He was the co-chairman of the 2009 Africa Business Conference of Harvard Business School.

Raphael began his career at Monster.com where he rose to be senior manager in charge of Software Product Development for 18 Western European countries. He then had a summer in banking at Goldman Sachs in London as an Investment Associate.

He subsequently spent time at Notore Chemical Industries in Nigeria where he was the Head of Marketing & Business Development for West, Central & North African nations including Nigeria.