Conference Speakers
Dr Ehud Gachugu
Project Director, Ajira Digital Program (KEPSA)
Dr Ehud Gachugu
Project Director, Ajira Digital Program (KEPSA)
Dr Ehud Gachugu is an expert on Youth Employment and Skills Development with over 20 years of professional and technical experience in youth employment programs in Kenya and abroad. He is currently, the Project Director of the Ajira Digital Program at Kenya Private Sector Alliance, a Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs project that is funded by Mastercard Foundation.
Dr Ehud also provided technical oversight of KEPSA’s youth employment work that spans areas like digital economy, TVET Development, Entrepreneurship, labour intermediation services, and embedded research and extension.
Prior to this Ehud worked for a USAID Kenya Youth Employment and Skills Project implemented by Research Triangle Institute, and the World Bank Kenya Youth Empowerment project implemented by KEPSA. He also worked as an Executive Director of Eastleigh Community Centre which is an NGO that supports livelihood development and job creation for youth in Nairobi. He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Nairobi.
Jaswinder (Jas) Bedi, EBS, MBS
Chairman - Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency
Jaswinder (Jas) Bedi, EBS, MBS
Chairman - Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency
Jas is a textile graduate (1984) and has attended numerous executive business courses at Harvard Business School, IMD and IIM. His business acumen has been recognized by the Government of Kenya whereby HE President Mwai Kibaki decorated Jas with a medal, Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) in 2012. Further in 2016 Jas was nominated as a finalist in the Africa CEO forum awards and subsequently awarded Sikh CEO of the year. Thereafter in 2017, HE President Uhuru Kenyatta decorated Jas with a medal, Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS).
Jas is currently the:
- Chairman of Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA).
- Board Member of Industrial & Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) & Chair of the logistics masterplan of KTLN in the coordination of KPC, KPA & KRC.
- Vice Chairman of Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA).
- Vice Chairman of East African Business Council (EABC).
- Managing Director of Bedi Investments Limited.
- Executive Director of Fine Spinners Uganda Limited.
- Member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
- Member of the UNDP African Influencers for Development Super Group.
Jas has previously served as:
- Chairman, African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) 2005-2019.
- Chairman, Export Promotion Council (EPC) 2016-2019.
- President of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) 2016-2018.
- Chairman, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) 2010 -2012.
- Director, Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) 1996 -2010
- Chairman, Kenya Apparel Manufacturers Exporters Association 2003 -2010.
- Director, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) 2018 -2021.
- Governor, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) 2010 -2015.
- Vice Chairman, East African Business Council (EABC) 2012 –2014.
- Managing Director, Orbit Chemicals Industries Limited 2003 –2005.
- Director, Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) 2006 –2012.
- Director, Export Promotion Council (EPC) 2003 -2006.
- Board member of the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) 1996 -1998.
Jas has been tirelessly involved in developing export market opportunities, particularly in trading bocks such as EAC, COMESA, SADC, AfCTA, USA and the European Union. Besides lobbying in the aforementioned trading blocs, Jas continues to open new markets for Kenyan exports such as China to help diversify Kenya’s export basket with a clear vision of Brand Kenya, Export Kenyan & Build Kenya.
Dr Linda Davis
Founder and CEO of Giraffe Bioenergy
Dr Linda Davis
Founder and CEO of Giraffe Bioenergy
Dr Linda Davis is the Founder and CEO of Giraffe Bioenergy, an organization catalysing rural bioeconomies producing food and clean, safe and affordable cooking fuel in Kenya. She has over 15 years of extensive experience in senior-level positions within the renewable energy sector, including cassava ethanol and solar energy production systems.
Dr Davis led the Partnership on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER), a US Department of State initiative that promoted the central role of women in clean energy entrepreneurship across 18 countries. Dr Davis earned her undergraduate degree in Food Science and Technology at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. She completed her PhD in Microbiology and Biotechnology at the University of Western Sydney. She also holds certificates in Project Management, Finance and Accounting.
Juliani
Hip-hop Artist and SIB-K’s Sustainability Ambassador
Juliani
Hip-hop Artist and SIB-K’s Sustainability Ambassador
Juliani is an award-winning renowned hip-hop artist, entrepreneur, ambassador, and speaker. He believes in the innate ability of every person to find their own solution. He enables that magic to happen, through art.
De Kock, Lorren
Project Manager for the Circular Plastics Economy Programme at WWF South Africa
De Kock, Lorren
Project Manager for the Circular Plastics Economy Programme at WWF South Africa
Lorren is the project manager for the Circular Plastics Economy programme at WWF South Africa. This programme takes a systemic view, with a focus on industry and government, to transition the currently wasteful linear plastics system to a circular economy with environmental as well as socio-economic benefits. Lorren has contributed to setting up a collective platform – the SA Plastics Pact, has conducted research with partners and is working on various projects in the national and regional policy space to accelerate the required shift.
