Our vision is to be the supplier and service provider of choice for mining, construction and agriculture solutions in the sectors and territories we operate.
The Panafrican Group is a recognized leader in providing Komatsu, Wirtgen and AGCO equipment and aftersales support solutions in the markets we operate. With particular expertise in the large mining, light and alluvial mining, cement and aggregates, agriculture and forestry, civil and infrastructure and power and energy sectors.
We strive to understand our customers’ needs and deliver fit-for-purpose, tailored solutions that focus on higher productivity and performance, improved reliability and machine availability, and reducing life of asset cost and cost per material movement.
Charles Field-MarshamFounder, Executive Chairman
Charles Field-Marsham is a Canadian Entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in building businesses in africa.
Charles has a wide array of international business and investment experience, beginning in 1991 when he joined Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, then while living and working in Kenya between 1993 and 2003, and through a number of ventures that led him to found Kestrel Capital Management Capital (KCMC) in 2004, when he returned to Canada. KCMC provides strategic, investment and management consulting services to Charles’ businesses outside of Canada.
Charles owns and is chairman of the following businesses: Kestrel Capital, which he founded in 1995 and developed into the leading investment bank and stock broker in Kenya; Panafrican Group, which he founded in 1996 and Kenya Fluorspar, a fluorspar mine he purchased in 1997. These companies employ approximately 600+ people with operations in Canada, Dubai, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
BOARD ADVISORS
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Scott McCawGroup Chief Executive Officer
Scott has been with the Panafrican Group for over 7 years. He brings 20+ years of industry senior financial and operational experience from AMEC Inc. (a multi-national engineering and contracting firm) and Wajax Ltd (a large Canadian heavy equipment distributor). Scott is a Chartered Business Valuator, a Chartered Accountant and received his BBA, Finance and Economics from Simon Fraser University.
Geoff DoverNon-executive Director
Geoff is the President & Chief Investment Officer of Heirloom Investment Management, an investment management firm with operations in Canada, USA, UAE and Cayman Islands. Mr. Dover has over 15 years of experience in the financial industry, having held positions in investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston, private equity at Birch Hill Private Equity Partners and Chief Investment Officer of a Canadian family office. He holds a Masters in Financial Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and an Honours in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada, and is a CFA charter holder.
Andre DeSimoneNon-executive Director
20+ years of investment experience as Portfolio Manager for Zurich Scudder, Vice-President for Blackstone Group, and is currently the Executive Director of Kestrel Capital,Kenyan Investment Bank that is also a member of the Nairobi Securities Exchange. From 2001 to 2003, Andre was at KenolKobil Petroleum where he was responsible for new acquisitions and oversight of subsidiaries outside Kenya. He holds a BSc in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Scott Field-MarshamNon-executive Director
Scott worked at Morgan Stanley, a top tier global finance services firm, in the Institutional Equities Division (IED) for 26 years. He has extensive experience across a broad range of equity products, services and markets. Scott worked in multiple different IED product areas and roles, in London and Hong Kong. For his final 3 years Scott was the Chief Operating Officer of IED Asia (500+ employees), and a board member of five Morgan Stanley Asia firm wide operating companies in the region.
BOARD ADVISORS
Andrew ScottChairman – Nigeria
Andrew is a Qualified Mechanical Engineer and also holds a Business Management Diploma from Cranfield Business School. He has over 45 years experience in the Mining and Construction Equipment industry serving industries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Andrew worked in West Africa for many year as the Managing Director of another OEM dealership in Nigeria before semi retiring in 2002. He joined Panafrican Group in 2010 as Chairman of Panafrican Equipment Nigeria and joined the Panafrican Board of Directors as an Advisor the same year.
Adrian BallAdvisor
Adrian joined Moolmans at the end 1963 and became CEO in 1983. He directed the transition of the company from a civil and infrastructure oriented organisation to opencast mining. Over the next twenty years Moolmans grew into one of the biggest mining companies in Africa. Adrian retired in 2004 after spending his whole life with Moolmans and joined the Panafrican board in 2009 as an advisor.
Bruce KnightExecutive Advisor
Bruce has a thirty-year distinguished career in the equipment distribution business, of which twenty five was with Komatsu distribution and sixteen focused on mining. He was most recently the CEO of SMS Equipment, the Komatsu distributor for most of Canada as well as Mongolia, which is owned by Sumitomo Corporation. He now acts as an Executive Adviser for Sumitomo for the Komatsu distribution business as well as he retains certain roles with charitable foundations for fundraising activities.
