Gagan Gupta

Co-Founder | Arise IIP, Arise IS & Arise P&L, Managing Partner ATIF

Gagan Gupta has more than 20 years of experience, including 12 as a top executive. He is the founder and CEO of IIP, ARISE IS and ARISE P&L, three companies specialized in designing, financing, building and managing state-of-the art infrastructure across Africa.

Gagan created three specialised verticals, investing USD 2bn+ (USD 4bn+ committed to date) to develop a portfolio of 15 large-scale infrastructure projects across Africa.

His success derives from his ability to create win-win partnerships, his operational and execution capacity (projects delivered on-time and to budget), his ability to manage stakeholders (states, private sector, civil society, etc.), and his talent for building and leading management teams.

He is also an experienced dealmaker, having completed:

  • 18 M&A deals totalling c. EUR 1.1bn.

  • 12 debt-raising deals totalling c. EUR 730m (amount drawdown).

Gagan’s African journey started in 2009 as Head of Olam Gabon, where he transformed a small loss-making entity into Olam's largest investment platform in Africa. In 2010, he designed an innovative strategic public-private-partnership with the Gabonese Republic to help it transform and diversify its economy.

Under this partnership, he has implemented flagship agriculture and infrastructure projects, including:

  • Agricultural projects: largest greenfield palm oil plantation in Africa, and one of its largest greenfield rubber plantations

  • World-class Special Economic Zone (GSEZ Nkok) with strong local added value. Ranked Best industrial zone of the world in wood sector by FDI Intelligence-Financial Times in 2020.

  • Transport and logistics projects: Owendo Mineral Port, New Owendo International Port, the New Libreville International Airport (incl. operation of the existing airport)

Olam Gabon is now the country's largest private employer, with more than 15,000 employees, recognised as a leading partner in its transformation, while achieving strong socio-economic impact, and high profitability.

Gagan founded ARISE IIP, ARISE IS and ARISE P&L, a pan-African infrastructure and logistics platform that designs, finances, builds and operates infrastructure and its surrounding ecosystems. It has gathered together infrastructure projects in Gabon and adopted an ambitious pan-African development strategy in Togo, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Mauritania.

The 3 specialised verticals are structured as follows:

  • ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms: develops and operates industrial platforms and Special Economic Zones

  • ARISE Ports & Logistics: develops and operates ports and associated infrastructure: multi-purpose terminals, container terminals, mineral terminals and their integrated logistics services

  • ARISE Infrastructure Services: develops and operates large-scale transport infrastructure

Gagan has established partnerships with private and public shareholders at both holding and asset level:

  • At holding level, in addition to Olam (anchor shareholder since 2010), Gagan attracted AFC in 2016, and AP Moller Capital in 2020

  • At asset level, ARISE projects are supported by expert infrastructure investors such as Meridiam, and STOA, as well as governments of countries where assets are operated.

Gagan recently launched a new fund to foster Africa’s sustainable industrialisation (with support from reputable investors and current employees). The fund has a broad investment mandate: SEZs, ports & logistics, power, sustainable mobility, industrial transformation units, etc. The first investment of the fund is well advanced and involves the acquisition of a number of Olam’s shares in ARISE IIP through an MBO.

Gagan puts sustainability at the core of its companies’ operations and strategy, promoting traceability, using renewables, preserving biodiversity, and achieving carbon neutrality (Nkok SEZ is the first carbon-neutral industrial zone in Africa). Furthermore, he has invested in AERA Group, Africa’s largest originator and trader of environmental certificates, notably to support large-scale landscape conservation programmes.

Married with two children, Gagan is passionate about innovation and is a member of the X-Prize board, a Silicon Valley-based organisation running large-scale global competitions to crowdsource solutions to major challenges.

Before joining Olam, he worked with Reebok India as a Finance Manager and then with Reckitt Benckiser as Head of Tax and Treasury.

Gagan is a gold medalist chartered accountant and graduated from the University of Delhi and the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India).