Mr. Robert Nicolella is the financial director of Hosken Consolidated Investments Limited (HCI), a company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). He serves on the boards of a number of JSE listed subsidiaries of HCI, including Southern Sun and Frontier Transport Holdings. Prior to joining HCI in 2011 he was employed by Investec Bank Limited for seventeen years, most notably in the capacity as Head of Corporate Banking and subsequently Head of Private Banking for the Western Cape. Robert holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science and Honours in Accounting Science. He has been registered as a Chartered Accountant CA (SA) with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants since 1994. In 2010, Robert attended the Harvard Program for Leadership Development.
Mr. Nicolella has been Chief Executive Officer of Africa Energy Corp. since June 2023. He is a member of the Reserves Committee.
Mr. Siraj Ahmed h
as been Chief Executive Officer of Impact Oil & Gas Limited since 2018, and prior to that served as General Counsel at Impact Oil & Gas Limited since 2014. Mr. Ahmed started his career in the legal profession at international law firm, Linklaters LLP.
Mr. Ahmed has been on the board of Africa Energy Corp. since June 2021. He is Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and a member of the Audit Committee.
Mr. Johnny Copelyn is the CEO of HCI and the chair of various of its subsidiaries including Tsogo Sun Gaming Ltd., Tsogo Sun Hotels Ltd., eMedia Holdings, and Deneb Investments Limited. Mr. Copeyln is the Non-Executive Chairman of Impact Oil and Gas. He was also an ANC Member of Parliament in the first democratic parliament of South Africa from 1994 to 1997 and the General Secretary of the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union for many years before that. Professionally he is an attorney.
Mr. Copelyn has been a director of Africa Energy Corp. since October 2020. He is Chair of the Compensation Committee.
Mr. Keith Hill has over 35 years experience in the oil industry including over 20 years with the Lundin Group as well as international new venture management and senior exploration positions at Occidental Petroleum and Shell Oil Company. His education includes a Master of Science degree in Geology and Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysics from Michigan State University as well as an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Mr. Hill is the President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Africa Oil Corp., a publicly traded oil and gas development and production company with assets in Nigeria and Kenya. He is also a Director of TAG Oil Ltd. and Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. He was formerly Chairman of ShaMaran Petroleum Corp., Director of BlackPearl Resources Inc., Chairman and Director of Petro Vista Energy Corp. (now 3 Sixty Risk Solutions Ltd. Director of Tyner Resources Ltd., President and Chief Executive Officer of Pearl Exploration and Production Ltd. renamed BlackPearl Resources Inc.), Valkyries Petroleum Corp. and Bayou Bend Petroleum (now ShaMaran Petroleum Corp.).
Mr. Hill has been a Director of Africa Energy Corp. since September 2011 (Chairman from September 20, 2011 to July 7, 2016). He is Chair of the Reserves Committee and a member of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and Reserves Committee.
Mr. Nicodeme has over 17 years' experience in the oil and gas industry and banking. He began his career as a field geophysicist for Total. Mr. Nicodeme joined Perenco in 2002, where he ran the group cost and management control and subsequently became group finance manager, then deputy general manager of the UK branch. Mr. Nicodeme then joined the banking industry and held management positions in the Reserve Based Lending and Project Finance and Advisory teams of several banking institutions, including Natixis, Credit Agricole CIB and Standard Chartered Bank. Mr. Nicodeme joined NewAge in 2015 and was appointed interim CEO in 2019. Mr. Nicodeme currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Africa Oil Corp. He holds an engineering degree from the Ecole Polytechnique, a MSc from the French Institute of Petroleum and an MBA from INSEAD.
Mr. Nicodeme has been a Director of Africa Energy Corp. since June 2022. He is Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee, Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and Reserves Committee.
Phindile’s career in the energy sector started in 2006 when she joined the South African state-owned energy company, CEF Group (SOC) Ltd, focusing on developing renewable energy projects. She held several roles within the CEF Group the last one being that of Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Agency SA, the national upstream oil and gas regulator. Phindile is a former partner/director at KPMG South Africa where she worked on strategy development and capital raising for public and private sector companies in the energy sector. In 2023, Phindile joined Sasol South Africa.
Phindile holds a PhD (Chemistry) from Imperial College, London, an MBA from the Wits Business School, Johannesburg, and a BSC (Mathematics and Chemistry) from the University of Eswatini.
Phindile has been the Head of Strategy and Business Development of Africa Energy Corp. since May 2025. She is a member of the Board of Directors but is not a member of any of its committees.