Our Board

Joseph Pagop Noupoué

Chair of the Board

A R C

Appointed
April 2023

Experience
Joseph Pagop Noupoué is the Managing Partner of ECA Conseils, an organisation that brings together two professional service firms, namely ECA SA (formerly ECA EY Cameroun SA) and ECA Tax & Legal (formerly EY Cameroon SARL). His work is focused around corporate (including contract, M&A and dispute resolution) and fiscal law matters in Cameroon and other French speaking African countries. He was formerly a senior partner at EY, the leading global professional services firm, for over 16 years, where his role included major client relationship management in the French speaking and Northern regions of Africa, as well as head of the Africa Department of EY Société d’Avocats France, EY Managing Partner for Cameroon and EY Tax Leader for French speaking Africa, where he led more than 400 professional service providers located in nine countries.

Key strengths
Attorney at Law by profession; strong advisory expertise in the oil and gas, mining, electricity, and general energy sectors, including advising leading FTSE 100, CAC 40 and Fortune 500 energy and mining services companies and major private equity house; significant experience in Africa.

External appointments¹
ECA S.A. and ECA Tax and Legal SARL (formerly known as Ernst & Young Cameroon S.A. and Ernst & Young Cameroon SARL).

Andrew Knott

Chief Executive Officer

Appointed
July 2014

Experience
Andrew is the principal founder of Savannah and has been the Chief Exeutive Officer since inception. As such, he has led all of the Group’s key growth initiatives. Prior to establishing Savannah, Andrew held a series of leading roles in the European oil and gas sector, including Head of Global Energy Investments for GLG Partners/MAN Group and Head of Upstream Oil & Gas Research at Merrill Lynch. 

Key strengths
Passion for Africa and deep knowledge of, and contact network within, the global energy industry; experienced leader with a proven track record of identifying, financing and successfully managing projects in emerging market environments.

External appointments¹
None.

Nick Beattie

Group Chief Financial Officer

Appointed
June 2022

Experience
Nick was appointed as Group Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) in June 2022. Nick joined the Group in April 2019 as Group Treasurer and was appointed Interim Group CFO in August 2021.

During his time at Savannah, Nick has been actively involved in all finance and business development activities for the Group. Nick has an extensive background in financing energy companies, including seven years with BNP Paribas where he was a Managing Director in the Upstream Oil and Gas team in London, responsible for leading the bank’s relationships with UK-focused independent E&P companies. Nick is a Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Key strengths
Significant experience in corporate finance, M&A and capital markets including debt funding of energy projects across EMEA.

External appointments¹
None.

Sarah Clark

Non-Executive Director

A H

Appointed
December 2022

Experience
Sarah was an elite-level athlete for 18 years and is a former British, European and Commonwealth champion in the sport of judo, and competed at three Olympic Games for Great Britain. She is currently CEO of Edinburgh Judo, one of the UK’s largest, most successful and fastest growing judo clubs catering for four-year-old beginners all the way through to Olympic medallists.

Sarah has worked extensively in mentor, role model and leadership positions with organisations such as the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, the Youth Sport Trust and the Winning Scotland Foundation. In these roles, her focus has been to deliver personal and group development programmes to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities. She has also worked extensively with individuals and companies delivering programmes around the positive learning that businesses can take from the elite-level sport world. In 2023, Sarah successfully completed a two-year Executive MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Key strengths
Highly experienced in the training and development of people, and mentoring and coaching high-performance teams.

External appointments¹
None.

Dr Djamila Ferdjani

Non-Executive Director

R C H

Appointed
December 2022

Experience
Djamila is a medical doctor, entrepreneur and social activist. She founded the then largest private medical hospital in Niger, the Pro-Santé Polyclinic, of which she was President and CEO. Djamila formerly served as a technical consultant to the Islamic Development Bank and as a Professor of Health Prevention and Promotion at the African Development University.

She is a founding Board member of Afrikajom (the leading Pan-African human rights-focused think tank) and is the founder and President of MEDCOM (a Niger-focused medical and educational NGO). She is a former member of the executive committee of the Orange Niger Foundation. She regularly speaks at African-focused Human Rights events, including those organised by the World Bank, Oxfam, Plan International, the G5 Sahel, OSIWA, NDI and TEDX. Djamila has been named by the United Nations Population Fund as one of the 100 women leaders in Niger and by Facebook as one of 19 African LeadHERs breaking boundaries in the fields of media, entertainment, education and business.

