AFRICA HARVEST - Key Persons
Dr Rose Gidado is a member of the Board. She is the Assistant Director, Agricultural Biotechnology Department, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Nigeria. A Microbiologist, Dr Gidado has held various positions such as Desk Officer, Africa Biofortified Sorghum, and also for the Program for Biosafety Systems; Liaison Officer and Facilitator of the Nigeria Biosafety Bill passage from 2009-2015 and also as Secretary, National Technical Commission on Stem Cell Transplantation Program in Nigeria. Currently she is also the Secretary, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Programming Committee and also the OFAB Nigeria Coordinator.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Ephraim Mukisira is currently serving as a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee. He is a Consultant with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and holds a PhD in Animal Science from McGill University in Canada, a MSc in Animal Science from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, USA. He has a long experience in Agricultural research and animal science. He previously worked as a, Director/CEO, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute he also worked as the Assistant Director, KARI, in-charge of the Animal Production/Health Research Division in May 2000-July, 2001. He is serving as the Nominations and Governance Committee member within the Board.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Director
- Founder
Dr. Florence Wambugu is the founder, Director and CEO of Africa Harvest since 2002. She is a plant pathologist with specialization in virology and genetic engineering. She has an honorary PhD, Doctor of Science from the University of Bath, UK, and has conducted postdoctoral research at the Monsanto Life Sciences Center, USA. For over 30 years, she has dedicated her life to agricultural research, where she has made significant contributions to the improvement of sorghum, maize, pyrethrum, banana and sweet potato. Previously, she worked as the Africa Regional Director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter in Nairobi, and as a Research Scientist at KALRO. She has published over 100 articles and co-authored various papers, and is the author and publisher of Modifying Africa and Biotechnology in Africa: Emergence, Initiatives and Future. In 2005, she led an international consortium that was awarded USD 21 million under the global competitive grant by the BMGF. She is a recipient of several awards and honours, including the Norwegian YARA Prize in 2008. She currently serves as a board member for several international agencies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Paco Sereme is currently serving as a member of the Audit Committee. He is a Burkinabe currently serving as the acting Executive Director of the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD). He holds a PhD (Docteur-Ingénieur) in Plant Pathology from the University of Rennes I in France and a postgraduate degree General Agronomy from the University of Niamey in Niger among others. Prior to his position at CORAF, he held a position as the Executive Director of the same institution. He also served in Burkina Faso as Director of the National Agricultural Research Institute (INERA) from 1994 to 2002 after serving as Scientific Co-operation Director of the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (CNRST), he is also serving as a Nominations and Governance Committee member.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Secretary of the Board
Dr. Walter De Milliano currently serves as the Secretary of the Board of Directors. He is the Alternate member of Board for the authorisation of plant protection products and biocides (CTGB) Wageningen, the Netherlands. He has held various positions including PhD student-advisor, visiting lecturer, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa the Manager of Plant Health, Nickerson-Zwaan, Made, the Netherlands. Dr Walter holds a PhD in Plant Protection and Plant Breeding from Wageningen Agriculture University Netherlands. Prior to joining CTGB, he worked as a Consultant in Oostburg and a Wheat Project Leader in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is currently serving as Audit Committee member in the Board.
Mrs. Sylvia Banda currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors. She is the Managing Director of Sylvia Food Solutions in Zambia that works to increase the demand for locally produced traditional food by creating entrepreneurial hubs that give farmers access to markets. Through this vehicle, smallholder farmers working in the hubs are able to earn an income that impacts and transforms their lives. She also serves as the president of the African Women's Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP), a Board Member of Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) Zambia, Board Vice Chairperson on Agri-Business Incubation Trust (Agbit), and has in the past served as the Ambassador for Zambia. Mrs. Banda is also currently serving as an Audit Committee member in the Board and has over 20 years' experience in entrepreneurship in African agriculture.
Prof. Abdulai Jalloh is currently serving as a member of the Audit and Finance committee. He is an agronomist who has been engaged in Research for Development in diverse institutions across sub-Saharan Africa for over 30 years. He is currently the Consultant Research and Innovation Lead at AfricaRice in Cote d'Ivoire. He also serves as a professor at the Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology in his home country, Sierra Leone. This follows a trail of national and international engagements spanning from being a Scientist and then Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research and subsequently the Deputy Director General of the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute between 1988 and 2009. Prof. Abdulai joined CORAF (West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development) in 2009 as manager of its Natural Resources Management programme for six and a half year and then proceeded to IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture) where he led the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative program (2016-2017). He returned to CORAF in 2018 to serve as Director of Research and Innovation leading to his retirement in June 2021. Prof. Abdulai is currently establishing a Farm Academy to support the youth in Sierra Leone.