Ed Harkins 2024 Speaker

Director & Trade and Export Finance Ambassador

South African Chamber of Commerce UK

Biography

Ed is a Managing Director at GKB Ventures. He has more than 20 years’ experience of working in structured export finance. He started his career as a solicitor at Simmons & Simmons specialising in cross border transactions and then moved to Barclays Capital where he was head of emerging markets on the Capex Financing Solutions team. Focusing on Africa he led numerous transactions advising exporters helping to secure large transformational contracts. Most notable was the NMS Infrastructure Ghana Hospital transaction which won many awards including GTR and the FT’s, Banker Magazine, “Deal of the Year”. After leaving Barclays, and before joining GKB, he advised UKEF on their Direct Lending programme. He is also Trade and Export Finance Ambassador and Director for the South African Chamber of Commerce. Ed is also a member of the UK Africa Infrastructure Board.