Kenya Cohort 2 Fellows | African Food Fellowship

Auleria Apopo

Auleria is a senior food safety laboratory analyst working to ensure food safety in different food systems. She has participated in various programmes to ease the transmission of laboratory results and reports to stakeholders in the food system, leading to better accessibility for farmers and service providers, which helps in the treatment and management of animal diseases. Auleria holds a Master's Degree in Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture.

Ledama Masidza

Ledama is an environmental programme manager at Oceans Alive Trust working with fishermen to provide them with the knowledge and skills to achieve sustainability. He counts among his biggest achievements his contribution to securing user rights for a 12,000ha co-protected marine area. His passion for sustainable marine livelihoods dates back to his childhood where he witnessed the vital need for balance between human livelihoods and nature. He has a degree in Environmental and Geographic Science from the University of Cape Town.

Alice Hamisi

Alice is a fisheries officer working with Kenya Fisheries Service, an organization whose mandate is to conserve, manage and develop Kenya’s fisheries and aquaculture resources. She is also working with the Aquaculture Business Development Programme, an initiative between the Government of Kenya and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, whose aim is to reduce poverty and increase food security and nutrition in rural communities through aquaculture. Alice has a BSc. In Fisheries and Aquaculture from Maseno University, Kenya.

Kelvin Muli

Kelvin is the head of climate change and sustainability at BridgingTheGap - YOUNGA 2022. He has broad experience in the management of natural resources, landscape restoration, GIS and remote sensing, among others. He is also involved in conflict resolution and in 2020 he was recognised by the Global Institute for Peace Justice and Liberty as an honorary leader. He is currently a graduate student at Egerton University studying limnology.

Titus Salash Leshornai

Titus is a fisheries officer with the Kenya Fisheries Service. His work involves supporting the Aquaculture Business Development Programme through the provision of monitoring and evaluation services. He grew up in a pastrolist community in Samburu Central Sub- County and is motivated to bring change to ASAL communities through helping them create sustainable food systems. He holds a degree in Fisheries Management and Aquaculture Technology from South Eastern Kenya University.

Sharon Nzula Wambua

Sharon is an analyst at Lattice Aquaculture where her role is to design research solutions and execute projects in order to drive the production of high-quality sustainable protein to feed the fast-growing population. She has worked on a multi-stakeholder project to improve the productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers in Kenya, bringing on board several players in the aquaculture food systems including the Feed Suppliers (UNGA Ltd), Marketers (Aquarech), Financiers (Juhudi Kilimo), Fingerlings Suppliers (Jewlet Enterprises and Kamuthanga) and 50 small-holder farmers who will be trained on the best aquaculture practices and linked to the other key stakeholders. Sharon holds a degree in BCOM, Finance Option from Strathmore University.

John Erick

John is a technical programme manager at Lattice Aquaculture Limited, where some of his achievements include doing technical and commercial due diligence on one of the biggest commercial fish farms in Africa. He started off as a fish farmer and his biggest challenge was to grow warm-water fish (tilapia) in one of the coldest regions in Kenya (Limuru). This was on a demonstration farm aimed at proving that it is possible to increase the geographical scope of aquaculture beyond regions where it is conventionally done. John is currently doing an Msc in Limnology at Egerton University.

Mary Opiyo

Mary is a senior research scientist at the Kenyan Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, where she is focusing on fish nutrition, aquaculture probiotics, antibiotic resistance in farmed fish, omega 3 in farmed fish, fish health management, all-male tilapia production, and cage farming in Lake Victoria. She is currently working on alternative protein sources for aquaculture as well as establishing a digital farmed fish supply and distribution network. Mary is widely published, with 41 peer-reviewed papers and 16 book contributions to her name. She holds a PhD in Fisheries Science from Kenyatta University.

Catherine Karanja

Catherine is a senior business development associate at One Acre Fund. Her experience spans fundraising, grant management, and the design and implementation of diverse projects in youth, agriculture, and livelihood development. Her achievements include successfully coordinating the 2013 Elections Nairobi Humanitarian Hub at Concern Worldwide, a multi-stakeholder platform for planning and prepositioning emergency response resources. Catherine holds a Master’s Degree in Development Communication from Daystar University.

