Team
Educate! Leaders
Angelica Towne Amporo
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Angelica Towne Amporo started Educate! with her Co-founders based on the shared values of scale, sustainability, and the power of young people to change the world. Angelica built Educate! from scratch, combining her experience piloting youth programs in Jamaica and Ethiopia with her creativity and passion for spearheading the creation, development, and continued evolution of Educate!’s model. For the last six years, she has lived and worked in Uganda overseeing the implementation of Educate!’s programs in 250 schools. She also adapted Educate!’s course curriculum for use in the Uganda national curriculum and designed a new practical standardized examination, reaching 25,000 young people annually. Angelica’s goal is to transform traditional classrooms into training grounds for youth to learn the skills to end poverty in their own lives and their communities. In her words: “I know firsthand what it means to be literally saved by nonprofit organizations that embody creative solutions to society’s opportunity gaps. At Kyangwali Refugee Camp, I swapped stories with other youth who received “sponsorship” or scholarships to attend university and how it changed our lives forever. I felt such a beautiful solidarity with our students and reaffirmation of the necessity of this work.” Angelica was twice named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list of social entrepreneurs. She was honored with the Mulago Foundation's prestigious Rainer Arnhold Fellowship and the Global Good Fellowship in 2015. She holds a BA from Middlebury College. Angelica has been with Educate! since 2008.
Maggie Appleton
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Maggie Appleton oversees operations and leads Educate!'s government engagement strategy and innovation in Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. Formerly, Maggie was Educate!'s Program Director in Uganda, living and working in Kampala for almost six years. She led Educate!'s programs team through its first significant growth phase from 54 to 240 schools in 2014 and worked closely with the Global Director in designing Educate!'s programs and operational systems for scale. She is inspired most by Educate!’s proactive approach: “We all know about the problems that challenge our world, most especially Africa. I love Educate! because it empowers young people to think about solutions!” Maggie also graduated with a master’s degree in International Education at Columbia University, Teachers College in 2017. Maggie has been with Educate! since 2009.
Alex Kelly
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Alex Kelly is the Director of Growth at Educate!. He also oversees the External Relations team, as well as directs the finance and operations of the US country team. His unique value add is being able to guide a program in short-term implementation excellence, while simultaneously setting it up to reach concrete improvement milestones that allow for healthy growth. Alex is an international development practitioner who has almost ten years of experience implementing programmatic work and overseeing growth-oriented strategy. He is excited to return to working on issues that directly impact youth, as he has always been perpetually impressed with the resiliency and potential of youth — and knows that with a little support they can do incredible things. Before joining Educate!, Alex lived in western Kenya for six years, where he worked for One Acre Fund (OAF) to help provide sustained food security and pathways to prosperity for smallholder farmers. At OAF, he was most recently the director of the Kenya Field Operations program. In this role, he focused on growing the team and increasing impact, eventually reaching over 450,000 farmers throughout the country. Prior to his time with OAF, Alex worked in field-based roles at development NGOs in Nepal and El Salvador. He is also a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Costa Rica, where he focused on children, youth, and family programming. Alex has been with Educate! since 2020.
Boris Bulayev
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Under Boris’s leadership, Educate! has grown to become the largest youth skills provider in East Africa, meaningfully impacting over 390,000 youth across Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. With a team of over 250 staff and 300 youth mentors, the organization has received much acclaim for its work, including the 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and the 2015 WISE Award. Educate! was also highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies in their global scaling education learning initiative, the UN’s Generation Unlimited as one of 20 innovative youth solutions, and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. As an immigrant from Latvia and a refugee himself, Boris believes in the power of giving young people access to mentorship and transformative learning experiences - both of which allowed him to move from starting in the US on welfare and food stamps to where he is today. Before jumping into Educate! full-time, Boris worked at startup incubator Loeb Enterprises. Boris is a recipient of the 2011 Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize, and a two-time Forbes Top 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur. Boris has been with Educate! since 2004.
