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our team

People
Co Founder & Chairman

Emile Heskey

Co founder & CEO

Davison Simango

Senior Partner

Gary W Lee

HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS

Alex Rayner

Non-Executive Director

Hitesh Patel

Head of Agriculture

Sarah L Fairburn

Director

Rupeen Popat

Non Executive Director

Dr Uday Nayak

Country Rep Zimbabwe

Shamiso Mwale

Country Director Ghana

Kwesi Taylor

SENIOR PARTNER

Bruce Abbott

Partner

Jude Wambeek

Business Development Dir

Shepherd Kangoni

Emile Heskey

CO FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN

Emile is a football icon turned formidable entrepreneur, boasting an impressive portfolio across the humanitarian development, sports consultancy and real estate investment sectors. His sharp rise in business, which includes as Chairman of Zotus Group, Senior Vice-President of Genoil, and Co-Founder of Player 4 Player alongside a consortium of distinguished former players, has not gone unnoticed with the former Liverpool and Leicester talisman. Emile brings to Zotus an astute commercial intelligence and a wealth of impressive contacts around the world, including with senior Government officials across Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Motivated by a sincere passion for positive change, Emile places an ethos of fair and equal opportunities for all at the heart of everything he does. Particularly passionate about giving back to the beautiful game, Emile now applies his high-performance mindset as Coach and Ambassador for the rising Leicester City Women’s Football Team. His acclaimed 18-year career includes over 500 Premier League appearances, alongside a UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FA Cup to headline his domestic honours. Emile made 62 appearances for England, including at FIFA World Cup 2002, UEFA Euro 2004 and FIFA World Cup 2010, making him one of the top 40 most capped English players of all-time.

Davison Simango

Co founder & CEO

Davison is a Manchester based Entrepreneur. A present-day renaissance man who has proficiency in Business, Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy. Turned his passion for aeroplanes into a lucrative private jets charter business DafloJets.com With his background in music, event management and promotion he had the capability to captivate an audience and add the perfect nuances to make an event flourish. Mr. Simango went on to work with an array of artists as a promoter. One of which was former professional boxing legend Floyd Mayweather. Mr. Simango is driven to mitigate the suffering of those who are impoverished on a global scale by providing essential necessities and valuable resources. Davison has witnessed first-hand the conditions of underdeveloped countries through his childhood and is invested in transforming the lives of individuals and families in need. He empathizes with individuals who may endure hardship. In the larger scheme of things, he believes that his patience, tenacity, prayer & fasting, determination and having a vision has allowed him to persevere. He desires to inspire and motivate people to reach their full potential in life. His true passion is creating a lasting change in the lives of individuals who are underprivileged.

Gary W Lee

Senior Partner

Gary liases with International clients and recommends custom made plans.

Alex Rayner

HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS

Alex Rayner has been with The Zotus Group since 2019.  Alex co-founded the Agency Captive Minds Communications before taking a shareholder role to enable him to focus on other projects.  A veteran of the media industry, Alex has worked with some of the most adventuruous global brands including, Virgin, Artemis, Willis and William Grand & Sons.  Educated at Eton, Alex is currently working on the Government Taskforce for Post-Covid Economic Recovery.  Alex leads communications strategy for the Zotus Group and enjoys creating highly immersive and relevant data driven campaigns.
 

Hassan Alfadli

NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Hitesh Patel Joins the Zotus Board as Head of Aviation. Through a stellar record in the administration of P&L aspects, derivation and execution of MM$ budgets, and oversight of mergers & acquisitions – Hitesh is regarded as a visionary in large-scale start up efforts and global leader within the aviation industry. His expertise extends to operational management, fiscal planning, business development, management of fleets, and marketing & sales. Throughout his career, Hitesh has received recognition for his thoughtful leadership & refined decision-making in the development of teams across the world with proven success in bringing meaningful change across integral operational domains.

