Our Team
Kim Matu
Associate Director & Shared Services Platform Lead, GDI Africa
Kim has over 17 years of experience in Business Operations with a biased focus on Growth & Strategy, Process Mapping, Improvement & Innovation, Customer service, Business Development, and Research Field Operations, across Sub – Sahara Africa. As Associate Director and Shared Services Lead, Kim will be working closely with the GDI team to incubate the Shared Services Platform, assist with the design & implementation of data and impact tools while playing a strategic role of improving business operations across the organization.
Before joining GDI, Kim was the Chief Operations Officer for Generation Kenya, where he provided overall operational direction and leadership, while closely collaborating with the local and global leadership teams, to ensure that the organization fulfilled its core mission of uplifting youth into meaningful work opportunities. Generation is one of the fastest scaling global youth employment programs, providing young adults with the opportunity to launch successful careers and change their life trajectories.
Kim has also gained a wealth of expertise while working in various roles for Kantar Operations, TNS RMS East Africa, Samasource, Horizon Contact Centers, among other organizations in different capacities.
Esther Ogol
Project Manager, Shared Services Platform Lead, GDI Africa
Esther Ogol is the Project Manager for the Shared Services Platform initiative in the GDI Nairobi office, where she leads all project management aspects of the Shared Services Platform activities including communication, planning, and logistics. Esther has over twelve years of experience in integrated International Development, Public Administration and Management, Public Health, and Research. Before joining GDI, she was the interim Programme Officer, Global Initiatives, TrustLaw at Thomson Reuters Foundation, where she provided technical and project management support for all global initiatives. She also worked as a Senior Research Manager at Kantar, Public Division, East Africa, managing diverse social and economic development projects.
Esther began her career in 2010 as a Research Assistant for the World Bank Group and quickly grew to become a Research Consultant and further nurturing her penchant for Public Health. Esther is also a Mandela Washington Fellowship 2015 and was hosted at Florida International University to pursue Public Administration and Management. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Integrated Community Development. She is currently completing her Masters of Business Administration and Management in Strategic Management. Esther plans to continue advocating for the empowerment of the vulnerable in our societies with the ultimate goal of achieving equal opportunities and sustainable development.
Nyambura Kariuki
Senior Manager Data, Evaluation, Reporting and Impact, Shared Services Platform Lead, GDI Africa
Peter Ouma
Human Resources and Compliant Specialist, Shared Services Platform, GDI Africa
Peter Ouma serves as Human Resources and Compliance Lead on GDI’s Shared Services Platform. He brings along multisectoral regional experience, spanning over 16+ years in human resources, decent work & safeguarding across the corporate, and development sectors.
Peter has played pivotal roles in assisting INGOs and NGOs to establish decent work, safeguarding and accountability frameworks, governance and policy revisions, and designing learning programs on crucial areas including gender mainstreaming, accountability, complaints handling, and investigation. Additionally, he has experience implementing various ethical trading standards including Fairtrade Standards/Fair Trade International Hired Labour Standard, Ethical Trading Initiatives (ETI) Base Code, and Social Accountability International SA8000 Standard enabling compliance in accreditation-sensitive multi-national workplace environments. Besides supporting established family-owned businesses design, and implement, family/business governance and human resources structures.
He holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology and has completed various safeguarding training programs including Child Safe Organizations, and Safeguarding Children in Sports. He has completed the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and Accountability Investigator Qualification Training Scheme Tier 1, hosted by CHS Alliance, further attesting to his unwavering experience and dedication to excellence in the field.
Sharon Amadi Osano
Grants and Finance Specialist– Shared Services Platform (SSP)
Sharon Amadi Osano is a dynamic finance professional with a decade of extensive experience in successfully implementing projects, developing budgeting strategies, and overseeing financial operations. She has a proven track record in grant management, risk assessment, and project management, having managed grants ranging from grant start-up to closeout, as well as sub-grantee management for renowned donors such as EU, USAID, and DFID. Her portfolio includes handling budgets of up to $20 million across public, private, and unrestricted funding sources. Sharon’s expertise lies in ensuring compliance with funding regulations and implementing robust risk management frameworks. She has demonstrated her ability to achieve significant outcomes in diverse project disciplines such as OVC, youth mentorship, and agribusiness.
