Beacon Home Country Mentors
Each current Beacon Scholar at University is paired with a Beacon Home Country Mentor to guide their leadership development and keep them connected to their home country.
The following are currently Beacon Home Country Mentors:
Martin Atela is a health systems expert with a solid record of research, graduate teaching and supervision, capacity building and knowledge translation in the areas of health systems strengthening, community engagement and accountability, and mixed-methods approaches to complex research. He has held various positions in international organisations and his capabilities have been recognised through several prestigious international awards such as the Gates Cambridge Fellowship, The European Commission Erasmus Fellowship, The Shell Centenary Leadership Award, among others. Martin earned his graduate degrees from the Universities of Amsterdam and Copenhagen (MSc), University of Cambridge (MPhil & PhD.), and University of Geneva (CAS). Martin is a Gates Cambridge Alumni who believes in using his skills and resources in the service of others, especially the less fortunate in society.
Kaki Gichuru (also known as Rosalind) has 19 years of leadership experience in Consumer, Commercial and Trade Marketing, having worked for The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola SABCO in various leadership roles across 39 countries in Sub Saharan Africa. Prior to that, she worked for The Gillette Company in Boston, Massachusetts where she held various Brand Management roles in the Duracell and Oral-B/Braun Business Units, overseeing brand marketing for the US market. Through her career, she has spearheaded award-winning Marketing campaigns both locally and globally, and was voted as one of Kenya’s “Top 40 under 40” women in 2012. Rosalind has an MBA from Northeastern University, Boston, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario. Four years ago she transitioned into an executive leadership role within one of Kenya’s leading Banks, NIC Group, where she is currently the Director for Marketing, Communications and Citizenship. She is also Board Member of Junior Achievement Kenya, and recently an accredited and certified Executive Leadership Coach from the Academy of Executive Coaching in the UK. She is passionate about leadership and seeks to impact the next generation of leaders through mentorship and coaching. Kaki is married and has three sons under 6 years.
Joy Juma’s passion for the environment and the people who depended on it fueled her desire to complete her undergraduate studies and the move to volunteer at a local conservation charity. She spent a year working on the restoration of a transboundary lake straddling the border of Tanzania and Kenya. She later joined another conservation organization and worked on several conservation projects within East Africa ranging from endangered species protection to the establishment of innovative marine conservation models. The role ensured that communities were empowered in the management of their natural resources. Joy later spearheaded the establishment of a green business incubator, under a state corporation in Kenya, that continues to equip local entrepreneurs. She has degrees from Kenyatta University and the University of Cambridge with a focus on conservation leadership. Joy is currently a Portfolio Manager in Kenya and is tasked with managing and building relationships with in-country partners with the aim of strengthening the leadership and institutional capacity of local conservation institutions. She lives in Nairobi with her daughter and enjoys exploring Kenya, supporting animal welfare initiatives and mentoring young people. She is currently pursuing a certification in professional coaching to support her interactions with youth.
William Kasozi is a partner at law firm Bowman's Uganda. Before joining the firm in July 2009, William amassed over 10 years diversified experience as Company Secretary and Legal Advisor in the financial services sector in top management positions in East Africa Development Bank, a development finance institution; Stanbic Bank, a leading commercial banking group in sub-Saharan Africa and the Central Bank of Uganda. He also served as Managing Partner for Bowman's for a period of 9 years. William's specialty is project finance, structuring complex finance transactions, corporate finance, syndicated lending, equity and foreign direct investments, regulatory compliance and insolvency. William holds a LLB (Hons) degree from Makerere University and an LLM (European & International Trade Law) degree from the University of Leicester, England. He was called to the Ugandan Bar in 1996.
Dr Esther Maina is a Biochemist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi. Prior to this, she was a CRUK (Cancer Research UK) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Cancer Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. Esther has over 15 years’ experience post-PhD (University of Birmingham, UK), in Medical and Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics during her postdoctoral training at both the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Currently, she is involved in teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Nairobi including supervision of both MSc and PhD research projects and mentoring students in all matters S.T.E.M. Esther is also involved in establishing the Oncogenomics’ course in Kenya, in collaboration with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University. She also leads the Cancer Research mega-consortium on Cancer Biomarkers under the National Research Fund (NRF-Kenya).
Angela Mandi is Stanbic Bank Kenya’s Head of Corporate and Investment Banking – Credit. Her role encompasses risk management of the credit risk associated with lending to Corporate and Investment Banking Clients, ensuring adherence to regulatory and internal governance policies and developing expertise in CIB Credit risk assessment across the CIB space, aimed at sound management of the CIB portfolio of assets. Angela has over a decade of work experience in Investment Banking, Credit Risk Management and Corporate Finance Advisory. Besides working for Standard Bank Group in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa as a Senior Credit Manager, she has worked as an Investment Banking Analyst for Barclays Capital in the US, and in Barclays Bank Group in Kenya, South Africa and Botswana. She has also had stints at KPMG and PwC in Kenya as a Graduate Trainee and Corporate Finance Associate respectively. Angela is a qualified Certified Public Accountant (CPA), She has successfully completed her Chartered Financial Analyst(CFA) programme, holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree (Finance Major), and a Masters of Arts in Economics & Economic Policy Management, both from the University of Nairobi.
Dr. George Mgomella is an epidemiologist with CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention). Prior to that, he was a Visiting Scientist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK and a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, UK as recipient of the prestigious Gates Cambridge scholarship. George has over 15 years’ experience in clinical medicine, infectious diseases surveillance, epidemiology and global health, working in several sub-Saharan African countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. George was awarded a doctor of medicine degree by the University of Dar es salaam, Tanzania and a master of public health from Harvard University, USA. George is also an alumni of the NIH/Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship and is a Certified Public Health professional by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), USA.
