Team hustle

Vanessa Awong Eya'a

Co-founder & CFO

Vanessa co founded RiA with Tony Tiyou. She is the Chief Financial Officer. As a financial professional she has previously worked as a credit and financial analyst for reputable financial institutions like BNPP or UBS in three of the biggest cities in the industry Paris, London and New York. Vanessa has a Masters in Finance from EDHEC business school in France. Besides her financial background, Vanessa has developed an extensive knowledge of the technology industry gathered throughout previous entrepreneurial ventures she has been involved with since the last decade. Fintech specialist is probably best suited to describe her.

Aurelien Lele

Chief Marketing Officer

Aurelien has previously worked in Cameroon for half a decade as a sales representative for one of the biggest technology company in Africa and also as a key account executive for a prominent marketing consultancy firm. He also worked for various companies within the facility management industry in the UK as an operations supervisor. Aurelien Holds a double master degree respectively in “Sales and distribution” from the university of Montpellier1 (France) and in “Marketing management” from Heriot-Watt university (UK). He also holds an advanced diploma in Renewable Energy and Environmental Management Systems.

Oluoch Were

Regional Director - East Africa

Oluoch brings nine years of experience in Project Management and Operations in the renewable energy sector, having built and supported teams in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda focused on increasing access to clean and affordable energy. Oluoch recently worked for Otfrid Solar Africa, where he held various leadership roles and led Otfrid’s strategic expansion into Kenya. Prior to that, Oluoch worked for M-Kopa Solar where he successively worked as a business Development Officer and Marketing an communication Lead, helping the company to grow market share for 4 years and B2B sales by double-digit. Oluoch also worked as a Marketing and Communications Manager for SunTransfer Kenya, helping the company to launch 4 products and expending the client-base by more than 62%.

Team strategy on the field

Sarah Mulwa

RiA Representative Southern Africa

Sarah is an independent Energy and Environment Development Consultant. She provides expertise in environmental management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, conservation, water resources management, energy management and development consulting services. She has over 8 years in the energy and environment sector. She is currently serving as the Green Growth and Mitigation specialist for the Development of the Botswana National Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Wildlife and Tourism, facilitated by UNDP Botswana.

Igwe Onuma

RiA Representative West Africa

Igwe is the Founder and the Managing Director of GreyWorks Ltd, a project management and clean energy consulting firm operating in Ghana and Nigeria. Igwe is a trusted partner of Renewables in Africa and will be regularly contributing to the RiA platform.

Joab Wako

RiA Representative East Africa

Joab industrial engineer who enjoys improving processes and making them as efficient as possible. Although he worked for two years only in the automotive industry, he is incredibly comfortable in the manufacturing environment and has developed skills he will ready to use in the clean energy space. Joab had a kidney transplant in 2016, receiving a second gift of life from a sibling, his heroic sister: Selina Wako, ! You can read more about his amazing journey on blog, 1000 Miles (http://www.joabstransplant.org/).

Madjidi Zin

RiA Representative Francophone West Africa

Madjidi co-founded BUSINESS PARTNERS a consultancy firm. As a Financial Economist, he has 12 years’ experience as an international consultant for organizations such as World Bank, UNDP, GIZ, ENABEL, CHI, in Benin Republic, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Ghana He holds a master’s degree in finance from Tangier National School Management (Morocco), and a postgraduate diploma in Population and Development from the Cairo Demographic Center in Egypt. He is an acting member of the association of Renewable energy specialists in Bénin (AISER). He is also in charge of the follow up or the Doing Business reforms at the Board of the Confédération Nationale des Employeurs du Bénin (CONEB), the second major private sector organization in Bénin.

Team legal

Zangose Daka

Solicitor

Zangose Claire Daka is a holder of a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) and is a certified Advocate of the High Court of Zambia.She is passionate about giving sound legal counsel to clients in form of drafting of contractual agreements, legal opinions and contract review which is solution oriented. In a fast paced world, Zangose is excited to contribute to as well as learn from diverse spheres such as renewable energy in Africa and the world at large.

Team coaching

Owusu Akoto

Advisor

Owusu Akoto designs, implements and improves performance of +$1 billion supply chains. His experience includes helping consumer goods companies – like Nestle, Unilever and Diageo – and industrial companies – such as Ericsson and IBM. In order to deliver these benefits, Owusu founded and grew a new division of an award-winning consultancy. In his free time, Owusu serves as Global Mentor to the African Entrepreneurship Award. Owusu attended the University of Pennsylvania, where we graduated with the Senior Honour Award. He was later awarded an MBA, with Merit, from Imperial College London.

Tchi Mbouani Ngaliae

Advisor

Tchi Mbouani is the founder of Chimmer, a technology company helping people to achieve their life goals. She has a background in Digital Product Management and has worked with blue-chip tech companies such as Google, Amazon and AOL. More recently she has specialised in HR digital transformation and supports various prominent clients in their effort to implement career goals management processes. In her spare time, Tchi Mbouani looks after her e-commerce business Dinsi Okondor, selling men's clothing with African prints. She is also a champion of world peace and sustainable ethics. She holds a Master's degree in Business Management from EDHEC Business School, France.

Nzube Ufodike

Advisor

Entrepreneur, Senior Business Analyst and Corporate Finance Specialist who possesses strong facilitation skills to take initiatives forward. Prior, he led Strategic Partnerships and was a Digital Product Owner at Wealth Dynamix, London, an award winning technology vendor to the wealth management industry. Before that, he was part of a team at UBS SmartWealth that built and launched the UK's first FCA-regulated robo-advisor, focussed on the mass affluent wealth segment. He currently sits on the board of several start-ups. He is also a volunteer with The Africa Centre, a London-based charity, as a member of its finance committee. Nzube attended Queen Mary, University of London.