WHO ARE
ORIENTAL & AFRICAN
Oriental & African is a consultancy specialising in project incubation, including funding and development. We are focused primarily on the developing world, particularly those projects in South Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa.
ACTIVITIES
Incubation of infrastructure development projects (in their various forms) and the global commercialization of intellectual property are particular areas of specialisation.
All projects are challenging. Projects in the developing world are more challenging. Oriental & African, with its depth of experience and its strong network of business associates, joint venture partners and consultants, and its ability to bring positive intervention when required, will make things happen.
SKILLS
In the evaluation of projects Oriental & African draws on its extensive
experience of global and regional macro-economic trends to undertake a rigorous assessment of projects based on criteria such as: political stability, economic climate (including structural changes in economies and cyclical trends), currency risks,
trans-national trading flows (such as remittances) and domestic wealth creation.
Once a project is assessed at the macro level, Oriental & African will work with its partners at the micro level to evaluate, revalidate and assess the available options to optimise value. Financial design and engineering, risk management and sometimes re-engineering with ingenuity are important elements of this process.
Distinct from other entities, Oriental & African’s minimal institutional structure and intuition ensures a timely project assessment.
Throughout an assignment Oriental & African engages with pragmatism tempered by traditional values.
EXPERIENCE & INGENUITY
INTUITION & PRAGMATISM
TRADITIONAL VALUES
ACHIEVEMENTS
ACHIEVEMENTS
Oriental & African has been involved over a number of years in projects in countries as diverse as Costa Rica, Italy, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Oman, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand and Ukraine and in the globalisation of an industrial recycling process and of a leading energy-conscious building system.
PEOPLE
Giles Catchpole - Founder
Giles has 40 years’ experience of corporate and project finance and has a history of executing challenging assignments principally in emerging markets. Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand, he has worked in corporate and project finance for Antony Gibbs (which became part of HSBC Investment Bank), Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, Citibank (Johannesburg), Citicorp Investment Bank in London, and Indosuez Asia in Hong Kong where he was Managing Director. He was a founder shareholder and Audit Committee member of Venture Capital Bank of Bahrain (www.vc-bank.com) and is a Vice-President of JE Consortium (www.jeconsortium.org), an infrastructure development financial solutions company.
Giles has consulted on or has sponsored infrastructure and other projects in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. He is a founder shareholder of Freezone Development & Investment Company (www.fdic.co.uk), a joint venture with Development Services International, leading Free Zone consultants; of Orion Elastomers (www.orionelastomers.com),developers of filament for 3D printing made from recycled tyre rubber and recycled plastics; of Argisol Building Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Argisol International (www.argisol.de); and of Iron-Shore (www.iron-shore.com), a company involved in metal and metal fabrication equipment for the construction and mining industries.
Giles’s experience covers international mergers and acquisitions, fund management products, direct investment and project finance. He obtained a BA Hons in Middle Eastern History and Arabic from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Giles has lived and worked in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as did many members of his immediate and extended family before him, linking places and people as far flung as Lucknow at the time of the Indian Mutiny, Lahore with Kipling, Natal at the turn of the 20th Century (a member of his extended family representing the country in cricket), World War II in Burma and the Middle East. In his career he has dealt with all manner of project promoters and politicians – princes, prime ministers and permanent secretaries – and the attendant egos.
Giles enjoys a good comedy.