Team

Hugo Minderhoud - 25 years’ experience in finance and banking in emerging markets including Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Hugo has an excellent reputation and many entrepreneurs turn to him for advice on raising capital. He led ABN AMRO Bank in Uzbekistan for 10 years and developed strong working relationships with the finance and banking authorities in the country.

Hugo was instrumental in attracting Asian Development Bank to invest in Ipak Yuli Bank, Uzbekistan, their first investment in a bank in Central-Asia. He is a member of the management board of the Korzinka supermarket chain in Uzbekistan and on the board of Demir Kyrgyz International Bank (DKIB) in Kyrgyzstan. He is also an independent board member of Afghan International Bank (AIB).

As President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Uzbekistan, Hugo is extensively engaged in and promotes cross-border relations among interested business parties in the region.

Hugo holds a Law degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Linus Koh has created businesses throughout his 30-year career, building a culture of execution through high performance teams. Since 2008 he has served as Chairman of Nutmeg Capital, a family office with venture capital and private equity interests in finance, technology and healthcare, and has advised and participated on the boards of several portfolio entities.

He was a founder and Chief Executive Officer (2015-2018) of the Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange, the first global electronic commodities exchange for physically settled diamonds. He was appointed Co-CEO (2010-2016) of SGX-listed Saizen REIT, comprising assets in Japan that were subsequently sold to Lone Star Funds. As President and Chief Operating Officer (2008-2009), he helped set up the Singapore Mercantile Exchange, which was acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange. He earlier served as Executive Vice President (2004-2007) at the Singapore Exchange, leading the development and management of listed securities & derivatives products as well as exchange services, and later its Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategy. He previously served as Executive Director and COO (2000-2004) of SGX-listed regional securities firm G.K. Goh Holdings Limited. All these roles involved regular engagement with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Linus’ experience covers leadership roles in capital markets and investment banking in London, Boston and Singapore. Linus was at Deutsche Bank (1995-2000) as its Chief Operating Officer responsible for various businesses, including Global Foreign Exchange based in London, Global Markets Asia based in Singapore, then across the whole of Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific. He had previously led trading & sales teams at State Street, UBS, Morgan Grenfell and Citigroup.

Linus holds an SM in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and a BA (First Class Honors) in Economics from the University of Sheffield, UK. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and the Oxford Fintech Program at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Geoffrey Ng brings an accomplished and award-winning career spanning 24 years in the field of investment management. He is a Director with Fortress Capital Asset Management (M) Sdn Bhd, having joined in February 2014 in the capacity of Adviser, Strategic Investments. He continues to be part of the core senior team in building the firm’s investment reach into strategic public equity and private equity investments across the Asia-Pacific region.

Before Fortress Capital, he was Executive Director/CEO with Hong Leong Asset Management Bhd where he steered diversification of the firm’s assets under management (AUM) from a retail dedicated fund manager to a more balanced mix of retail and institutional clients - in the process growing AUM from $0.5 billion to $1.8 billion.

Between 2005 and 2009, Geoffrey was Senior Vice President with Dubai Investment Group where he firstly managed proprietary assets covering strategic investments in South East Asia before expanding his role to global emerging markets based in Dubai. In early 2009, Geoffrey was also Managing Director of Alioth Capital, a partnership that enabled cross-border capital investments between Asia and the Middle East.

Geoffrey also held the position of Chief Investment Officer with Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd between 2003 and 2005, where he oversaw $0.4 billion of assets across unit trust funds and private mandates. He started his career with Rashid Hussain Asset Management Sdn Bhd in 1996 and is a regular speaker as well as content writer for the Securities Industry Development Corporation.

Geoffrey is Chairman of Bursa Malaysia-listed Kronologi Asia Berhad, an Asia-wide enterprise data management company. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute, the premier global association for investment management professionals and is Vice Chair of the board’s Audit and Risk Committee, where he is board liaison to the organization’s information technology and disciplinary review committees. He was past Vice Chair of the Education Advisory Board of the CFA Institute and Treasurer / Board Member of CFA Society Malaysia. He also served on the CFA Institute’s Council of Examiners from 2003 to 2009. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (High Honours) with double majors in Accounting and Finance (Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada), as well as the Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Financial Planner designations. Geoffrey has also completed the Fintech: Future Commerce program by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Fiezullah Saidov has almost 25 years of experience in Investments, Finance and Banking. He was Managing Director of an independent asset manager in Central Asia, managing the $200mln PE portion of a $400mln fund. Funds were almost entirely raised in Western Europe and in Japan through public offering.

Fiezullah led the investment team to identify, source, value, structure and manage investments. Investments were structured via off shore legal entities as easy exit option. These investments have generated 28% returns within 6 months of the investment.