She has a background in Industrial and Systems engineering with over 20 years of experience in the private and NGO sector and a Masters’s degree in Environmental engineering specialising in Life Cycle Assessment from the University of Cape Town.
Ludovica d’Andria di Montelungo
Artisan Fashion, Nairobi
Ludovica d’Andria di Montelungo
Artisan Fashion, Nairobi
Ludovica grew up in Italy and graduated in Economics and Business Management in Milan, pursuing from the beginning a career in fashion. She spent 10 years working and travelling between Milan, Paris, New York and London leading multiple projects ranging from Design, Merchandising and Sales to Planning and Operations. She decided to move to Kenya in 2021 to combine her work experience with her passion for sustainable development, and she currently works as a strategist for a social and ethical fashion brand in Nairobi.
She also consults for start-ups across Africa and she is a visiting lecturer at the Politecnico di Milano University, teaching how fashion can be used to accelerate economic development in emerging countries whilst generating social and environmental impact: using fashion as a source of good.
Janet Chemitei
Threading Change Africa Regional Coordinator
Janet Chemitei
Threading Change Africa Regional Coordinator
Chemitei is an Environmental Planning and Management graduate with a passion for sustainable fashion and landscape restoration. She is a climate and social justice activist from Kenya, and also advocates for mental health and body positivity. Her interest in fashion started when she was young watching runway shows and design competitions. Chemitei's commitment to sustainability began in 2017 when she watched the True Cost movie and even went ahead to contest for Miss Environment in her home county Elgeyo Marakwet and won.
She expresses her love for fashion and the environment through actively volunteering in environmental organizations such as Greenpeace and GLFx Nairobi, and learning how she can impact change in her community. She incorporates her love for crochet in upcycling projects and loves storytelling through writing.
Andrew Amadi
CEO of the Kenya Renewable Energy Association
Andrew Amadi
CEO of the Kenya Renewable Energy Association
Andrew Amadi is a chemical engineer by training and has worked in the energy sector for over 24 years. In this period, he has been able to engage with all types of renewable energy as well as having worked in the petroleum sector. Since 2007, he has been on the front line in the response to climate change. His personal and professional commitment is aligned with achieving resilience and prosperity in the face of climate change. The way he has gone about this is by dedicating himself towards finding renewable and energy-efficiency solutions in Africa and beyond.
He has achieved this by working exclusively in the environment, renewable energy and energy efficiency-related sectors since 2007 including carrying out energy audits, being able to set up an Energy Service Company (ESCOs), and taking part in the development and implementation of energy efficiency projects. He was instrumental in setting up the Association of Energy Professionals Eastern Africa and has actively participated in the development of sustainable energy policy for public and private sector organizations.
He was part of the team that developed guidelines and policy recommendations for integrating energy efficiency in all Africa Union and European Union Energy Partnership. He has also worked in the water sector and strongly believes that there is an urgency to develop solutions that will make potable water available, reliable and of good quality, especially as the population grows in Africa and the impact of climate change takes effect that will affect the energy, water and food nexus.
As the CEO of the Kenya Renewable Energy Association, he is committed professionally to developing and promoting the use of renewable energy in order to be able to achieve universal access and a growth projection for Africa that is driven entirely by renewable energy.
Nadia Ashraf
ECDPM Policy Officer
Nadia Ashraf
ECDPM Policy Officer
Nadia Ashraf is a policy officer in ECDPM's economic recovery and transformation, climate action and green transition teams. Her work focuses on the greening of value chains, in particular the external implications of the circular economy transition in the EU and its member states. Before joining ECDPM, Nadia worked at the Prime Minister’s Office in Pakistan monitoring and facilitating renewable energy projects. Nadia holds a master's degree in public policy from King’s College London.
Peter van Leent
Sustainability Manager at Biobest Group
Peter van Leent
Sustainability Manager at Biobest Group
Peter is the Sustainability manager at Biobest Group. During his studies, he worked for several research institutes and projects as a Tropical Marine Biologist: corals and sponges for NIOZ Texel on Curacao, Seagrass and turtle grazing in Indonesia, coral symbiosis in New Zealand and for Stanford University. Coming back to Europe, he had a strong desire to apply his knowledge of sustainability and started working in CO2- management and sustainability strategy for Visser & Smit Hanab in the oil & gas industry. He was quickly hired by the group (VolkerWessels) to handle CSR reporting and started working as a consultant for Primum (also under VolkerWessels). Here, he led a team of 15 advisors working on energy & CO2 and other topics such as biodiversity, climate adaptation, social return and mostly on the circular economy. In the last three months, Peter applied his knowledge as a sustainability specialist for DEME Group in Zwijndrecht.