Charlotte Jones
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Charlotte oversees design, innovation and scaling for our school system solutions. She is responsible for partnering with governments to put in place the systems and structures that empower teachers and leaders to change student lives. Charlotte joined Educate! from Education Development Trust from a senior leadership role where she was responsible for the company’s global portfolio of education products. Over her 10 years there she worked with partners including government ministries, FCDO, the Education Commission and IIEP-UNESCO to catalyse new innovations and thought leadership on ‘what works’ to lead educational change at scale. With a background in organisational effectiveness and change management at Korn Ferry, Charlotte is passionate about helping leaders turn their dreams into real impact on the ground. Her professional interests are behaviour change and collaborative leadership, and she is a published author and thought leader in this field. Charlotte is inspired by Educate!’s creative and focused solutions for youth employment, and commitment to scalable products that are designed to reach every single student and the very last mile. She loves meeting students and seeing the glint in their eyes as they talk about their new experiences. In her spare time Charlotte loves any kind of live music she can get her ears and eyes on, and can often be found in the tablaos de flamenco in Barcelona, where she currently lives. Charlotte has been with Educate! since 2022.
Ivan Ssenfuma
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Ivan is a finance and operations professional, a graduate of Economics from the Egerton University, and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya. Over his 14 years of practicing experience across East Africa, he has built a passion and record of robust systems in organizations in different industries, including audit, energy, international development, education, and healthcare. Ivan joined Educate! because of his passion for developing young people in Africa. He is inspired by Educate!’s unwavering focus on the youth of Africa, reflected in major and minor decisions in the organization. He organizes book gifting and reading visits to slum families in Kampala with his daughter to develop literacy among underprivileged families in his spare time. He is a self-proclaimed Tintin comic aficionado, songwriter, and guitar player. Ivan has been with Educate! since 2016.
Hannah Ornas
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As Chief of Staff, Hannah works with Educate!’s teams across geographies to advance strategic initiatives and strengthen organizational capacity to support Educate! in achieving its growth and impact goals. Hannah is a global development professional with experience spanning public administration, strategic communications, fundraising and business development. Prior to joining Educate!, Hannah worked with the International Rescue Committee, where she supported refugee resettlement programming for arriving families and youth in the U.S. She is passionate about expanding opportunity for young people and promoting equitable and inclusive approaches to tackling development challenges. Hannah studied with the School for International Training in Tanzania and graduated with distinction from the University of Colorado Boulder with a B.A in Sociology and Public Health. She holds a Master of Public Administration concentrating in International Policy from Cornell University’s Brooks School of Public Policy. Hannah has been with Educate! since 2018.
Meghan Mahoney
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Meghan Mahoney oversees Educate!’s performance monitoring systems and strategic learning agenda: designing evaluations and data systems, managing their execution, and processing the resulting data for learning.
Prior to joining Educate!, Meghan oversaw the youth and labor markets sector for the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT and evaluated a sustainable agriculture and micro-credit program in Nicaragua. Meghan also studied Development Economics and Program Evaluation at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and Economics and International Relations at American University.
Meghan has been with Educate! since 2016.
Kayode Kolade
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Kayode has spent the last 12 years building systems that enable organizational performance, operational efficiency and leading the execution of strategic projects across the industries of construction, ecommerce, business process outsourcing and education. He started out as a cost consultant and project manager, after which he joined Jumia market as a pioneer Business Strategist and left as the Head of Strategy, Projects & Field Sales. He worked with Teleperformance’s TLScontact for over 6 years, building its operations from scratch in Nigeria -providing direction for a team of 150 people serving the UKVI and the Australian DIBP clients while delivering world-class service through a daily average of 1,000 physical customer interactions in the role of Country Manager. He was most recently the Director of Enterprise Transformation & Strategic Operations at African Leadership University (ALU) overseeing both Mauritius & Rwanda. Kayode is an alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; who has also obtained executive education from MIT Sloan School of Management & University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School in Design Thinking & Digital Transformation Strategies respectively. He is currently doing his Executive MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam and he is a Brain-Based Certified Coach with the NeuroLeadership Institute. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership & Management. He is passionate about working with the youth and working with Educate! brings together his passion and expertise over the years. His role at Educate! spans strategy & operations performance oversight, leading strategic initiatives and org-wide matrix coordination. Kayode has been with Educate! since 2022.