Beyond her rich background in the non-profit sector, Sharon has contributed her skills as an Advisory & Risk Management Associate at Crowe Erastus & Co., a member of Crowe Global, where she offered invaluable risk management guidance to multinational clientele. Sharon holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Nairobi, is a certified public accountant, and is a member of ICPAK. She is also a member of the Association of Women Accountants of Kenya (AWAK). Sharon’s passion for creating sustainable change extends to her personal and professional spheres alongside farming in her demo farm back in rural Kenya.
Andrew Gathecha
Finance Director, GDI Africa
Andrew serves as Chief Finance Officer (CFO) on the GDI Africa team. He is a finance and project management professional with several years of experience managing large, complex, multi-stakeholder grant programs, combined value of over $200 million, ensuring prudent investments in agriculture, health, and education; Worked cross-culturally – Kenya, Mozambique, Jordan, Liberia; Recent roles include: at Tanager, worked as global director for compliance and operations, and as team leader for AgResults, a private sector-driven pay-for-results project which helped improve grain storage capacity for smallholder farmers in Kenya; Was the technical grants manager for a USAID Kenya Horticulture Competitiveness Project implemented by Fintrac; was grants management specialist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kenya. Previously managed country finance and operations with various international development organizations, in addition to stints in the private sector as chief accountant. Andrew holds MBA from Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt Univ, UK), and is a certified public accountant & member of ICPAK. Andrew resides in Nairobi with his wife and their five year old boy. He loves farming, traveling and playing Scrabble.
Ann Murage
Associate Director, Operations & Human Resources, GDI Africa
Ann Murage is an Associate Director, Operations and Programmes for GDI in Africa and formally served as a Manager with the Mastercard Foundation Rural and Agricultural Finance (RAF) Learning Lab. Ann has a background in project management, with a focus on international development. She was involved in setting up GDI in Africa where her current responsibilities involve the institutionalization of policies & procedures, development and operationalization of the talent strategy, financial management and stakeholder engagement.
Prior to joining GDI, Ann worked as a Project Manager at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. She was responsible for partner engagements, research implementation, and coordination of key projects in Sub-Sahara Africa. Earlier in her career, she was instrumental in supporting regional finance project teams in setting up systems including providing onsite support to project offices in DR Congo, Sudan and Southern Sudan.
Ann holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool, she is a Certified Public Account and has qualifications in Microfinance, SME Finance. She is passionate about the promotion of improved livelihoods and uplifting of the less advantaged in society.
George Ndung’u
Director, GDI Kenya
George serves as the National Technical Assistance (TA) Coordinator at the GDI Nairobi office. He is a renowned development and humanitarian practitioner with 16 years of experience working with various governments, inter-governmental organizations and charities working in the larger Eastern Africa region.
Prior to joining GDI, he served as a technical government advisor in cash transfer programming in Kenya, Nigeria as well as for the UK Government on Afghanistan. He has also consulted for UNICEF Kenya, UNDP Kenya, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Intergovernmental Agency for Development (IGAD), DANIDA-funded Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT-Kenya), BOMA PROJECT, Wasafiri Consulting and East Africa Grain Council on various development programmes. His work has been presented and published in reputable international conferences, including in Kenya, South Africa, Germany and the UK. He is a beneficiary of the Firoz & Lalji Foundation’s Africa Leadership Programme and graduated from The London School of Economics (LSE) and Harvard University.
Alice Gugelev
Managing Director, GDI Africa & Chief Advisor on Strategy, Governance and Fundraising
Alice is a Managing Director of GDI US and the CEO of GDI Africa, where she works with large corporations, commercial investors and INGOs to integrate social impact, innovation and social entrepreneurship efforts into their portfolios, and helps philanthropists and social enterprises more effectively create systems-level change. Prior to joining GDI, Alice worked at Bridgespan, Bain & Co, the World Bank and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. She is the co-founder and executive director of The Muskoka Foundation, as well as the co-founder and chief strategy officer of AppMkr. Alice earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and has a double major BA in International Economics and East Asian Studies from Columbia University and Stanford Japan Center. Alice enjoys spending time at her cabin in Canada with her family – and lots of uninvited black flies.