Francis Kwao Dabanka is a chemical engineer with over a decade of experience in manufacturing and process industry. Francis joined VALCO as a Management Trainee during the period of his National Service in 2006 and left following completion of the program in July 2007, but also due to the temporal shutdown of the company resulting from electricity crisis in Ghana that year. He joined Commodities Process Industries (CPI) now Touton Cocoa Ghana as a production engineer. He re-joined Valco in 2009 as an assistant manager and process engineer working in different roles until 2011.

Francis joined Ghacem Ltd, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Cement Group, Germany where he has been working as a quality manager. At Ghacem, Francis has contributed in leadership and various technical roles ranging from quality management to process and product development. Francis has also headed and chaired different specialized business committees to bring business improvement at various places he had worked.

Francis has attended several international business and industry-relevant conferences/seminars and has keenly been following and evaluating market basics and tendencies as well as associations between commodities and other macroeconomic indicators in the Cocoa and other major commodities industries. This has allowed his associated organisations to optimize benefits from the highs and lows of the markets. Francis is also skilled at business start-ups in the area of Agriculture and Micro Agro processing.

Francis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from University of Ghana Business School. He is a member of the Ghana Institution of Engineers.

Robert Makila Sambian is a Chartered Accountant with a decade of experience in the aluminium industry. Robert joined VALCO as a Management Trainee during the period of his National Service in 2006 and left following completion of the program in July 2007, for the University of Stellenbosch Business School to pursue a Master’s degree program in Development Finance 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. He was also involved in the quarterly publications of the South African Business Confidence Index (BCI) and became a co-author of a book entitled: “Voices of Success: Cases from African Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises”. Robert later returned to build a career in finance. He re-joined VALCO in January 2011 after a brief stint as an accountant at Grand Oak Limited, a subsidiary of Lexcel Group, Nigeria.

At VALCO, Robert has contributed in various technical and leadership roles, rising to the position of an Area Manager, deputising as the Finance HOD. Robert also heads the Company’s Market Intelligence Unit and Tender Review Committee and has served as Administrator of the in-house Pensions Fund Schemes for many years. Robert has attended numerous international aluminium industry-relevant conferences/seminars and has keenly been following and evaluating market basics and tendencies as well as associations between commodities and other macroeconomic indicators in the aluminium and other major commodities industries. These have allowed his associated organisations to optimize benefits from the highs and lows of the markets.

Robert is also skilled at contract negotiations and has been credited with saving multimillion dollars as part of a Team for key contract negotiations and advocacy for key policy initiatives. Robert holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration (First Class Honours) from the University of Ghana and a Master of Business Administration in Finance (Distinction) from Coventry University, UK. He is a Fellow at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK.

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.