Missy Mwendwa Kago
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Missy Mwendwa Kago is the Chief Product Officer at Educate! She leads the organization's Product Operation function and Out-of-School Youth (OoSY) solution strategy across East Africa. Missy spearheads the development of Educate!'s first OoSY product, NawiriPro, an African-led online skills learning, financing, and business advisory platform. Missy is passionate about scaling African technology worldwide and developing African economies through mobile technology. She has built numerous businesses and products in countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Somalia. Missy has partnered with regional and local telecoms such as Safaricom, Orange, MTN, Tigo, and Airtel to scale Eneza Education products to over 4 million African youth in four years. Her work in the product and geographical expansion of Shupavu 291 led Eneza Education to win the Best Mobile Innovation for Education category at the GSMA's Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards in February 2018. She is also the Co-Founder of the Nairobi EdTech community. In September 2020, Missy, in collaboration with Educate!, launched a new social enterprise unit called "NawiriPro" based in Kenya. NawiriPro currently serves the transport (boda boda) industry and has validated a 131% income boost for new youth business owners and a 36% income boost for existing boda youth business owners after using NawiriPro. This achievement was possible through partnerships with financial institutions, marketplace apps, and driving schools. Her work with Educate! was recognized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for progress toward decent work and economic growth in 2020. Missy has been with Educate! since 2019.
Florence Tesha
Global
Cross-cutting Teams: Global
Uganda
Cross-cutting Teams: Uganda
In-School: Uganda
Out-of-School: Uganda
Kenya
Cross-cutting Teams: Kenya
Out-of-School: Kenya
Rwanda
Cross-cutting Teams: Rwanda
In-School: Rwanda
Tanzania
Cross-cutting Teams: Tanzania
In-School: Tanzania
Board of Directors
Dzingai Mutumbuka
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Dzingai has over 40 years of experience in education and development. He previously served as Chair of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) for nine years. Prior to that, he held various senior management positions in the education sector, at the World Bank from 1990-2007, and as the Minister of Education in Zimbabwe from 1980-1990. Currently, Dzingai sits on several boards involved with education, including RISE, Results for Development Institute, Teach for All, Big Win Philanthropy, Vitol Foundation, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), and Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program. He holds a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Sussex.
Jeff Aludo
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Jeff’s experience in Africa and other emerging markets drives his passion for sustainable development on the ethos of shared value. He has a focus on organization and strategic transformation. He often shares his voice by penning columns in leading publications.
His consulting and industry sector experience spans more than 20 years, with senior roles held at leading consulting firms such as Deloitte US and PwC, with additional experience leading international strategy and operations advisory firms. Additionally, he brings astute strategic communications, public affairs, and risk-advisory consulting experience to clients advocating for public and private sector participation for sustainable social impact.
Jeff receives invites from leading corporates to provoke the thinking of board and senior management on topics such as corporate strategy planning, organization models, and transformational leadership. He is an adjunct professor and executive fellow at Strathmore University’s leading business school and sits on the boards of various organizations.
Amy Kates
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Amy is an organization designer. She serves as a trusted advisor to business leaders in successful companies around the world, working with them to assess organizational issues, reshape structures and processes, and build depth of management capability. She was a co-founder of Kates Kesler Organization Consulting. Kates Kesler was acquired by Accenture in 2020 and Amy served as a Senior Managing Director for Accenture, growing a global practice. In addition to her consulting work, Amy taught organization design in the Executive MBA program at the Executive School of Business in Denmark and through Cornell University. Amy Kates is a co-author, with Greg Kesler, of the book Networked, Scaled, and Agile: A Design Strategy for Complex Organizations (2021) and Bridging Organization Design and Performance: Five Ways to Activate a Global Operation Model (2015). She is the author of three other best-selling books in the field and the developer of the LinkedIn Learning organization design video series. She is a past editor of the journal People & Strategy. The organization design approach and tools Amy has developed with Jay Galbraith and Greg Kesler have become the standard internal design methodology used in dozens of major corporations around the world.
Amy also has a deep interest in regenerative farming and is developing a farm-stay resort in Rwanda, called Ishobe, that highlights the value of local and traditional farming techniques for today’s environmental challenges.
Amy began her career as a planner and Urban Fellow with New York City. She has a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. Amy lives in New York City with her family.
Radhika Malpani
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Radhika is a seasoned philanthropist, board member, and climate tech investor with a distinguished career in the technology sector spanning over three decades. Having held senior executive positions at renowned organizations like Google, Radhika has now shifted her focus to combating climate change.
At Google, Radhika was a Senior Engineering Director and was responsible, over a period of about 20 years, for initiating and scaling up several critical products. Starting with leading Google Ads in 2000, Radhika built Google Images, growing it over a period of about 7.5 years to over 1B queries/day and ~70% market share. In addition to starting Google Local Search, she also led Google Travel Search to help users better plan their leisure trips.
With a deep-seated interest in leveraging technology for social good, Radhika left Google in mid-2019 to focus full-time on helping mission-driven startups scale. Radhika now serves on multiple boards, including Educate!, Simprints, and Island Conservation. She also advises startup founders, drawing upon her extensive experience in building and scaling successful products and organizations. Her expertise enables founders to navigate critical strategic considerations.
