People

The Koios Associates Network

Koios Associates is a global network of industry, functional and country/regional experts that combines leading edge knowledge of international best practices with unmatched local knowledge, expertise and contacts. Rather than employing a full-time staff, with the associated direct and overhead costs, Koios assembles project-specific teams that bring together the exact expertise our clients need. Most members of the Koios network have worked together on previous engagements, and all of them have 10 years or more of relevant experience. Koios has also concluded strategic alliances with other firms to provide complementary industry, functional and geographic expertise.

Founder and Managing Partner

Charles (Chip) Krakoff
Chip Krakoff is founder and Managing Partner of Koios Associates, a firm specialized in direct investment, finance and trade in emerging markets. Chip is a recognized trade and investment expert with over 20 years of corporate, financial, and consulting experience. He has served as an advisor to cabinet ministers, investment and trade promotion agencies, financial institutions, private investors and senior corporate executives in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.

Before founding Koios Associates, Chip was Chief of the Office for Africa of the International Trade Centre in Geneva, the technical assistance arm of the World Trade Organization, prior to which he served as Senior Trade and Investment Advisor to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat. Previously he was a Senior Manager with Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank, South Africa, and a Senior Associate with Abt Associates, a leading U.S. economic research and consulting firm. He has worked extensively in private equity, development banking and investment promotion. In the early 1990s he set up and directed an investment promotion agency in Hong Kong for the Botswana Government. More recently, Chip served as a senior advisor to one of Africa’s largest private equity funds, identifying and structuring transactions and conducting due diligence on potential investments in telecommunications, media, transport, financial services and IT. He later managed a U.S.-funded trade and investment development program for the Ministry of Industry & Trade in Jordan, and a comprehensive restructuring of the Jordan Investment Board and the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation. Chip also co-founded Africa Business Direct, one of the earliest web-based business information and trade and investment facilitation firms in Africa.

Chip’s skills and interests include:

• Foreign direct investment policy, strategy and promotion
• Trade development and trade policy
• Competitiveness, linkages and value chain development
• Special economic zones, free trade zones, industrial parks
• Financial analysis, company valuation, investment appraisal, due diligence
• Privatization
• Political, economic and market risk analysis
• Market evaluation, market entry and expansion strategies

Chip earned an MBA in Finance and International Business from Columbia University and a B.A. in Anthropology from Reed College.

Chip has lived in France, Hong Kong, Jordan, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Botswana, Zambia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has done business in over 50 countries.

He is fluent in written and spoken French.

Associates Network

The Koios Associates network is constantly expanding. Current members include:

Nilgun Gokgur, Principal Associate: Nilgun is a development economist with over 20 years of experience advising and training government officials and working closely with state-owned industrial and infrastructure enterprise managers, labor unions and the private sector on public enterprise reforms, enterprise restructuring, privatization, private sector participation in infrastructure (electric power, telecommunications, transport and water supply and wastewater), private sector development, expansion of non-traditional manufacturing, service sector exports, and international competitiveness.  She has assessed the design, implementation, and the social and economic impact of several privatization programs for equitable and sustainable outcomes in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and Eastern Europe.  Nilgun has also advised numerous governments on developing regulatory frameworks for privatizing infrastructure, managing risk guarantees, and calculating contingent liabilities.  She has also worked on pro-competitive regulatory instruments — competitive tendering, repeated franchise bidding, indirect competition, efficiency enhancing tariffs — and on designing direct subsidies for the benefit of the poor.  Nilgun holds an MPA in development economics from the Woodrow Wilson School and a BA and an MA in economics from the University of Basel. She is fluent in English, Turkish, French and German.

