2021 Conference Speakers

 

Eng. Jabes Manyala

Engineer Jabes Obunga Manyala has been actively involved in Energy Management in the country and has performed energy audits for an array of clients ranging from Government and Research Institutions to Banks, Manufacturing Organizations, Oil Industry, the Sugar Sector and the Mobile Telecommunications Sector.
Engineer Manyala is a Registered Engineer with the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) and has had a career in engineering spanning more than 35 years. During this period, he has worked for a number of organizations both at the national and regional levels including Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), African Regional Organization for Standardization (ARSO) and Kenya Pipeline Company Limited (KPC).

Engineer Manyala is widely travelled within and outside the African continent on both training and professional assignments. He has trained in various engineering courses in Germany, France, Canada, Dubai, Swaziland and the United Kingdom. His professional engagements have taken him to China, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Liberia, Cameroun, Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Zambia.

Chris Mbori

Founding Director of IEPA, CEM & CEP Trainer

Chris Mbori is a Founding Director of the Institute of Energy Professionals Africa (IEPA), a non-profit company called to service by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) to service the Sub-Saharan Africa region for AEE. Chris is an international accredited Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and Certified Energy Auditor (CEA) trainer. He has vast knowledge and experience, and holds a B.Sc Chemical and Process Engineering, MSc Energy Management, CEM®, CMVP®, CEA®, CWEP®, REP®, CPCF®, CRM®, Lead ISO50001 Auditor.

He trains for IEPA the CEM, CEA, Basic Principles of Energy (BPE), Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB), Business Case for Energy Projects (BCEP), Managing Energy Projects (MEP), Introduction to Energy Management Training (IEMT) and the Energy Audit Technician qualification of the QCTO.

Chris is a passionate energy professional with over 10 years experience in energy management and renewable energy. He is the founder and owner of Eenovators Limited, an Energy Service Company (ESCO) in Kenya Chris has been involved in hundreds of energy audits, energy projects and energy management training. He was awarded the young sub Saharan professional in 2015 by the AEE and a top 40 under 40 men in Kenya for the year 2018.

Eng. Macben Makenzi

Technical Advisor Water and Energy For Food – GIZ

Macben Makenzi is a senior energy specialist with over 12 years of experience in renewable energy projects, energy efficiency, industrial automation and nexus topics (water-energy-food).

He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechatronic Engineering and a Master’s degree in Energy Technology. He has also undertaken and obtained several other certifications including from the Florence School of Regulation (FSR) and the Renewables Academy AG (RENAC).  

During the past decade, his work has focused on the promotion, design, evaluation and development of clean energy and water-energy efficiency projects in the energy and agri-food sectors.

Macben holds several practitioner licenses including an International Certified Energy Manager (CEM®) license, Solar PV T3 license from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) in Kenya, Energy auditors license (Grade A) from EPRA, an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) auditor’s license from the National Environmental and Management Authority (NEMA) and several other international certifications in the areas of renewable energy, water and energy efficiency. He is also a registered professional engineer with the Engineers Board of Kenya and a corporate engineer with the Institution of Engineers of Kenya.

Esther Nyanzi

Chief Executive Officer
UNREEEA

Experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry. Worked extensively in the areas of Renewable energy, Climate Change, and Environment sectors leading development and effective delivery of projects and growth of SMEs private sector enterprises. Skilled in Stakeholder engagement, Sustainable Development, and Market development with strong business development skills.

Andy Amadi

Andrew Amadi is a chemical engineer by training and has worked in the energy sector for over 24 years. In this period he has been able to engage with all types of renewable energy as well as having worked in the petroleum sector.
Since 2007 he has been on the front line in the response to climate change. His personal and professional commitment is aligned to achieving resilience and prosperity in the face of climate change. The way he has gone about this is by dedicating himself towards finding renewable and energy efficiency solutions in Africa and beyond.

He has achieved this by working exclusively in environment, renewable energy and energy efficiency-related sectors since 2007 including carrying out of energy audits, and being able to set up an Energy Service Company (ESCOs), take part of the development and implementation of energy efficiency projects. He was instrumental in setting up the Association of Energy Professionals Eastern Africa and has actively participated in the development of sustainable energy policy for public and private sector organizations.
He was part of the team that developed guidelines and policy recommendations for integrating energy efficiency in all Africa Union and European Union Energy Partnership.
He has also worked in the water sector and strongly believes that there is an urgency to develop solutions that will make potable water available, reliable and of good quality, especially as the population grows in Africa and the impact of climate change takes effect that will affect the energy, water and food nexus.
As the CEO of the Kenya Renewable Energy Association, he is committed professionally to developing and promoting the use of renewable energy in order to be able to achieve universal access and a growth projection for Africa that is driven entirely by renewable energy.

