Ibrahim Sagna

Executive Chairman at Silverbacks Holdings

Speaker

Ibrahim Sagna (pronounced “San Ya”) is an institutional platform builder with three decades of experience in global finance. He is the Executive Chairman of Silverbacks Holdings, a private investment firm allocating capital in sports, tech, entertainment and other creative economy related businesses. The firm prioritizes investing in companies able to generate jobs in Africa, while accelerating the export and adoption of their services beyond the continent.

Mr Sagna currently serves various strategic roles for the purpose of Silverbacks. These include Vice-Chairman and Founding Partner of the Severus LLC, the sole owner of the Cape Town Tigers, a South African basketball franchise 3x National champion, most recently semi finalist in the 2024 tournament of NBA’s Africa league, Basketball Africa League (BAL). Mr. Sagna is the first African to serve on the Governing Body of Global Sports Summit. He is a co-executive producer of a NETFLIX film series published in 2024 and rated Number 1 in Nigeria and Top 10 in multiple international markets such as the UAE and the U.K. He is also Host of the IN THE VALLEY business podcast.

He serves as well on the board of directors of 54 Collective (formerly Founders Factory Africa), of Fund for Export Development for Africa (FEDA), and Media54. His advisory board roles include Utopia Capital, Beacon Media, and UNDP Innovative Finance Lab. He is also a mentor at Draper University in California.

Prior to Silverbacks, Mr. Sagna held various management positions with investment grade rated multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), and with asset managers such as Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), and Millennium Global Investments.

Mr. Sagna holds a Masters Degree in Finance, a Bachelor of Science with majors in Finance, General Management, Information Systems and a minor in Studio Arts, all from Boston College. He also holds executive degrees from Harvard Business School, London Business School, and INSEAD.