Mr Cooper was the principal founder of Afren plc, a FTSE 250 listed oil and gas exploration and production company.
He plays an important ongoing role in guiding the activities of Afren as the company’s Strategic Adviser.
Ethelbert Cooper’s background in Africa’s natural resources sector extends back to the 1980s, when he was instrumental in transferring ownership and management oversight of Liberia’s largest industrial project – the US$600 million LAMCO/LIMINCO iron ore mining venture - , to indigenous control. His iron ore focus continues in the present day through his leadership of African Iron Ore Group, a company which is assembling a portfolio of prospective assets across Africa.
In the natural gas sector, Mr Cooper founded African LNG Holdings Limited, a project-development company subsequently acquired by London-based Gasol Plc, and he has established African Power Generation Ltd (AFGEN), which is working to introduce clean and cost-efficient gas-fuelled power stations as the solution to Africa’s endemic electricity shortages.
To directly mobilize investment in the oil and gas sector, Mr Cooper also recently founded and advises African Energy Resources Fund, domiciled in Geneva.
Reflecting Mr Cooper’s progressive agenda when it comes to addressing social issues, he is also a founding member and Chairman of the Liberian International Development Foundation, a founder of the US-based African African-American Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board of the WEB Du Bois Institute of African Studies at Harvard University.
Mr. Cooper earned a B.A. in Economics from Yale University in 1974.