Sonnie Ayere Has Been Named Best Male Entrepreneur-Investment Services in Africa

Founder, Dunn Loren Merrifield, Mr. Sonnie Ayere has been named Best Male Entrepreneur – Investment Services in Africa by the International Business Star Quality Award. He received the award during the 6th International Business Conference held on Friday 23rd May, 2014 in Accra, Ghana. The conference engaged with outstanding entrepreneurs that continue to distinguish with their committed service in enterprise management to inspire development for Africa. The International Business Star Quality Award is part of the annual entrepreneurship and leadership conference that aims to act as catalysts for encouraging innovation, quality and leadership as the most critical factors that will make economies progress in the interest of Africa, in particular, in Nigeria. Mr. Sonnie Ayere, a recipient of the IBSQ Best Male Entrepreneur- Investment Services in Africa is a quintessential structured finance & management expert with over twenty years’ professional experience working in corporate banking, asset management and housing sector financing. He has maintained an astute leadership style over the years with the following institutions in London – (BMO) – Nesbitt Burns (the investment banking arm of Bank of Montreal), HSBC Bank, Natwest Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington D.C and Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Ayere established Dunn Loren Merrifield in 2009 with a vision to lead pathways for sustainable investment and capital financing in Africa. The purpose of the firm is to give innovative financing solutions to clients, and identifying asset classes that will help shape new investment products to meet the needs of the market. Sonnie Ayere in 2013 was appointed as task manager responsible for the establishment of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and is currently seconded by the board as pioneer CEO of the company. The NMRC is set up as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with shareholders spanning government agencies, local and international financial institutions, mortgage banks and private equity investors to meet the current housing finance sector needs in Nigeria by bridging the funding cost of residential mortgages. It aims to promote the availability and affordability of housing to Nigerians by increasing liquidity in the mortgage market. His leadership quality continues to serve as an inspiration to young African entrepreneurs. Under his guidance, Sonnie Ayere has led a team of professionals to execute some of the most complex transactions in the history of the Nigerian capital markets and businesses in Africa.