Our close-knit team and advisors, based in the entrepreneurial hubs of Nairobi, London and Lagos.

Abel is an Investment Director at Novastar Ventures East Africa Advisors Limited, Nairobi. Abel started off his professional career in 2011 as a Credit Research Analyst at Bloomberg L.P. in the US after graduating with an A.B degree in Government from Harvard University. He relocated to Kenya in 2014 to launch Sarora Dairies, a milk processing and retail distribution company in Eldoret town. Abel exited the dairy business in 2018 and joined Tulaa, an agritech business providing smallholder farmers with access to inputs on credit and markets. Abel joined Novastar in June 2019.

Andrew is Co-founder & Managing Partner at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Andrew began investing in start-ups during the dot-com era in 1996. He launched his first fund on the London Stock Exchange in 1999 and was involved in managing 12 more over the next 15 years, investing in Europe, India and China along the way. Born in Lesotho with periods growing up in Ethiopia and Kenya, he is a graduate of the London School of Economics. Andrew began fulfilling his professional ambition to apply Venture Capital investment techniques to stimulate transformation on the continent first in South Africa in 2009, and then in East Africa with Steve Beck, raising Novastar’s first fund in 2014.

Brian is a Partner at Novastar Ventures West Africa Limited, Lagos. Born and raised in Kenya, Brian’s career has been an entrepreneurial adventure across West, Southern and East Africa. Immediately after graduating from Yale University with honors, he joined the management team that started Jumia, a leading and award-winning e-commerce platform across Africa. Brian then co-founded Zamsolar, a last-mile distribution company in Zambia, and was later COO at Livelyhoods, a last mile distribution business in Nairobi. He joined Novastar in January 2015 and now heads up the team in Lagos.

Dayo is an Investment Associate at Novastar Ventures West Africa Limited, Lagos. Dayo started off his career in banking then moved to the built space, leading business growth for an engineering consultancy firm. He has a combined 12 years of experience including five years supporting entrepreneurs within the Middle East, Pakistan and Africa, helping them achieve their full potential. Dayo has a BSc in Statistics and received his Master’s in Business Administration from Obafemi Awolowo University.

Dieko is an Investment Associate at Novastar West Africa Limited. Dieko began her career at Uber, supporting growth and operations across Sub-Saharan Africa, before joining Moove, where she led market expansion and supported capital raises from Global DFIs and VCs. She played a key role in Moove’s expansion into Ghana, South Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Most recently, she served as Technical Advisor to the CEO at MoMo PSB, a fintech subsidiary of MTN. Dieko holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics and International Economics from the University of Nottingham and is an alumna of the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Dominic is an Investment Director at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Before joining Novastar in 2019, Dominic worked in corporate finance for EY in London and prior to that, for an NGO in Uganda. These contrasting experiences gave birth to a passion for supporting businesses that create large-scale social value as a result of their commercial success. Dominic is a Chartered Accountant and has a BA in History and Politics from the University of Nottingham.

Dot is Director, Social & Environmental Value at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Dot trained as a teacher, working in secondary and adult education in London, before moving to the USA to join philanthropic investment bank Geneva Global. She built and led Geneva Global’s Human Liberty Sector, developing integrated strategies and grants to community-based organizations fighting slavery and human trafficking in Eastern Europe, South Asia and Africa. Dot lived in Nairobi from 2014 to 2020, and established Novastar’s approach to assessing, measuring and reporting on social and environmental value. She holds an MA in cross-cultural studies.

Ebube leads Operations at Novastar Ventures West Africa Limited, Lagos. She launched her first business at 16, curating event experiences across London – an idea that sparked her interest in entrepreneurship. She went on to earn a Master’s in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from USC’s Marshall School of Business, where she was recognised for outstanding contributions to the Venture Initiation program at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Since returning to Nigeria in 2019, Ebube has led ecosystem initiatives and strategic partnerships at the Tony Elumelu Foundation to support early-stage African entrepreneurs. At Africa Practice, she advised global organisations on market intelligence and expansion into the continent. She also holds a Law degree from the University of Exeter and is passionate about ventures that deliver impact through commercial success.

Joss is Director, Talent Development at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Born and raised in South Africa, Joss is an Executive Coach based in Nairobi and London. She works with teams and individuals, virtually and in-person. Joss is passionate about supporting leaders to create productive teams and healthy organisations. Joss has an Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching (Academy of Executive Coaching), an MA in Modern Languages (Cambridge University) and an MA in Art History (Courtauld Institute of Art). Joss has previous experience in publishing, broadcasting, communications and interior design.

