Africa Bridge | African Innovation on the World Stage

Connect with the team

Kevin Dillon

Chairman– Africa Bridge

“It takes an ecosystem to raise a start up”

Kevin - born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa - is a leading figure in deep tech venture capital globally, bringing over 40 years of experience to Africa Bridge. As Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Atlantic Bridge, he has invested in and scaled deep technology companies across Silicon Valley and Europe, closing nine funds with 110 investments and 38 exits, 7 of which were unicorns. His previous leadership as Vice President and CFO at Microsoft EMEA, drove high regional growth, showcasing his operating expertise. These combined experiences have shown him the value of an ecosystem to build the venture tech sector in Europe. Now, Kevin is excited to apply his global knowledge and passion to a new context to build the deep tech ecosystem in Africa.

Frank McCosker

Managing Partner

‘Creating partnerships and networks is about finding and joining the dots that are a win-win for all’

Frank is a values-based leader and a master networker with a proven track record of bringing multi- disciplinary teams together to create impact. During his 20 years at Microsoft, he held strategically important roles that built far reaching, high value partnerships and networks for the tech giant with a focus on emerging markets. He was the Global Managing Director of Strategic Accounts nurturing relationships with the likes of World Bank and United Nations. He then took on the leadership of part of their 4Africa initiative delivering Affordable Access and Smart Financing across 12 countries on the continent. Most recently, through his Global Good Net Works consultancy he has supported exciting high growth tech companies such as Ilitha, 4R Digital and Vantage Health Technologies, raising over 100M capital for African businesses. He is on the Board of Directors of Mawingu and MESH. Core to his leadership philosophy are his values of fun, recognition and impact.

Rob Henley

Partner, Africa

"The sweet spot is matching the right businesses with the right funding opportunity"

Rob has enjoyed a dynamic career in banking and finance over the past 30+ years, spanning both the buy and sell sides of transactions on the continent and globally. He is currently the Principal at Stadia Capital – a boutique strategic advice and capital raise consultancy – where he has raised over $500 million for African entrepreneurs and provides strategic investment advice for partners like Microsoft and Shell Foundation. He is known for his rigorous investor readiness process, preparing entrepreneurs for investment and deftly structuring deals with an international network of funders. He previously spent 10 years with UBS focused on European and Asian markets where he ran teams and was responsible for structuring and placing several public and private equity linked trades. Rob also spent 6 years running hedge funds that invested both globally and in Africa. Core to Rob’s deal making philosophy is fairness and a sense of win-win for all.

Herman Steyn

Partner, South Africa

"Africa Bridge is about looking at investments differently and creating a legacy on the continent"

Herman is driven by novelty, challenge and new ideas. He has been a mainstay in the South Africa international investment community over the past 40 years. Herman co-founded of Prescient Holdings Group where he serves as the Board Chairman. Prescient is a global financial services provider for financial advisers and their clients, institutional investors, trustees, retirement funds covering investment management, fund services and stockbroking. Herman has held senior management positions in several asset management companies and established Investec’s international fund management capability, establishing fund structures in Dublin. Herman served as main board member of the Association for Savings and Investment-South Africa and is a member of African Leadership Institute. He is deeply analytical and relishes in solving complex problems.

Ciaran McNally

Chief Financial Officer

"Emerging venture capital and private equity require guardrails to scale"

Ciaran is a seasoned CFO for high growth software and technology businesses. Over the past 30 years, he has gained extensive experience working in venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions and the public markets. Most recently, he has overseen the transatlantic merger for Cloudsphere: raising funds, leading complex negotiations between the Irish and US companies. Ciaran is a chartered accountant with a strong entrepreneurial leadership instincts and great drive to deliver success. Having spent the bulk of his career in Dublin, he understands the transformational effect of Europe’s venture tech ecosystem, for him, Africa Bridge offers an exciting opportunity to help build the emergent African venture ecosystem.

Nigel Meintjes

General Counsel

"The next wave of commerce in Africa will come from our young people in tech"

Nigel is an attorney by profession and a proud South African at heart with over 40 years of experience supporting strong, compliant, and successful businesses across industries. He has served as a corporate attorney across multiple entities and industries and is adept at structuring deals, assessing opportunities, managing risk, and company compliance. Over the past 30 years he has worked in various strategic advisory and legal roles within Food Lovers Market – South Africa's largest privately owned food retailer – overseeing its rapid growth from a single store, 200-employee operation to its current 110-store, 15000-employee Sub-Saharan success story. He is passionate about helping entrepreneurs structure their entities optimally to drive business forward in the region.

Joni Watson

Chief Marketing Officer

"Everyone has a tale to tell, unlocking Africa’s innovation story could change the world!"

Joni is passionate about helping entrepreneurs tell their story, get noticed and scale. She’s driven by an ethos of ‘business as a force for good’ and has enjoyed diverse marketing and communications roles across sectors and geographies. With 20 years of experience within impact businesses, she focuses on bridging the divide between US and UK market investors/donors and sub-Saharan African/emerging market interests. Her core expertise includes market strategy, brand development, corporate storytelling, media, digital marketing, and communications. Previously, Joni worked at ITV, within the Virgin Management Brand Team focusing on philanthropy, Flying Eye Hospital for Orbis, consulted for MasterCard and Gates Foundations and headed global marketing for the BroadReach Group. Joni founded Birdsong Media in 2024, a strategic marketing consultancy.

African

innovation

for the

world stage

African innovation on the world stage.

African

innovation

for the

world stage

Innovation in Africa is surging

What We Invest In

Bold Ideas.
Big Impact.
Real Success.

Connect with the team

It Takes an Ecosystem to Raise a Startup

Let’s build

the future

together.

African

innovation

for the

world stage

African innovation on the world stage.

African

innovation

for the

world stage

Innovation in Africa is surging

What We Invest In

Bold Ideas. Big Impact. Real Success.

Connect with the team

It Takes an Ecosystem to Raise a Startup

Let’s build

the future

together.

Bold Ideas.
Big Impact.
Real Success.