Arno's work sits at the intersection of commercial strategy and human judgment. He founded VSG on a straightforward conviction: that in markets where relationships and local credibility are determinative, the quality of the person you place matters more than the quality of the process you follow to place them.

He advises EP and OEM companies in the mining and metals sector on identifying and positioning senior commercial leaders — professionals he describes as commercial diplomats — capable of building genuine presence in complex, relationship-driven markets. His focus is Africa, with selective capability where specific mandates demand it.

His background spans industrial client development and transaction advisory at KPMG, and strategic engagements in affiliation with Hakluyt across energy and extractives. Arno holds a degree in Law and Political Science from the London School of Economics. He is based in London and works on a referral basis.

Tendai has spent fifteen years working inside the mining environments that most of VSG's clients are trying to enter. That proximity — to operations, to regulators, to communities, to the texture of how decisions actually get made across Zimbabwe, Zambia, and the DRC — is what he brings to VSG's work.

He engages on mandates where Southern African context is central to getting the brief right. His view on what credible commercial leadership looks like in these markets is grounded in direct experience rather than observation, and that distinction shapes the quality of VSG's assessments in the region.

Tendai holds degrees in mining engineering and business management.

Hans spent fifteen years inside the commercial function of major mining equipment and services organisations, working across African and emerging market environments. He knows what it takes to build durable client relationships in these markets — and equally, what tends to go wrong when the wrong person is placed into them.

VSG engages Hans when a mandate requires a practitioner's view on whether a candidate is genuinely equipped for the commercial environment they would be entering. His assessments are grounded in having done the job himself, across multiple markets and commercial cycles.

He holds a degree in Mining Engineering and an MBA. He is based in Geneva.

Bakhyt brings something that cannot be readily acquired: a deep, firsthand understanding of how commercial and political interests interact across the Caspian, Turkey, and the post-Soviet corridor — built over more than fifteen years working alongside national companies, international partners, and transit governments in the region.

VSG draws on him selectively, when a client's brief has genuine exposure in these markets and where getting the contextual dimension right is as important as the candidate profile itself. In those circumstances, his contribution is precise and difficult to replicate.

He holds advanced degrees in International Political Economy, is a native speaker of Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Russian, and is based in Istanbul.

Tina brings a quality that is rarer: the ability to tell a client honestly whether their brief, their expectations, and their candidate profile are calibrated to the market they are actually entering — rather than the one they imagine.

Her background spans advisory work with Deloitte's Africa practice in Cape Town and subsequent commercial advisory roles supporting country teams across African markets. She has worked across Angola, Namibia, South Africa, the DRC, Zambia, and less-established basins, often in environments where formal process and practical reality diverge significantly.

She holds a Master's in International Economics and Political Science from the University of Heidelberg and a Bachelor's in Economics from the University of Mannheim. She speaks German and English fluently, with working French, and operates between Johannesburg and Europe.