Investments were in several telecom related companies in Kazakhstan and a specialty retail company, after careful consideration of 30 projects in food processing, infrastructure, construction materials, agriculture, retail, real estate and others.

Fiezullah served on the Board of investment companies and chaired finance committees to help CFOs attract debt financing.

Previously, Fiezullah was a head of corporate banking in ABN AMRO Bank Uzbekistan and corporate director, involved in deal origination for the Investment Banking division of ABN AMRO Bank in Moscow, Russia, focusing on the telecom and industrial sectors.

Fiezullah is currently in independent consulting role with IFC, to reorganize and prepare one of the largest state-owned banks for privatization to foreign investors and serving as advisory director at PwC. For the last two years, he has been very actively involved with transformation of four banks in Uzbekistan and our current proposal is to extend this transformation work to corporate market, outside of the banking sector.

Fiezullah holds an MSc in Finance, Tashkent Economic University. He completed a 2-year non diploma study at Hardin Simmons University, Texas, USA.

Komiljon Urinbaev has 20 years’ experience in management and finance. Komiljon served as CFO at ABN AMRO Bank and COO/CFO at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in Uzbekistan, worked as a Finance Director at Agromir Group, one of the largest holding companies operating in food processing, farming and distribution industries in Uzbekistan. He brings extensive experience in transformation and organizational change management, as well as developing and implementing financial systems to drive business decisions.

Komiljon currently prhovides consulting services to local banks and companies, as well as cooperating with international consulting firms in development of consulting projects within organizational transformation. He is also an independent consultant to IFC to restructure and prepare state-owned banks for privatization to foreign investors under the Uzbek government privatization program.

Komiljon holds a diploma in engineering from higher education Institute TADI. He completed the MBA program at International University of Japan and exchange MBA Program at SDA Bocconi in Italy. He was also a Fulbright Research Scholar at Wharton Business School of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

Mr. van Zwieten is Managing Director Asia-Pacific at Convergence, the global network for blended finance. Robert combines 22 years of private sector experience in global financial markets with 10+ years of mobilizing institutional private sector capital into development and innovating development finance. Prior to joining Convergence, Robert founded and led The Serendra Group LLC, a boutique emerging markets advisory firm that helps CEOs build better businesses in emerging markets.

From 2013 through 2017 Robert served as the President and CEO of EMPEA, the global industry association for private capital in emerging markets, based in Washington DC, where he provided overall strategic and operational leadership and oversaw the continuous expansion of value to its membership and the global advancement of the asset class.

Immediately prior to this, from 2009 through 2012, during the Global Economic Crisis, Robert served as the Asian Development Bank’s Director – Private Sector Capital Markets Division, based in Manila, Philippines. He was responsible for originating and structuring $2.5 billion in debt and equity transactions across 40 emerging Asian markets, and for the banks’ $1 billion private equity investment portfolio.

Before joining ADB, Robert worked in global financial services for 22 years. He served as Managing Director and COO of an Asia-focused hedge fund venture, and prior to that as EVP, CFO and Member Executive Committee of the Singapore Exchange. His experience further includes roles as SVP, CAO and other global leadership roles at Lehman Brothers in New York; Managing Director and Treasurer for GE Energy in Atlanta; and Managing Director; and Treasurer for GE Capital Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong during the Asian Financial Crisis. Earlier in his career, he worked in ABN AMRO Bank’s Global Clients and Investment Banking Division in Amsterdam, Chicago and Singapore, in Increasingly senior client and product roles.

Robert earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, holds JD and MA degrees from Leiden University in the Netherlands, and an LL.M. degree from Columbia University School of Law.

Peter Clateman has 25 years of legal experience in investing and investment funds, including 20 years experience as general counsel. Peter is currently Executive Vice President for Business Development and General Counsel of Curaleaf Holdings, Inc., where he has played a leadership role in building Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. into the world’s largest cannabis company through a series of acquisitions and its listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange. He is also a managing partner in Measure 8 Ventures, a US-focused multi-strategy investment fund.

Peter has had a deep and interesting career with a long-term focus on investing in the former Soviet Union. He began working in the region in 1996, when he was stationed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan for the international law firm White & Case and represented clients such as the EBRD and the Central Asian-American Enterprise Fund. After his posting in Tashkent, he was an associate with the London and Moscow offices of Skadden Arps. Peter has served as General Counsel and Head of Compliance at Renaissance Capital, a leading Russia and frontier market investment bank, as well as at two investment groups that were spun out of Renaissance Capital: The Sputnik Group, manager of the largest group of private equity funds focused on Russia at the time, and VR Capital Group, an award-winning global macro and distressed-asset fund with more than $2 billion under management. Mr. Clateman also served as Head of Legal and Deputy General Director with UC Rusal during its acquisition of SUAL and assets of Glencore to become the world’s largest aluminum company.

Peter received his law degree from Columbia University and his BA from Harvard College.