Alex Rathmell

Alex Rathmell is Managing Director for Consultancy at EP Group, an impact-led consultancy and advisory firm focusing on financing the clean energy transition. Alex has many years of experience helping organisations of all shapes and sizes to improve energy efficiency and decarbonise. He is now leading the development of ‘ESCO-in-a-box’, a platform for organisations who want to help businesses reduce their energy use or adopt renewable energy. The idea is being piloted in Oxfordshire, UK, via government funding and in Kenya in partnership with EEnovators, and Alex and his colleagues are now rolling out ESCO-in-a-box to new clients in the UK and around the world.

Sumaya Mahomed

Sumaya Mahomed is a Sustainable Development Professional with over 10 years’ experience in the energy sector. She has expansive programme experience in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. She has developed and managed renewable and energy efficiency projects for the municipality of Cape Town and has worked on various private consultancy-based renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. She is passionate about sustainable equitable development. Sumaya Mahomed has a background in Chemical Engineering, Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Engineering and a Masters in Sustainable Development and is currently completing her Master in Business Administration at the Edinburgh Business School. 

Achievements:

  • Ran the best municipal energy efficiency programme in South Africa
    • 12,8% energy  savings achieved against 10% energy reduction target by 2012 and a 15% energy saving against a 8% electricity saving target by 2016 within City operations  programme.
    • Successful Project Management and Implementation of 900kWp rooftop solar PV projects
    • Successful Project Management and Implementation of over 80 municipal energy efficient buildings
    • Green procurement programme : Greening City lighting stock items 
    • Developed the first local government Performance Guarantee Savings contract
    • Developed an energy efficiency programmed that supported local economic development

Warren Ondanje

Warren is a sustainability professional in both the energy and clean transport segments. He has worked with commercial and industrial clients across Kenya and Uganda to assess and implement energy efficiency projects. He’s currently the operations manager of a startup in Nairobi, which operates the largest fleet of electric two and three-wheelers in Kenya. Warren is also a Board Member and active participant in the Association for Electric Mobility and Development in Africa (AEMDA), a body that brings a voice to E-mobility players from across East Africa. He is trained as an Energy Manager and Measurement & Verification Expert by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).

Dr. Olufunso Somorin

Dr. Olufunso Somorin is a Regional Principal Officer at the African Development Bank. He leads the Bank’s work on climate change and green growth across 13 countries of the Eastern African region. This includes supporting countries’ access to climate finance for implementing their Paris Agreement commitments, and mainstreaming climate change in all Bank policies and programs. In addition, he leads policy dialogues with national/regional governments on developing policy frameworks for managing local and regional economic and social issues, climate change, renewable energy, resilience and inclusive growth. Between 2013 and 2017, he coordinated the Bank’s work on addressing fragility and building resilience within the Horn of Africa. In the last eight years, he has been directly involved in the design, appraisal and supervision of more than 150 development projects worth about USD 12.4 billion. Somorin holds a PhD in International Environmental Policy from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He is an alumnus of executive education in many leading institutions: Bradford, Cambridge and Oxford Universities in the UK. He gives lectures at the University of Guelph (Canada), African Leadership University (Rwanda) and Strathmore University (Kenya).

Mr. Neville Otuki

Neville is a business journalist and consultant around energy, policy and corporate sustainability.

With over eight years of experience, he has written for various publications, including Business Daily, the Standard, Daily Nation, and African Energy Magazine.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Communications from the University of Nairobi.

During his spare time, he loves hiking and sightseeing.

Kofi Agyarko

DIRECTOR, RENEWABLE ENERGY, ENERGY EFFICIENCY & CLIMATE CHANGE (REEECC).
ENERGY COMMISSION, GHANA

Kofi is an energy efficiency expert and enthusiasts who can boast of over 18 years’ experience in the energy sector. He has designed and successfully implemented a number of energy efficiency projects. His contribution was critical in the 2007 mass CFL exchange programme in Ghana and the installation of capacitor banks in selected public buildings which save the nation 124MW annually and US$50,000 monthly respectively. He managed the GEF/UNDP funded project on Energy Efficient Refrigerators and Market Transformation in Ghana that resulted in annual savings of 400GWh Ghana.