 

Bruce Jewels, Principal Associate: Based in Johanesburg, South Africa, Bruce is a commercial and merchant banker with over 30 years of international financial experience, principally in Africa. He is Chairman of Africa Advisory, a firm that provides a wide range of financial strategy advisory services to African and international financial institutions and corporates involved in African trade and investment. Before founding Africa Advisory Bruce managed business development in trade and project finance in Southern Africa for HSBC Equator. Previous responsibilities include Vice President of African trade finance with UBS, Senior Manager for Africa with AMRO Bank, and Deputy General Manager of credit marketing with Banque Internationale pour l'Afrique Occidentale. He began his career with Lonrho, and served as company secretary for several Lonrho financial subsidiaries in Africa. Bruce earned a post graduate diploma with distinction from the Sorbonne. Since 1985 he has been a member of the U.K. Government Advisory Committee for Africa, of which he was appointed Chairman in 1991, and in which capacity he led the first U.K. official mission to the newly-independent Namibia.

 

Katherine S. Naughton, Principal Associate: Kate Naughton is a finance and investment professional with 30 years of international strategic and transaction experience in foreign direct investment; public offerings and listings; business planning, management and financing for small and middle market companies; and mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Since 1991 she has been President of Cambridge Capital, which provides corporate finance advisory services to small businesses in Africa, Europe and the United States. She currently advises a South African manufacturer of upholstered furniture on business management processes and on international expansion, and has spearheaded the establishment of new production facilities in Nigeria and Uganda. Prior to forming Cambridge Capital, Kate worked with McCown De Leeuw & Co., a middle market venture banking firm; Citibank; Lehman Brothers; and Kleinwort Benson. She has completed transactions in the consumer products, retal and wholesale distribution, metals, wood products and financial services sectors. Kate also has IPO experience, and managed a $700 million listing on the London Stock Exchange, as well as marketing secondary listings on European and Asian exchanges to U.S. clients. She also has extensive private equity experience, and served as a strategic, operational and management advisor to a large private eqity fund in Southern Africa. Kate holds a BA in history from Smith College, an M.Litt. in medieval history from Cambridge University, and an MBA in Finance from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

 

Rotimi Olugbohungbe, Principal Associate: Rotimi is a Koios Principal Associate based in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a Chartered Accountant and financial expert with over 20 years of experience in investment banking, audit, and tax advisory services. He is currently CEO of Counterhouse Consultants, which provides assistance in fundraising as well as audit and tax compliance services to clients in the financial, ICT, oil and gas, transport and logistics, manufacturing, and tourism sectors. Rotimi is a principal advisor on investment strategy to Nigeria's largest private equity fund, and an advisor to several major banks on capital expansion strategy. He also consults extensively to the World Bank Group on tax and investment climate issues at national and state level in Nigeria and other countries. Before founding Counterhouse Consultants in 2003, Rotimi was Chief Operating Officer of Corporate Development Consultants, a firm that advises corporate clients on fund sourcing and structuring and risk management. Previously he was Manager of Finance for National Merchant Bank Ltd. and a Senior Auditor with Akintola Williams Deloitte chartered accountants. Rotimi earned an M.Sc. in Computer and Information Science from Lead City University, Ibadan, and a B.Sc. in Accountancy from the University of Nigeria. 

 

Santosh Hejmadi, Principal Associate: Based in Dubai, Santosh Hejmadi has over 35 years of experience in special economic zones management and marketing, investment promotion, and business location consulting. He is former Marketing Manager for Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority and, more recently, Marketing Director of the Dubai World Trade Center and the Dubai Technology and Free Zone Authority. Santosh also has extensive experience as a consultant to free zone developers and investment agencies. He served as Director of Business Development and Marketing for the developers of the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone in India, set up the investment licensing and approval system for Jordan's Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, and conducted market and demand assessments for industrial estates and free zones in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, China, and Kosovo. Santosh has proven organizational development skills, having set up the new Saudi Arabian Industrial Estates Authority and developing new MIS systems for industrial development and free zone authorities in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Palestine, and Jordan. Santosh earned a B.Sc. in Physics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University and an M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University.

