The Team

Mark is a founding Director of Omba and has been instrumental in developing Omba’s investment strategy and managing their portfolios since 2017. Previously he spent nearly 12 years at Goldman Sachs, most of which were in the Investment Management Division in London where he gained experience in asset allocation, equities, fixed income, alternative investments and derivatives. Preceding Goldman Sachs he was a Manager at KPMG in the Consumer Markets Audit and Assurance division. Mark qualified as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa following a Bachelor of Accountancy degree at the University of the Witwatersrand. Mark is also a CFA Charterholder and has been investing in financial markets since 1998.

David is a founding Director of Omba and is responsible for all Operations and Technology functions with a particular focus on building a modern, scalable and efficient operating model.
He was previously a Programme Manager at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and preceding that spent 5 years at Barclays Wealth where he was responsible for numerous IT and change related projects including integrations and migrations of software systems.

David has a wealth of experience in Technology and Change roles which includes managing global projects and development teams within both financial institutions and startups, running a national Archiving business and has hands-on experience in software development and architecture. David holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of the Witwatersrand where he majored in Information Systems and Management Accounting and he also holds a Prince Practitioner Certification.

André founded and was CEO of Ethos Private Equity, one of the largest private equity firms in South Africa and a highly respected firm within the Emerging Markets Private Equity sector. André is currently Deputy Chairman of Ethos Private Equity and is also currently serving as a Senior Advisor and Chair of the Africa Council of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA). André has previously served as a director at the EMPEA, non-executive director at Alexander Forbes Holdings (Pty) Ltd, non-executive director at Sphere Private Equity and CEO of FirstCorp Capital Investors (Pty) Ltd and FirstCorp Merchant Bank.

André is a South African qualified Chartered Accountant and member of SAICA. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Higher Diploma in Tax Law from the University of the Witwatersrand and has completed the Senior Executive Programme at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Since joining Omba in September 2017, Andrew has played an integral role in Omba’s portfolio management process contributing to its robustness and strong track record and was promoted to the Board in 2023. In addition, Andrew’s in-depth knowledge of ETFs has seen him regularly being quoted in the press.
Preceding his time at Omba he worked at EY, in London, in the Banking and Capital Markets division. Andrew also worked in the Johannesburg and New York offices of EY where he audited asset managers, hedge funds and other financial services firms. Preceding his time at EY he was an Associate Lecturer in Management Accounting and Finance at the University of the Witwatersrand where he obtained his Master of Commerce (Accountancy) and was awarded the top student prize.

Andrew is a CFA charterholder and scored above the 90% percentile of all global candidates for the CFA Level III exam. Andrew is also a South African qualified Chartered Accountant and member of SAICA.

Michael previously worked at Commerzbank and their Equity Research team focusing on European Real Estate and Autos. He subsequently moved to Debt Capital Markets before joining Omba. He has also done internships at Scott Partners, a long-only fund, and National Bank of Greece Securities, while studying for his M.Sc and B.Sc.

Michael holds a Master in Investment Management with distinction from Bayes Business School (ex-Cass) and a Bachelor in Banking and Financial Management from the University of Piraeus. He has passed CFA Level I.

Kirsty is involved in building out the South African business of Omba. She started her career at Deloitte in the financial services department. She subsequently worked in the finance department at Aerobotics, a South African based agri-tech startup, and co-founded a boutique corporate tax advisory business specialising in assisting startups with their tax compliance. Her recent work has also included advising on the tax, structuring and financial affairs of a wealthy family with involvement in managing a property portfolio and a number of other investments. Kirsty completed her Bachelors of Business Science degree at the University of Cape Town where she was placed on the Dean’s Merit List in each of her academic years. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant in South Africa and member of SAICA. Kirsty has also completed her Master of Commerce degree specialising in international tax law and is a registered tax practitioner in South Africa.

Steven previously worked in accounting with public and private companies such as Benevolent AI and PVH corp. as well as Investment Banking with Jefferies in their Capital Markets business. He worked with a family office focused on the healthcare and longevity space in both public and private capacity before joining Omba. He specializes in Biotech, Retail, and Technology sectors.

Steven holds a Master of Science in Quantitative Finance from World Quant University and a Master of Arts in Finance with Spanish from University of Aberdeen. He is currently working towards the CISI charter.

Graeme spent 10 years at Alexander Forbes Financial Services in Johannesburg where he headed up Alexander Forbes Financial Planning Consultants in Johannesburg before moving into an Executive role in Retail Sales and Distribution. In 2018 Graeme relocated to the UK with his family and joined Vitality UK as a Franchise Director and then opened his own financial advisory business.

Preceding Alexander Forbes, Graeme was a Sales and Marketing manager at Glenrand MIB where he spent 5 years and before that was with Morgan Stanley in London for 4 years. Graeme has a BComm (Economics) from the University of South Africa, a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning from the University of the Free State, is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and is registered with both the Financial Planning Institute (the FPI) in South Africa and the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (the CISI) in the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining Omba Advisory & Investments, Kiana worked as a Private Client Service Associate for a specialized team of Senior Portfolio Managers at TD Wealth Private Investment Counsel (PIC) in Victoria, BC, Canada. She provided complex and holistic administrative, operational and client service for a diverse group of private clients including Ultra High Net Worth Families, Corporations, Trusts, Non-profits and Registered Charities.

In addition, Kiana held a position on the national council to create, review, implement and improve policies and procedures across the TD Wealth PIC business, with a focus on modernization, efficiency and simplification of processes.

Before entering the Private Client and Wealth Management sector, Kiana’s experience includes over five years in retail banking in Canada, including Management and Financial Services.

Sean is involved in portfolio management and the investment research process at Omba. Prior to joining Omba, Sean advised an UHNW family on its global investments, as well as managing a global flexible fund at Prime Asset Managers. He was previously the Chief Investment Officer of Anchor Capital in South Africa from 2013 to 2018, responsible for the global and South African investment process covering equities and balanced mandates. Under his management, the Anchor BCI Equity fund delivered an annualized return of 13.5% from its April 2013 launch until mid-2018 and was the number 1 performing fund in its category (SA general equity) in 2015. Sean commenced his career in financial markets in 2003 as a sell-side analyst at Nedcor Securities, earning a number 1 rating in the FM Analyst of the Year survey in his first two years of coverage for the Hotels & Leisure sector. Sean’s experience also included coverage of the SA Healthcare sector at Deutsche Bank, as well as a senior analyst and portfolio manager at Investec Wealth & Investment. Sean holds a B.Com (Honours) from the University of South Africa, and is a CFA charterholder.