Founding Technical Director JetBlue Airways, COO Kingfisher Airways and CEO Veling Aviation(lessor). Hitesh Patel is the Founder / Principal of Blu3Aero consultancy, it’s a boutique aviation consulting firm that is highly experienced and proudly independent. He brings deep domain expertise and hands-on collaboration to clients across commercial, financial and technical disciplines. His global footprint and relationship network span the aviation industry. Hitesh is a strategic and proactive leader with over 30 years of experience in building and directing globally renowned organizations through the implementation of self-derived strategies to ensure consistent growth and long-term fiscal success.

As a promising and talented aeronautic-focused engineer with Continental Airlines at the beginning of his career, he was selected as the Director of Technical Operations at JetBlue Airways in New York at the inception of this now successful airline. In 2004, Hitesh was recruited to lead the operations and launch of Kingfisher Airlines in India as Executve Vice President. In 2013, Veling Aircraft Leasing in Mauritius selected Hitesh as Chief Executve Officer where he played a pivotal role in the reinforcement of company architecture, the development and implementation of novel policies, and the mentorship of the Veling team in preparation for future expansion.

 

Hitesh has an MBA from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Steve Sharpe

HEAD OF AGRICULTURE

Sarah L Fairburn Joined Zotus Group in 2022 as Head of Agriculture and participates on the Investment Committee as an advisor, providing continuity and consistency when assessing key considerations for new agricultural opportunities. Founder of the IMP & MAKER brand, creators of gourmet food & drink luxury experiences .Deputy Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, the Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Food Board & UK Food Valley Lead, Non Executive Director for Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce and previous Chair of the Government’s Towns Deal for Skegness and Mablethorpe (newly-branded Connected Coast) securing 48 million in funding to make our places better to live, work and visit.

A fearless communicator capable of conversing at all levels of industry and an ambassador for organisations in the media and on other public platforms. A regular member of judging panels for regional / entrepreneurial / industry award schemes – including EY Entrepreneur of the Year and Amazon Growing Business Awards.

Previous Experience:

Sales & Brand Director then Commercial & Sustainably Director 10 years – L J Fairburn & Son Ltd. The largest independent egg packers in the UK. Having helped completely transform the company’s business model and infrastructure.

Rupeen Popat

DIRECTOR

Rupeen is the Eldest Son of Lord and Lady Popat of Harrow and has been married to Rupa Ganatra Popat since 2018. Rupeen feels proud and fortunate to be a listener and regular attendee of Ram Katha by Morari Bapu.

Rupeen has helped to organise and run a variety of cultural, religious, and entertainment events since he was a teenager until now. This included leading the Ram Katha by Morari Bapu project with the Vatican in 2014, which involved hosting 1,000 people over the course of nine days, housing them, and serving 27,000 plates of food. Rupeen’s most notable accomplishment was chairing a dialogue between Morari Bapu and the Vatican on how Christianity and
Hinduism can work more closely together as religions. This historic occasion
marked the first time in history that the Vatican permitted a non-Catholic
event to take place there.

Rupeen’s Major background is Hotel Hospitality, Property
Investment, in particular building portfolios for clients and development which
has ranged over the last 12 years. He has fulfilled a range of senior roles
including General Manager with IHG London Stratford in the build up to the
Olympics and Prior to that was the Front Desk Manager at the World’s Largest
Holiday Inn. He had been a Director of Visionary Finance and Visionary Property
Management from 2011 before taking more of a full-time role on with Bright
Little Stars Group since 2017. During this time Rupeen built up a significant
property portfolio providing stable passive income. he was and is a firm
believer in practicing what one preaches. Rupeen accredits his teaching in
these specialist matters to Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad and to
Asset Academy Training in association with Robert Kiyosaki.

In 2012, Rupeen co-founded and serves as Managing Director of the Bright Little Stars Group. Rupeen’s goal was to create a Group that parents would be proud to say their child attends, as well as children who were happy. Rupeen’s property and operational experience enabled him to create the most prestigious and award-winning Nurseries in North West London. He used his hospitality experience to make staff feel at ease while pushing them to provide the best care possible. He assisted in the development of an employee appraisal and development programme that was implemented at BLS in order to fairly reward employees and reduce staff turnover. It’s been a huge success. Since 2020 VAC Ventures was Cofounded by Rupeen and Rupa Popat, VAC Ventures is a developer, operator and investment company, specialising in UK Hotel and Residential Property.

