The moms and dads who mentor, cast vision, set budgets, and identify tools to scale up, and ensure goals are being met.
Megan White Mukuria
CEO and Founder, Megan White Mukuria, a graduate of Harvard University (B.A. Psychology) brings extensive experience in social enterprise, planning and fundraising for non-profits and development and strategy for businesses in Kenya for nearly 10 years. Working with various organizations, she has initiated five businesses and raised $1 million in private donations for programs and businesses.
Megan is a recognized leader both locally and internationally. She is the youngest President of a Rotary Club in Kenya, and laying the roots for ZanaA, she helped launch the National Sanitary Pads Campaign in February 2005 through her Rotary Club. She became a founding member of the National Sanitary Towels Campaign Coordinating Committee, constituted in May 2008.
In 2004 Megan won the Angels Abroad Award from 85 Broads for her entrepreneurial achievements, and the next year her high school alma matter, Greenwich Academy, awarded her the Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award, making her their youngest recipient in history. She was a semi-finalist in the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year for Africa Award in 2009, the same year her business plan won the Wharton Africa Business Forum Business Plan Competition.
Dr. Lawino Kagumba
Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Lawino Kagumba, is an accomplished Materials Scientist (Polymers Specialty) with over 10 years experience in industrial research and product development. She is an innovator with a successful record in converting scientific ideas to funded projects, and directing technical efforts to advance technologies from proof-of-concept to prototypes to products ready for market. She has worked in Boston, USA for Polaroid Corporation, Triton Systems, Inc and most recently as Director of R&D for the start-up venture FRX Polymers in Boston, MA.
She received her B.A in Chemistry from Smith College, Northampton, MA and PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.
Dr. Mukuria Mwangi
Program Manager Dr. Mukuria Mwangi brings an integrated approach to ZanaA’s work with youth. He has worked as a therapist on three continents: in San Diego, CA, USA, at the Community Research Foundation, providing a comprehensive range of mental health services with culturally appropriate interventions to serve clients from diverse ethnic backgrounds; in Naples, Italy, at the Centro Internazionale to develop courses helping to support West African immigrants with the emotional, cultural and technical tools necessary to adjust to life in Italy; and, in Nairobi, Kenya, at Nairobi Place, a drug and alcohol recovery centre, where he assisted clients in the recovery process and developed family support networks facilitate discussions and understanding concerning substance abuse in families.
This combination, along with a passion to see youth self-aware and attaining their dreams, equips him to not only provide the psychosocial training and support to ZanaA’s youth empowerment programs but also to be an intermediary with donors or international interns. Dr. Mwangi holds both an MA in Family Therapy from California School of Professional Psychology and a Ph.D in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh.
