Advisory Committee

Amin Saidoun

Senior Economist
IPMA certified project manager
IPMA Executive Director

Amin Saidoun is Executive Director of International Project Management Association, an international federation of project management associations and which is based in Zürich (CH). He completed is studies in business administration in France and Germany prior to completing his postgraduate studies in economics in the UK (London School of Economics). He is an IPMA certified project manager and has gained 25 years of international professional experience in the areas of audit and consulting (Thornton Group), logistics (DHL), fundamental research and in association management (IPMA). He also lectured at the universities of Cologne and Bonn in Germany in the field of business administration.

At IPMA he is in addition to his Executive Director duties responsible for the development of the network in Africa and the Middle-East. He is author and co-author of several articles in economics and project management. Among his areas of interest: project management, intercultural competences, diversity.

Darya Duma

PEng, PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, PSP, MCP
President, Freelance Consultant/Trainer
Past Chair, Technical Development Group of ISO/TC 258

Darya Duma is a Senior Project Management Instructor / Consultant. Clients include Procept Associates Ltd., a firm providing project management (PM) consulting and training services since 1993, Queens University and the University of Toronto. She creates Project Management training for delivery by herself and others, designs PM methodologies for clients, prepares templates for implementation of PM software, and facilitates the implementation of PM practices. Darya’s consulting clients have included the Government of Nunavut, Vale (INCO), Ontario Lottery & Gaming, Infrastructure Ontario, Cominco, Bruce Power, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Environment Canada and the University of Toronto. Darya is a specialist in Microsoft Project and scheduling software and is the Program Director for Procept’s 10-day Mechanical Contracting Project Management course offered through University of Waterloo.

Darya has been a practicing Project Manager for over 20 years, first in “hard” projects managing  industrial  elevator  installations  with  a  mechanical  contractor, then   in “soft” projects developing national and  international  standards  with  CSA  International, and subsequently managing consulting projects at Procept. With the Canadian Standards Association, she managed the development of codes and standards for subsequent implementation in provincial regulations, as well as the development of ISO standards for the elevator industry. She has extensive international experience with clients in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Darya has been active in PMI’s Registered Education Provider Advisory Group, ISO (International Standardization Organization) Technical Committee ISO/TC 258 on project, programme and portfolio management and on the Canadian Mirror of ISO/TC 258.

Darya is fluent in English and Russian, and is conversant in French. Darya came to Canada in 1972 and lives with her family in Mississauga, Ontario.

Dr. O. CHIMA OKERE 

Ph.D., MBA, PMP
Managing Director and CEO of Total Technology Consultants, Ltd

Dr. O. Chima Okereke is Managing Director and CEO of Total Technology Consultants, Ltd, a project management consulting company working in West Africa and the UK.  He works from his office in the UK while his consultants are based in his office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. His company, Total Technology Consultants Limited, a project management consulting company, in Africa and UK, is an Oracle gold-level partner, and a Microsoft Network Partner.  Between 2002 and end of 2015, the company trained over 500 project professionals on enterprise project management courses in Nigeria and Gabon.

Chima is a visiting professor, an industrial educator, a multidisciplinary project management professional, with over 25 years’ experience in oil and gas, steel and power generation industries. For example, On December 26th 2013, he completed an assignment as a visiting professor in project management; teaching a class of students on Master’s degree in project management in the Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia. In August and September 2013, he conducted an innovative, and personally developed training programme for seventy six well engineers of Shell Nigeria to enhance the efficiency of their operations using project and operations management processes.

Before embarking on a career in consulting, he worked for thirteen years in industry rising to the position of a Chief engineer with specialisation in industrial controls and instrumentation, electronics, electrical engineering and automation. During those 13 years, he worked on every aspect of projects of new industrial plants including design, construction and installation, commissioning, and engineering operation and maintenance in process industries. Chima sponsored and founded the potential chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, acting as president from 2004 to 2010.

He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Lagos, and a PhD following research in Robotics and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Bradford in the UK in 1994 and 1995 respectively.  He also has a PMP® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI®) which he passed at first attempt.  He has been a registered engineer with COREN in Nigeria since 1983.  For many years, Total Technology has been a partner for Oracle Primavera Global Business Unit, a representative in Nigeria of Oracle University for training in Primavera project management courses, and a Gold Level member of Oracle Partner Network (OPN. He is a registered consultant with several UN agencies.  More information can be found at http://www.totaltechnologyconsultants.org/. Chima is an international editorial advisor for the PM World Journal and PM World Library. He has written over thirty published papers for the journal. Hecan be contacted at chima.okereke@totaltechnologyconsultants.com   or info@totaltechnologyconsultants.org.