Kofi served as a member of the UNEP-GEF lighting and refrigerating task force put together in 2015 to develop policy guidelines for accelerating the global adoption of quality, energy efficient lighting and refrigerating appliances and also served a member of the Energy Efficiency Task Force (EETC 2020-2021) on the Technical and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) under the Montreal Protocol. He serves on the interim steering committee of the Cool Coalition and chairs the Working Group on Dumping of used cooling appliances in Africa under the Cool Coalition. He sits on the National Committee of Ozone Depleting Substance (NACODS) which is managing the HCFC phase-out.

He has also served as a resource person on a number of energy efficiency and conservation seminars worldwide; a regular feature in International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global Conference on Energy Efficiency and Vienna Energy Forum (VEF). His contribution to energy efficiency issues on global platforms has positioned the Energy Commission as a credible institution both home and abroad.

Kofi obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Banking from the University of Ghana School of Administration, Legon, in 1991 and a Master of Science Degree in Energy Management from Norwegian School of Management in 1999.

Douglas Baguma

Douglas Baguma has over seven years’ experience working in the Renewable energy industry majorly focusing on Solar energy. He is an internationally trained Renewable energy engineer with a bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, a Post Graduate diploma in Business Administration in Uganda with further business training at Kellogg School of Management as an exchange fellow.

Douglas is currently the managing director at Innovex that is transforming the distribution of off-grid energy systems and equipment using IoT digital tools. Douglas is driven by the dream of global access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy. He has vast experience in business and a commendable acumen of integrating innovation with business. He has been part of various entrepreneurial fellowships in and outside Uganda such as the Global Innovation through Science and Technology in South Africa, the Mandela Washington Fellowship and the E-founders’ program with Alibaba in China.

Alexander Komakech Akena

Chairman – UNREEEA Board, Technical Director – AOT Consulting

Alexander is the East Africa regional coordinator with RMI’s Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED) program in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has more than 13 years of experience in energy efficiency, power systems, energy policy and planning and renewable energy systems development.

BACKGROUND

Prior to joining RMI, Alexander worked with government, international development partners and private sector where he successfully led and guided teams on energy engineering designs, strategy planning, and power infrastructural projects.
He co-founded AOT Consulting and Earth Partners (EP) – leading consultancies in Uganda in the space of energy and environment respectfully, underscoring his deep interest to an integrated approach to sustainable development. AOT continues to dominate energy management, energy audits and power systems projects. While EP is recognised for its success in developing catchment management plans, bathymetry, and watershed management plan.

Alexander has extensive knowledge in the supply and demand sectors of energy as well climate change sensitivity. He is active in association, networks and alliance works where he serves as the current chairperson of the Uganda National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Alliance (UNREEEA).

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

  • BEng (Hons), Automotive & Power Engineering, Kyambogo University, Uganda
  • MSc, Sustainable Energy Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
  • MEng, Engineering (Energy and Environment Management), Europa Universität Flensburg, Germany
  • Certified Energy Auditor (CEA), MUIPE, Professional Engineer

Anna Oursler

Anna is a certified Urban Planner and Architect with fifteen years of international development experience. She specializes in managing projects at the intersection of planning, engineering and design, working at multiple scales of governance across East Africa. Anna lives in Kampala, Uganda, managing mobility projects for the World Resources Institute, with a focus on electric mobility and multi-modal transport service provision.

Anna holds a Master of Science in Urban Planning and Master of Architecture from Columbia University, a Post-Graduate degree in Urban Management from the University of Nairobi and Bachelors degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Purity Kanario

Purity is the strategy lead at ICX. She is responsible for leadership and coordination of all brand, marketing, customer experience and business development activities at the secretariat. She has a wealth of experience in implementing marketing and customer experience programmes across industry and has a track record for delivering excellence. Purity is passionate about communication and is a seasoned corporate communications professional.

Troy Barrie

Troy Barrie is the Chief Technical Officer of Ariya Finergy, a Nairobi-based Financing, and Engineering firm that develops and builds renewable energy and power stabilisation projects. Ariya Finergy has developed 28 solar PV projects in Kenya including unique power stabilization projects that solve grid stability problems for entire industrial facilities.

