Meet The Somo Team

Amelia Hopkins Phillips

Chief Executive Officer

Wilkister Awuor

Program Manager - Training

Joshua Onialo

Acceleration Manager

Temesi M. Weboko

Operations Manager - Tengeneza

Lilian Wanjiku

Finance Manager

Charles Juma

Technology Manager

Maureen Moraa

Commercial Partnership Manager

Steven Ochieng

TOT Manager

Collins Kirowo

Kisumu Facility Manager

Davies George Kunderi

Arusha Facility Manager

Frankline Gitau

Mombasa Facility Manager

Tracy Jennifer Wanjiru

HR and Administrative Junior Manager

Josephine Okuku

Production Supervisor

Imelda Sewe

Sales Representative

Justus Mulwa

Outreach Coordinator

Bentah Atieno

Nairobi Acceleration Coordinator

Mercy Lago

Administrative Coordinator

Dancun Onialo

Kisumu Acceleration Coordinator

Nadhifa Jama

Training Coordinator

Jason Anjichi

Business Development Lead

Seth Kyalo

Product Development Lead

Peter Onyango

Lead DevOps Engineer

Delan Juma

Lead Software Engineer

Cleon Ngoya

Data Architect

Leonidah Mwamto

Software Engineer

Joash Olwaga

Kenya Impact Officer

Mark Ochwada

Data Analyst

Winrose Kwamboka

Nairobi Admin

Irene Umazi

Mombasa Admin

Salim Mohammed Kea

Mombasa Business Coach

Zamim Jamal Singoi

Arusha Business Coach

Celestine Otieno

Kisumu Business Coach

Alii Mwapore Bakari

Nairobi Business Coach

Faith Nanjala

Kisumu Business Coach

Silas Abudo

Nairobi Business Coach

Josephine Goodluck Msangi

Arusha Trainer

Benedict Sogomi

Trainer

Jacob Odindo Abuon

Kisumu Trainer

Martin Munene

Finance Associate

Board Members

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.

Dr. Edward Mungai

Dr. Edward Mungai is the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC). KCIC supports a holistic country-driven approach to accelerate the development, deployment and transfer of locally relevant climate technologies to the private sector. Before joining KCIC, Edward was the East Africa Region head for the Danish International Investments Fund and worked for KPMG East Africa in Corporate finance and Transactions Services. Edward sits on several boards and is a faculty member at Strathmore University Business School where he teaches Corporate Sustainability and Innovation to executives. Edward is an Eisenhower Fellow and author of Impact Investing in Africa, A Guide to Sustainability for Investors, Institutions, and Entrepreneurs.

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.