Mukami is an Associate Investment Director at Novastar Ventures East Africa Advisors Limited, Nairobi. Mukami began her career at Aldridge Wealth Family Office in London before co-founding Chui Ventures, an early-stage fund backing African founders. Most recently, she led investments in fintech, agritech, healthcare and mobility at Al Mada Ventures in Casablanca.

Mukami is an ICAEW qualified Chartered Accountant, holds an LLM in International Business Law from the London School of Economics and an LL.B from the University of York. She’s passionate about harnessing cross border insights to build sustainable portfolios and is a firm believer that purpose-driven actions can open doors to unexpected opportunities.

Nghi is Legal Counsel at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Nghi has over 15 years’ experience in venture capital, specialising in fund legals, VC transaction legals and financial services regulation, gained first from investing in companies in Europe and now in East and West Africa. She joined Novastar in 2019 from Spark Ventures, a VC investor in high growth technology, media and healthcare companies in Europe. Nghi is a UK qualified lawyer (admitted 2007) and an Australian qualified lawyer (admitted 2003) having trained at corporate law firm, Philips Fox (now DLA Piper) in Melbourne, Australia. She earned two bachelor’s degrees in law and commerce from the Australian National University.

Rebecca brings over 15-years of experience as a regulatory compliance professional specialising in advising on financial crime prevention measures, business integrity due diligence, investment due diligence and ongoing portfolio monitoring. Starting her career as a regulatory compliance consultant, Rebecca specialises in working with private equity, venture capital, impact fund managers and corporate financiers in the UK and overseas. Rebecca originally joined Novastar in 2017 as an advisor and training provider and is now Novastar’s Money Laundering Reporting Officer and Group Data protection lead.

Riki is Director, Strategic Investments and Partnerships at Novastar Ventures East Africa Advisors Limited, Nairobi. Riki is a Japanese-American, born and raised in Los Angeles who brings 10 years of experience in investment banks, such as Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan, where he covered Japan equity markets. He left the banking industry in 2020 and moved to Kenya, making direct investments into early-stage startups, as well as supporting Japanese corporates, government, and investors seeking market-entry into Africa. He joined Novastar in 2023. Riki graduated from Waseda University in Japan, and also studied in Rotman School of Commerce, University of Toronto.

Sapna is a Partner at Novastar Ventures East Africa Advisors Limited, Nairobi. Sapna started her career in international banking, initially at Lloyds TSB and later at HSBC, working with entrepreneurs and SMEs at various stages of their business lifecycle in the UK, US, Europe and the Middle East. She returned to Kenya in 2012 to continue her passion for working with entrepreneurs, this time as an investor at Acumen and co-founder of a food start-up. She joined Novastar in 2015. Sapna graduated from the London School of Economics with a Bsc (Hons) in Government and Economics.

Sara is Head of Communications and Marketing at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Sara is an experienced communications leader for sustainable investors. For over 15 years, she has worked across markets and regions to deliver impactful communications with a focus on brand building, reputation management and stakeholder engagement, particularly for African fund managers. Before joining Novastar, Sara led global Capital Markets communications for CDP, the world’s largest environmental reporting system. Sara has a BA in Politics and International Relations from Warwick University and an LLB from the College of Law.

Steve is Co-founder & Managing Partner at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Steve has been investing in African start-ups since 2009 when he founded a private investor circle making seed-stage investments in East Africa. The investments that he and his partners made – NewGlobe and Sanergy among them – formed the proof-of-concept portfolio for Novastar’s first fund.
He had an 18-year career in consulting and led the European, African and Asian businesses of two global consulting businesses. Steve took leave of consulting in 2002 to help set up and lead Geneva Global – a philanthropic investment bank managing grants to more than a thousand projects in global health, human liberty, microfinance, education, and conflict recovery.

Steve grew up in the Silicon Valley when it had more fruit trees than silicon chips. He graduated from Stanford University and earned a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics with a focus on the politics of foreign direct investment.

Trishaad is an Operations & Projects Associate at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. He is a Kenyan founder-operator who previously co-founded Spenomatic Solar Home Solutions in Nairobi, scaling residential and SME solar PV and battery installations and building the operational systems behind delivery and after-sales. Previously, he worked on commercial and industrial projects across East Africa, combining engineering execution with customer-facing delivery. Trishaad holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, and an integrated BEng and MEng in Mechanical Engineering from University College London (UCL).

Winnie is Finance Director at Novastar Ventures Limited, London. Winnie brings extensive experience in financial and fund management, reporting and investor relations. She is inspired to work with entrepreneurs to address the access to capital challenges in Africa. She joined Novastar in 2020. Winnie graduated from the University of Nairobi with an MSc in Investments and a BCom (Hons) in Finance. She is a Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the UK.

Born and raised in Nairobi but of English descent and with the superpower of mood detection.