he has been leading the Company’s Strategic and Business Planning Team. He also Heads the Company’s Market Intelligence Unit and was chair of the Tender Review Committee as well as the Administrator of the Company’s in-house Pensions Fund Scheme for many years.

Robert has attended a number of aluminium industry-relevant international conferences and has been keenly following and evaluating market basics and tendencies as well as associations between commodities and other macroeconomic indicators in the aluminium and allied raw materials industries, allowing the Company to optimize benefits from the highs and lows of the markets. He leverages this with financial analysis to help shape strategic discourse as well as manage price risks and costs and has been credited with saving multimillion dollars as part of a Team for for key contract negotiations and advocacy for key policy initiatives. He, for instance, helped build the socio-economic case that was instrumental in the Company’s engagement with the Government of Ghana over a near-industry competitive power tariff for the Smelter which was granted in 2017. He also provided various inputs for the engagement of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy on the then (2018) Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) bill, resulting in an enhanced outcome. Robert’s recent contribution from the price risk management perspective includes a derivative contract initiative in 2022 which realized a net gain of Nine million US Dollars for the Company.

Robert holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting (First Class Honours) from the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) and a Master of Business Administration in Finance (Distinction) from Coventry University, United Kingdom. He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) and a Fellow at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), United Kingdom.

Kwabena Apeagyei has over ten years’ experience working in the banking industry. He is currently the Deputy Managing Director at InvestCorp Asset Management Ltd, an indigenous Ghanaian Investment Banking and Asset Management Firm. He serves on their board as an Executive Director in addition to four other board membership roles.

Kwabena has worked with Access Bank, Republic Bank, Fidelity Bank, FBN Bank and Omni BSIC in roles of client acquisition, branch operations, and team management. He has built immense experience in sales and marketing, organizational efficiency and strategy and has developed key relationships in the financial industry. Kwabena studied at the University of Ghana, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy. In 2016, he graduated with an MBA in Finance from the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).

He has also undertaken the Securities Industry Course at the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and is licensed by the GSE as a Licensed Dealing Officer. He has also undertaken other professional courses from the Ghana Banking College.