Advisory Council

Saida Ali | Nairobi, Kenya

Saida is a women’s rights and social justice analyst. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and English and a post graduate Honours Degree on Gender and Transformation from the African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town. Saida is the Chair of the Council of Trustees at the Young Women’s Leadership Institute (YWLI), an organization she co-founded in 1999. She served as the founding Executive Director till May 2010 when she stepped down. Saida is also the Vice-Chair of the board of the Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW) and sits on the global board of AWID, the Association of Women in Development; an organization of close to 5,000 individual and over 300 institutional members, drawn from 130 countries from every region of the world. Saida currently works as a Consultant on various social justice concerns and has over 10 years of experience in women’s rights, feminist analysis, NGO management and advocacy/ communication strategy development. As a frequent contributor to international conferences and dialogues on women’s rights and development, Saida has developed a strong network of women and youth leaders in Kenya, East Africa, Africa and globally.

Jamie Ambabo | Evanston, Illinois USA

Jamie Ambabo is an Account Strategist at Google. She has experience in sales, fundraising, and technology. Jamie started and runs a small business, Parchment Post, a subscription based greeting card service. Jamie is also a passionate amateur photographer. She shares Akili Dada’s commitment to education and women in leadership. Jamie graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in marketing. Jamie and her husband Ethan live in Evanston, IL.

Sharon Adongo | Kenya and Poughkeepsie, New York

Sharon is an Akili Dada alumna at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. She completed her high school education at Precious Blood Riruta and is now pursuing a degree in Neuroscience and Behaviour with a correlate in International Politics. She is also Secretary to the African Students Union and plays as a flanker for the rugby team at her school. In her free time she mentors girls at Poughkeepsie High School and also enjoys reading, travelling, cooking, cycling and spending time outdoors camping and hiking with friends.

Rachel Gichinga | Nairobi, Kenya

Rachel has been working in the area of creative arts for development for the last 5 years. She holds a BA in International Relations, and works with musicians, photographers and bloggers in employing the use of creative approaches to advocacy, civic engagement and development initiatives. Project that she has worked on include a countrywide civic education tour where musical theatre was the primary entry point for discussion in over 52 communities; working with popular Kenyan musicians in community dialogue initiatives; and using the internet and other new media to get young Kenyans actively and consciously engaged in their own political development. She co-founded Kuweni Serious in October 2009, which has undertaken a number of projects focusing on getting young Kenyans involved in socio-political initiatives. Kuweni Serious has worked with partners such as the Nike Foundation, the Open Society Initiative, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Mzalendo and Ushahidi, among others. Kuweni Serious is currently undertaking a tech training and mentorship programme with underprivileged adolescent girls in Nairobi. (photo credit: Acumen Fund).

Zawadi Nyong’o | Nairobi, Kenya

Zawadi describes herself as an Afropolitan feminist digital native, working as a free agent to use her non-profit experience, creativity, social media skills, extensive global networks, fundraising expertise, spirituality, passion & fire for social justice to create the world she want to see. She has been working in the field of sexual and reproductive rights for almost seven years, and advocating for women’s rights for over ten years.  She recently published a book with Akina Mama wa Afrika, called, “When I Dare to be Powerful” – a collection of short stories told by five women who are engaged in sex work in East Africa.  She has worked with several women’s rights organizations, including the Association of Women’s Rights in Development, where she coordinated the “Where is the money for women’s rights?” program, and Urgent Action Fund-Africa, an African women’s fund that is based in Nairobi where she is from. She is currently acting as the CEO of the newly established Africa Cancer Foundation, whose mission is to promote the prevention of cancer and provide holistic solutions to people affected by cancer in Africa. (photo credit: Lumz).

Kavinya Makau | Nairobi, Kenya

Kavinya is a legal professional with over 7 years experience. She earned her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree from the University of Reading-UK in 2004 and is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. In the formative years of her career, she worked in the areas of commercial law and litigation at Njoroge Regeru & Company Advocates and Amin & Amin-Barristers at Law, both based in Kenya. Driven by the basic tenet that “ women’s rights are human rights”, Kavinya has engaged in pan-African feminist advocacy in peace-building and transitional justice since 2006 and most recently, as the immediate former Program Officer in charge of HIV/AIDS and SGBV at Urgent Action Fund-Africa. Currently, she is a Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa Fellow at the Georgetown University Center-Washington D.C. and is a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree candidate (2011-2012) at the same institution. She is an alumnus of the Kenya School of Law and The Akina Mama wa Afrika African Women’s Leadership Institute. She is a member of the Law Society of Kenya as well as The Young Women’s Leadership Institute and serves on the board of directors of Constantia Consultancy International Limited.

Mueni Maluki | Nairobi, Kenya

Mueni brings to Akili Dada a commitment to women’s education as well as training and experience in accounting. She is responsible for the early success of Akili Dada’s work in Kenya as she devoted tireless hours to get the organization off the ground. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce with special focus on Accounting. Now working as an inspector with Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund, Mueni is also in the final stages of a Master’s degree in International Relations at the University of Nairobi and concurrently pursuing a diploma in non-profit management.

Jane Mwangi | Nairobi, Kenya

Jane currently heads IT4AFRICA Kenya office (a Hewlett Packard (HP) Distribution House) based in Nairobi. A graduate of Moi University, she is in charge of East Africa, a region she has worked within over the last 9 years. Within this territory she has worked with various vendors to support solutions proposed in the region, including IBM, Sun Microsystems SA, NetApp, Symantec SA, DELL, APC and CISCO Systems. She has extensive knowledge of the ICT requirements within the East Africa region and recently within Nigeria and Ghana markets. Jane is a Certified Symantec Sales Specialist charged with the responsibility of defining data protection and availability solutions for her clientele. She brings to Akili Dada 15 years of experience in the Information Technology space in East Africa and Africa as a whole. Jane has been a chairlady for CAL SACCO for 4 years.

Lisa Serwin | Burlingame, California USA

Lisa Serwin is currently the Chief Operating Officer for MPQ Acquisition Corp., a venture backed company with interests in the online gaming space. Formerly, Lisa was the Chief Financial Officer of The PlumpJack Group. Prior to PlumpJack, Lisa served the Governor of Nevada by directing the Commission on Medical Education, Research and Training. Previously, Lisa was the Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning for Fox Filmed Entertainment (a division of News Corporation). Prior to Fox, Lisa was the Vice President of Corporate Develo
pment for TicketMaster Online-Citysearch, Inc. (a division of InterActive Corporation), a Vice President of Corporate Finance for UniMed Management Company, (“UniMed”) a privately held health care management company, and a Manager of Finance and Planning at the Walt Disney Company. Ms. Serwin received her MBA from Loyola Marymount University, with honors. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. She has for- and not-for-profit board experience. Lisa was awarded a State Proclamation by Nevada’s former Governor Kenny Guinn for her contributions to the State. She is also the author of So Many Shoes, So Little Money A Girl’s Guide to Finance.

Nancy Serrurier | Menlo Park, California USA

Nancy Serrurier shares Akili Dada’s commitment to the transformative power of education. From her position on the governing boards of colleges and schools, she helps educational organizations become better places for teachers to teach and students to learn. Improving governance, engaging students and increasing access are her top priorities. Nancy received her undergraduate degree in political science from Brown University and a MBA from Stanford University. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Whitman College (where she met Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg) and is vice-chair of the board of East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring, a comprehensive after-school program for underserved youth. Former board and leadership service includes Colgate University, Menlo School, Menlo Park City School District and the Menlo Park – Atherton Education Foundation. Nancy also brings entrepreneurial and public policy knowledge to Akili Dada. Her efforts today are informed by previous experience in corporate strategic consulting, founding a start-up business in the food industry and serving as legislative director for US Senator John H. Chafee (RI). She has participated in the The Philanthropy Workshop West’s yearlong program in effective philanthropy.

William Way | Phoenix, Arizona USA

Bill graduated from Whitman College with a Bsc in Economics and minor in Art History in 1980 and went on to obtained an Msc in Economics from the London School of Economics. Bill began his career with Arthur Andersen consulting division in 1982, which would eventually become Accenture in 2002.  He was admitted to the Partnership in 1992. Bill’s 26 year career with Accenture has been spread across US, UK and Japan. Since retiring from Accenture, Bill has focused on business driven solutions to global poverty. Bill is actively involved in the microcredit industry.  He is a part time pro bono executive and board member with MicroCredit Enterprises, where he has helped spur the growth of this microcredit startup to a lending capacity of over $65M. In addition to microcredit, Bill is involved in several organizations as a funder, board member and mentor in identifying and implementing business driven solutions to global poverty. Bill is active in the community and is a board member of Whitman College Board of Overseers, Phoenix Art Museum (Currently serving as Chairman), MicroCredit Enterprises, the Asian Arts Council, and the Tesseract School (Treasurer).