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| Senior Management |
Dr. Lawino KagumbaDr. Lawino Kagumba
Chief Technical Officer
Lawino received her B.A in Chemistry from Smith College, Northampton, MA and her PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, USA. As a Polymer Scientist she has extensive experience in the development of novel polymeric and hybrid organic-inorganic materials for various applications. She has many years of industrial experience in Research and Development, working for FRX Polymers, Triton Systems Inc. and Polaroid Corporation in Boston, USA. She has been awarded several grants by the US Department of Defense and NASA, and worked on joint programs with the Institute of Soldier Nanotechnology (ISN) at MIT, Boston. She has worked as both Principle Investigator and Program Manager on technical programs including specialty coatings, vector control solutions (mosquitoes and sand flies), high temperature and flame retardant polymers.
Lawino has also served as a teacher, tutor and mentor to young girls and college women for over 10 years. Her focus has been to encourage young women to excel in math and science, and to pursue careers related to these fields. She has received recognition for her efforts from various organizations including Tutoring Plus of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Center for Academic Development, Smith College, Northampton; and Asian, Latino, African and Native American, and International Affairs, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Key Responsibilities: Lawino’s primary role is to initiate and drive technology solutions to achieve ZanaA’s goals. This includes product development, research and design, registering of intellectual property, and operationalizing production. She will be transitiioning to a position on the management team as Chief Technology Officer. Lawino is currently basd in Boston, Massachussetts, USA. |
Megan White
Founder and CEO, ZanaAfrica
For nearly 10 years, Megan has been empowering marginalized groups in Kenya. A graduate of Harvard University, she brings extensive experience in social enterprise, planning and fundraising for non-profits, and development and strategy for businesses. A "next practices" thinker, she not only wants to incorporate best practices into her work, but to find the holes and do things differently to find sometimes more lasting solutions.
Megan first went to Kenya in 1998 to volunteer with street girls through Homeless Children International Kenya (HCI-Kenya) while attending college. In 2001, Megan returned to Kenya to serve as a Resource Mobilization Manager and was charged with developing long-term strategies and exploring self-sustainability opportunities for HCI-Kenya.
In her five years at HCI-Kenya, Megan strengthened her department and grew it to a team of seven people, which oversaw its first strategic plan. She raised $1 million in private donations for local Kenyan programs and businesses, and managed several rural infrastructure projects, including the purchase of land and the construction of two dormitories, a dining hall, a deep well, and a primary school. Her department also oversaw child sponsorship, youth leadership, and volunteering, drawing over 150 local and international professionals annually.
Megan also managed the self-sustainability arm of HCI-Kenya and its five businesses. These five sustainable businesses included a bridal gown rental boutique located in Nairobi called The Sterling Bride, a water business begun in 2004, a guesthouse established in 2005, and a local bakery launched in late 2006. Internship opportunities at these businesses were created for the youth to learn practical and entrepreneurial skills, and a foster care program was established to place children into stable homes over the holidays. Megan herself served as a foster mother to two teenage girl students of HCI-Kenya for nearly a year, one of whom is now a Junior Field Officer with ZanaA and part-time in University studying business management.
While she was founding ZanaAfrica, Megan also worked as a grassroots consultant to communities in Northern Kenya through Northern Rangelands Trust and the Globe Foundation, facilitating strategic plans at the local level for Community Wildlife Conservancies, identifying business opportunities for communities to develop in ways that preserve the best of their culture, and bringing students from Kenya and Purdue University into academic studies of practical and pressing problems.
Board affiliations currently include: the Rotary Club of Nairobi-South (Past President 06-07); the Council of Alumni for Social Enterprise (CASE), an association of Harvard alumni and students committed to social enterprise (Undergraduate Advisory Chair); Sojourners, a non-profit Kenyan film company; and Milele Family Homes, a non-profit helping to address the challenges of AIDS orphans in unconventiona ways.
Megan is a member of the Tae Kwan Do Association of Kenya, and Mavuno Church. She is a Warden for the U.S. Embassy and is proficient in Swahili and French. |
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| Zana Africa | Tools for Transformation | © 2008 |
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