Radhika’s experience working in the social sector has propelled her towards a dedicated focus on climate change. She spent a year at Stanford as a fellow in Stanford’s Distinguished Career Institute, deepening her focus. She is a lecturer at The Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford, where she co-teaches entrepreneurship focused on climate change, and an associate adjunct professor at UC Santa Cruz. Radhika’s primary areas of interest lie at the intersection of oceans and climate change.
Mohamed Osman
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Mohamed Osman is Spring Impact’s CEO, leading the organization’s UK and US offices.
A senior non-profit executive, he is committed to delivering innovative solutions to social challenges. He brings over 20 years of experience implementing programs and building partnerships in global health, social enterprise, and humanitarian assistance across 25 countries.
Mohamed was previously Global Grants Director at the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), where he spent a decade growing the Foundation to become one of the foremost independent AIDS charities in the world — reaching over 100 million people with HIV information, testing, and treatment.
Mohamed is also on the board of The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Mohamed has established himself as a trusted convener of key stakeholders for development and implementation of high-level, high-stakes, high-risk partnerships in global health.
Mohamed has an MSc from the London School of Economics. Born in Kenya, he has a lifelong commitment to serving those who are marginalized or underserved.
Devang Vussonji
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Devang Vussonji is a Co-Founder at Axum, an Afrocentric firm tackling socioeconomic development, climate change, and technological innovation.
Based in Tanzania, Devang is passionate about collaborating with African leaders, governments, and organizations to solve the challenges facing their communities. He is particularly interested in developing self-sustaining solutions that reduce aid dependency. He is currently building multi-partner initiatives that are driving systems change in sectors such as education, food systems, and climate.
In the education sector, Devang has created Elimu-Soko, which introduces innovative solutions in public education systems. The initiative is developed in collaboration with the Hempel Foundation, and piloted by the Governments of Rwanda and Zanzibar. The initiative partnered with Rising Academies in Rwanda and TeachUNITED in Zanzibar to improve foundational learning outcomes by 2-3x for approximately 20,000 students in each location. The respective governments are now working on the scale-up of the innovations across the full system.
In the food systems sector, Devang has created the Africa Green Food Systems Investment Catalyst, in collaboration with AGRA, FOLU, GAIN and IDH. The initiative aims to support market-led growth and private sector investments in strategic value chains across the continent. The initiative aims to support countries to develop their green food systems strategies, including costed investment plans and flagship initiatives, and it then supports countries in unlocking capital for their priority investments. The coalition is building on its past work in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, as well as undertaking new partnerships in markets such as Ethiopia.
In the climate sector, Devang has built an initiative called BIRA, in collaboration with the African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation, XILVA, CreditNature, FSD Africa Investments and Baotree. The initiative has created Africa’s First Biodiversity Project Accelerator, which unlocks investments for nature-positive businesses. After the success of its first accelerator, BIRA is now launching a second accelerator, in partnership with the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. The accelerator will provide knowledge, networks, and acceleration support to organizations in 3 sectors: regenerative agriculture, forest protection, and the ocean economy.
Devang also plays an advisory role for initiatives such as: 1) the Climate-Smart Forest Economy Program, which aims to unleash the potential of biobased construction; 2) Sounds Right, which is unlocking new revenue sources for nature projects. In the past, Devang has also supported: 1) the African Circular Economy Alliance, which aspires to make sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing more circular through policy reform, corporate engagement, and entrepreneurship support; and 2)Safe Hands Tanzania, which provided sanitation products to communities during COVID.
Prior to Axum, Devang was a Partner at Dalberg – based in South Africa and Tanzania – where he advised public and private sector clients for 12 years. He also led Dalberg’s Education to Employment practice and chaired its Global People & Values Committee. One of his landmark projects was helping the Government of Tanzania change its policy framework for the sunflower sector, which will help the countryachieve its industrialization objectives and reduce its reliance on imported palm oil.
Before moving to Africa, Devang worked for 6 years with Mercer Consulting’s Human Capital Development business in the United States. He holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a degree in Economics from Claremont McKenna College.