Mukani Moyo

Mukani is a Zimbabwean national who studied in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and is now based in Nairobi Kenya. She joined the International Potato Center (CIP) Kenya in 2019 as a post-doctoral fellow in Food Chemistry where she leads a nutritional platform called FANEL (Food and Nutritional Evaluation Laboratory), which is focused on conducting high quality food chemistry and nutritional analyses of raw and processed plant products. She also contributes towards CIP’s efforts on breeding sweet potato for favourable quality attributes. Mukani holds a PhD in Plant Biotechnology from Stellenbosch University.

Sylvia Kuria

Sylvia is an organic farmer and entrepreneur running Sylvia’s Basket, which delivers fresh food to households in Nairobi. She started growing food for her family in a kitchen garden and soon realized that there are many mothers just like her who also wanted safe nutritious food for their families. She has also trained more than 1000 farmers in East Africa and beyond on how to move to sustainable farming practices. Sylvia holds a BA in Community Development from Daystar University.

Bruce Chemjor

Bruce is a Project Manager at COLEACP responsible for implementing technical assistance and capacity building activities, working with both private and public sector actors in the horticulture value chains in Kenya and Tanzania. He is a farming and sustainability enthusiast, passionate about sustainable farming initiatives and programmes that improve the livelihoods of farmers and Kenyans. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Horticulture from Egerton University, Kenya.

Annette Mongina Nyangaresi

Annette is a technical specialist at GAIN supporting fortification and biofortification programmes. She is keen to support farmers to embrace environment friendly nutrition-sensitive agriculture, deliver safe and nutritious foods to the consumers that need it the most, while also supporting behaviour change towards sustained healthy food choices. Through research, she provides evidence to inform programmes and policies. Annette has a Master’s Degree in Agriculture in from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

Dorah Momanyi

Dorah is the founder of the Nutritious Agriculture Network and also serves as a part-time lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where she graduated with an MSc in Food Science and Nutrition. She also leads a climate-smart agro-processing initiative called iPoP Africa which reclaims the sovereignty of Indigenous grains to Africa. Dorah is a multiple award-winning food systems practitioner, having been named as one of the top 22 RUFORUM Young Entrepreneurs, in 2021, a top 15 WAYA award winner, and also among the top 30 under 30 EVWA Changemakers of 2022.

Celestine Otieno

Celestine is a project coordinator for eGro Denmark, where her role is to train and implement sustainable and profit-based agro-forestry projects. She comes from a farming community around Lake Victoria, and has witnessed the limits of agricultural productivity and subsequent levels of environmental destructions over time. Celestine holds a degree in Environmental Management from the South Eastern Kenya University.

Christine Nyaga

Christine is an Adolescent Health and Nutrition Senior Program Officer at Nutrition International. She has over 10 years of experience in the management and coordination of nutrition-sensitive and specific interventions, as well as policy and strategy formulation in government and NGO sectors. Christine has an MSC in Project Management from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya.

Gregory Kimani

Gregory is the founder and CEO of City Shamba, a social disruptive initiative that presents urban areas as part of the solution to food insecurity and malnutrition. He started the initiative because, growing up in an urban slum in Nairobi, he has experienced firsthand what it means to lack food. He is a solution oriented and visionary youth leader passionate about fighting food insecurity in the urban ecosystems’ context. Gregory studied Environmental Conservation and Natural Resources Management from the University of Nairobi.

Kelvin Genga

Kevin is a market engagement manager at AgriTech. He describes himself as an inclusive growth enthusiast working at the intersection of technology and agriculture to digitise agriculture value chains and scale digital financing and non-financing solutions targeting the last mile. He studied Nutrition Science at Egerton University but landed in the banking sector to solve access to finance challenges facing Kenyan MSMEs.

Lilian Bisase

Lilian is a self-taught agriculture content creator on YouTube, a passion project she started to find personal fulfillment while promoting food security and rural development. She also works as a customer experience executive at Safaricom Eldoret Call Centre, where she contributes to the company's monthly magazine under the AgriBonga Series covering agriprenuer stories. She is a mentor with Soma Nawe Initiative which mentors’ youth majorly in high schools and an alumnus of Yali Africa. Lilian has a BSc. in Range Management from the University of Nairobi.

