Born in Tanzania.
Sharpened in Nairobi.
At home across the continent.
I didn't grow up intending to underwrite political risk. I grew up watching a continent that most of the world's spreadsheets treated as one frightening colour — and knowing it was nothing of the kind.
Since 2006 I've worked as a Principal Political & Credit Risk Underwriter at ATIDI in Nairobi — nearly two decades structuring cover that lets banks, exporters, and development-finance institutions move real money into African markets. The job sits at the precise seam where sovereign behaviour, capital markets, and farm-gate reality meet — which is the only seam I've ever found genuinely interesting.
Before ATIDI I was an Economist at the Central Bank of Tanzania, where I designed and implemented the Bank's SME Credit Guarantee Scheme and evaluated economic programs including Export Processing Zones. That grounding in monetary policy and credit analysis — from inside a central bank — still shapes how I read a balance sheet and a country's political direction at the same time.
I'm a Chevening Scholar, holding an MSc in International Money & Banking from the University of Birmingham. I sit on the board of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA), where I contribute to the development of global standards in trade finance and political risk insurance.
I also build. Muleba Coffee is a smallholder-sourced arabica venture on the western shore of Lake Victoria, where my family is from. And yes — there is a ranching venture, because every generation of my family has kept cattle and I see no reason to stop. I write on Medium, occasionally and honestly, about what I see from the deal desk and from the shamba.
A short manifesto.
Finance is only interesting when it touches something real.
Term sheets are fine. What matters is whether the grain moves, the farmer gets paid, and the bank gets its money back.
Africa is not a risk category.
It's 54 countries, hundreds of sub-sovereigns, and thousands of obligors with wildly different credit realities. Underwriting well means refusing the shortcut.
Patience compounds faster than panic.
The best deals — and the best ventures — look boring for years before they look obvious. I'm comfortable with the quiet middle.
Tell the story, or someone else will tell it badly.
If you don't narrate your continent, your portfolio, or your venture, somebody with fewer facts will. Writing is not optional.
Experience — in brief.
Principal Political & Credit Risk Underwriter · ATIDI
Nearly two decades underwriting credit & political risk across Pan-African bank lending, structured trade, and sovereign cover. Business development, risk origination, and overseeing insurance policies across ~15 African markets. ITFA Board Member.
Economist · Central Bank of Tanzania
Designed and implemented the Bank's SME Credit Guarantee Scheme. Economic policy analysis and evaluation across Export Processing Zones and the broader financial sector.
MSc International Money & Banking · University of Birmingham
Chevening Scholar. Postgraduate specialisation in international monetary systems and banking regulation.
Founder · Muleba Coffee
Smallholder-sourced arabica from Kagera, Tanzania. Farm-gate quality, traceability, and direct-trade routes to specialty buyers.
Rancher · Kagera
Pasture, herd, fence posts, and a long view of capital.