Team Members
Maarten Susan, a senior banking professional, began his career with ABN AMRO Bank in the 1980s. With vast experience across Asia Pacific, North and South America, and Europe, he served as CEO of Banco Terra in Mozambique and led SME programs for First Merchant Bank and Bank of Africa. As a founding shareholder of FACTS Africa, he focuses on providing short-term working capital to SMEs in the food and agriculture sectors.
Maarten also founded Moving Frontiers (MF), an advisory firm specializing in agri-finance, banking, and SME development. Currently, through NIRAS and MF, he works on the KIEP 250+ innovation grant program for MITI and the World Bank in Kenya, aiming to enhance productivity, value addition, and technology adoption for 250 fast-growing companies. Maarten holds degrees from Nijenrode Business University and the London School of Economics.
Dominic Kinuthia, an enthusiastic agri-finance and seasoned MSMEs’ banker, possesses extensive experience in commercial banking, non-bank financial institutions, consultancy, and development organizations. Beginning his career at Equity Bank in 2008, he played a pivotal role in establishing the agriculture department. Dominic later contributed to setting up the Chase Bank agribusiness department in 2013. At Financial Access in Nairobi, he led agri-finance advisory programs, including the flagship Finance for Agriculture (F4A) Program sponsored by the Government of The Netherlands. Dominic co-established FACTS Africa, a supply chain financing company for agricultural SMEs. With over 12 years of experience, he’s been instrumental in curriculum development and training for financial institutions and agri-MSMEs in the region.
John Ssali, an agri-finance professional, boasts 20+ years’ experience, 11 of which were in banking with two commercial banks and a microfinance institution in Uganda. Starting at Centenary Bank in 2003, he later initiated and led an agribusiness unit at Pride Microfinance Ltd (MDI). In 2013, he revamped the agribusiness unit at Tropical Bank Uganda. Consulting for Financial Access from 2014 to 2017, he contributed to launching FACTS Uganda, providing working capital to SMEs. With nine years of consultancy, John has collaborated on diverse projects in eight African countries, focusing on agriculture value chain studies, agribusiness strategy development, product development, lending tools, and bank staff training. Currently, under IPC, he is working on Agribusiness Strategy Development for Finance Trust Bank Uganda, sponsored by Aceli Africa. John Ssali holds a degree from Makerere University Kampala and certificates from the Kenya School of Monetary Studies and the School of Applied Microfinance Kenya.
Elliot Susan is an internationally oriented and dedicated entrepreneur gearing up for a career in socio-economic development and sustainable futures. With experience at Rabobank in the Netherlands and current involvement with the municipality of Amsterdam to promote a circular economy within the city’s value chains, Elliot brings a wealth of practical insights. His background includes consulting and a strong interest in finance. Instead of letting his knowledge go to waste, he founded AgriFinancing to directly apply his learnings to tangible and useful ends. Elliot holds an MSc in Sustainable Development from the Swedish School of Agriculture and an MSc in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics.
