Sarah graduated from Oxford University in 1992 and worked in professional recruitment for ten years before moving into Emerging Markets Search in 2003 initially covering Financial Services in Russia and CIS.  Having travelled extensively throughout East, West and Southern Africa, Sarah took the opportunity in 2008 to focus purely on the African markets.  She co-founded Executives in Africa with Richard Putley in 2010 and has since worked on nearly 100 Search mandates across a range of C-level, Senior Management and Technical roles.  Sector agnostic, she has worked with clients across FMCG, Pharmaceutical, Media, Financial Services, Business Services, Charities, Manufacturing, Property, Energy and Oil & Gas Services in countries right across Africa.

Sarah travels regularly to visit clients on the continent and is passionate about delivering the very best talent, both African and expatriate where required, to contribute to the successful growth of businesses in Africa.  As part of this, Sarah is one of the three founding members of the ‘Professionals for Africa’ network in the UK which now boasts over 1500 members and which organizes UK-based networking events for Africans based in the UK as well as individuals with an interest in doing business in Africa.

Kiera graduated from University of Sussex and spent five years working in recruitment before moving into senior executive appointments in early 2007.  Kiera began her career with Executives in Africa in 2010, heading up the In-House Research Team.

Kiera is now responsible for Business Services, HR and Quality Assurance.  With experience spanning the UK, European and African markets, Kiera’s experience working as a Search Consultant gives her an in-depth understanding of the industry, thus providing relevant support and Quality Assurance which is critical to the success of every mandate.

Tim started his career with a leading finance recruiter in the UK assisting Finance professionals fulfilling recruitment assignments of both an interim and permanent nature for both listed companies and small businesses in the UK.

Since Joining Executives in Africa, Tim has delivered on over forty-five senior Search Assignments including mandates to find CEOs, CFOs/FDs, COOs, Technical Managers and General Managers in diverse industries including Renewable Energy, Financial Services including Development Banking, Agriculture, Mining, Logistics and Manufacturing and has visited clients in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.  Recruiting in Africa is of particular personal interest to Tim as he has family on the continent.  Recently Tim has delivered on mandates for a CEO in Ethiopia for a drinks business, a Regional Head of Africa for a premium drinks brand, a Head of Risk & Compliance and an HR Manager for a Development Bank in Uganda, and a General Manager for an Agriculture group.

Steve has over 20 years’ experience in Recruitment having been responsible for the Global Centre of Excellence for Talent Acquisition across Africa, Asia and Europe within FMCG.  He has developed and introduced recruitment processes, profiling tools and recruitment skills training, aligning the recruitment strategy and processes to change programmes, resulting in controlling costs and improving retention.

Most recently working for PZ Cussons Plc, Steve’s focus for the last 10 years has been specifically on sourcing local talent for operating units, especially in Africa, always aiming to grow senior talent pipelines for the businesses, not just delivering on single critical hires.  He also brings over 15 years’ experience in coaching HRBP’s & Line Managers globally to deliver a strong end-to-end candidate experience and improve Employer Brand and EVP.  Now working as an Executive Search Consultant for Executives in Africa, Steve continues to work within his sectors of strength, being FMCG, Agribusiness and Industrial Manufacturing.

Ryan holds a Higher National Diploma in Business and Finance and after a short stint working as an accountant, began his twenty-five-year career in recruitment, working firstly in professional Finance recruitment for six years before establishing a Search and Selection business for the UK market.

For the past fifteen years, Ryan’s area of expertise has been within Financial Services internationally, with a particular specialist focus on all areas of Risk and Compliance within this.  He adopted a research methodology to map, track and attract candidates in niche areas across risk within Capital Markets, Retail & Corporate Banking, Wealth and Asset Management.  Ryan’s keen interest in the development of financial inclusion for individuals and microenterprises on the continent of Africa led him to join Executives in Africa, where his specialism remains in Financial Services along with Banking, Wealth Management and Fintech.

Recent examples of completed mandates include: Credit Risk Quant Manager and Digital Transformation Director for a Financial Services organization; Risk Management Consultant for a Management Consultancy; Structural Reform Manager within a Financial Services organisation; Senior Compliance Manager for a Boutique Bank; Legal Analyst for a Fintech and Compliance Manager for an Asset Management organisation.

Andrea joined Executives in Africa after re-patriating to the UK from South Africa in June 2018 bringing valuable local knowledge of Southern and South African culture and a passion for empowering and uplifting the local African talent.  She has over 25 years’ Sales and Management experience including 10 years in Freight Forwarding and Clearing and 15 years in Recruitment and Executive Search having owned her own recruitment firm in South Africa.

Andrea focused mainly on the Financial Services sector and was awarded a substantial contract with a blue-chip insurance company in Johannesburg as a result of her thorough approach and commitment to delivering results.  She was responsible for all levels of Recruitment throughout their entire Policy Services Division from Call Centre through to Director Level hires.  Since joining Executives in Africa, Andrea has been involved in a number of Director and MD Level Searches within Financial Services and Real Estate.

Colleen holds an honours degree in Psychology and Linguistics obtained at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. After 16 years’ working for a privately owned recruitment consultancy and later running her own business recruiting for small and medium-sized companies, she joined EiA in 2014 to cover Executive Search in Africa.

