Full Name: Fabrice Nze-Bekale

Position: CEO of Société Équatoriale des Mines (SEM), of Gabon

Main Activity of the Company: SEM is Gabon’s national mining company in charge of managing the State’s shares in mining projects and of developing alone or through joint ventures mining projects in Gabon and internationally

Date and Place of Birth: August 30, 1973, Libreville, Gabon

Education: MSc (corporate finance and financial engineering), University of Paris-Dauphine, France; MBA, London Business School, UK

First Job: Relationship manager, Citibank, Gabon

Size of First Pay Packet: $21 000 gross a year

Value of Assets under Your Control: Assets are privately held; book value of $132-million as of December 2014

Number of People under Your Leadership: 50

Management Style: Empowerment with control

Personal Best Achievement: Right now, my career is more or less where I wanted it to be at this age

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My mother

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Funmi Ogunlesi, my last CEO at Citibank, Gabon, and without whom I would have had a less global and more limited career. She is my mentor and a role model

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: It’s too late for Nelson Mandela, so now it’s Kim Kardashian

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: My former boss, telecoms billionaire Dr Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel

Philosophy of Life: Don’t do it if it’s not fun

Biggest Ever Opportunity: My current job. I thought it was a prank call when I got the call. My meeting with the President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, definitely convinced me

Biggest Ever Disappointment: My first trading loss at the bank. In the great scheme of things, the amount was small. But it hurt

Hope for the Future: That Gabon reaches its objective to become an emerging economy, thanks to a thriving mining sector

Favourite Reading: The Mystery of the Yellow Room, by Gaston Leroux

Favourite TV Programme: Friends

Favourite Food/Drink: Vietnamese rolls

Favourite Music: Jazz

Favourite Sport: Tennis

Hobbies: Watching TV shows

Car: I drive a 4 × 4 Mitsubishi Pajero. But a Maserati or a Jaguar could also do

Pets: None

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Wasting my time

Married: Divorced

Children: Terence, 29 (I took my nephew under my wing when he was nine, so I consider him my child); Elliott, 1

Clubs: Arsenal, Olympique de Marseille and FC Barcelona