James Katirai.

Head of Investments

James joined NEL in January 2025 as Head of Investments. James’ focus is on identifying potential investees and working with intermediaries to identify opportunities. James oversees the investment executives and ensures transactions are quickly and effectively executed.

Prior to joining NEL, James led the Metro Bank Commercial Banking team in the North East writing deals up to £10m across secured and unsecured Term Debt, Asset Finance and Invoice Finance. James returned to the North East in 2019 after spending 10 years working in the City of London with Metro and Lloyds Bank. James spent 7 years within Commercial Banking at Lloyds primarily covering Global and Mid Corporates within the Tech, Media, Telecoms and Business Services sectors as well as working within the Debt Capital Markets business and Business Support Unit.

Outside of work James primarily spends time with his wife and two children and coaching football.