Leadership

Mr. Simon Tiemtore is the Chairman of Lilium Capital Group, an Africa focused investment holding company and Chairman of Vista Group Holding, the holding company of Vista Bank Group. Vista Bank is one of the fastest-growing pan-African banks with a strategic expansion strategy to promote investment and trade in Africa.

Under his leadership, Vista Group Holding acquired numerous BNP Paribas and Société Générale banks on their exit from Africa and rebranded them as Vista Bank. Before founding Vista Group, Mr Tiemtore was the Group Head of Corporate Finance and Advisory Services at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and a member of the Executive Management Committee. He successfully led several African investment bank and debt capital markets transactions.

Mr. Tiemtore previously worked at Morgan Stanley in New York, where he led several M&As in the US, Europe and Asia. Prior to his time at Morgan Stanley, he worked as lawyer at Skadden, Arps in New York.

He is currently involved in several initiatives in Africa. Mr Tiemtore is a member of the Board of the US Chamber of Commerce-Africa, where he co-chairs the Banking and Financial Institutions Task Force, and is also a member of the Board of the US Chamber of Commerce-Ecowas Initiative.

He is currently involved in several initiatives in Africa. Mr Tiemtore is a member of the Board of the US Chamber of Commerce-Africa, where he co-chairs the Banking and Financial Institutions Task Force, and is also a member of the Board of the US Chamber of Commerce-Ecowas Initiative.

He is a member of the New York Bar Association, the American Bar Association-Section of International Law, Business and Practice, and the NYU School of Laws Weinfeld Fellows. He is also a TEN Children Foundation board member, a charity that supports orphanages across Africa.

Mr. Tiemtore holds an LLM in Law from the New York University School of Laws, an LLM in International Studies from the American University—Washington College of Law in Washington, DC, and an LLB in Laws from the University of Ouagadougou School of Laws.

Didier contributes close to two decades of experience in financial services, asset management, real estate funds investment, and advisory services. His broad range of capabilities also include portfolio risk management, emerging markets fund research, valuation, and structured trade finance via debt, equity and alternative investment products.

Before his involvement with Lilium Group, Didier led an investment and operational platform at Cortland Partners, an investment firm with around US$ 8 billion in assets under management.

Prior to his role at Cortland Partners, he held a senior position at TriMont Real Estate Advisors, a real estate fund company, where he actively managed a CMBS portfolio with a total cumulative value exceeding US$ 2.1 billion. Earlier in his career, Didier served as Risk Manager for SITEL, a global risk management company operating in the financial services sector in over 50 different countries. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Alabama A&M University; a Masters in Business Administration with a specialisation in finance from Georgia State University; as well as an economics and business administration certificate from the Graduate School of Management at Sorbonne University.

With over 35 years of international experience in strategic technology delivery and financial consulting, Abib Gaye has worked with central and commercial banks in more than 50 countries, spearheading large-scale digital transformation and innovation initiatives. His areas of expertise include the design and deployment of complex integrated banking systems, end-to-end digital customer journey implementation, and modern payment infrastructure development.

He has played a pivotal role in several high-profile mergers and acquisitions across the financial sector, applying his deep understanding of technology and strategy to drive sustainable growth and operational efficiency.

As Managing Partner at Lilium Capital Group and board member of Vista Insurance and various subsidiaries of Vista Group Holding, he remains at the forefront of shaping the future of finance through innovation, strategic investment, and inclusive financial services. His leadership continues to influence the evolution of financial ecosystems across Africa and beyond.

Yassin Bayo is a seasoned banking executive with a distinguished career spanning more than 40 years. She began her journey at Standard Chartered Bank Gambia Ltd, where she built a strong foundation across key banking functions, including Administration, Human Resources, Credit, Corporate, and Consumer Banking.

Her ability to turn challenges into strategic opportunities led her to First International Bank Gambia, where she played a central role in the bank’s transformation. Starting as General Manager Operations, she quickly rose to the position of Managing Director. In February 2013, she was appointed Executive Director Operations at the subsidiary in Guinea.

In Conakry, Yassin held successive leadership positions at First International Bank Guinea, where she got promoted to Deputy Managing Director, and ultimately Managing Director.

Following the integration of the bank into Vista Group, Yassin Bayo moved to Vista Group Holding as Managing Director. In this role, she stood out for her strategic vision, operational leadership, and ability to navigate an evolving regional and international banking landscape.

A Credit specialist by training, Yassin has continuously enriched her expertise through executive education programs and seminars in Compliance, Leadership, and other areas critical to modern banking.

She is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner of Lilium Capital Group, where she brings her depth of experience, strategic mindset, and leadership excellence to support the Group’s long-term growth and operational efficiency.

Aristide Ouattara has over 18 years of experience and has spent most of his career in consulting for large international and African groups.

He was previously the Risk Advisory leader at Deloitte Afrique, a business line that he created in 2018 and which provide all the expertise in risk management consulting across the12 offices in French-speaking Africa of this firm.

Aristide also created and structured the “Financial Industry” expertise center of Deloitte Africa, a body bringing together the best specialists of this firm in auditing and consulting for banks, insurance companies, market players and Fintech. As partner responsible within Deloitte for Lilium and Vista, Aristide participated from the outset in the external growth and transformation operations of these entities. In this capacity, for more than 6 years, he led the multidisciplinary team that supported Lilium and its entities in their processes of acquisition, integration, definition and execution of strategic plans.

Thanks to these achievements, Aristide has joined Lilium as Executive vice-president in charge of Strategy and Operations. Through this key position, Aristide supervises the adequacy and execution capacity of our Group’s strategy. As an engineer graduated from ENSEA (Higher School of Statistics and Applied Economics) in Abidjan and the Lyon School of Management, Aristide  brings to Lilium his pragmatism, dynamism and experience in supporting the emergence of African industrial champions.

Babajide Saba is a Director in the Corporate Finance Division of the Lilium Group.

With over 14 years of experience in Investment Banking, Investment Management and Infrastructure & Climate Finance, Babajide has closed deals in excess of USD 1.5 billion across several sectors.

Babajide has also held key positions at several investment banks and financial advisory firms, including KPMG, United Capital, and Alpha African Advisory Limited. In these roles, he played a pivotal role in originating, structuring, and closing deals across various sectors including renewable energy, power, telecommunications, financial services, transportation & logistics, healthcare, and gas processing.

Babajide is a first-class graduate of accounting from the University of Lagos. He is also an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).