 

Hassan Alfadli

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dr Uday is the quintessential entrepreneur with varied experience in banking and aviation. A true team builder, he co-founded the Veling Group in 2002, and successfully led Veling into various unchartered territories. This included aircraft leasing, arranging JOLCO’s, and Sale and Leasebacks on its first A380 – in essence he was the engine that powered the Company. He brings his wealth of experience to Zotus Airlines which he intends to nurture along with his capable team. Uday is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton for his contributions to philanthropy and aviation. Uday also sits on the Board of Governors at the University of Bolton Political and economic.‎

Shamiso Mwale

CSR Analyst

A Qualified nurse by profession. Holds BSc (open) with open univesity, UK. She is a dynamic woman who mentors and coaches many young people. Holds a Diploma in biblical studies, a results driven person with over 10 years of successful experience in leadership. She speaks in conferences internationally encouraging people to pursue their God given goals and in various departments. 

Hassan Alfadli

COUNTRY DIRECTOR GHANA

Kwesi Taylor is an experienced Marketing and International Relations Consultant. He has many years of experience in marketing, having worked extensively in Ghana and Abroad. Between 2004 to 2008, he was the marketing consultant to the Ghana Olympics Committee. He has also built a solid career in International Relations in the past 20 years. He is currently the CEO of ProResolve Software Ghana Ltd an IT based Solution company which also provide specialized Marketing services for many local and international companies since 1999. The company has a track record of closing some of the biggest Deals in Ghana and the sub-region.

 

As an International Relations Consultant, Kwesi is second to none. He has consulted for both Government and private companies in exploring, managing and sustaining their business internationally.

From 2012-2017, he consulted and lead the successful organization of the first ever African Air Expo.  He is also a managing Partner of the Fort Group Company Ltd, the country Representative for Coldwell Banker Commercial one of the best Real Estates Agency’s in Ghana which is also a subsidiary of Blue Marine Development Ghana Ltd.

 

He is a firm believer of hard work, and excellence and puts his client’s interest first.

 

 Political and economic.‎

Bruce Abbott

SENIOR PARTNER

Bruce Abbott is a well-known American activist investor based in Europe and who is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Genoil Inc of Canada. Bruce is also a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Bruce is overseeing the corporate direction and strategy for Genoil’s global business development, strategic positioning, alliances and global opportunities. Mr. Abbott specializes in turn-key solutions for energy and infrastructure projects. Bruce has strong relationships with many EPC companies and large banking institutions. As a Partner of the Zotus Group, Mr. Abbott is able to leverage the groups platform to continue to expand its investment opportunities and create more value to investors. 
Prior to US President Donald Trump assuming his role as President of the United States, he was a significant shareholder in a company controlled by Bruce Abbott’s family office. Bruce also worked for the renowned New York City real estate operator Sarah Korein who together with Donald Trump also had a significant investment in his family office-controlled investment. Bruce maintained a very close personal relationship with her up until her death

Jude Wambeek

SENIOR PARTNER

Jude worked in West Africa from 2009 -2013 carrying out Due Diligence for International companies investing in Africa. Now back in the UK working with international company arranging project funding.

Alex Rayner

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Shepherd Kangoni is a creative and strategic business developer with over ten years of experience in the development sector. He is accomplished in product testing, management, operational management, analytical investigations, lead development and structural efficiency, with a keen eye for developing existing and new business opportunities.

 

Experience

 

With a wealth of experience, he successfully managed a £3.9 million Home Office project budget and achieved the project’s scheduled goals. He also played a vital role in the NatWest funding, streamlining the process for the Social and community capital fund, just to name a few.

 

Noted for his keen eye for investment opportunities, Shepherd Kangoni has built a global network of top-tier associates across multiple industries. As a result, he has consistently improved business development and efficiency by introducing and implementing internationally recognised customised programs, which subsequently led to the creation and implementation of business continuity plans, some of which are used to date