Board of Directors

Valéry Kammogne Fokam studied Business Administration after graduating in Electrical Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany. He joined the management committee of Afriland First Group in 2009, the same year he became a Board member of the Group. Valéry Kammogne Fokam is presently the General Manager of Sitracel, where he began his career in 2004 as Head of the Research and Development Department and then moved to the position of Head of Sales and Markets Development Department. He sits on the Boards of several other industrial, investment and insurance companies. He is fluent in English, French and German.

Mr. Jean-Paul Kamdem graduated from the University of Limoges where he obtained a Master’s degree in Economic Sciences in 1991 and a Postgraduate Certificate (DEA) in Monetary Economics in 1992. The following year he obtained an MSc in Banking, Money and Finance from the University of Birmingham (UK). He joined Afriland First Bank Cameroon in 1994 where he started his career in the Research and Development Department, then moved to the Inspectorate, and later to the Marketing Department and the Loans Department, before being appointed Head of the Paris Business Office of Afriland First Bank from 2001 to 2014. Mr. Kamdem holds the Certificate of Advanced Banking Studies (CESB Banking Management) from the CFPB / HEC Paris Group, and a Certificate of Higher Education in Business (CESA) from HEC Paris (France). He was appointed Risk and Finance Manager of Afriland First Group in June 2014. In 2017, he was promoted to the Group’s Executive Vice President in charge of Resources and Risks. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Afriland First Group since 2021.

Thomas Vogel is a Swiss citizen with more than 30 years of experience in Private Banking and Wealth Management. Thomas began his career at Swiss Bank Corporation in 1988, where he initially served as an organisational project manager before assuming the role of Head of Management Support for retail banking. In 1997, Thomas joined Bank Edouard Constant & Co Ltd. as a project manager in the EAM department. Between 2000 and 2011, Thomas held key roles at Bank Julius Baer, initially as Head of EAM Relationship Managers in Geneva and later relocating to Singapore to head and develop the Private Banking International department. In 2013, Thomas joined UBS to establish and head the Representative Office in Lagos, Nigeria, while also serving on the UBS Africa Management Committee. In 2023, Thomas joined SingAlliance (Switzerland) SA as CEO. Thomas pursued his education at the University of Basel, where he studied Economics and Political Science; he also holds a Federal License in Organisation in Switzerland. He has been a Board member of AFG since June 2016.

Joseph TOUBI became Executive Vice President of Afriland First Group in 2008 and is in charge of business development and international relationships, after serving as Advisor to the Afriland First Bank Chairman for 9 years. He is equally Board Chairman of Afriland First Bank Congo Démocratique, member of the Board of Directors of Afriland First Bank Côte d’Ivoire, and member of the Board of Directors of Afriland First Bank Guinea. He sits on the supervisory committee of Micro Trust Fund, a risk-venture fund for micro-enterprises. Mr TOUBI graduated as an engineer from the prestigious École Centrale de Paris and has 30 years of experience in banking. He joined Afriland First Bank Cameroun as Internal Auditor in 1997, after serving for two years as Assistant Financial Controller at BIAO Bank Cameroon and for five years as Head of Administration & Budget Control at Société Générale de Banques du Cameroun. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Afriland First Group since 2021, and chairs both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee since 2024.

Mr. Jean-Marie Benoît MANI holds a Master’s degree and a post-Master’s degree (DEA) in economics from the University of Yaoundé, obtained in 1980 and 1985 respectively. He was recruited as an executive at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) in 1981 and spent his entire professional career there, initially serving in the Inspectorate Department, before being promoted successively to Director of the Limbe branch in 1997, Director of the Bafoussam branch in 1999, Deputy National Director for Cameroon in 2002, Director of the Douala branch in 2005, and BEAC National Director for Cameroon in 2008, a position from which he retired in 2019. As part of these responsibilities, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of several public institutions, Secretary General of the National Credit Council, member of the Monetary Policy Committee and Alternate Governor of the International Monetary Fund. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Afriland First Group since 2021.