David Akinin

Director

Atenu Developments/Emanya Capital Group, SADC

Biography

Originally from Venezuela, David is a developer-entrepreneur, founder of Atenu Developments and Emanya Capital Group.

Through Atenu, David has been building since 2014. Atenu builds privately-funded, affordable housing projects in towns around Africa, targeting civil servants and first-time home buyers. On the health and education fronts, Atenu builds clinics and classroom blocks for underserved populations around the nation, partnered with the Pupkewitz Foundation. Emanya Capital Group is the private equity arm of his operations, which has a majority stake in FinTech company OperFin, a customer processing and eMortgage processor.

Before moving to Namibia, David Akinin worked for Credit Suisse in NYC as an Investment Banker in the Energy industry, and later covering Latin America from Chile and NYC. Previous to CS, he held positions at Google in California, Clarteza in Chicago/Paris, Fundacion Don Juan De Borbon in Madrid, and Rallytel (startup).

Fluent in six languages, Akinin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Chicago, completing an Master in Philosophy in Inclusive Innovation at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, and coursework at Harvard University and Paris VII-Diderot.