A Focus On The USB Alumni Association East Africa Chapter

The East Africa (EA) chapter of the USB Alumni Association elected a new committee at their AGM in November 2018. Under the leadership of Prof. Josephat Kiweu, this chapter hosted a series of alumni-industry dialogue sessions and continuous learning events during 2017 and 2018. The new Chairperson for 2019-2020, Emma Rono, believes in the team’s capacity to move the East Africa chapter to the next level of excellence.

Emma Rono, is a specialist in the grants, fund and project management spaces, with strong donor/funders and university relationship, deep understanding of fund management and extensive experience in university capacity building in Sub Saharan Africa. Emma provides fund management and governance advisory services to Universities, foundations, individuals and international organizations on strategic growth and fund management. Over the last 13 years, Emma has built up extensive experience in non-profit making organisations, universities and institutional public-private partnerships. Most recently she was the  programme officer with African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and currently involved in Academic Programmes Development for a private International University and involved in the governance of a public University in Kenya.  A member of Project Management Institute (PMI) and the Institute of Directors. Emma holds a Master of Development Finance from University of Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa and a Bachelor of Education in Accounting and Economics from University of Nairobi, Kenya in addition to other professional certificates.

Kenneth Kabue is an Mdev Finance graduate from the University of Stellenbosch. He passionately advocates for financial inclusion. Kenneth is the Co-Founder of Grassroot Financial Inclusion whose goal is to propagate and enhance financial inclusion within the informal sector. With a commendable background in the Transport industry where he has overseen the inclusion of technology in enhancing efficiency and productivity at a leading corporate transport service provider in Kenya, he is now exploring the dynamic technology transfer that is unlimited with facilitation of credit services to the larger communities.

Collins Sifuma is in charge of communication in the USB Alumni Kenya Chapter. He is an auditor with the Government of Kenya for the past 8 years. He is also a training consultant and an entrepreneur with interests in education sector and is involved in a training college in Nairobi. Collins is a USB Alumni MBA-FT 2014 class. He holds a BSc in Applied Computer Science from Daystar University, Nairobi Kenya. He is a Certified Public Accountant Finalist, a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Information Systems Auditor. He loves travelling, giving motivational talks, and outdoor fun activities.

Vianney Mutyaba, completed a Master of Philosophy in Development Finance from University of Stellenbosch Business School in October 2014. He is a Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, (ACCA – UK), and a Certified Climate and Renewable Energy Finance Expert from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. He currently works as a Principal Financial Analyst with the Electricity Regulatory Authority in Uganda, an institution responsible for regulating the electricity sector in Uganda including generation, transmission, sale and distribution of electric power. Specifically, he reviews and manages the Electricity Tariff Structure and Tariff Methodologies for licensees in the Electricity Supply Industry in Uganda, evaluate the financial feasibility studies undertaken and submitted by intending developers in electricity generation in Uganda and advise on the appropriate Return on Investment and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital, and establish Economic Regulation Frameworks for licensees in the Electricity Supply Industry in Uganda.

Jemima Gathumi is a development finance practitioner with a Master of Philosophy in Development Finance (Cum Laude) from the University of Stellenbosch Business School. She is a member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) and a lawyer based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jemima has significant experience in fund management and international development consulting in sub-Saharan Africa. She has managed large development programmes as a management consultant and finance professional at KPMG, most notably The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity and the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund.  She currently works at FSD Africa, a development finance institution set up by the UK Government to transform financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa, drive inclusive economic development and reduce poverty. At FSD Africa, Jemima manages partnerships with financial institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, to deliver financial services to unserved and underserved customer segments.

Japhet Justine completed a Masters of Philosophy in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch Business. He is a Managing Director of Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB). Prior to this position, he served at the same capacity at Tanzania Women’s Bank (TWB) Plc. As a proficient banker with wide experience in development finance, leading, managing and transforming retail banking at national and international levels, he has achieved a number of commendable accomplishments these include: At TWB, in first 6 months, he managed to increase deposit from TZS 12.2 billion to TZS 20.1 billion, reduced the Non-Performing Loans from 60% down to 43%, increased assets growth of 3% and increased revenue up by 56%. At BancABC, he supervised the merging and integration of BancABC Zambia and Finance in Zambia and later Merging of the Tanzania Women’s Bank with TPB Bank while at NMB Plc he was instrumental at turning around NMB Branch Performance while optimizing on the digital channels.  At TADB, in just seven (7) months, Mr. Justine has managed to increase a loan portfolio from TZS 39.3 billion to the tune of TZS 280.2 billion that impacted lives of 1,049,370 smallholder farmers from 527,280 smallholder farmers by June 30, 2018. He has managed to increase Bank’s asset growth of 129%.