Colleen is passionate about Africa, assisting the professional development of candidates and contributing to a lasting and positive impact on the continent of her birth. She has worked on C-level mandates in Banking, Microfinance, Property, Telecoms, Commodities and FMCG. Working across Senior Management, HR, Engineering and Finance functions, Colleen has delivered on multiple mandates including a CEO, CFO, HRD and other Executive and Operational roles covering Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Egypt.

Darlington has over 20 years’ recruitment experience including 10 years’ experience operating in Nigeria having run successful recruitment businesses there.   He joined Executives in Africa in February 2020, bringing valuable local knowledge of Nigerian and West African culture as well as extensive networks across the continent.   Darlington has a strong commitment to delivering the best outcomes for his clients through identifying high quality local African candidates, those in the Diaspora and Expat candidates seeking opportunities to have a positive impact on businesses Africa wide.

Darlington has delivered on multiple mandates in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. He has recruited at various levels from Middle Management up to C level across various industries such as FMCG, Pharmaceuticals, Oil & Gas, Telecoms, IT, Retail and the Extractive Industries.  Having run his own business, Darlington brings a strong commercial approach to understanding his clients’ needs and is excited about how the Executives in Africa Search Process will add significant value to his network.

James studied at Southampton Solent University and then spent 5 years working in the retail, hospitality and logistics sectors. Here he developed strong telesales skills as well as gaining management experience.

A keen sportsman, James brings his naturally competitive nature to the team, as shown in his previous role as Managing Associate.

James is now responsible for technology within EiA as well as developing Social Media and supporting the Business with Statistics and Analytics.

Heba was born in Morocco and moved with her family to Paris at the start of her secondary education.  She went on to achieve a Master’s Degree in International Trade and Arabic at the Sorbonne and Dauphine Universities in Paris. Being trilingual, (Arabic, French and English) has enabled Heba  to live and work in several countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe before settling in the UK in 2010.

Heba’s broad-based work and life experience, together with qualifications in psychotherapy, enhances her natural ability to understand and communicate with people at all levels.  A natural team player, Heba’s deep personal interest in Africa, resourcefulness and emotional intelligence together with her keen sense of fairness and objectivity makes her a highly focused and valuable addition to the EiA Team with a specific focus on Francophone Africa.

Barbara was born in Zambia and educated at St. John’s Diocesan School for Girls in South Africa. After matriculating she went on to study an ITEC Diploma and then set up her own beauty therapy business in Harare, Zimbabwe mainly catering for the diplomatic community in Zimbabwe. With her husband, Gary, taking up various expatriate positions, she lived in Cyprus and Kenya for the next 5 years, during which time Barbara travelled extensively throughout Africa, Europe and the USA.

On returning to Zimbabwe in 1999 Barbara helped Gary set up their own Pan-African recruitment company, one of the top 5 Zimbabwe recruitment companies. Barbara migrated all the Recruitment systems onto a world-leading, state-of-the-art multimedia cloud-based recruitment system. She has enjoyed a 17 year career recruiting into multiple African countries as well as the Middle East market.

Barbara and Gary recently immigrated to the UK to join the Executives in Africa team.

Ian gained a BA in Marketing and Advertising and began his career with the Sunday Times in London where he worked for 21 years in a variety of roles, culminating in a high profile job as Editorial Production Editor with the newspaper.  Since then, Ian has worked within the Public Sector, Retail, PR, Research & Marketing Insights, Information Technology and the Marine industries both in management and entrepreneurial roles.

Having spent 3 and a half years living on the beautiful island of Lefkada in Greece, Ian has recently worked directly with business leaders helping to develop their businesses through supporting their marketing, branding, social media and general operations.  He also lived in Spain and Hong Kong, thus bringing an international outlook combined with wide commercial experience to the Executives in Africa Research Team.

Yafet has a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance from Arbaminch University. He was involved in an International professional work experience opportunity representing Ethiopia as a Global Volunteer with AIESEC. He spent his early career working for a Trading Industry Construction & Services Company as a Sales Associate.

Yafet has interest in Sports and Travelling.

Louise completed her Global Diploma in Personal Training back in 2003, initially starting her career as a Fitness Instructor and developing the ability to build relationships to support the people she was working with. Moving into recruitment in 2007, Louise initially worked as an Internal Recruiter setting up new staffing processes for one of the UK’s first financial broker pioneers in Bournemouth. Since then, Louise has gained over 10 years’ professional recruitment experience across diverse sectors, including Hospitality, Education and Medicine.

Louise’s role at Executives in Africa requires excellent organisational & project management skills as well as attention to detail in order to deliver every Search on time and with high quality documentation. Her excellent interpersonal skills allow her to work across all levels within the organisation as well as internationally with our Ethiopia team to ensure resources are managed effectively to fulfil deadlines and meet Client and Candidate needs to our exceptional standards.

Meareg Hailu has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science form Addis Ababa University.  As part of the Executives in Africa team in Ethiopia, Meareg works very closely with our QA Manager in the UK and works on assuring the accuracy of documents.  He also works on Research Projects including database integrity.

Meareg plays soccer and is a devoted Manchester United fan.  He loves travelling around the country and visiting the different “Ethiopian Treasures” like Axum and Lalibela.

Johannah brings over four years’ of progressive administrative experience gained within diverse sectors, including recruitment. Her self-driven motivation and excellent organisational skills, ensure that an effective secretarial and administrative service is provided to the Managing Directors, Senior Management and the Consulting team.

Johannah supports the EiA Search Process by making travel and visa arrangements, scheduling appointments and interviews, as well as supporting our Quality Assurance Managers with Search documentation.