Dr Innocent Uwuijaren
Dr Uwuijaren is the Chairman of the AHP and co-founder of Cheranna Energy, a UK based company, headquartered in Aberdeen and specialises in technology for developing green energy. Cheranna Energy works with Ecosystem partners (industry, academics), to develop technology for harnessing cheaper green hydrogen at the source and transporting/distributing it to end-users.
He is a European Chartered Engineer (CEng, Eur Ing), holds a MSc and Engineering doctorate degree from the University of Aberdeen, UK. Dr Uwuijaren is an active member of European professional bodies such as FEANI, IMechE, SUT.
Dr Uwuijaren has over 22 years working experience in the energy sector as an engineer incl. top management position as Director of Technology.
Fahmida Smith
Mrs. Fahmida Smith is the Vice Chairman of the AHP and Principal Market Development at Anglo American. She is a Chemical Engineer by profession and has been in the PGM mining industry for 25 years.The last 14 years of her career has been focused on Market Development, particularly on the hydrogen and fuel cell sector.
Fahmida leads Anglo American’s Market Development work on hydrogen in South Africa, where she works closely with the South African Government as well as local and international industry players. Her current focus is on the development of a South African Hydrogen Valley and a heavy duty hydrogen freight corridor.
Mrs. Smith holds a ND of Chemical Engineering and is an ECSA registered Pr Techni Eng.
Amb. Seyni Nafo
President HE I. Keita of Mali appointed Ambassador (Amb.) Nafo as his High Representative for Climate Change.
Amb. Nafo is the Public Sector Board Member of the AHP and the spokesperson of the African Group of negotiators at COP26.
In Sept. 2020, Amb. Nafo was invited by UN Secretary General HE A. Guterres to join his High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Action. Early 2020, he was appointed by CEO P. Verkoiijen as the Senior Adviser for Africa of the Global Center on Adaptation, which manages the Global Commission on Adaptation.
In the UN climate negotiations, Amb. Nafo served as Chair of the African Group of Negotiators representing 54 African countries from 2016 to 2017.
Silvestro Russo
Mr. Silvestro Russo is the Private Sector Board Member of the AHP and a Director of Business Development at GenCell Energy.
Mr. Russo is passionate about clean, sustainable and renewable technologies that provide access to energy and improve people's lives.
At GenCell he promotes green power solutions based on reliable, zero-emission hydrogen powered fuel cells and green ammonia-to-energy technology which deliver uninterrupted power to help the world transition to clean energy.
Silvestro holds a MSc Engineering degree and an MBA from the University of Manchester UK. He has more than twenty years of experience. Most recently he has served as ambassador for the Solar Impulse Foundation.
Catherine Scholtz
Mrs. Catherine Scholtz is a co-founder as well as the Treasurer of the African Hydrogen Partnership (AHP) and a Director of RTS Africa Engineering.
RTS is a South African based company that offers Engineered Solutions to industries such as mining, power generation, petro-chemicals and chemicals. RTS has represented NEL Hydrogen in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1990.
Mrs. Scholtz has more than 20 years experience in financial and business management with a keen interest in philosophy, politics and energy economics.
The AHP and its members:
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Support and strive to achieve the climate targets of the Paris Agreement as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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Promote natural (native) and green hydrogen as a clean, renewable and sustainable energy carrier and feedstock to achieve the transition to net zero emission societies.
African nations will gain many economic and environmental benefits from commercially feasible green hydrogen projects.
Green African hydrogen will materially assist the World to decarbonise.
Prof Bamidele Adebisi
Prof Bamidele Adebisi is the AHP’s University Board Member.
He is a Professor in Intelligent Infrastructure Systems, and Director of Smart Infrastructure and Industry Research Group at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Prof Adebisi leads the University’s experts in Smart Energy Systems developing new solutions that incentivise sustainable energy consumption and is a strong partner in the establishment of one of the largest low carbon districts in Europe.
He is a member of the Senior Management Team of the Manchester Met’s Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre, which supports businesses in cutting-edge fuel cells, electrolysers and related technologies.
Bamidele is a Fellow of IET, Senior member of IEEE, a Fellow of Higher Education Academy and a Chartered Engineer. He holds B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering, Msc in Communication Engineering and Ph.D. in Communication Systems.
Marie Espitalier-Noël
Marie Espitalier-Noel, the AHP Association Board Member, is the Funding and Financing Manager at Hydrogen Europe.
Marie was born in Reunion Island, raised by a French mother and a Mauritian father between Reunion and Mauritius, two sister islands off the eastern coast of Africa.
At Hydrogen Europe she is in charge of monitoring funding opportunities, improving the bankability of low carbon hydrogen projects throughout the value chain, and fostering private investment in hydrogen projects.
Prior to joining HE, Marie worked as Senior Associate for a CVC fund within which she oversaw the Renewable energy investment portfolio in Africa and France. She also launched the subsidiary of a leading impact fund in Australia.
Marie holds a Master of Corporate Finance from Paris School of Business and a Master of International Economics and Market Finance from University of Queensland, Australia.
Organizations from anywhere in the world are welcome to join the AHP.
The AHP is a diverse, international and democratic African organization governed by its members.
The main objective of the AHP is to promote, support and accelerate the deployment of green and natural (native) hydrogen in Africa.
AHP Members strive to achieve the climate targets of the Paris Agreement as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Junaid Belo-Osagie
Mr. Junaid Belo-Osagie is the Chairman of the AHP Financial Advisory Group.