With enthusiasm and broad experience, he likes to help projects and organizations to come to a meaningful sustainability strategy, fitting their core business and company mission; and roadmap supporting tangible measures and concrete actions, leading to the sustainable development of the business, our planet and our quality of life.
Talash Huijbers
Founder and C.E.O of InsectiPro
Talash Huijbers
Founder and C.E.O of InsectiPro
Talash Huijbers is the Founder and C.E.O of InsectiPro, a forward-thinking startup engaged in providing food security solutions in Africa through the use of Insects for food and feed. She specialized in International Food and Agribusiness and is responsible for educating stakeholders and communities on alternative protein sources in Africa as a viable business and sustainable circular model of ensuring food security.
Talash is a powerful force in the workplace and uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. She is inspired daily by her youthful team to break ceilings and think innovatively for the future.
Sonia Orwa
General Manager, Mr. Green Africa
Sonia Orwa
General Manager, Mr. Green Africa
Prior to joining Mr. Green Africa, Sonia founded and led a strategic CSR advisory firm in Kenya. Obama Foundation Africa Leader (2019). Sonia started as Mr. Green’s Chief People Officer and now serves as the General Manager of Kenya Operations.
Katrin Hagemann
EU Deputy Ambassador
Katrin Hagemann
EU Deputy Ambassador
Katrin Hagemann joined the Delegation to Kenya in 2019. A German National, she has worked at the EEAS since its inception in 2011. From 2015-2019, she served as the head of the Political Section of the Delegation to Botswana and SADC. She holds a degree in Astronomy and Physics (Wellesley College), a Master's Degree in Astronomy (Cornell University) and a second Master of Advanced International Studies (University of Vienna/Diplomatic Academy Vienna). She began her career at the German Federal Foreign Office before joining the European Union Council Secretariat in 2006.
Katrin is passionate about the environment. She diligently ensures the EU Green agenda features prominently in the EU-Kenya discussions.
Carole Kariuki
CEO, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA)
Carole Kariuki
CEO, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA)
Carole Kariuki holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Sociology from the University of Nairobi and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. She has also pursued several professional courses on Stakeholder Management, Leadership and Private Sector Development among others. Carole before joining KEPSA did work briefly for Barclays Bank of Kenya, Nairobi Chapel and Sagamore Institute for Public Policy Research, Indianapolis – Indiana, where she acted as a liaison between Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Institute before formally joining KEPSA. She worked for several years at KEPSA before being appointed KEPSA CEO. MsMsariuki is credited for transforming KEPSA from a little-known Business Organisation to one of the most influential Organisations in Kenya and Globally. KEPSA is the Apex body of the private sector in Kenya, galvanizing the private sector through public-private dialogue and influencing the economic and development agenda.
Current Leadership Positions:
- Board Chair: Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Board, Kenya.
- Board Chair: LPC Global Logistics, Kenya.
- Board Member: The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Kenya.
- Board Member: Jubilee Health Insurance Limited, Kenya.
- Board Member: EA Cables (East African Cables PLC), Kenya.
- Board Member: USIU-Africa Trustees (United States International University–Africa), Kenya.
- Board Member: GiveDirectly, USA.
- Board Vice Chair: Kiine Secondary School, Kirinyaga County, Kenya.
- Board Member: UN Global Compact Network, Kenya.
- Council Member: NCAJ chaired by the Chief Justice of Kenya (The National Council of Administrative Justice), Kenya.
Brian Kihindas
Founder & Proprietor at Nairobi Fashion Week
Brian Kihindas
Founder & Proprietor at Nairobi Fashion Week
Skilled Fashion Consultant with 12 years of career experience in event management, not-for-profit set-up within the fashion value chain, and a legal consultant on intellectual property and copyright law matters. A co-founder and Director and Kenya Fashion Council {KFCO} and currently seating on the KFCO board as Head of Trade and International Relations. A founder and proprietor at Nairobi Fashion Week and Creative Director of Dynamic Race Limited, a fashion PR {Public Relations} and Events Consulting agency. I consider myself a progressive and forward-thinking fashion enthusiast.
Bettina Heller
Programme Officer, UNEP, Consumption and Production unit
Bettina Heller
Programme Officer, UNEP, Consumption and Production unit
Bettina is a Programme Officer in the United Nations Environment Programme’s Consumption and Production unit, where she coordinates the work on sustainability and circularity in the textile value chain. She also leads the portfolio on eco-innovation (sustainable business model innovation). In this context, Bettina coordinates the eco-innovation components of the EU-funded InTex project, which supports textile SMEs in Kenya. Before joining UNEP, Bettina worked in the area of the green industry at UNIDO. Bettina holds an M.A. in Global Studies.