Boris Bulayev
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Under Boris’s leadership, Educate! has grown to become the largest youth skills provider in East Africa, meaningfully impacting over 390,000 youth across Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. With a team of over 250 staff and 300 youth mentors, the organization has received much acclaim for its work, including the 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and the 2015 WISE Award. Educate! was also highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies in their global scaling education learning initiative, the UN’s Generation Unlimited as one of 20 innovative youth solutions, and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. As an immigrant from Latvia and a refugee himself, Boris believes in the power of giving young people access to mentorship and transformative learning experiences - both of which allowed him to move from starting in the US on welfare and food stamps to where he is today. Before jumping into Educate! full-time, Boris worked at startup incubator Loeb Enterprises. Boris is a recipient of the 2011 Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize, and a two-time Forbes Top 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur. Boris has been with Educate! since 2004.
Eric Glustrom
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Eric Glustrom is the founder and CEO of Watson Institute and the co-founder of Educate!. Watson Institute is dedicated to supporting next-generation entrepreneurs and leaders to forge impactful, successful careers by partnering with institutions to reimagine talent development systems.
Graduate of Amherst College in Biochemistry and recognized as an Ashoka Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, and one of Forbes 30 Social Entrepreneurs Under 30, Eric’s work is driven by a simple belief: For humanity to reach its fullest potential, the place to start is within the hearts and minds of the next generation.
Remembering Board Chair Rik Kranenburg
In January 2020 we were deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Board Chair Rik Kranenburg. Rik will always be a part of the Educate! family, and we are immensely grateful for his contributions to our mission.
Advisory Boards
Educate! Brain Trust
This advisory group supports the collaborative innovation and development of our new solution for out-of-school youth.
Dedo Baranshamaje, Director of Strategy, Segal Family Foundation
Nadi Albino, Deputy Director of Partnerships and Resources Mobilization, Generation Unlimited
Nancy Taggart, Vice President, Making Cents International; Former Senior Advisor, USAID
Nick Burnett (Chair), Senior Fellow, Results for Development
Nikita Miller Senior Vice President, Head of Product Management & Customer Experience at The Knot Worldwide
Patrick Obonyo, Programme Manager, IKEA Foundation
Paul Atherton, Founder, AI-for-Education.org; Founder, Fab Inc.; Former Education Economist, DFID
Shubha Jayaram, Deputy Director of Strategy, Planning and Management, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Teresa Mbagaya, Investor; Advisor
Xiaoyan Liang, Lead Education Specialist, World Bank
Phillip Okull
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Phillip is a research and evaluation professional with experience in the non-profit sector. He has run multiple research and evaluation projects in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, with various organizations, spanning different sectors including education and skills development, financial inclusion, cash benchmarking and livelihoods among others. Prior to joining Educate! Phillip worked as a research manager with IPA, collaborating with renown researchers from various academic and research institutions to design and implement cutting edge studies aimed at influencing development policy. His passion is in data, research, evaluation and capacity development in these areas. Phillip has been with Educate! since 2021.
Rogers Patrick Kamugisha
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Rogers oversees a dynamic, high-performing team that implements our Exchange Program in the 30 districts of Rwanda. Part of his role is to oversee program reporting, making sure that reports are prompt, regular, and contain useful and accurate information that can be validated and put into action. He is also influential in developing systems and structures that enable the Programs team to respond rapidly and efficiently to opportunities to scale. Rogers has a master's degree in business administration with a focus in marketing. He is an educator and an economist with over 10 years of experience working in the Rwandan education system. Rogers successfully supported the launching of Educate! In Rwanda in 2016. As a former National Program Manager, he helped Educate! develop and manage key relationships in government. Rogers loves working young people, and opening their eyes to new experiences. He believes that if the youths are given the right support and mentorship, the economy would have unique entrepreneurs and leaders. Rogers has been with Educate! since 2015.
Samson Mbugua
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Samson sets up data systems within the organization and working to help deliver the information and insights teams need to deliver impact on a day to day basis. He is passionate about using technology and human centered design to deliver on this mandate. Prior to joining Educate, Sam worked with I&M bank as an Analytics Translator. In this role, he spearheaded a team of data scientists, developers and designers to deliver data science use cases for the bank. He has also worked in Komaza, a social enterprise headquartered in the coast of Kenya as a Data Design Associate. When he is not working, Sam enjoys cooking, supporting Arsenal, and binge watching the latest movies. Samson has been with Educate! since 2019.
