Leadership

Roger B. Jantio founded Sterling Merchant Finance Ltd in 1989 and has led the firm for more than three decades. He has structured financing and advised on transactions across telecommunications, aviation and airports, power and renewable energy, mining, oil and gas, transport infrastructure, agriculture and agro-industry, water and sanitation, healthcare, hospitality and private higher education.

His experience encompasses capital raising, project finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, public-private partnerships and strategic transactions, principally in Africa, with additional work across Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

He is also an active principal investor in artificial intelligence and frontier technology, investing directly and through SPVs, venture funds and funds of funds. His private-company investments span pre-seed through Series B across the United States, Eastern Europe, India and Africa. He is also developing and sponsoring a dedicated Africa AI venture fund.

Roger writes regularly on AI, capital formation, innovation ecosystems, institutional execution and economic competitiveness in Africa and emerging markets.

He began his career as a Senior Consultant at J.E. Austin Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following earlier roles in international banking. He studied at Harvard Business School, the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and Université Panthéon-Sorbonne.