About
Independent money education, from 21 years inside African financial services
Wealth Arbiter is the personal finance education arm of Synercate, founded in Accra, Ghana in April 2011 and now working from Accra and Kigali. Its founder leads every programme.
Synercate
A record of training the industry and its regulators
Synercate is an investment and management consulting firm. It gives investment firms across Africa training, diagnostics and support in measuring investment performance, in the Global Investment Performance Standards, and in ethics and governance. Wealth Arbiter is its personal finance education arm.
- 01
Ghana Stock Exchange
Instructor on the licensing courses for industry professionals, 2008 to 2010 and 2015 to 2020. Over 3,500 professionals trained.
- 02
Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana
Training for 30 regulator staff on the Global Investment Performance Standards, the worldwide rules for how investment firms report their results, 2014 to 2020.
- 03
National Pensions Regulatory Authority, Ghana
Training for 29 regulator staff on the same standards, 2019 to 2020.
- 04
Investment firms
Helping Databank Asset Management, Cidan and Cal Asset Management put those standards in place.
- 05
Capital markets transactions
A GHC 50 million note programme for Edendale Properties Plc, 2015 to 2019, and the cross-border listing of the ABSA NewGold exchange traded fund on the Ghana Stock Exchange, 2011 to 2012.
Ivy Hesse
Twenty-one years across African financial services
Ivy Hesse founded Synercate and leads every Wealth Arbiter programme herself. She holds the CFA charter and the CIPM certificate, and works between Accra and Kigali.
- 2025
Rwanda Stock Exchange
Technical Consultant on the Investment Clinic, which prepares Rwandan small and medium businesses for investment and better access to capital markets, from July 2025.
- 2023
BK Group PLC, Kigali
Director of Fund Management at BK Capital Ltd, January 2023 to January 2026, and Acting Managing Director from August 2025, leading fund management, fund administration, registrar services, brokerage and corporate finance. Also head of group strategy and strategic projects on secondment, across five subsidiaries.
- 2019
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda
Two advisory engagements on Rwanda's financial sector reforms, 2019 to 2021 and 2023 to 2024: the Investment Clinic project, and bringing the public investment portfolio into a single view.
- 2005
Ghana
Research analyst, then Senior Financial Analyst at Databank Brokerage, trading across 13 regulated African capital markets. Then consulting, training and transaction work through Synercate, which continues from Accra.
Why she teaches this
Teaching, pensions and standards, from the inside
Teaching is the core of the work
Over 3,500 industry professionals and 59 regulator staff trained, plus training for small businesses and their advisers through the Investment Clinic.
Pensions, from the inside
Independent trustee on seven pension trustee boards in Ghana, 2012 to 2019, and an Executive Certificate in Pensions Management.
Standards and ethics
The CIPM certificate, the ICA Certificate in Compliance with distinction, membership of the CFA Institute Africa Advocacy Council, and a seat on the board of CFA Society Ghana, 2019 to 2021.
Independence
Most free money education is somebody's marketing. This is not.
Wealth Arbiter is paid for by the people who learn, by the organisation that sends them, or by a partner who funds their place. We sell no financial products and take no commission or referral fee from any provider. Sponsors are named, never recommended, and never shape what we teach.
We do not
Sell or recommend products
- No financial products are sold, recommended or referred
- No commission or referral fee is taken from any provider
When advice is needed
We point you to a licensed professional
- When someone needs advice rather than education, they are pointed to a licensed professional and to the regulator's public register
Where to start
Four ways in
Organisations
For your staff
Twelve-month staff programmes, single workshops and executive coaching.
Individuals and executives
For yourself
Courses at your own pace, workshops through the year, and private coaching.
Coaches
Coach clients one to one
The Starter coach kit, sold with the train-the-trainer course.
Educators
Run workshops for groups
Workshop kits, sold with the train-the-trainer course.
Something else? Write to us and a named person will reply.
contact@wealtharbiter.com