Key strengths
Extensive emerging markets experience particularly in West Africa. Significant background in social affairs and working with NGO and development-focused organisations.

External appointments¹
President of MEDCOM.

Mark Iannotti

Non-Executive Director

A R C

Appointed
July 2014

Experience
Mark is an experienced capital markets professional with over 20 years’ experience in EMEA equities, largely focused on the oil and gas sector. Previously, he acted as Managing Director and Head of Securities, UK & Europe of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., and was a member of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s EMEA Executive Committee. Other major institutions Mark has worked for include: Cazenove & Co, Credit Suisse and Citigroup.

Key strengths
Experienced in capital markets, including equities markets, corporate financing, debt and M&A; strong understanding of institutional investor perspectives.

External appointments¹
Non-Executive Director of Rocksteady Restaurant Enterprises Limited and Djado Gold plc.

Steve Jenkins

Non-Executive Director

H

Appointed
July 2014

Experience
Steve joined Savannah as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Board in July 2014. He retired as Chair in June 2023 but remains on the Board as a Non-Executive Director. He is widely recognised as one of the most capable oil and gas executives in the UK. Steve was the CEO of Nautical Petroleum Limited and led the company’s £414 million sale to Cairn Energy in 2012. Prior to this, Steve held a variety of senior roles at Nimir Petroleum Limited, a private company focused on emerging markets with extensive global exploration and production interests.

Key strengths
Geologist by profession; significant experience in emerging markets, transactions and M&A; deep understanding of commercial, operations and strategic aspects of managing an oil and gas company.

External appointments¹
Chair, Viaro Energy Limited and Director of Microenergy Generation Services Limited, Terrain Energy Limited and Evoterra Limited.

Uyi Akpata

Non-Executive Director Designate and Board Advisor Designate

To be appointed²
1 January 2026 (Board Advisor)
1 July 2026 (Non-Executive Director)

Experience
A Chartered accountant by background, with an over 40-year career, Uyi held multiple senior leadership roles at PwC, the leading international audit and professional services firm, prior to his retirement on 30 June 2024. His key roles include Senior Partner for Nigeria and Regional Senior Partner for West Africa, Head of Oil and Gas for Africa and a member of both the firm’s Global Oil & Gas Leadership team and Africa Leadership team. With his assurance services background, Uyi led audit work for the energy supermajors active in Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and a host of high growth emerging energy companies. He has also supervised teams auditing companies outside of the energy sector, in areas such as financial services, consumer goods and agriculture and served as Chairman of the Professional Services Group of the Nigeria British Chamber of Commerce. In recognition of his contributions to the business environment in Nigeria, Uyi was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Management Science by Wellspring University in 2018. More recently, in October 2024, Uyi founded Rusa Advisory, where he specialises in providing governance and risk management advisory services, partnering with business leaders to drive sustainable growth, efficiency and profitability.

Key strengths
Strong accounting background, especially in auditing, supervising audits and providing assurance services to energy companies; qualified Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and currently a Fellow of the Institute; Professor of Practice in Financial Accounting at Miva Open University; governance and risk management expertise; significant experience in Africa.

External appointments¹
Chairman of the Board, emPLE Life Insurance, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Unified Payments Limited, Managing Partner, Rusa Advisory and President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation.

Kehinde Olamide Ogunwumiju

Non-Executive Director Designate

To be appointed
1 January 2026

Experience
Kehinde is the Managing Partner at Afe Babalola & Co, a leading African law firm. Since his appointment in 2017, and continuing to date, he has remained one of the youngest Senior Advocates of Nigeria (“SAN”), the Nigerian equivalent of a King’s Counsel, ever appointed. His practice has seen him successfully represent the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in over 100 disputes and the Federal Republic of Nigeria in multiple international disputes, including against a near US$5 billion claim at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) in Washington DC. He has worked on many Nigerian and international arbitrations. Kehinde received the prestigious Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (“OFR”) as part of the National Honours List from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.
 
Key strengths
Attorney at law by profession; strong advisory expertise in international disputes and arbitrations, including within the energy sector; Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) UK, member of the Nigerian Bar Association and the International Bar Association and an associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (“ICSAN”), the professional body for corporate governance practitioners in Nigeria; significant experience in Africa. 

External appointments¹
Managing Partner, Afe Babalola & Co.