Education

Roheen Berry was educated at Sherwood College in India and the Kennedy School, Harvard. Growing up in the UK, Nigeria and India, he joined the family business, Contec Global, in 2009, following a period of employment at the Wellington Investment Management group. Contec Global is a diversified business operating out of India, Dubai and West and Central Africa, primarily but not exclusively specialising in the provision of secure document solutions to governments. These solutions embrace anything from passports, ID cards, driving licences to land title deeds based on the latest biometric technology and underpinned by the collation, maintenance and secure storage of underlying data.

Joining the Family Business

Between 2009 and 2012, he was instrumental in marketing the group within Africa outside its host country, Nigeria, engaging with senior politicians, civil servants and heads of state. During this period, he was particularly adept at visiting frontier market countries in West Africa such as Gambia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Burundi and South Sudan winning substantial contracts for the firm in Niger, Burundi and South Sudan.

Building on his experiences growing up in Africa, he was able to display an acute knowledge of the difficulties facing emerging market governments in handling issues relating to security documentation and border security, as well as a sympathetic understanding of the cultural sensitivities needed to confer and negotiate with senior figures in African political life.

A key driver in the success of this period was his development of a BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) business model of public/private partnership that appealed to governments desperately short of public finance and revenue to pay for necessary infrastructure projects. Through this model, he offered to self-finance the IT projects he was marketing to governments, recouping the initial investment through the share of revenue generated by the sale of documents to the general public. In this way, governments were able to access some of the most up to date security technology available globally while at the same time enjoy additional sources of revenue. A prime example of this was the Burundi passport (introduced in 2010) which was awarded most advanced of all East African passports in 2012.

Appointment as Managing Director

Following his success in growing the business during this period, Roheen was appointed Managing Director of Contec Global in 2012 as his father stepped up to Chairman, delegating more of the day to day running of the business to his son. Since his appointment, Roheen has been instrumental in expanding the secure document business into East Africa (Malawi and Kenya) and West Africa (into Sierra Leone), while at the same time looking at new opportunities to diversify the group into downstream oil and gas, infrastructure, and hospitality management.

Opening of Dubai and London offices

A key development was the opening of a Dubai office in 2012 with a brief to develop applications for the mobile telephone market. The long term objective of this unit is to develop products to take advantage of the burgeoning smart telephone market in Africa and the rise of middle class spending power in a less developed retail environment than that available in western and Middle East markets He also opened a representative office in London to engage with financial organisations in the City of London ahead of a new period of anticipated growth for the business.

In 2013, the firm won a new contract to streamline and update the visa system for business and tourist

visitors to Nigeria. This contract is designed to run alongside the existing CERPAC expatriate identity card provision which has been ongoing since 1999. During his period with the business, Roheen has developed a deep knowledge of the security document industry, in particular the technology underpinning it and relationships with a number of global hardware and software providers.

He is a regular attendee and contributor at industry conferences and seminars around the world.

Philanthropy

Roheen has also taken a keen interest in philanthropic projects in Africa to complement the firm’s business interests. Key examples have been the provision of computer equipment for schools in Burundi, the sponsorship of Burundi’s athletics team at the 2012 London Olympics, a substantial donation to the kidney care unit of a major Burundi Hospital and assistance in the opening of the Burundi Embassy in London.

The Next Ten Years

Roheen has clear objectives for the next ten years. Indeed these are in many ways an example of his farsighted awareness of the classic challenges facing a successful and growing privately owned family business.

Specifically, these are as follows:

• The bedding down of the business expansion projects mentioned previously in particular the new visa project in Nigeria and the expansion into East Africa

• Diversifying the business more fully into infrastructure, downstream oil and gas and hospitality operations

• The re-structuring of the business accordingly into recognisable divisions and the hiring of internationally recognised top talent to lead those divisions

• Parallel re-structuring of the business at the share ownership level to protect the family’s long term interests against possible political threats and to protect the future generations

• The long term equitable separation of the family ownership and non-family business management interest involving the establishment of a dedicated family office

• Engagement with London based international private equity financial institutions for the provision of further expansion capital and a possible long term partial flotation on the public market

Hobbies and Interests

Roheen takes a keen interest in the Harvard Alumni Association, both in the US and in the UK. He has a passionate interest in classic motor cars with a growing collection, together with his brother, Sahir. He travels widely between India, the Gulf, Africa and Europe.

CONTEC GLOBAL under the able guidance of Mr. Roheen Berry is committed to its “Corporate Social Responsibilities” in Burundi. Sponsoring Free Medical Camps organised across the city is one of the activities undertaken by the company.

Mr. Roheen Berry Managing Director of CONTEC GLOBAL has always been in forefront to promote local sports talent in Burundi; therefore the company has been regularly sponsoring sports events organised by AMABU (Sports Committee of Bujumbura).

Through efforts over the last couple of years, we have identified a brilliant runner Miss Francine Niyonsaba who participated in Finals of London Olympics in 800 Meters category.

The company has also been also sponsoring “Inter Police” Volley Ball and Foot Ball tournaments from last many years.

Roheen Berry recently organised a Free Medical Camp at Bujumbura as a part of Contec Global’s CSR initiatives. The one at CMCK clinic in Bujumbura was amongst the many camps organised across the city in the past and treated more than 160 patients over two days.

We have particularly focussed in the area of sports and have been regularly sponsoring events organised by AMABU (Sports Committee of Bujumbura).

Through efforts over the past three years, we have identified a brilliant runner- Francine Niyonsaba who participated in Finals of London Olympics in 800 Meters category.

Moreover, Contect Global for the past many years has sponsored “Inter Police” Volley Ball and Foot Ball tournaments in the capital of Burundi.

Contec Global is a privately held company.The company, amongst other things, provides biometric and associated services to governments.The company was founded by Dr Benoy Berry in 1984.Contec Global currently provides ‘e-government’ services to the Nigerian, Niger, South Sudan and Burundi governments.It has connections to and operations in a number of other countries in Africa.In the case of Burundi, it produces all the identity documents for the government including passports, visas, ID cards, driving licenses and vehicle excise documents.In Nigeria, amongst other services, it produces the expatriate identity card and has recently won the contract to overhaul the global visa system for all in-bound travelers, which is currently very cumbersome and open to abuse.Contec currently provides the passport for Niger.

The company is now keen to expand into other countries within the region,building on the expertise that has been developed up to now

The key features of our business model generally are:

• Our projects are self -financed

•Contec’s biometric technology is proven ‘state of the art’ and is a combination of the systems developed by carefully selected third party providers, and internally developed systems

•Contec provides its clients with all the technology needed to implement the required programme free of charge

•Contec will manage the entire project including the training up of the local immigration authority team to handle and process applications and issue the cards that are produced

•The cards should be priced at a reasonable but meaningful amount. For example, ID cards for citizens should be charged at a lower level than cards for expatriate workers who have a greater ability to pay

•Contec recoups its investment by receiving a percentage of the revenue generated by the cost of each document. In our experience, a third party financial institution should be appointed to handle the collection and onward distribution of the proceeds .

Key Benefits to the Government

Contec will bear all the investment costs on behalf of the government.The authorities get access to up to date technology.Our documents have proved to be substantial revenue generators for the governments.Technological developments have allowed ID cards and passports to hold more data than previously.Contec’s biometric systems are fully conversant with the requirements laid down by USA and Europe authorities.

Managing Director- Mr Roheen Berry