Egypt Management
Tonno Vahk
General Manager
Tonno is a former derivatives and financial engineering specialist with over 20 years of experience in the financial markets. Since 2012 Tonno has been managing private equity investments in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with a focus on mining and real estate. Tonno began his career as a financial derivatives specialist at Swedbank, specializing in mezzanine and private equity financings for companies operating in the Baltics. After Swedbank, Tonno went on to manage several different Eastern European pensions funds, hedge funds and mezzanine funds. Tonno holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.
Cherif Barakat
Country Manager
Cherif has more than 20 years’ experience in the international resource space in the US, Europe and Egypt. Cherif founded Eastern Desert Gold Ltd in 2021 with the objective of developing Egypt’s mineral resources and mining sector, and prior to that, Cherif held roles at Exxon Mobil Corporation and Glover Park Group, and in 2011 founded Acacia Consultants which has been dedicated to improving Egypt’s mining policy environment, raising Egypt-focused exploration investment and advising publicly traded exploration companies operating in Egypt.
Samy Nabil
Operations and Logistics Manager
Samy has a business management and accountancy background, and joined Aton in 2016 after years of experience of in the oilfield services sector, where he was responsible for purchasing and drill rig operations management, latterly with Weatherford International. Samy manages all logistics and field operations at Aton, as well as having responsibility for liaison with relevant governmental bodies in Egypt, contractors and suppliers. Samy holds an MBA in Business Administration from the Suez Canal University.
Magdi Buckla
Financial Controller
30+ years of experience in accounting within the oil and gas and oilfield services business.
Magdi has been the deputy controller of the Hamesh Mining Company in Egypt since 2010. Before this, he was Finance and Administration manager at Key Energy Services for eight years. Previously, he held senior accounting and finance roles at Conoco and Repsol.
He holds a Bachelors of Commerce degree from Cairo University.
Magdy Sayed
Deputy Financial Controller
Magdy has over 35 years’ experience in Oil and Gas sector and before joining Aton. Magdy had been working for the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (E.G.P.C) as an assistant to the deputy executive officer overseeing IOC’s and Joint Venture Companies, Magdy’s role at E.G.P.C, was preparing the economic evaluation for concession agreements between E.G.P.C and IOC’s, review the cost recovery statement of E&P companies and joint ventures companies. He also was involved in the development and formulation of petroleum concession agreements. Prior to working at E.G.P.C., Magdy worked in the accounting departments of Petrojet and Agiba Petroleum co.