Team
Our Board is comprised of a distinguished group of successful individuals representing the interests of our stakeholders, from investors to our customers, our employees and the environment.
Our Executive team are senior managers with a wealth of experience establishing and operating businesses in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Ivan Grlic
Founder
Serial entrepreneur and problem solver. Ivan started his first business, CMT Group Balkan, in 2005, built and then sold it in 2009. He then became a partner and regional director of Naton HR for several years before starting his second business, Primus Group, in 2014. It is now one of the fastest growing HR agencies in Eastern Europe. Whilst he still owns it, it is under professional management. Sun Data World is thus his third business in only his third decade. He is an active seeker of opportunities in emerging and frontier markets especially in energy and technology.
Samuel Legesse
Co-founder and Operating Partner
Sam is an experienced senior executive who has over twenty-five years of management and technical experience in the aerospace/aviation, telecom and information technology arenas. He has led large technical teams in all IT areas; including Data Center management with high emphasis on Cyber Security for a large U.S. enterprise. At the early stages of the VOIP business, Sam was able to initiate and lead a start-up telecom company that eventually managed to carry significant voice traffic originating from the United States to Africa and Asia. With his Ethiopian Heritage and United States upbringing, Sam understands how to build a successful technology company that is sensitive to the local culture; a key recipe that is critical to doing business in Africa. His current venture in Ethiopia includes a technology company focusing on broadcast technology, Satellite based solutions and deployment of collaboration, communication and surveillance tools. The technology company is complimented by a new entertainment venue looking to bring high-tech gaming experience to the Ethiopian youth. Connecting his numerous technology business initiatives with Sun Data World as the infrastructural cornerstone, he intends on being a driver of the digitalization of the country and it becoming the Digital Hub of the continent.
James Hersov
Co-founder and Chairman
A serial entrepreneur in Africa and then the UK, who also has extensive general management and public company board experience in several business sectors including cross-border trade, infrastructure, engineering, electronics, technology, agribusiness and branded FMCG. He has founded and sold several businesses with operations in several southern and East African countries. He is co-founder and Chairman of a tech R&D firm in the UK and is Chairman of the Lee R Berger Foundation for Exploration, a charitable trust supporting scientific discovery and research in Africa.
Uros Ignjacevic
Co-founder and Stakeholder Engagement
Uros is responsible for leading the overall direction of the business in Ethiopia and managing in-country stakeholder engagement. An entrepreneur, he comes from a marketing and media background. He founded a media group in 2005, grew it into a business with over 50 employees and completed a successful exit 9 years later. He then managed Bull&Turbine, a London based digital production company for 5 years with clients in Europe and the Middle East. Uros was a pioneer of the digitalisation movement in Serbia, helping clients digitalise by providing commercial services through companies he managed, as well as through his role as President of the Assembly of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Serbia, the largest international organisation for standardisation and promotion of internet communication.
Biniam Teklu
Talent Development
Biniam has held various senior positions in HR at several large companies and most recently was Senior HR Manager at Huawei Technologies Ethiopia. He has deep front-line experience in all aspects of HR including policies, procedures, income tax and employment compliance, compensation and benefits, social security, insurance, reviews, negotiation and team development. Biniam is responsible for establishing and managing all corporate policies and procedures, talent identification, recruitment and development. He leads the company’s training and development program, Environmental and Social Governance and administers the company’s employment, legal and regulatory framework. He holds BA and MBA degrees and various HR certification.
Pawel Skrzypek
Technology Development
7bulls, based in Poland, has been developing software and delivering IT implementation and integration solutions for over 15 years, working for companies in North and South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. With a team of over 150, they are registered as a Research and Development Centre in Poland and France. The Sun Data World collaboration is led by Pawel Skrzypek, an AWS Certified Solution Architect and AWS Certified Developer with a Master’s degree in computer science. For ten years he worked as Head of the IT project management team and CIO advisor at Cyfrowy Polsat S.A., the biggest Polish and 4thlargest European satellite platform operator. He played a key role in all the IT projects carried out by the company which underpinned its growth from several hundreds to the current more than 3.5 million subscribers. He is the Chief Cloud Architect at 7bulls and co-founder and CEO of AI Investments Ltd., a cutting-edge fintech optimizing advanced analytics, data integration and financial portfolio management using the most advanced AI and deep learning solutions. He is also heavily involved in advanced research projects in Cloud Computing and acts as Technical Director in the most advanced H2020 Cloud Computing projects MELODIC and MORPHEMIC.
Tim Burrow
CFO/COO
Tim is a qualified chartered accountant who has been in senior executive roles in finance, project development and general management in early stage water technology and renewable power businesses in East, West and southern Africa. He has also been the CEO of a large multi-national personal care business based in the UK. He has experience in the fields of energy storage and renewable technologies and extensive experience of business development in several African countries and in Europe.