Junaid is an Executive Director of the Investment Banking (IB) Division at Mizuho, with a specific interest in clean energy investments in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is also the Head of Business Management, Global IB, Mizuho International, UK. After a career in the Energy sector and at Citigroup, he joined Mizuho. Junaid is passionate about connecting the dots between Japanese capital and African growth stories.
In his current role at Mizuho Junaid is pivotal to the direction of the IB business which undertakes high profile multi-billion dollar transactions across the region.
Junaid is an Electronics Engineer, with a Masters Degree in Information Engineering from the Robert Gordon University, Scotland.
Rizwana Ameer Meea
Mrs. Rizwana Ameer Meea is the Senior Legal Counselor and Board Representative of the AHP in Mauritius.
She is a qualified barrister and called to the bar both in England and Wales and in Mauritius.
She counts nearly 2-decade experience in the global business sector involving her in all aspects of the business from structuring, administration, legal, and policy formulation. Her core experience is in structuring and management of investment structures. She has been at the leadership front of management companies and has geared those organizations to high profitability and governance.
She is currently a board member of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners in Mauritius and was previously its chairperson.
Richard Kiplagat
Mr. Richard Kiplagat is the Speaker of the AHP Advocacy Task Force and the Group Director and East Africa MD of Africa Practice where he is also the senior stakeholder advisor to business and government leaders particularly in the Infrastructure, Energy, Oil and Gas sectors. Over the last 27 years, he has held senior Africa-based positions at SAP and Microsoft before transitioning to Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs and Strategic communications advisory.
He currently sits and has served on the boards of several organizations. He advises a portfolio of companies who have collectively invested in excess of US$ 5 billion dollars in Africa and was co- facilitator in the initial strategy workshops that led to the formulation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Richard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of Toronto.
Toby Greenbury
Mr. Greenbury is the AHP’s first Ambassador. He focuses on those areas where his previous experience, relationships and contacts can assist the AHP, including finance and the City of London, India and the Commonwealth.
Mr Greenbury practised as a corporate lawyer in the City of London for most of his career. (As well as being an English solicitor, he was also admitted to the New York bar.)
After he retired as senior partner of his law firm, he spent the next several years working with and in India and was responsible for bringing the first Indian companies to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. He was also a non-executive director of the UK India Business Council and he became a consultant to one of the largest law firms in India.
Muhammad Yaasir
Khan Allykhan
Mr. Muhammad Yaasir Khan Allykhan is the Administration and Office Manager of the AHP in Mauritius.
He works as the Senior Client Executive and Deputy Money Laundering Reporting officer at Accuvise Administrators Limited.
Mr. Muhammad Yaasir Khan Allykhan has a wide experience in company set up, compliance matters and administration of large groups of entities including Authorised Companies (AC) and global business companies with special licences. He manages and oversees the day-to-day business operations and administrative tasks of the AHP in Mauritius.
Muhammad Yaasir Khan Allykhan holds a BSc (Hons) Finance from the University of Mauritius.
Tim Brassey
Mr. Tim Brassey is the AHP Head of Communication and Media.
He has been working in technology for over 40 years including technical roles at Hewlett Packard and Microsoft.
At Microsoft he was a strategy consultant for both Enterprises and Government departments working with large consulting partners like Capgemini and Fujitsu on outsourcing projects. He later became an Account Technology Specialist (collaboration and security) in the Manufacturing and then Financial Services teams working with customers like Shell and Barclays.
Tim holds an MA(Hons) from Aberdeen University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accountancy from the Scottish Business School in Glasgow.
Siggi Huegemann
Mr. Siegfried, commonly known as Siggi, Huegemann is the initiator, co-founder and Secretary General of the AHP as well as Director of Hypowa. Hypowa is a UK based company specializing in the development of hydrogen fuel cell powertrains for lightweight transportation vehicles and one of the two Founding Members of the AHP.
Mr. Huegemann holds a Master of Commerce (Finance and Quantitative Analysis) degree from University of Otago in New Zealand and is a Lieutenant Colonel of the German army reserve.
He has more than 25 years of experience in banking technology and worked primarily on Fixed Income and Derivatives related projects for some of the largest Asset Management firms worldwide.
Ian Fraser
AHP Hon. Member
Mr. Fraser was co-founder and Pioneer Chairman of the AHP.
He was the Managing Director of RTS Africa Engineering. RTS is a South African based company that offers engineered solutions to a wide range of industries, incl. mining, chemicals and power generation. RTS has been the sales/service agent and representative for Nel Hydrogen Electrolysers in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1996.
An electrical and instrumentation engineer Mr Fraser had 60 years of experience in a wide variety of engineering & business activities.
Mr. Fraser was an AHP Honorary Member. He served as the AHP's first Chairman, he provided risk capital and most valuable experience and guidance during the AHP's incorporation phase. The highly respected AHP Honorary Member passed away on 25 April 2022.
Dr Vincent Oldenbroek
AHP Hon. Member
Dr. Oldenbroek is co-founder and Pioneer Secretary General of the AHP.
He graduated from TU Delft as a Mechanical Engineer (MSc.), specializing in energy technology. His PhD study researched integrated transport and energy systems based on renewable hydrogen (H2), specializing in microgrids with vehicle-to-grid and H2 fuel cell electric vehicles.
Dr Oldenbroek is an AHP Honorary Member. He served as the first AHP Secretary General. Dr Oldenbroek's contributions were essential for transforming the AHP initiative into an unincorporated association and shaping the AHP during the incorporation phase. He contributed greatly to the initial marketing efforts.
