Mahmood Sonday

Director at Reos Partners Africa, Mahmood has over a decade of project and consulting experience in the corporate sector and government. His background in project design for impact and entrepreneurship complements his experience in venture philanthropy and building multi-stakeholders partnerships for systems change efforts. 

Mahmood works to deliver results at the intersection of established and emerging institutions in multiple sectors, ranging from international NGOs and philanthropy to energy, healthcare, financial services and transitions in mining. His experience is varied and includes digital and process transformation, culture strengthening in financial services, scaling rural electrification efforts through renewable energy and collaboration for systems change.

Craig Gibbs

Craig is a Specialist Manager at JET, he holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Research from the University of Portsmouth and is currently studying for his PhD. He has 25 years of experience as an educator in South Africa and in England where he was a school principal for over 10 years.

Craig has a wide range of experience in managing projects throughout South Africa, particularly in rural areas, and has worked for JET on projects across South Africa. He has also been seconded to work for the National Education Collaboration Trust where he has participated in developing and implementing school  leadership and management and teacher, learner and community programmes linked to provincial, district and school development.

Craig has also been instrumental in developing and delivering JET’s e-learning programme in numerous rural schools throughout South Africa.

Melanie Ehren

Melanie is a Professor in Educational Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University Amsterdam) and honorary professor at University College London, Institute of Education.

Her areas of expertise are educational accountability and improvement, both research and capacity-building. She has led a number of large-scale comparative research projects in the EU and worked with colleagues in Latin America, Asia, Africa, the US and the Middle East.

Kaathima Ebrahim

Kaathima is an Early Childhood Development strategist, with experience in management consulting and programme implementation.

She is CEO of The Mikhulu Trust, an organisation focused on bridging the gap between academic research on parenting and families, and the community networks that support them.

She has a diverse work experience in both private and social sectors, and previously worked as a public sector consultant in the Africa Delivery Hub at McKinsey & Company, as a programme manager at education-focused NGOs and as a Technology strategist and architect at Vodacom.

Our Host - Andrew Akpan

Andrew, a Mandela Rhodes Scholar, is a senior consultant with the Reos Partners office in Johannesburg. Andrew has worked on several long-term multi-stakeholder projects in different geographical contexts.

He currently leads a project with the Atlantic Institute to help its senior fellows catalyse action towards COVID-19 vaccine equity.

He is passionate about the progress of Africa, and is determined to help champion systemic interventions around governance and policy, particularly in his country of Nigeria.