Troy is an energy storage and renewable energy integration specialist; providing solutions to industries and utilities by integrating reliable technology solutions. He has over 10 years of global experience in manufacturing, commercial product deployment, and customer relations. His interests and focus are energy storage, smart controllers, and distributed generation as a means of ensuring utility power quality.

Sidney Wakaba

Investment Associate at Camco Clean Energy a global leader company in low-carbon energy projects and climate finance. Which have on-the-ground experience originating, financing and building clean energy and electrification projects in developing and established markets across the world.
Sidney Wakaba has vast experience in Energy, Project Finance & modelling, Renewable technologies, energy efficiency, electrification, energy policy, climate change and communication, Knowledge of renewable energy technology adoption in Europe and Africa. He has a Master’s degree from Imperial College Business School, Climate Change, Management and Finance and a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Nairobi in Industrial chemistry · He has several Certifications in Best Practice Project Finance Modelling Programming , Advanced Project Finance Modelling ,Organic Solar Cells – Theory and a Practice Honors-Awards for the Top undergraduate student .

Juliet Gbormittah

Juliet Gbormittah is an Electrical Engineer from Ghana, Currently the Technical Advisor at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in GIZ Ghana Program on Market Entry into Renewable energy and Energy efficiency for the productive sector in Ghana. Juliet has vast experience in Building Electrical Services, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.
Juliet has worked with several organizations including; Nordic Energy Efficiency Group (NEG Ghana) as an Energy Service Sales Consultant for Greater Accra where she worked with NEG Ghana’s power and energy efficiency experts to provide energy efficiency as a service to commercial buildings. DSTC Solar Training Center Technical Solar & Training Advisor where she Assisted with solar PV and energy efficiency-related training programs (mostly sponsored by GIZ), and assisted with the preparation of documentation for proposals for renewable energy-related projects. ARQ Engineering Solutions Limited Where she worked as an Electrical Engineer in Ghana Design of electrical services for building projects. She has a Master of Science Renewable Energy Technologies from Kwame Nkrumah’ University of Science and Technology of Science and a Bachelor Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah’ University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

Paul Issac Musasizi

Paul Isaac Musasizi is an Engineer with Vast Experience in Systems Engineering on several cutting-edge Technology Interventions in Uganda. Paul is an Elite Member of the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International). The outstanding interventions include the Kiira Motors Project, Uganda Police Force Crime Records Management System, Internet Laboratories at Makerere University, Academic Records Management System for Universities and Secondary Schools, National Security Information System, and the Interpol National Central Bureau Certificate of Good Conduct Information System, Uganda. Paul is a BSC. & MSC. in Mechanical Engineering graduate from Makerere University, has a Certificate in Radical Innovations from MIT, USA; a Certificate in Managing Engineering and Technical Professionals by the SAE International Detroit, MI USA; Certificate in Principles of Cost and Finance by International Troy, MI USA; and Certificate in Engineering Project Management Troy, MI USA. Paul is the Chief Executive Officer of Kiira Motors Corporation. Paul has a firm record as an entrepreneur, he is one of the founding directors of ARMS Technologies Limited a reputable Information Systems Engineering Company where he also serves as the Principal Systems Analyst. Paul has taught at Makerere University since 2003, currently posted to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has been key in the development of Curricula for several Engineering Programs at several Universities in Uganda as well being a key member of the team which drafted the minimum requirements for Bachelor’s Degrees in Engineering for the Inter-University Council for East Africa. Paul is also a Member of the Five member UAE Investment Committee instituted by H.E YK Museveni to oversee the realization of prime United Arab Emirates Investment Ventures in Uganda in the Areas of Minerals & Energy, Agriculture and Agroprocessing, Tourism and Infrastructure. Paul was a key Member of the Government of Uganda Technical Task Commitment for the Establishment of Plant for the manufacture of Buses and Trucks in Uganda.

Davis Tashobya

Davis is a Commonwealth scholar, toastmaster and a leadership coach.
For the last twelve years, he has trained and facilitated growth and development in public speaking, leadership and communication. Prior to working and training in Uganda,he worked with the Aga Khan University in Nairobi before moving back to Uganda where as a founding member of the first Toastmasters club in Uganda he has curved out a niche for himself in the soft skills industry and is now a leadership coach, trainer and sought after speaker.