Ernest Nnanga
  Economist Statistician Engineer
  Head of Division of Prospective and Strategic Planning at the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development
  Chairman of the ANOR / ISO Mirror Committee on the Management of Projects, Programs, and Portfolios
Member of the Board of the Autonomous Port of Kribi.
Ernest Nnanga is serving as Head of Division of Prospective and Strategic Planning at the Cameroon Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT) since 2016. He has been since 2009 a member of the Steering Committee Support Council for the Realization of Partnership Contracts (CARPA) and served as Chairman of the ANOR / ISO Mirror Committee on the Management of Programmes, Projects and Portfolios from 2015 to 2019. He is also a member of the Board of the Autonomous Port of Kribi.

During his professional career, he was a member of the Cameroon Poverty Reduction Strategy Monitoring Team (PRSP) between 2003 and 2009. He is one of the main drafters of the Growth and Jobs Strategy Document (DSCE), frame of reference for the first decade of the vision in 2035 “Cameroon, an emerging, democratic and united country in its diversity”, a document of which he remained a member of the implementation monitoring team until the end of 2019. He served as Head of the Large Projects Preparation Unit at the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, and in this context, significantly contributed to the process’s strategic framework, feasibility studies, contractualization, financing and monitoring of the implementation of most major projects of first generation in Cameroon between 2009 and 2016. It was also consultant for several international organizations in strategic planning and budgeting.

Ernest Nnanga holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Yaoundé I and a Diploma in Economic Statistic Engineering, obtained at the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire since 2003. He is married and has four children.

Vikrant Bhansali, FCA, LLB, CFA

Chief Representative International Markets for DIFC Authority (Government of Dubai)
Advisory Board Member of Canadian University Dubai, Faculty of Management
Former Regional Head of Institutional Sales at Standard 

Chartered Bank
Vikrant Bhansali, FCA, LLB, CFA is a banker with experience of working with government, academia and startups. He does advisory work in the field of strategy and management consulting.

Mr. Bhansali worked for DIFC Authority (Government of Dubai) from 2016-2020, as Chief Representative International Markets to drive business development activities across the Centre’s key international markets, bringing more than 20 years of experience to the role. He has held a number of leadership positions in India, Europe, the MENA region as well as emerging markets in Sub-Saharan Africa including time working at leading US and European investment banks.

Prior to joining the DIFC Authority, Mr Bhansali was Regional Head of Institutional Sales at Standard Chartered Bank, where he was responsible for planning and implementing institutional sales strategy in Africa and across MENA. Prior to this he was Managing Director, Head of MENA FICC Sales and Head of Islamic Finance & Coordinator of DCM Business at Société Générale in London where he was responsible for the regional expansion strategy and investment banking business.

He has also held senior management positions with Morgan Stanley in London; Citigroup in London, Dubai and Bahrain; HSBC in India; and Arthur Andersen & Co. in India.

Vikrant has considerable expertise in FX, fixed income, structured products and derivatives, and is well versed with both local and international regulatory and compliance matters, all backed by a strong academic background.

Mr Bhansali holds an LLB, Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Rajasthan and he also graduated from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, where he ranked 18th in the All-India Merit list. A Chartered Financial Analyst from the CFA Institute in the USA (2001-2003).

Mr. Bhansali frequently delivers guest lectures at universities in UAE and abroad and was adjunct lecturer at the University of Middlesex, Dubai. He currently serves as Advisory Board Member: Canadian University Dubai, Faculty of Management and as a mentor for startups and fintech firms.