 

 

Elena Panaritis, Principal Associate: Elena is an internationally recognized expert in land titling and registration, land reform and privatization, site development and building permits, and land and housing finance. She is Managing Director of PANEL Group, an investment advisory firm that advises the World Bank on public sector reform strategies and advises governments and financial institutions in Africa, the Balkans and the United States on facilitating investments in distressed assets through public sector reform. Previously, Elena was an economist with the World Bank, focusing on housing finance, land privatization, and public sector reform in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. She designed and managed an innovative urban real estate privatization program in Peru for over $4 billion in assets, which was cited by the World Bank and the U.S. Government as “best practice.” Elena was an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) on social capital and economic development, and since 2001 has been a visiting lecturer on international housing and property rights at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She earned a BA in economics from the American College of Greece, an MA in International Economics and European Studies from SAIS, and an MBA from INSEAD. Elena’s book, Prosperity Unbound: Building Property Markets with Trust, with a foreword by Francis Fukuyama, on unlocking the hidden wealth of informal property markets, was published in May 2008.

 

Derek Perkins, Principal Associate: Derek is an marketing, investment and trade promotion, and economic development expert with over 20 years of experience advising and managing investment and trade promotion and economic development agencies in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as managing international business development for several firms in the IT and telecommunications industries. As Executive Vice President for North America for the Welsh Development Agency from 1986 to 1998, Derek managed transnational teams to attract FDI into Wales from the United States, Canada, and Asia. Derek has developed and implemented international marketing, sales, and investment strategies for several U.S. high-tech companies, as Vice President for International Sales and Marketing for INT'L.com, a leader in the development and implementation of e-commerce globalization services, and as Director of International Business Development for TeleGea and Director of Operations and Director of Business Development for n-Link Corporation. Derek began his career as Area Sales Manager for India, Pakistan, and the Americas for British Steel. Derek earned a B.A. (Hons) in Russian and French from University College Wales. He has a strong working knowledge of both French and Russian.

 

Deborah Porte, Principal Associate: Deborah is an architect and urban planner, and a specialist in the comprehensive development of urban and rural towns and cities associated with a wide range of industrial activities. Her expertise includes the design, planning and development of industrial cities and townships, special economic zones, industrial estates, transport and logistics hubs, free zones, ports, export processing zones, and technology parks. Deborah's skills include strategic and structural planning at national and sub-national levels, master planning and infrastructure assessments, land and logistics evaluations, identification of infrastructure and utility needs, project phasing, and cost estimation. She has extensive senior project management in both the public and private sectors, and has led and managed large integrated spatial development projects. Formerly a Vice President with AECOM International Development/TSG, Deborah led the company's master planning and urban development practice, and managed the company's projects in Asia. She has conducted feasibility studies, developed master plans, and managed project implementation for infrastructure, industrial, logistics, transport, and special economic zones developments in India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Iraq, Mali, Vietnam, Laos, Senegal, Colombia, Peru, and several other countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. A Canadian citizen, Deborah earned a B.A. in Urban Geography from the University of British Columbia, Master of Architecture, Master of Urban Planning, and Master of Urban Design from the University of Washington, and a Certificate in Urban Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

 

Andrea Erdmann, Senior Asociate: Andrea Erdmann is an economic competitiveness and enterprise development expert with over 12 years of experience in more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Europe. Her expertise includes special economic zones, investment promotion, and investment climate reform. She has conducted value chain and competitiveness assessments in agro-processing, manufacturing, tourism and business process outsourcing. Andrea has conducted feasibility studies, demand assessments, competitiveness benchmarking, economic impact analysis, and site audits, and has advised on regulations, organizational structures, marketing and investment promotion plans, budgeting, and investor services for free zones and industrial estates in India, Bangladesh, Jordan, Panama, Malaysia, Djibouti, Philippines, and Senegal. Andrea earned an MA in international relations from the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University, and a BA summa cum laude in political science from Creighton University. She is a member of, and Gender Commissioner for, the Competitiveness Institute, and she has a working knowledge of Spanish.