Leadership

A seasoned executive with deep expertise in African industrial project development.

Gert Buelens is a seasoned legal expert with over 25 years of experience. He became a partner in 2001 and has led his firm since 2007.

A versatile practitioner, he has held key roles in the Mechelen Bar and the European Young Bar Association, building strong professional networks across Belgium and beyond.

Michael Brown is Chief of Staff at Gajah, supporting strategy and operations to ensure alignment, efficiency, and long-term growth.

Artur is a Senior Investment Manager & Partner at Gajah Ventures, where he focuses on sourcing, structuring, and executing investment opportunities across key growth sectors in Africa. He brings strong experience in investment analysis, project development, and stakeholder management, supporting Gajah’s long-term value creation strategy.

Lionel Therond, CFA® has over 30 years of experience in natural resources and banking. He is a co-founder and partner at Blue Oak Advisory, a London-based corporate finance boutique focused on natural resources and ancillary sectors in developed and developing markets. He also serves as a Director of IStar Capital Ltd, a London and Dubai based independent investment banking firm that connects institutional investors with high-growth emerging markets. Prior to that, Lionel was a Managing Director at Standard Bank until 2016. He previously served as a multi-year top-ranked buy-side analyst and fund manager with JPMorgan Asset Management until 2009, and began his career with Royal Dutch Shell managing exploration projects internationally. Lionel holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MPhil and an MSc in Geology and Geophysics from ENSG Nancy

Waqar Zaman joined as a Senior Analyst in the Investment team in December 2025 and is responsible for appraising investment opportunities and strategy initiatives.

He has over eight years of experience in M&A lead advisory, acquisitions, tax/audit and finance, including at KPMG UK and Foundation Property & Capital Group. Prior to joining Gajah Investments, he was working at a start-up as an Investment Principal at Irbis Capital Partners in their Container Shipping team. He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of ICAEW and holds an MSc in Mathematical Finance from Queen Mary, University of London.