Meet The Team
We are a team of dedicated professionals, ready to do what ever it takes to make your business grow.
Wanjira Mathai is Director of Partnerships for Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER), Wangari Maathai Institute (WMI) at the University of Nairobi. Previously she served as Director of International Affairs at the Green Belt Movement (GBM), which was founded by her mother, the late Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai. Prior to joining GBM, Ms. Mathai was a senior program officer for disease eradication at the Carter Presidential Center. She is chair of the board for Wangari Maathai Foundation, the Green Belt Movement and is on the boards of WMI, GBMI Europe, GBMI-USA, and Resonate. She holds degrees from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and Goizueta School of Business.
Jackie is the Managing Partner of Umsizi LLP, a firm of Advocates, Corporate Secretaries, Arbitrators and Mediators. Her passion lies in negotiating and structuring transactions for mutually rewarding outcomes, and she will therefore invest as much time with the firm’s clients as required to enable them articulate their specific needs, and work with them to get results. She’s also committed to making organisations tick – demystifying corporate governance in a way that makes sense for each entity that she deals with – and she is adept at tackling regulatory compliance.
Jackie has had considerable experience in a broad range of corporate advisory matters ranging from shareholder negotiations; capital raising and legal due diligence. In addition to her legal and corporate secretarial qualifications, she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, is a Certified Mediator and holds an MBA in Global Technology Management. She currently serves on various Boards ranging from non-profit to State corporations in the capacity of Director.
Sheila Kahaki Muindi is the Executive Director of Daykio Plantations Ltd, a real estate firm in Nairobi. Prior to joining Daykio, Kahaki worked with Family Bank Ltd in the Human Resources Department as a Senior Human Resources Officer in charge of Staff Benefits. Kahaki is a Hotelier by profession, having undertaken a Bachelors of Business Administration with a focus in Hospitality at the Les Roches International School of Management, Switzerland. Kahaki worked in the Hotel industry for 5 years in both Switzerland and Florida USA. Kahaki is an Alumni of the Fast Forward Leadership Class (2013) with Sunny Bindra one of Kenya’s leading management consultants.
Kahaki sits on the Board of Dhamana Insurance Agency, and is the Chairperson of the Family Bank Staff benefits retirement Scheme. She is also an advisory member of One Lamb, a non for profit organization that works with marginalized communities to end child prostitution
Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Health Sciences, university of Nairobi. Graduated with BA and MSc Degree from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and holds a PhD from New York University. She serves as a member of the Board and Honorary treasurer at the Green Belt Movement
Cynthia Ryan is a Director of the Schooner Africa Fund, an impact investment fund based in Nairobi, Kenya that focuses on the agricultural sector in East Africa. She also is a Trustee and Senior Advisor to the Schooner Foundation. The foundation works internationally in human rights, peace & security and economic opportunity. Cynthia has vast non-profit board experience including the Fund for Global Human Rights, the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic, and the Nature Conservancy’s Africa Advisory Council. She is also deeply involved in the global philanthropic community as a member of the African Philanthropy Forum, the African Grantmaker’s Network, and the International Human Rights Funders Group. Cynthia received her Bachelor of Arts from the New School for Social Research in New York and a Masters of Arts from the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London in England. She was a contributing author to the book “Women, Philanthropy and Social Change: Visions for a Just Society.”
Waweru Mathai is an Attorney at Law and the Founder member representative of the Wangari Maathai Foundation. Waweru received his Bachelor of Science from Morgan State University, his Masters in Chemistry from Drexel University and a Law Degree from New York Law School. He is also the son of the late Wangari Maathai
Atieno Odhiambo is the Chief of Party (Kenya) for Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) a global pro bono law firm that that provides legal assistance to states, governments and civil society organizations. Before taking up her position at PILPG, Atieno worked for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya. Prior to joining the Supreme Court of Kenya, Atieno worked on immigrant and human rights issues in Washington State at Microsoft Corporation, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Columbia Legal Services. Atieno received her undergraduate degree in History from Rice University in Houston, Texas and her law degree from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana.