Adedoyin Adeleke (Italy and Nigeria)
Founder/Executive Director

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Adedoyin Adeleke is a sustainable energy researcher, currently pursuing a doctoral degree within the UNESCO Chair in Energy for Sustainable Development at the Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy and the Founder and Executive Director of the International Support Network for African Development (ISNAD-Africa). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and a multidisciplinary master’s degree in Energy Studies from University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. His interest in using theoretical knowledge to impact social and economic development led him to co-invent a 10-seconds chicken de-feathering machine during his undergraduate studies. As his master’s dissertation, he researched on the “Sustainability of Solar Mini-Grids in Nigeria” which profiles factors responsible for failure and success of solar mini-grids in Nigeria.

Adedoyin is named in the 2018 40 Under 40 list of Changemakers in the global solar energy industry (Renewable Energy World, USA) and also the first African to be named in 30 Under 30 list of Changemakers in Environmental Education (North America Association for Environmental Education, USA) since the commencement of the awarding initiative. Also in 2018, he is among the Top 100 Shakers and Movers in e-learning in Africa as rated by Bob Little Press and Public Relations, United Kingdom.

Adedoyin has also received numerous scholarship awards for his excellent educational performance including the Federal Scholarship Board Undergraduate Award, Nigeria (2009-2012) which funded his undergraduate studies and the MacArthur Foundation Grant Scholarship (2015 – 2016) at the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law, Ibadan, Nigeria for his master’s degree programme; Fellowship from the German Government for the 69th UNEP/UNESCO/BMUB International Short Course on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, and Italian Government Scholarship for his Doctoral Study, among others. He has also received several of grants from the Royal Academy of Overseas Science (Belgium), Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (Nigeria), Global GreenGrants Fund (USA), among others.

Funded by a fellowship from the German government, Adedoyin was one of the 21 young sustainable energy professionals selected from across the globe who participated at the 69th UNEP/UNESCO/BMUB International Short Course on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in 2016 at Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. He has also participated in many conferences, workshops and summer schools on diverse sustainable energy topics in various countries. He served as a Lead Country Contributor for the Paris-based Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) in preparing its Global Status Reports (2017 and 2018 editions) on Renewable Energy. He also served as a Contributor to the 2017 1 Gigaton Report which tracked contributions of renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes in developing countries to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, among other contributions to causes for green growth and education development globally.

Adedoyin is a relentless volunteer, championing causes for green growth and educational development in Africa. He is the Initiator and Team Lead for the Mentoring for Research Programme, an initiative that facilitates various global supports for graduate students in African universities conducting research on environmental topics. During his National Youth Service in Kano State, Nigeria, he organised six education-based community development programmes which directly benefitted more than 800 high school students and many other young people were indirect beneficiaries through his weekly radio and television programmes in the state. One of the programmes was published by a national newspaper among other media reports.

He says ‘while I specialise in sustainable energy and contribute to educational development, my interest transcend energy and goes beyond education, I want to contribute to the making of the Real Africa: the Africa with llivelihood that reflect its potentials’….‘Africa is too rich to be poor, I choose to Act’.

Agatha Christy Sonma Okoro (USA)
Manager, Administration

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Sonma Okoro is a passionate renewable energy professional with expertise in both wind and solar technologies. Her experiences span from the semiconductor industry to the energy and utilities industry. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Jacobs University Bremen. In 2010 she won a Global Engineering Award to pursue double Masters degrees which she completed with top grades. She was awarded a Master of Science in Microelectronics and Microsystems Engineering from the Technische Universität Hamburg and a Technology Management MBA for Engineers from the Northern Institute of Technology Management in Germany. For her MBA thesis in 2012, Sonma developed investment models for Photovoltaic power plants with energy storage systems at Siemens Energy, Germany.

She is a Performance Engineer with E.ON Climate & Renewable (USA) for their global fleet of wind farms. In her role, Sonma uses advanced analytics tools and algorithms to analyze specific signals which indicate the condition of the wind turbines and detect inefficiencies as well as predict failures. She works with the Site Engineers and Operators to derive actionable insights, solve problems and restore turbines to best possible performance levels. She is also responsible for supporting the sites in planning and validation of performance upgrades to increase energy yield of the wind farms. Sonma has led a business process improvement project in the company and is qualified as a Lean Six-Sigma Green Belt.

Sonma’s accomplishments have taken her worldwide on multiple assignments. Earlier in her career, she was sent on exciting renewable energy projects across different countries. Among them are offshore wind development projects in Germany and Denmark, and on the construction of an offshore wind farm in the UK. Another which holds a special significance for her is the start-up of a solar off-grid solutions company which provides electricity via mini-grids to rural communities in Tanzania. The latter experience inspired her to found Lumen Energy Consultancy in 2016, a firm which provides technical advice and support on design and procurement of reliable, quality solar PV systems for homes and businesses in Nigeria.

Oluwadamilola Pikuda (Canada)
Manager, Programmes

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Oluwadamilola Pikuda is a passionate environmental researcher with expertise in photocatalysis, material science, nanotechnology/nanomaterials and their applications towards achieving a cleaner and sustainable environment. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the Biocolloids and Surfaces Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Canada where her research focuses on the effects of plastic pollution on aquatic organisms.

She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria where she graduated with first class honours and a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering, at the Institute Center for Water and Environment (iWater), Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE, where she worked on Semi-Conductor Thin Films for Solar Light Activated Glass and graduated with distinction.  She is a past recipient of several prestigious scholarships such as Carnegie Female Merit Award, USA (2009-2012), Federal Government Undergraduate Scholarship, Nigeria (2009-2012), Masdar Institute Scholarship, UAE (2015-2016), and currently McGill Engineering Doctoral Award, Canada (2017 – date) and the Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (2018-date). Also, Oluwadamilola was awarded Best Thesis Award, Department of Chemical Engineering; Master of Science Outstanding Thesis Award; and Certificate of Excellence for Outstanding Academic Performance and Maintaining a GPA of 4.0 (2015-2017 Academic Years) at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology upon the completion of her M. Sc. Programme.

She has presented her research work at different conferences across the globe and published several peer-reviewed publications. Asides her commitment to environmental-related research, Dami is also passionate for educational development especially in Africa and continually engages in activities to contribute to youth-related causes in the continent. She is a founding member of Nigeria Future Energy Group (NiFEG), a Nigeria-based NGO which promotes sustainability whilst proffering solutions to localized energy problems. Among the successful projects of the group is powering the Kanji and Wolfson lecture halls in Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria using solar PV panels, as well as providing training sessions on PV panel installation to the university students.

She is the Program Manager of International Support Network for African Development (ISNAD-Africa).

Wuraola Okuwobi (Nigeria)
Programme Associate

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Amanda Kahunzire (Uganda)
Communications Associate

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Amanda is an Electrical Engineer with over 2 years experience with Uganda's biggest electricity distribution utility. Recently completed an MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures from Imperial College, London and a science policy internship on climate change and emerging technologies with the Royal Society of London. Areas of interest include clean energy technologies, energy access in developing countries, and energy efficiency for sustainable energy sectors.

Yasmin Khalafallah (UAE)
Communications Associate

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Yasmin works as an Assistant Programme Manager at UN-Habitat's Housing and Slum Upgrading Programme in Egypt. Her work entails identifying urban challenges and gaps particularly in the field of housing and urban upgrading and conceptualizing solutions to counter them. Upon having solid project ideas, we look for ways to fund the implementation of the suggested projects. Through her current and previous work she has worked on projects aimed at improving the quality of life of different target groups of urban dwellers. Some of the projects she has worked on aimed to: increase the resilience of slum dwellers against climate change in Cairo; create green public spaces in a Cairo informal settlement and raising the environmental awareness of its residents; provide water to unconnected Upper Egyptian villages through cost-effective nature based filtration technologies; in addition to many other projects.

Victorine Ghislaine Nzino Munongo (Cameroon)
Communications Associate

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Victorine Ghislaine Nzino Munongo is a female social scientist. Her research interests are based on Human rights issues with sustainable development as focus, thus resulting to the publication of several scientific articles and a book on security, water, energy, waste management policies and gender issues that got her the award of ‘best junior researcher 2015’ from the Ministry of Scientific research and innovation in Cameroon. Having as assets a Master degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action focused on sustainable development and a professional Master in defence, strategy, management of conflicts and disasters, she is engaged in a Human rights-based approach assessment of public policies. Her main goal is to influence policymaking and stakeholders towards efficient reforms of social and sustainable development-oriented policies.

Sylvie Tchoumi Tchoumke (Cameroon)
Communications Associate

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Sylvie Tchoumi Tchoumke is a trainer and consultant in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. For 5 years she works to contribute to the reduction of pollution and environment’s protection by bringing her expertise to processing companies; extractive industries, young entrepreneurs, government development projects and any community. With a degree in Law obtained in 2011, Sylvie is accepted through a national entrance competition in the prestigious Institute of International Relations of Cameroon in partnership with Ca Foscari’s University of Venice; where she obtained in 2014 a Master’s in International Relation focus on: Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. Passionate about sustainable environment and climate resilience; Sylvie is the founder of Nena Fî association which promotes green entrepreneurship and campaigns as an activist with othersassociations like AIDE21 (Africa International for Development and Environment for 21st century) and Green Africa by organizing sensitizations, valorizing wetlands and strengthening of the capacity of local community through best practices. In 2018, her social project to create a lowcost firm dealing with environmental and social study assessment to help young entrepreneurs in her community earned her to participate in the YALI (Young Africa Leadership Initiative) Program in Dakar-Senegal.

Adekola Adeniran (Nigeria)
Programme Associate

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Adekola Adeniran is a computer engineer with over 7 years experience. He's young, energetic and always Striving to become the best in everything he does. Finds passion in volunteering and helping others to be their best and achieve the set goal and target. A good team player in any field with experience in social media managing, web design, branding, research, graphic design, photo journalism, printing and packaging, and music (Good music). He enjoys new project delivery and can fit in any field of work, always giving it his best shot.

Enoch Bessah (Ghana and Nigeria)
Programme Associate

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Enoch is a final year PhD student in Environmental Management under the Pan African University Institute of Life and Earth Sciences (PAULESI) hosted in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana and a master’s degree in Climate Change and Adapted Land from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria. Enoch has also participated in academic training or courses with credit units from George Mason University through Smithsonian Conservation and Biology Institute, Front Royal, USA and Technische Universität Dresden, through Centre for International Postgraduate Studies of Environmental Management (CIPSEM), Germany. His research interests are climate change, food and water security, soil and land-use engineering employing in-situ measurements, social survey, remote sensing and GIS applications and modelling. Enoch has been awarded a number of scholarships and fellowships throughout his education. He received the Pan African University Scholarship for his PhD from African Union, the West Africa Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land-use Master Research Program Scholarship for his master’s studies, International Foundation of Science (IFS) research grant and German Government fellowship to participate in the 76th UNEP/UNESCO/BMUB International short course on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. He is a member of the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment, International Association of Landscape Ecology and Graduate member of Ghana Society of Agricultural Engineering. Enoch volunteers for Pan Africa Centre for Climate Policy as Programs Manager, President of African Union Chapter at the University of Ibadan (PAULESI) and co-founded Hands on Globe International, in his commitment to improving livelihood while sustaining a clean and safe environment.

Tobiloba Adaramati (Nigeria)
Programme Associate

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Tobiloba Adaramati is a mathematician who sees the beauty in data. She is an expert in data processing, opinion mining, sentiment and reputation analysis. Through her unique perspective, Tobiloba sees each data point as a unique part of a puzzle which put together correctly, creates a clear picture. She uses various forms of data to provide valuable insights and reveal underlying trends. Her background includes a first class degree in mathematics and experience providing monitoring and evaluation services for international development programs.

Akinleye Folorunsho (Nigeria)
Programme Associate

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Akinleye is a committed Climate Scientist with vast and growing knowledge in climate related affairs. He serves as a Research Assistant at the Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria where he is currently undergoing his Masters degree studies majoring in Air quality and aerosols modeling. He finished from the same university as the best in his class in 2016, having developed interest in Renewable Energy within same period. Over the years, he has acquired and developed himself in quite some data analytics tools with the multiple use of some statistical tools and programming languages. He underwent a training in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in January, 2018 at Curators hub, and also an associate member of Coderina Africa in the training of teens in Robotics technology.

Achoroi Aaron (Uganda)
Programme Associate

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Aaron Achoroi just completed his Master of Land use and Regional Development Planning at Makerere University where he is also a Research Fellow. He has also just finished a Postgraduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation at Uganda Management Institute. As an upcoming researcher and scientist, Aaron’s research interests span in the fields of industrialization, climate change, land use planning, monitoring and evaluation, environment impact assessments as well as emergence and development of green cities for sustainable development. Aaron has worked with different organisations such as Uganda Investment Authority, Uganda Bureau of Statistics and National Environment Management Authority on different projects. Currently, his working as a Research Fellow at Makerere University, Department of Geography, Geo-informatics and Climatic Sciences. His also employed as a Research and Development Officer at Hansom Group, an International Construction Company. His involved in various consultancy projects on monitoring and evaluation. He has also implemented a donor funded project at Kampala Industrial and Business Park as a lead researcher for the Kampala Industrial and Business Park Economic Impact Project.

Charles BIDIME EPOPA (Cameroon)
Programme Associate

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Charles Bidime Epopa est un jeune camerounais inscrit à la Faculté des Arts, Lettres et Sciences Humaines (FALSH) de l’Université de Yaoundé 1. Il prépare actuellement une thèse de Doctorat Ph. D. en Histoire Politique et des Relations Internationales. Son champ scientifique couvre diverses thématiques relatives à l’histoire contemporaine telles : la gestion des conflits, la culture de la paix, paix-conflits et développement en Afrique…

Oluwaseun Salami (Nigeria)
Programme Associate

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Oluwaseun Salami is an Energy and Technology enthusiast with a desire to constant and progressive use of energy resources in his community and country. In 2019, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Having being afforded the opportunity to intern with Chevron Nigeria Limited in his undergraduate days, he gained further insight into energy and the integral role of sustainable energy sources to the earths climatic balance helping to mitigate the harmful releases from non-renewable sources. With this desire, he (in a team of 4) invented a Pyrolyzer in his Final Undergraduate year which functions to Pyrolyze Plastic Waste obtaining pyrolysis oil as an alternative to conventional diesel and gasoline; this oil after laboratory tests was detected to have a lower Co2 emissions per MWh of electricity produced. He is currently a Process Engineer with PetroPlat Energy Limited. And has committed himself to several youth empowerment causes, one such as “Reach”. A group of people with the desire to reach youths and empower them as leaders of tomorrow. Oluwaseun is also a self-taught Video Graphics Editor with which he channels his passion to speak and reach youth in his community and the world at large through shooting and making of contents such as; short inspirational videos and also editing the content.

Festus Adedoyin (UK and Nigeria)
Programme Associate

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Festus Adedoyin holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics (Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria – First Class Honours), MSc in Economics (University of Ibadan – PhD Grade), MSc in Development Policy (via the Global Ambassador Scholars Programme of the Korean Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management, South Korea), and a Ph.D. (in-view 2020) in Consumer Behaviour and Tourism Taxation (via the Doctoral College Paid Studentship of Bournemouth University). Festus is a Demonstrator at the Maths and Stat Clinic, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics since October 2017 where he supports both undergraduate and postgraduate students with their needs related to mathematics and statistics for research as well as course work. His main research interests include international economics, taxation and tourism economics. He has published in a number of internationally recognised emerging academic journals including the Asian Journal of Empirical Economics. He has also presented papers and participated in the scientific and organising committees internal and international academic conferences.