ARM Logo
  • Investment Leadership

Fund Management Team & Investment Committee

An investment strategy is only as credible as the team responsible for its execution. The AATFF is managed by practitioners with direct, hands-on experience in precisely the products, obligors, and jurisdictions that comprise the Fund's core strategy.

  • Collective Expertise

Aggregated Team Experience

The senior members of the AATFF core team and Investment Committee collectively possess over 95 years of cumulative, direct experience specifically in African FI trade finance. This is not generic emerging market or private credit experience—it is deep expertise in the precise niche that AATFF targets.

Team Experience
  • Primary Visionary

Chief Executive Officer

George RR Wilson brings over 25 years of trade finance, investment banking, and structured credit expertise to AATFF. His career trajectory—from Barclays Capital to building institutional trade finance businesses at Absa and Investec—represents precisely the hands-on African obligor experience that the Fund's strategy demands.

At Absa Group (2010-2021), Wilson built the institutional trade finance business, originating and structuring landmark DFI partnerships including risk participation agreements with the African Development Bank and trade finance facilities with CDC Group (now British International Investment). At Investec (2021-2025), he launched an entirely new institutional trade finance business, developing innovative products that address the Basel regulatory constraints creating the trade finance gap.

read more

  • Executive Core

Senior Leadership Team

The AATFF senior team combines complementary expertise across the full spectrum of trade finance operations:

Chief Investment Officer

Prior Trade & Supply Chain Finance Investment Director at a leading Global DFI; prior Africa Supply Chain Trade & Structured Finance Director; African private equity investment management experience. Direct responsibility for deploying hundreds of millions in African FI trade finance facilities.

Chief Risk Officer

Prior Regional African bank Group Co-chair, Pan-Africa Wholesale Credit Committee; Global Head, Financial Institutions Group Credit Risk. Decades of experience underwriting the exact African bank counterparties targeted by AATFF.

General Counsel & Head of Compliance

Expert African transactional dual-qualified lawyer; Co-chair BAFT Africa Council; Trade Treasury Payments Global Advisory Council member. Deep expertise in the legal frameworks governing trade finance security across African jurisdictions.

  • Strategic Catalyst

The Pivotal CPO/COO & Phase 1b Investment Director Role

A critical component of AATFF's execution architecture is the Joint Chief Operating Officer / Chief Product Officer & Phase 1b Investment Director, based in Lagos. This hybrid executive mandate fuses three essential functions: Investment Director responsibility for originating and pricing Nigerian bank assets; Chief Product Officer control over the operationalization of FI Trade 3.0 and Embedded Option Security innovations; and Chief Operating Officer leadership of the digital operations team that transforms aggregated reporting into institutional-grade risk monitoring. This role bridges the Fund's innovative product strategy with on-the-ground execution in Africa's largest economy.

  • Approval Authority

Investment Committee

Final approval authority for all transactions rests with a five-member Investment Committee composed to ensure disciplined, expert, and independent oversight:

  • Chief Investment Officer (Chair)
  • Chief Risk Officer
  • ARM Holdings Senior Representative
  • Africa Finance Corporation Senior Representative
  • Independent Industry Professionals
  • The Platform

ARM Holdings

ARM Holdings provides the institutional platform for AATFF Naira, bringing 30+ years of Nigerian and pan-African investment management experience across 12 countries, with historical AUM exceeding $2 billion. ARM's 2024 strategic decision to divest from pension management and focus on alternative investments positions AATFF within a dedicated alternatives platform alongside the ARM Harith Infrastructure Fund, ARM Agribusiness Fund, and ARM Private Debt Fund. ARM commits 3% GP co-investment, demonstrating alignment with Limited Partners.

  • Leadership

Executive Team

“Our team combines decades of global credit experience with deep local insight to deliver disciplined, risk-managed investments that drive sustainable growth and long-term value across Africa and beyond.”

Our diverse and experienced executive team brings together professionals from complementary backgrounds, united by a shared vision of delivering sustainable growth through disciplined credit investing. The team’s expertise spans structured credit, loan syndication, leveraged finance, and portfolio management, combining global institutional best practices with a collaborative, execution-focused culture committed to excellence across all investment activities.

The Fund is led by senior professionals with over 70 years of combined experience, who have collectively overseen more than US$100 billion in corporate, leveraged, and infrastructure debt investments across North and South America, Europe, and Africa. This depth of experience across multiple credit cycles underpins the team’s ability to originate, structure, and manage investments with a strong focus on capital preservation, consistent performance, and long-term value creation.

Deji-Opeola-CEO-ARMPDF

Deji Opeola

Chief Executive Officer

Onyinyechi Iwuoha

Onyinyechi Iwuoha

General Counsel & Head of Compliance

  • Who We Are

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors has been constituted to reflect the combined strengths and expertise underpinning ARM Private Debt Fund. Drawing on deep experience in private credit, leveraged finance, credit portfolio management, and institutional asset management, the Board provides strategic guidance, independent oversight, and robust governance to support the Fund’s long-term objectives.

The Board works collaboratively with the investment team, investors, co-investors, and sponsors to ensure disciplined decision-making, accountability, and alignment of interests. Through a commitment to transparency, fiduciary responsibility, and best-in-class governance standards, the Board supports the delivery of investible, risk-adjusted private debt solutions that contribute to sustainable economic development across Africa.

Leadership details will be published in due course.

Industry Leadership

Chairman, ITFA Africa Regional Committee (2020-present); founding participant in the Trade Finance Conference of Parties (TF COP); member of BAFT Africa committees; ICC South Africa Banking Commission.

Selected Publications

Coming Soon.