Sanjiv Kumar Mihdidin

  BSc Eng. MSc (dist.) Env. Eng. MBA FIoD
  Founder and Managing Director of SM-art Property Ltd
  Fellow of the Mauritius Institute of Directors
  Best African Project Award Winners (2012 & 2013), International Property Award, UK.
  DFormer First Chairman of the Real Estate Association of Mauritius -REAM

Sanjiv Kumar Mihdidin (Sanjiv) is the Founder and Managing Director of SM-art Property Ltd. His career spans more than 23 years in the fields of Engineering, Construction, Property Development & Management, Strategy, Asset Management, Leadership and Investment. Sanjiv started his career as a Senior Project Engineer with a leading Mauritian Civil & Structural Engineering firm. He designed and managed numerous housing, land development, hospitality, retail and major infrastructural projects with particular aims to integrate Environmental Sustainability and Community Development within each project.  With strong interests in Entrepreneurship, Sanjiv moved on to the Sugar Investment Trust where he set up a Property Development Division with in-house dedicated development and sales team. He successfully led major local real estate development and refurbishment projects.

Through the last decade, he pioneered the setting up and branding of Foresite Property, the Property and Real Estate business of Rogers, a Mauritian conglomerate. He also masterminded and led the creation of Ascencia (a Foresite Property subsidiary), the largest publicly listed Property Fund, in 2008.  Ascencia, currently a major property owner of the largest local shopping centres and other grade A commercial properties, was modelled on the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) framework. Sanjiv sat as Director and chaired the Investment Committee of Ascencia until 2014 when the fund investments were valued at nearly $300 million with a total return in excess of 150% since listing. As CEO, he turned Foresite Property into the largest profit contributor of Rogers and won acclaimed International Awards for real estate development projects.   Foresite Property pioneered a new property business model that professionalised Property Securitisation, Development and Management in Mauritius. Foresite Property was the first Mauritian company to implement a Property Fund (Ascencia) along with a fully IT based asset & property management software whilst successfully developing, managing, marketing & leasing out major commercial developments such as the Centre Commercial Phoenix, Richeterre Mall and Bagatelle Mall. Sanjiv successfully negotiated and managed merger & acquisition projects with the likes of the French Groupe Casino and G4S International. Development and Re-Development Projects to the tune of nearly $100 million were strategized, conceptualised and managed to closure and operations under Sanjiv’s leadership. He also initiated the regional expansion moves of the business to the Indian Ocean Islands and Eastern Africa.

In March 2015, Sanjiv took up the role of Chief Investment Officer with Xterra Capital Advisors (XCA), a licensed Advisory and Fund Management Global Business Company. He led investment negotiations with leading African property developers across 6 countries to enable XCA develop an investment pipeline for the pan African Xterra Property Development Fund 1 (XPDF).  XPDF is currently seeking equity capital from potential investors to the tune of $300 million. Sanjiv was appointed Chief Executive Officer in June 2016. He left XCA in January 2017 to start SM-art Property Ltd, a Property Advisory & Services entity.

Sanjiv is a professional Civil Engineer with specialization in Environmental Engineering.   He qualified both in Mauritius and the United Kingdom.  Sanjiv also holds a MBA Finance and pursued executive education programs in Property Development and Entrepreneurial Finance at the Graduate Business School, University of Cape Town and the London Business School respectively.  He is also a Fellow of the Mauritius Institute of Directors. E-mail : sanjiv.mihdidin@gmail.com

Dr. TERI OKORO

BA Arch, MSc, PhD, RIBACertPM, APMP, MAPM
Chair APM Women in Project Management (2012-2016)
Member APM Professional Conduct Committee
Dr Teri Okoro, Founder and Director of TOCA consultancy has extensive experience of leading and delivering projects in UK and Africa. She sits on the Diversity Panel of the UK Construction Industry Council and the WIPM Scholarship Advisory Group at Oxford University - Said Business School MSc in Major Programme Management. A Women in Leadership Scholar at Ashridge – Hult, Teri also holds Non-Executive Director positions.Her consultancy experience spans several sectors.

A practicing architect and construction programme manager, Teri has also been UK National Chair of the APM Women in Project Management and has a special interest in developing diverse talent and inclusive leadership.  For over a decade, she has presented, written and published widely on these topics in UK, Europe and internationally including at Project Spring 2016, Lithuania and IPMA 2015 Conference, Panama. She initiated and produced the APM WIPM video encouraging millennials to consider project management as a career of first choice. An adviser for and organiser of several conferences, she also acts as a mentor.

MAMA NDJANA SERGE,PMP

Marketing Executive & Senior

Project Management Consultant at Prescriptor Ltd,

Project Management Trainer,

Coordinator of the Work Group N°6 of Cameroon Mirror Committee of ISO/TC 258 on Project,Program and Portfolio Management