David Mataen
During David Mataen’s 13 years in financial services spanning commercial banking, stock brokerage, management consultancy and investment banking he has had the singular opportunity of becoming a scholar of African investing. His travels and tours of duty across the continent, though not to each and every corner, have allowed him to put his hand on the pulse and feel the heartbeat of African economies.
Being born, bred and educated, and having worked in Africa grants David the luxury of being first witness to the comings and goings in the continent, especially its commerce and economics. In his two and a half years as a contributing columnist to Business Daily, a publication of the Nation Media Group, he wandered far and wide intellectually and picked up invaluable insights, broad perspectives and sound reflexes that have become a foundation for his analysis of business on the continent.
Add to this his habits of extensive reading in finance and economics, and intense fascination with systems and their mechanics, which has favoured him the unique privilege of discovering just a little more of Africa’s economic soul. David’s travels outside of Africa gave him glimpses of a future Africa, when it grows up, and of what it has to do to reach that point. Above all, he is a hopeless romantic about the future and the intuitive signs of the future that appear in the course of ordinary life and business in the present.
David is currently the head of Corporate Finance at Faida Investment Bank in Nairobi, Kenya.
