Meet The Somo Team.
Wilkister Awuor
Operations Manager
Joshua Onialo
Incubation & Sustainability Manager
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Temesi M. Weboko
Operations Manager - Tengeneza
Lilian Wanjiku
Finance Manager
Maureen Moraa
Partnerships & Fundraising Manager
Steven Ochieng
TOT Manager
Collins Kirowo
Regional Manager- Western Kenya
Davies George Kunderi
Arusha Facility Manager
Frankline Gitau
Regional Manager- Coastal Kenya
Tracy Jennifer Wanjiru
HR & Administrative Manager
Imelda Sewe
Sales Representative
Mercy Lago
Administrative Coordinator
Dancun Onialo
Kisumu Acceleration Coordinator
Jason Anjichi
Training Coordinator - Nairobi / Central Kenya
Seth Kyalo
Product Development Lead
Cleon Ngoya
Tech and Impact Manager
Winrose Kwamboka
Admin - Nairobi / Kiambu
Irene Umazi
Admin - Coastal Kenya
Zamim Jamal Singoi
Business Coach - Arusha, Tanzania
Celestine Otieno
Business Development Lead
Faith Nanjala
Business Coach - Western Kenya
Josephine Goodluck Msa ngi
Trainer, Northern Tanzania
Benedict Sogomi
Business Coach Intern - Nairobi / Central Kenya
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Delan Juma
Lead Software Engineer
Leonidah Mwamto
Software Engineer
Mark Ochwada
Data Analyst
Joash Olwaga
Kenya Impact Officer
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Peter Onyango
Lead IT Administrator
Silas Abudo
Acceleration Specialist - Nairobi / Central Kenya
Nadhifa Jama
Training Specialist - Coastal Kenya
Martin Munene
Finance Associate
Alii Mwapore Bakari
Finance Assistant
Salim Mohammed Kea
Acceleration Specialist - Coastal Kenya
Josephine Okuku
Production Specialist
Board Members
Amelia Hopkins Phillips
Amelia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Somo. She started working with schools and youth groups in Nairobi informal settlements in 2012. Passionate about creating avenues for people to break ceilings that have been set for them, she launched Somo’s initial programs in 2016. Over the past 7 years, she has built Somo, and with over 14,000 jobs created in Kenya and Tanzania, they are expanding their model to Uganda. Amelia holds a BA in International Area Studies from UC Berkeley and has worked in entrepreneurship and education across East Africa, in Mexico and in India. She is deeply passionate about entrepreneurship and the opportunities it can create for marginalized communities.
Kagure Wamunyu
Kagure Wamunyu currently the CEO - Africa Region at Kobo360. A technology company that aggregates end-end haulage operations to reduce logistic frictions. She previously worked as the Senior Director in Strategy for East Africa for Bridge International Schools. She is very passionate about education and its ability to transform people's lives. Kagure Wamunyu is currently pursuing a part-time PhD at University of Oxford. She holds a Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley, a BSC in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State and a BA in Mathematics from Meredith College.
Edel Were
Edel Were is a strategy consultant for NGOs and enterprises focused on employment, entrepreneurship and education in Africa. She is the co-founder of Buyu Media, a collective creating original edutainment based on African history. She was a Senior Consultant at Dalberg Advisors and previously worked for IBM Research Africa and ANDE. Edel is a member of the Global Shapers, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. She has a BS in Financial Economics from Strathmore University in Kenya.
Eskor John
Eskor is the founder of Marigold Advisers, a London-based advisory firm that provides support to business leaders. Prior to founding Marigold, Eskor was with BizCorps, a consulting firm focused on supporting SMEs in fast growing economies. Eskor has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.
Tom Phillips
Tom is an advisor to entrepreneurs and early stage mission-driven companies in the U.S. and Africa. Previously, he was CEO of Dstillery, a machine-learning-based data analytics company, and a director at Google, where he pioneered new uses of Google data for ad analytics. He has been a venture partner at Insight Ventures, CEO of Deja.com, media chief for Starwave (creators of ESPN.com, NFL.com, ABCnews.com and NBA.com), and founding publisher of Spy magazine. He has a BA from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford.
Brittany Ryden
Ryden launched Somo’s market access programs in Nairobi in 2017, and subsequently started Somo´s sister hub in Latin America, called La Chispa. To date, La Chispa has trained over 200 aspiring entrepreneurs and has over 30 active businesses in its incubator. Before moving to Kenya, Ryden was a manager at Bridgewater Associates.
Fiona Kirubi
Fiona Kirubi is a partner at Gateway Global and head of Fintech and Leadership development for Africa. She is active with Gateway's Conversion Factory, Digital Strategy & Fintech, Gender Equity & Inclusivity, Real Estate, and Social Responsibility & Impact practices. Her mission is to deliver innovative solutions to communities, institutions and governments. She is also a coach and certified practitioner with EmoWave and a pioneer in emotional intelligence coaching in the GCC.
Charles Warria
Charles Warria is a seasoned development practitioner with 22 years of experience. He is currently the Chief Sustainability Officer at Grow Fairly Limited and was until recently, the Team Leader at the Kenya Catalytic Jobs Fund. Prior to the current position, Charles was the Head of Partnerships, Stakeholder Engagement and Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation. He has previously worked in various positions with the most recent one being the Head of Markets, Policy and M&E and Climate Change at the Kenya Markets Trust. Charles is a former Director, Strategy and Innovation (Monitoring and Evaluation) at Deloitte East Africa. A Development Economist, Charles has extensive experience in driving transformative change at a multi- sectoral and multi-country level. He has worked extensively with multi-actor systems and processes across Africa and Asia in the agriculture, water, livestock, and informal sectors on a wide range of interventions aimed at improving productivity and expanded market access through market systems and value chain development