Sarah Ndinya
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Sarah specializes in designing impactful youth employability learning programs that can leverage technology for scale and which target underserved communities. She holds a BEd. from Kenyatta University and an MSc. in Education for Sustainability from London South Bank University, UK. She is passionate about increasing educational and professional opportunities for youth, developing curriculum addressing today’s business and technical skills for the digital economy. She has harnessed a wealth of experiences from working in the academic, NGO and tech sectors where each context has presented a variety of competencies young people need to enhance their employability skills and opportunities. Sarah was drawn to Educate! because of its unwavering focus on the youth. She strongly believes that the key to addressing youth unemployment lies in tapping into their potential early during their formative years in school, and exposing them to opportunities that can help them identify and nurture their potential for leadership and entrepreneurship. Sarah has been with Educate! since 2019.
Tobias Mulupi
Marica Rizzo
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Marica describes her career as one that is best made sense of through Steve Jobs’ “connecting the dots backwards.” Each experience has enabled her to chase curiosities, explore different interests, and learn from new perspectives. She started in marketing and communications for a professional soccer/football team and then for Team Canada for the Paralympic Games, spent time on a research team for Vancouver’s Economic Development Commission contributing to the Mayor’s plans to “green” the city, followed by a few years as the operations manager for skoah, a growing retail skincare company, helping to expand stores across Canada and USA. From there, she made the jump into the social impact sector, working at Wedu to design a mentorship program for young women in Southeast Asia. In 2015, she joined the Innovation Team at Acumen where she developed online courses and programs to engage and equip a global community of volunteers, learners and fellows with the tools to create a positive impact in their communities. Her recent work was in facilitating internal change management as the team rebranded the online courses and fellowship programs under Acumen Academy in 2020. Aspects of her role included overseeing the central operations of the fellows programs and leading the development and delivery of a network engagement strategy to accompany the fellows in the growth of their impact, organizations and initiatives. Marica has a BComm from the University of British Columbia and is finishing her MSc in Digital Anthropology at University College London. When she’s not working you can find her at the (ballet) barre, browsing stationary shops in London, on FaceTime with her nieces and nephews. Marica has been with Educate! since 2023.
Sylvie Kinabo
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Sylvie holds a legal background with an LLB degree from the University of Manchester, and a Master’s degree in International Relations from United States International University (USIU Africa). She previously worked as a Fee Earner for various Personal Injury Law Firms within the United Kingdom. She holds prior experience of working at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), gaining a vast wealth of experience in working within the international humanitarian systems. For 6+ years she successfully spearheaded the Program Support Department with GrowthAfrica Foundation based in Nairobi, Kenya. She later joined MFS Africa as a Senior Account Manager, based in Tanzania tasked with stakeholder/partnership management. She is extremely passionate about impact creation in Africa and specifically through youth empowerment. As the Head of Strategic Projects, her role is cross-cutting on various projects including ESS Tanzania expansion. Sylvie has been with Educate! since 2023.
Sylvia Mwangi
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Sylvie holds a legal background with an LLB degree from the University of Manchester, and a Master’s degree in International Relations from United States International University (USIU Africa). She previously worked as a Fee Earner for various Personal Injury Law Firms within the United Kingdom. She holds prior experience of working at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), gaining a vast wealth of experience in working within the international humanitarian systems. For 6+ years she successfully spearheaded the Program Support Department with GrowthAfrica Foundation based in Nairobi, Kenya. She later joined MFS Africa as a Senior Account Manager, based in Tanzania tasked with stakeholder/partnership management. She is extremely passionate about impact creation in Africa and specifically through youth empowerment. As the Head of Strategic Projects, her role is cross-cutting on various projects including ESS Tanzania expansion. Sylvie has been with Educate! since 2023.
Evans Gakui
Innocent Ninsiima
Valentine Murgor
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In her current role, Valentine leads the maintenance and improvement of HR systems and processes that support the organization's growth and ensure operational efficiency. She focuses on two key areas: maintaining core HR functions and building new systems to enhance employee performance and organizational development.
Valentine is responsible for supporting HR Managers in implementing and solving issues related to maintaining accurate employee records, leading contract renewals, and overseeing the onboarding and offboarding processes. She works closely with the Head of People Programs and Engagement to improve systems for onboarding, professional development, 360 feedback, and employee engagement. Additionally, Valentine leads improvements in the HRIS platform (BambooHR) to streamline processes, ensure compliance with legal requirements, and manage compensation and benefits.
In her drive to innovate, Valentine collaborates with cross-functional teams to build new systems for employee performance monitoring, career progression, and learning and development. She is also leading the creation of a Regional Employee Handbook for East Africa, a crucial project for Educate!'s expansion into new countries. By leveraging data-driven insights, Valentine ensures that HR processes are continuously improved to enhance decision-making and efficiency.