Mercy Muthoni Munene

Mercy is the founder and CEO of Shamba Connect, a business that provides modern technologies for urban farming. The company specialises in installing attractive, sustainable gardens in homes and institutions and is also involved in commercial rabbit keeping. She is passionate about mentorship and impacting the next generation of leaders and is actively involved in the Rotary club, Association of Women in Agriculture, Kenya (AWAK) and Royal Life Springs. Mercy holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from USIU.

Mutuma Muriuki

Mutuma is an independent agro-ecology professional with experience in agritech entrepreneurship and regenerative agriculture. He has been working on introducing clean technology amongst small-scale farm households and has developed biochar-based biofertilizer that has brought life back to degraded soils in pilot tests in Kenya. He is currently part of African Organic Standards Association (AOSA), a budding Pan-African entity that seeks to develop agro-ecology standards for Africa. Mutuma holds a Bsc in Horticulture from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Lunah Njeri

Lunah is the Business Growth and Private Sector Engagement Advisor at GIZ, where she is responsible for providing technical support for the growth of MSMEs in the agri-food sector. She has also been involved in gender mainstreaming, ensuring that women and marginalized groups are included in selection of value chains, business models, incubation programmes and vocational trainings. She describes herself as a “hope geek” who believes that things will get better in all ways. Lunah holds an MBA from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus.

Mary Maina

Mary is an agri-inputs marketer with a passion for developing sustainable and resilient livelihoods, and sustainably increasing food production. She has worked in the fertilizer input sector as a market analyst, developing fertilizer market information, and also has experience driving inclusive agribusiness to ensure the inclusion of marginalized people along the agricultural value chain, particularly women and youth. Mary holds Master’s degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development from University College Dublin.

Tabitha Njuguna

Tabitha is the managing director at AFEX Fairtrade Limited Kenya, a company that provides end to end solutions to farmers including input financing and warehousing. She has vast experience in the agri-finance sector and has previously worked for AGRA and KPMG, among others, and counts among her achievements the setting up of grants systems for the West Africa Food Markets (WAFM) program funded by FCDO in Ghana, and the Sierra Leone Agribusiness Development Fund (SLADF) funded by the World Bank in Sierra Leone. Tabitha has a Masters in Agricultural Economics from the University of London, SOAS.

Kevin Irungu

Kevin is the tea and coffee sector head in food and agriculture banking at Equity Bank. His passion for this sector stems from his childhood, growing up in a tea and coffee producing area in Murang’a, Kenya. The income from monthly tea payments and annual tea bonuses from his parents' tea bushes paid his fees through secondary school and university. Thereafter this passion morphed into a career path spanning over 12 years, where he has worked in leading financial institutions to support their tea and coffee portfolios. Kelvin holds a degree in BCOM from Strathmore University.

Joseph Maina Ndungu

Joseph is an agribusiness consultant with over 11 years of experience in both corporate and private agricultural projects in Kenya and Uganda. His ambition is to create workable interventions for small scale farmers to improve production and productivity, enhance income and improve livelihoods. He has previously worked as a farm manager in Meru County in a 30-acre farmer dealing with both animals and horticulture crops, achieving over 15% growth in revenue and introducing greenhouses to produce tomatoes. Joseph has a Master’s degree in agribusiness from Strathmore University.

Priscilla Kinyari

Priscilla is an agriculture project coordinator at KFW German Bank, working on designing and implementing financial cooperation projects targeting small holder farmers. She is currently overseeing various financing models implemented by the Government of Kenya and other partners in Irrigation development. She has also worked as a government official, tasked with developing standards for Water and Sanitation Services, Organic fertilizers, and Gender mainstreaming. Priscilla holds a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya.

Stella Kimani

Stella is a Nutrition Coordinator at Welthungerhilfe (WHH), where she supports programs aimed at strengthening nutrition, food systems, and Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) advocacy. Among her biggest achievements is spearheading the formation of two advocacy coalitions: The Right to Food Coalition at a national level and Lake Region Food Systems Network (LRFSN) at sub-national level. The two coalitions are focused on building sustainable, inclusive, and equitable food systems at national and county levels and strengthening accountability for the Right to Food. Stella holds a Foods and Nutrition degree from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton.