Founding Partners & Global Advisors

Trustees

Senior Advisors

Harambean Advisors

Team

Founding Partners & Global Advisors

Irene Pritzker

IDP Foundation

Irene Pritzker is the founder and President of the IDP Foundation, Inc. The IDP Foundation is dedicated to developing and supporting programs that are sustainable and move away from aid dependent models. She believes a combination of smart philanthropy and investment solutions can be galvanized to make that future a reality, as demonstrated by the success of IDP Rising Schools Program in Ghana. In 2017, IDP became a Founding Partner of Harambeans and launched the Harambeans Global Access Program.

STEDMAN GRAHAM

S. GRAHAM AND ASSOCIATES

Stedman Graham​ is chairman and CEO of S. Graham and Associates, a management and marketing consulting firm. He is the author of 12 books, including two New York Times best sellers and one Wall Street Journal bestseller. As a businessman, educator and speaker, Graham lectures and conducts training programs for corporations and educational organizations worldwide on the topic of Identity Leadership, based on the philosophy that one cannot lead anyone else until you first lead yourself. He has delivered Identity Leadership programs in The Netherlands, Germany, China, Canada, the UK, Bermuda and South Africa. Graham serves on several boards and has received numerous awards. Mr. Graham has facilitated Identity Leadership Sessions with Harambeans.

Michael Hastings CBE, Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick

British Parliament

Lord Dr Michael Hastings is a member of Parliament in the British House of Lords and former Global Head of Citizenship for KPMG International. He currently serves as the Stephen R. Covey Endowed Professor of Leadership at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. He has also served as a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Diversity and Talent, the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on the Role of Business and joined the WEF Global Agenda Council on Migration. He was previously a non-executive Director of British Telecom (on the Board for Responsible and Sustainable Business) and was a Global Board member of Millennium Promise. In 2017 he was installed as the second Chancellor of Regent’s University London. Lord Hastings is a mentor to several Harambeans and Co-Chair of the Harambeans Global Advisory Board.

BRIDGET FURY​

OPPENHEIMER GENERATIONS​

Bridget Fury is Founding Director of the Oppenheimer Generations Foundation. The Foundation,  an accumulation of the Oppenheimer family’s philanthropic giving across Africa, intersects with Harambeans on its efforts to drive youth development, job creation and ethical leadership. In her previous role, Bridget advised a range of governments, donors, NGOs, corporations and individuals in social and impact investment strategies and structures. Bridget advises and mentors Harambeans.

Flaminia Giovanelli

VATICAN

Flaminia Giovanelli is the retired Under-Secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and as such was recognized as the highest-ranking laywoman in the Roman Curia. Giovanelli is an expert on economics and political science, with a profound knowledge of ethical, work-related, economic, and financial issues and was able to make decisive contributions to the Holy See’s input on questions of integral development, poverty and social cohesion at international institutions such as the UN, the EU, the Council of Europe and the World Labour Organisation. She is author of several children’s books and co-founder and President of O Viveiro Girl School in Mozambique. Giovanelli has been mentoring and welcoming Harambeans to the Vatican since 2011.

Jeremy Johnson

ANDELA

Jeremy Johnson is the CEO and co-founder of Andela, a company co-founded with Harambean Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, H’09 on the idea that brilliance is evenly distributed. With that as their backbone, Andela invests in Africa’s most talented software developers to help companies build high-performing engineering teams. Prior to founding Andela, Johnson co-founded 2U, one of the world’s fastest growing education technology startups. 2U went public in 2014 (NASDAQ:TWOU) and continues to transform higher education by delivering the world’s best online degree programs with top tier universities. Johnson is a mentor and investor in several Harambeans.

Jeff Hoffman

Global Entrepreneurship Network

Jeff Hoffman is an award-winning global entrepreneur, proven CEO, worldwide motivational speaker, bestselling author, Hollywood film producer, a producer of a Grammy winning jazz album, and executive producer of an Emmy Award winning television show. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO of both public and private companies, and he has served as a senior executive in many capacities. Jeff has been part of a number of well-known successful startups, including Priceline.com/Booking.com, uBid.com and more. He is a mentor to Harambeans and frequently shares his knowledge and experience with Harambeans through the Knowledge Transfer Sessions.

TRUSTEES

MARY DE WYSOCKI

CISCO

Mary de Wysocki is Senior Director, Corporate Affairs at Cisco where she leads the Global Problem Solving Initiative, committed to positively impacting 1 billion people by 2025. Mary has over a decade of experience leading various corporate social responsibility and education initiatives for Cisco. She is a member of the World Economic Forum and a supporter of numerous Harambean-led ventures in education.

PARDON MAKUMBE​

CRE VENTURE CAPITAL​

Pardon Makumbe is a Founding Partner at CRE Venture Capital. He served as a Principal at EL Rothschild in New York and London and is a graduate of Princeton University and the Wharton School of Business. Pardon is a mentor to Harambeans and, through CRE Venture Capital, has invested in Andela and several other Harambean-led ventures.

IYINOLUWA ABOYEJI H’10

ANDELA, FLUTTERWAVE & FUTURE AFRICA

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is a serial entrepreneur, passionate about partnering with missionary talent and capital to build an African future. He spent the last few years as the CEO of Flutterwave, a business building payments technology and infrastructure to connect Africa to the global economy. During that time, he led the company to become one of the fastest growing payments technology businesses of all-time processing over $2 billion across over 50 million transaction with annual revenues of millions of dollars a year. Prior to Flutterwave, he co-founded Andela, Africa’s largest engineering organization with over 1000 software engineers with investment from Mark Zuckerberg and Google Ventures amongst others. Aboyeji became a Harambean in 2010.

YONAS BESHAWRED H'08​

STACKSHARE

Yonas Beshawred is the founder and CEO of Stackshare, a Silicon Valley startup on a mission to transform the way that all SaaS tools and infrastructure services are bought and sold. He studied Information Systems at University of Maryland, worked at Accenture and joined the inaugural class of Harambeans in 2008. Yonas is a founding member of the Harambe Board of Trustees.

MATTHIAS REICHWALD​

Matthias Reichwald is a London-based freelance designer. He has worked with Interbrand and Pentagram in London and contributed articles to Design Indaba. Matthias served as Harambe’s Director of Design and is a founding member of the Harambe Board of Trustees.

ROBERT MACPHERSON​

RECIPROCUS INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD​

Robert MacPherson is a Junior Partner at Reciprocus International Pte Ltd and Founder of Strathpoint LLC. He is also a researcher for the Centre for African Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and his work on Asia-Africa affairs has been widely published. Robert is a founding member of the Harambe Board of Trustees.

OKENDO LEWIS GAYLE​

HARAMBEANS​

Okendo Lewis-Gayle is the author of Harambeans and founder of the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance. He is the inaugural Schwarzman Founder in Residence at Tsinghua University in China and has served as Africa Advisor to the Vatican, Rhodes Scholars, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Okendo is a graduate of Harvard University.

Senior Advisors

AMANDA PULLINGER

100 WOMEN IN FINANCE

Ms. Pullinger is the Chief Executive Officer of 100 Women in Finance. The organization, which now has nearly 20,000 registered members in 26 locations, is focused on empowering women in the finance industry and inspiring the next generation of pre-career young women. Ms. Pullinger is also Chair and Non Executive Director of the Board of FlyPlymouth, based in Plymouth, UK. She also serves on the Boards of the HALO Trust (USA), the American Friends of The National Portrait Gallery (London) Foundation and as a Director on the Oxford University Alumni Board. She is President of the Brasenose Society, Vice Chair of the Women’s Network Forum. Ms. Pullinger is currently a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is a long time friend of Harambeans and frequents Harambean events.

JEREMIAH GORDON

CAPITALG

Josephine & Jeremiah Gordon support and host Y Combinator Harambeans in Silicon Valley at their residence in San Matteo. Jeremiah joined Google in 2011 and has been the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of CapitalG since its creation. Jeremiah is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

FRANCESCO TRONCI

INVESTINDUSTRIAL​

Francesco Tronci is Senior Vice President at Investindustrial, a leading ESG-responsible private equity group based in Switzerland. Tronci is a long-time officer for the NOVA-MBA Association (uniting thousands of Italian MBAs abroad), a volunteer/supporter of Mentors4u (pro-bono mentoring network for university students) and a co-founder of Sardinia in Business and Finance (bringing executives to teach pro-bono to students on the island).Tronci mentors Harambeans and hosts summer seminars for them in Switzerland.

OSCAR ADELMAN

SINAI VENTURES​

Oscar Adelman is an Associate at Sinai Ventures where he sourced several investments including Grow Mobility (50x markup), Swiftmile (lead investor), Skyryse, Doorport (lead investor) and Esusu (lead investor). In addition to sourcing and diligence, he supports the fund’s operations including running their quarterly and annual LP reporting process. Prior to joining Sinai Ventures, he was a leading young professional at Young Venture Capitalists Association, an analyst intern at BMWi Ventures and OurCrowd. Adelman is a graduate of the New York University Stern School of Business and serves on the Budget & Audit Committee of Harambeans.

ROBIN ROBERTS​

REHEARSE IT!​

Robin Roberts is the founder of Rehearse it! and was previously the senior partner for the global executive search firm Egon Zehnder. He commissioned with 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards as a regular officer. Robin is a mentor and investor in several Harambeans and is a founding member of the Harambe Advisory Board.

KAI-UWE RICKE

DELTA PARTNERS​

Kai-Uwe Ricke is the Executive Chairman of Delta Partners in Dubai. He served as CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG. Kai’s professional career has been dedicated to the telecoms, media and tech (TMT) industry where he has extensive experience as a senior executive, entrepreneur and private-equity investor. Kai is a mentor and investor in several Harambeans and is a founding member of the Harambe Advisory Board.

Harambean Advisors

ELIZABETH MASIYIWA, H'18​

SIMBA EDUCATION

Elizabeth Masiyiwa is a social entrepreneur and advocate for youth-led social change. She is the managing director of Delta and the co-founder of Simba Education, a leading African edutech company in early years education. She is a strategic advisor on talent and long-term investment at Higherlife Foundation, for which she is also a board member. She serves on Harvard University’s Leadership Council on Africa and advises a number of entrepreneurship and philanthropy networks. Masiyiwa also co-manages a social impact investment fund on behalf of the family office. She became a Harambean in 2018.

YASMIN KUMI, H'16

AFRICA FORESIGHT GROUP

Yasmin Kumi is the founder of Africa Foresight Group, an African-owned and managed firm that provides locally accessible, world-class insights and advisory services to grow local companies into global champions. Their services include research, strategy development, implementation support and stakeholder engagement. Kumi became a Harambean in 2016.

MELVYN LUBEGA, H'16

GO1

Melvyn Lubega is the co-founder and director of the GO1 team in South Africa. After honing his skills with the Boston Consulting Group, he joined GO1, an established leader in online learning and education, working alongside some of the largest companies in the world covering a wide range of industries and regions. GO1 empowers organisations to offer world-class training and invest in their most important asset – their people. Lubega became a Harambean in 2016.

MAYA HORGAN-FAMODU, H'17​

INGRESSIVE

Maya Horgan-Famodu is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, founder and partner at Ingressive, a firm that provides market entry, technology research and market operations services for firms and businesses expanding into Africa. She also founded Ingressive Capital, a venture capital fund investing in Africa-based technology companies. Horgan-Famodu became a Harambean in 2017.

CHRISTIAN OKOYE, H'13​

EMERSON ELEMENTAL​

Christian Okoye is an Investment Manager at Emerson Collective where he manages late stage VC and growth equity investments in emerging market energy access and sustainable infrastructure. Prior to this he was an Associate with Endeavor Energy / Denham Capital in Ghana, a company that invested in infrastructure development in emerging markets, with a focus on Africa. Okoye became a Harambean in 2013.

Team

LINDY LARSON

CHIEF OF STAFF​

Lindy Larson is Chief of Staff at Harambeans. Prior to joining the Alliance she was the Global Programs Lead and Acting Regional director of Reach for Change – a Swedish social venture philanthropy that runs innovative accelerators and incubators for social entrepreneurs in 18 markets globally. Larson earned a BA in International Relations from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia.

RYAN LEE

Director of Operations

Ryan Lee is a graduate of Harvard University with a passion for integrating emerging tech solutions in areas of greatest need. He co-founded two edtech startups involving virtual reality and served as co-director of the Harvard Vatican Leadership Summit.

Carman Pillay

Venture Partner

Carman has worked with startups and impact projects alongside exceptional entrepreneurs. Previously, having worked as Head of Strategy for a UK digital marketing agency, General Manager at one of SA’s hottest travel startups, and Programme Manager for BNP Paribas SA’s Business Accelerator. A University of Pretoria Alumni, currently completing his Master’s in Business Dynamics.

NELA DUKE EKPENYONG

Malaika & Guild development manager

Nela Ekpenyong a development enthusiast and conservationist. Ekpenyong has worked in the development sector for 8 years in Geneva, London and Lagos. Prior to joining the Alliance, she was the Program Officer at African Philanthropy Forum – a global network of strategic philanthropists and social investors committed to sustainable change in Africa. Ekpenyong is a Loughborough University Alumni where she obtained her BA in International Relations, she is currently completing an MBA.

DANIEL BOATENG

ADMISSIONS & BRETTON WOODS DIRECTOR

Daniel Boateng is an entrepreneur and the founder of an international education consultancy. He previously worked in admissions and recruitment at Lancaster University Ghana and is an alumnus of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture.

FRANKLIN HIAGBE

EXECUTIVE & PROGRAMS ASSISTANT

Before joining the HEA team Franklin worked as office manager and program assistant at SEO Africa. He currently volunteers as a subgroup leader with The Rheumatology Initiative for Autoimmune advocacy, a mentor with the Ahaspora Changing Mindsets mentoring program, and general secretary of The Great Thinkers Club, a social impact organisation. Franklin obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Ghana.

CHRISTIAAN HEYDENRYCH

CHEYMAXIM

Christiaan Heydenrych is the creative director and founder of Cheymaxim Creative, a branding and omnichannel digital marketing agency based in Cape Town, South Africa. With over 20 years’ experience in the industry he has positioned, developed and marketed a number of national and international brands.

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