David Mpanga is the holder of a law degree from Exeter University. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1993. He was called to the Ugandan Bar in 2000 and appointed a Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public in November 2010. David worked in the chambers of John Mathew QC at 5 Paper Buildings in the United Kingdom where he handled criminal litigation. David returned to Uganda in 1998 and worked with Mugerwa & Masembe, Advocates up to September 2003. In October 2003, David set up AF Mpanga, Advocates now locally and internationally acknowledged as a leading law firm in Uganda and a member of Bowmans, an African legal services group. David has cultivated a specialization in financial institutions law, international commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions as well as oil & gas. He also has experience handling public interest cases in the Constitutional Court and has appeared in a number of landmark cases. David is the Minister for Special Duties in the Buganda Government, a First Nation Institution headed by the Kabaka of Buganda. He is married, to Dr. Phiona Muhwezi Mpanga, and they have three children.
Mumo Musuva is an extensively experienced architect and serves as Managing Director of PLANNING Systems Services Ltd. Mumo’s career at PLANNING has focused on building design, urban regeneration and sustainable development. He is also founding director of PLANNING Project Management Ltd, the group’s project and development management arm, and a Trustee of PLANNING’s impactful award-winning Corporate Responsibility initiative: The Community Cooker Foundation. Mumo has broad experience in projects of various types and scales including hospitality, commercial retail, high rise buildings and office buildings, large scale mixed-use masterplans as well as project structuring in conjunction with client teams. He manages PLANNING’s portfolio of projects in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Martin Njiru is an experienced aviation safety officer currently working for the United Nations. He has experience working in the commercial aviation sector as well as in the manufacturing industry. In the past he has worked as a Principal Quality Assurance/Systems Engineer at Kenya Airways, as an Industrial Engineer at Firestone (EA) Limited and as maintenance supervisor at Cosmos Pharmaceutical Company. He is skilled in operations management, project management, aircraft maintenance, aircraft airworthiness management, quality management, safety management and industrial engineering. Martin holds a Bachelor of Technology in Production Engineering from Moi University, Masters in Business Administration (Strategic Management option) from Daystar University, has a post graduate Diploma in Project Management from Kenya Institute of Management and has undertaken various management related courses from different institutions in Europe.
Cindy Lithimbi-Ondego is an international development consultant and entrepreneur. She has previously worked in ecological conservation and management, and spent a large part of her career designing and implementing programmes to uplift the lives of marginalised populations, mainly in education and youth employment. Cindy enjoys working across disciplines and interest groups to bring about social impact. She recently founded MombasaWorks - a coworking and learning space in Mombasa - aimed at supporting social entrepreneurs and independent professionals thrive. Cindy has a MSc in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a BSc in Ecology and Environmental Biology from the University of Leeds. She lives in Mombasa with her husband and two young children and enjoys being outdoors with them, as well as reading autobiographies and about interior design.
Bernard Oundo is the Managing Partner of Citadel Advocates (previously Oundo&Co. Advocates), a legal and consultancy firm that specialises in Project Finance, Energy and Infrastructure. He has previously served as Legal Counsel at the Privatisation Unit, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Legal Expert at the Public Private Partnership Unit and as a Board member of the Uganda Railways Corporation. Bernard advises governments and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) on infrastructure projects in Africa. Bernard holds a Master of Laws with Distinction in Petroleum Law and Policy (LLM) from the University of Dundee, a Professional Certification of Certified Public Private Partnership Specialist from the Institute of Public Private Partnerships, Loughborough University and is also an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Programme. He is passionate about education as being the most vital tool for empowering and equipping the next generation of young people and leaders.
Caroline Simba is a UK trained lawyer with over 15 years’ experience and specializing in policy and regulation in telecommunications. In 2010 she was voted as one of Kenya’s “Top 40 under 40” women. Caroline is a member of the ICT Sector Board of Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), a private sector platform which engages in high-level public policy dialogue and provides leadership on issues of national importance. She has participated in several policy and law formulation taskforces including the National Spectrum Policy taskforce responsible for developing a progressive spectrum policy for the country. She has been instrumental in facilitating the successful transition of her current employer to the fourth mobile operator in the country and the only entity operating a pure 4G LTE mobile network in East Africa. Caroline is a board member of Ulu Conservancy which seeks to protect the Ulu ecosystem from illegal settlements, wildlife poaching and environmental degradation. She is a member of the Law Society of Kenya and Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM), a Company Secretary, Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public. She is deeply passionate about leadership and seeks to impact the next generation of leaders through mentorship. Caroline is married and blessed with two amazing children.
Dr Benjamin W. Wachira is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi and the Founding Director of the Emergency Medicine Kenya Foundation. He serves on the board of the African Federation for Emergency Medicine (AFEM) and is currently the president-elect. He is an associate editor for the African Journal of Emergency Medicine. He obtained his Diploma in Primary Emergency Care from the College of Emergency Medicine of South Africa in 2007. Subsequently, he pursued his Masters in Medicine specialising in Emergency Medicine at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He was admitted as a Fellow of the College of Emergency Medicine of South Africa in October 2011. Dr Wachira has published several journal articles which reflect his research interests in the development of evidence-based universal emergency care in Kenya.
If you would like to become a Beacon Home Country Mentor please contact the Beacon Special Africa Adviser.