Valentine brings over five years of HR leadership experience from her previous roles at Cellulant Limited, where she specialized in HR operations, policy development, and talent management across 18 African markets. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance and is skilled in utilizing HR technologies to drive organizational success.
Joseph Ocailap
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Joseph Ocailap is a seasoned finance professional with rich experience supporting SMEs across Uganda with investment readiness training, coaching, and deal structuring across multiple sectors including agriculture, technology, light manufacturing, healthcare, etc. Through his experience, he has trained over 300 businesses in group learning sessions on key financial management and investment readiness principles, supported at least 10 businesses with targeted 1-1 investor readiness support (including financial modeling, deal book structuring and advanced investor memo development) and facilitated negotiations with potential investors to unlock funding for over 5 Ugandan SMEs. Some of his proudest accomplishments to date include being part of the team that designed the business needs assessment, selection and due diligence process and selection for the Hi-Innovator program through which more than 300 Ugandan SGBs were awarded seed funding worth USD 20,000 each to enable them address their primary barriers to scale. He was also responsible for executing a program to leverage risk capital of over USD 250,000 to incentivise investment in selected agribusinesses across Uganda. As the Financial Planning and Analysis Lead, he is tasked with developing tools and processes to embed financial planning and analysis in strategic decision making, including product costs models and budget projections & templates. Joseph has been with Educate! since 2023.
Mohammed Mohammed
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In this role, Mohammed oversees the design and implementation of alternative education pathways for youth in the informal economy, ensuring that Educate!’s offerings empower young people with the skills needed for self-employment, particularly in rural areas.
Mohammed’s focus is on building innovative product systems and refining existing ones to maximize scalability and impact. He collaborates with cross-functional teams to create user-centered products, lead product discovery processes, and adapt strategies to meet evolving market needs. His leadership is instrumental in driving product vision and ensuring the continuous improvement of Educate!’s education solutions, positioning the organization for future growth and expansion into new regions.
With nearly a decade of experience in product management across multiple sectors, including technology and social impact, Mohammed brings a wealth of expertise in product strategy, user experience design, and data-driven decision-making. Before joining Educate!, he held senior product management roles at Nexleaf Analytics and Jenga Tech Solutions, where he led the development of scalable digital solutions and innovative product strategies.
Mohammed holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and has a strong background in agile project management, product lifecycle management, and market research. His ability to blend technical acumen with strategic leadership enables him to lead product teams that deliver high-impact solutions for Educate!’s mission.
Marit Blaak
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Marit offers leadership over the design and training function across Educate!'s product portfolio. With her team, she ensures Educate! designers and trainers are fully equipped to continuously build game-changing education products for in- and out-of-school youth. Passionate about fostering equity, Marit leads the gender equity product strategy while also supporting the education system and school solutions strategy. Marit holds a PhD in organizational learning and has previously held research, learning and design roles with various education organizations including Innovations for Poverty Action, VVOB - education for development and the University of Groningen. She's energized by Educate!'s commitment to measurable impact on young people. Marit has been with Educate! since 2013.
Rama Katunda
Grace Nanyange
Roina Ochieng
Ian Githinji
Siler Bryan
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Siler is based in Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to joining Educate!, Siler launched a Social Enterprise called Better Minds Education in Western Kenya, with a mission of providing high quality digital learning experiences to youth in rural areas. Siler previously lived in Uganda for 4 years, where he lead the New Country Expansion department for One Acre Fund, launching new operations in Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Myanmar, India and Nigeria. He has also served as a secondary school teacher at the Abaarso School of Science and Technology in Somaliland, where he taught 11th grade writing and critical reading skills. Siler originally hails from North Carolina, and received his Bachelor's from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he studied International Relations and Modern Middle East Studies. Siler enjoys cycling, running, playing basketball, tennis, and ultimate frisbee, and can usually be observed reading a good book in his hammock. Siler has been with Educate! since 2020.
Penina Twongeirwe
Patience Mathenge
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Patience is a seasoned HR professional with over a decade of experience in HR business partnering and global talent acquisition. With a strong background in targeted sourcing, process design, and system implementation within the people space, Patience has also served as a consultant for a recruiting agency. Patience oversees the Talent Acquisition function at Educate!, and is deeply committed to shaping a people-centric strategy. Before joining Educate!, Patience made significant contributions to Komaza, a social enterprise located along the Kenyan coast. In her role as a recruiting associate, she played a pivotal role in scaling the company, achieving an impressive threefold increase in headcount. Patience's previous experience includes a stint at a subsidiary of Lafarge Holcim, Bamburi Cement, where she made valuable contributions to the HR department. Prior to that, she led the HR function at a civil and building engineering startup along the coast, successfully managing both field extension networks and office staff spanning six Kenyan counties. Patience holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management with a major in Human Resources from Moi University and is currently pursuing an MBA at the University of East London. Her vision revolves around leveraging organizational development frameworks to drive strategy through people. She excels in navigating complexities, championing organizational culture, and unlocking the full potential of individuals and teams. Beyond her professional endeavors, Patience is an avid traveler, a boxing enthusiast, and a budding blogger. Patience has been with Educate! since 2018.
Mollyne Gatobu
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Mollyne has been with Educate! since 2020.
Simi Olabisi
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Simi Olabisi oversees the day-to-day U.S. accounting operations and has responsibility for the overall accounting processes. She ensures Educate! has the systems and procedures in place to comply with practice international control standards, fulfill all U.S. nonprofit regulations, and conduct clean efficient audits. She also works closely with the East-African based accounting/finance teams to ensure seamless and accurate financial reporting and with the U.S. based revenue team to ensure accurate revenue recognition and reporting. Prior to joining Educate!, Simi worked in public accounting for 8 years as an auditor with a specialty in nonprofits. In this role she served as a supervisor for various nonprofit audits, while providing recommendations and general consulting services to management teams and different board committees. Simi is passionate about international volunteering, having previously volunteered in Fiji and has returning projects in Tanzania. In her free time, she loves to travel and experience new cultures. Simi holds a master’s degree in business administration from Shippensburg University in 2020. Simi has been with Educate! since 2021.
Aloysie Niyoyita
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Aloysie is currently Head of the Performance Metrics function within the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) department. She plays a critical role in advancing data-driven strategies to optimize organization’s performance. Starting in the organization in 2017 as M&E senior officer, Aloysie was pivotal in ensuring the field team's data accuracy and timeliness through the effective tools creation and maintenance. This foundational role set the stage for a career marked by significant contributions to the development of global performance metrics standards, tools, systems and processes. Aloysie holds a bachelors’ degree in Applied Statistics and masters’ degree Economic Sciences from the University of Rwanda and Kigali Independent University respectively. Prior to joining Educate!, she served at the Centre for Integrated Development Research and Action (CIDRA), as a statistician. She is also an alumnus of the Unlock Impact fellowship which strengthened her leadership skills. She is so passionate to use data evidence to support team efforts, she embodies the combination of her analytical skills and visionary leadership to drive the Performance metrics function towards new heights of efficiency and impact. Aloysie has been with Educate! since 2017.
Richard Olupot Ogaino
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Richard’s experience as a Graduate teacher of Economics and Geography, and the drive to see teachers adopt an experience based approach to classroom teaching and management inspired him to sign up for his first role as Teacher Support Coordinator with Educate!. Richard is a Certified Chartered Human Resource Business Partner and a Fellow with the American Academy of Project Management; holds a Masters in Management/HRM from Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia, and is a Registered Teacher with the MOE&S, Uganda. Richard is inspired by and feels privileged to work with a talented & high performing team that is deeply invested in education outcomes. “During my training at University as a teacher, hundreds or even thousands of teacher trainees were exposed to the serious gaps in our education system. Working with people providing real solutions to real problems is humbling to me.” During his free time, Richard enjoys running, traveling, translating documents from Bahasa Indonesia to English, and engaging in Christian Ministry. Richard has been with Educate! since 2011.
Diana Mwai
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Diana is passionate about and highly active in youth entrepreneurship, child protection, and livelihoods for vulnerable groups in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Diana joined Educate! in February 2013 as a Senior Program Manager. She has helped manage Educate!'s team to successfully deliver the program at scale in 250 schools in Uganda’s Central and Eastern regions of Uganda. She graduated from the University of Nairobi with an Economics degree. She received her Master’s in Public Management from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. After graduating, she worked as a National Program Coordinator at the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN). Diana is passionate about working with young people and believes they are the solution to Africa’s poverty-related challenges. Diana has been with Educate! since 2013.
Fred Olaka
Zipporah Jean Alaroker
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Zipporah has been with Educate! since 2015.