Thank You!

Madele is the Corporate Responsibility Manager at Mouton Holdings. She manages all aspects of Mouton’s social and environmental responsibility ensuring that they adhere to relevant accreditation standards, international best practices, and South African laws. With an MSc degree in Conservation Ecology Madelé currently, serves on the Tesco & Community Fund and Waitrose Foundation Boards in South Africa and now recently a member of the Fairtrade Arica SAN Board.

Femke works as the COO of Farmerline, a young social enterprise based in Ghana leveraging mobile technology to empower small-scale farmers to increase their resilience and livelihood. Passionate about technology and development, she has experience in the field of of international development, sustainability and project coordination. Prior to Farmerline, she worked as Certification Manager for a large cocoa farmer organisation with around 10,000 farmers where she managed a team of 40 people in the effective implementation of the organisations’ sustainability programs

Nana leads the joint IFC/ World Bank’s Lighting Africa (LA) program in Kenya. Prior to joining IFC, Nana, an Engineer and Marketer by training, worked for a decade in various sales and market penetration roles starting in Mobil Oil Ghana Ltd and ending his private sector experience as the Sales Manager for Toyota Ghana Co. Ltd in Accra. He is a team member of the GoK/World Bank Kenya Off- Grid Solar Access
project which seeks to promote solar access to 14 underserved counties

Benoit is a director at Fair Trade Lebanon. He was actively involved in its creation back in 2006. The Fair Trade Lebanon is an initiative based on the observation that Lebanese women of rural communities have strong but underemployed skills and potential. The founders decided to use fair trade as a means to promote local expertise in food processing and to generate revenues for disadvantaged rural communities. Benoit has over 30 years’
experience in the field of international solidarity, spreading from France to Lebanon.

Issa is the Group Human Resource Manager at Zena Roses ltd Farms, located in Thika and Eldoret. As an HRM, he provides HR consulting services, leadership development, training, policy formulation and leadership resources among other duties related to the position. Prior to being employed in the private sector, he was a veteran trade Unionist having risen through ranks to the position of Assistant General Secretary at the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union

Dan has worked at Auma Obama Foundation (Sauti Kuu) as Projects coordinator for more than eight years, working with young people and women in the area of Personality Development, Sustainable Economic Growth (Agriculture) and Infrastructure (creation of safe spaces). He has vast work experience in program work including aspects such as; advocacy, community outreach, mobilization, networking with other practitioners, Office Administration, Event organisation, Logistics, Policy review and implementation, Monitoring, Public Relations and Resource Mobilization

Dr Hermogène NSENGIMANA, the ARSO Secretary General, holds a PhD in Analytical and environmental chemistry from the School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Prior to his appointment as the ARSO Secretary General in 2012, he was a senior lecturer at National University of Rwanda (NUR) where beside active research work alongside teaching, he held leadership position as Vice dean in the Faculty of Science and Deputy Director in Charge of Consultancy and Research at NUR. Dr. Nsengimana is an accomplished Standardisation expert with wide knowledge on standards development, adoption and implementation principles based on the WTO TBT/SPS Agreement

Hend is the Quality and Corporate Affairs Director at Daltex Corporation, an Egyptian firm that produces, packs, and exports fresh fruits and vegetables. With over 30 years working experience in the various organisations across the globe, Hend has a vast amount of knowledge in quality management and planning and development of projects.

Dieter is the founder and the Managing Director / CEO of the non-profit organisation TransFair. The organisation supports fair trade with developing countries and awards the Fairtrade seal in Germany. Previously, he founded a vocational school for unemployed youths in Gummersbach where he worked as an instructor for seven years. He has spent over 30 years being an active member of Amnesty International and offering corporate leadership and counsel as a board member of TransFair International.

Audrey is a Project Manager at Advans Group, an international network of microfinance institutions. Previously she supported Advans Côte d’Ivoire in implementing a digital savings project with 14,000 cocoa farmers through a USSD menu on the mobile phones. She first worked as a consultant in impact assessment for development projects in Africa, and at the R&D department of a Mobile Network Operator on the business modelling of innovations on the African market

David Maina is an Investment Manager at AlphaMundi, based in Nairobi. Before joining AlphaMundi, he was working at Abraaj Group as an Associate. He was instrumental in the implementation of a Fund Accounting and Portfolio Management ERP. He has also worked in the investment department as an analyst. Prior to joining Abraaj, he was working in a corporate finance firm focusing on small and medium enterprises. He holds a Bachelor of Education in Economics and Mathematics from Moi University and is a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPA) (K) from Strathmore University in Nairobi. He is currently pursuing a MBA in Finance and Strategic Management from United States International University (USIU) and a certification as a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA).

Tim Radjy is the Founder of and a Managing Partner at AlphaMundi in Switzerland, a Board member of AlphaMundi’s SocialAlpha Investment Fund (SAIF) in Luxembourg, and the manager of SAIF-Bastion since 2009. Tim previously worked at UBS Wealth Management where he became a founding member of UBS Philanthropy Services for UHNWI clients. He also spent time in Bolivia, assessing microfinance programs on behalf of the Swiss Development Agency. Tim holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Geneva and a Private Banking Diploma from UBS, and is fluent in French, English and Spanish.

Ever since 2009, Peter d’Angremond is the executive director of the Max Havelaar foundation, the Dutch foundation behind the Fairtrade certification mark. In this position, Peter is also chairman of the association of labelling initiatives (the 23 associations responsible for the market development of Fairtrade in their respective markets).Peter has had various commercial positions in leading organizations, as Kraft, Disneyland Resort Paris and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. His inspiration for Fairtrade is, build on a strong belief that a fair income contributes to creating proud and independent people (and livelihoods).

Leonard F. Z. Kachebonaho is the Farmer, Founder and CEO KADERES and KPD PLC. He has 21 years of experience in working with Small Holder Farmers in Kagera region in the Northern Western part of Tanzania. He is heading the organization which is supporting over 200,000 farmers in socio economic development initiatives. He facilitated and supported over 7500 to join and benefit from Fair trade movement in Tanzania. The Community members are benefiting a lot from the fair price they are getting from the sales of their Fair trade movement and will give his experience on Finance Services to his communities

Alien Huizing works as Supply & Development Manager at the Dutch Fairtrade Organisation (Max Havelaar Netherlands). Previously she worked as international trade advisor at the Chamber of Commerce and as certification manager in the dairy sector. She also lived a couple of years in Uganda, working with farmer organisations. Having been interested in Fairtrade all her life (she even wrote her thesis about Fairtrade), she is very happy to be able to contribute to Fairtrade’s mission since 2011. At Max Havelaar she is responsible for various products, including cocoa and juices.

Andreas Jiménez (53 years old) has started his position as CEO of the Max Havelaar Foundation in May 2017. Between 2011 and 2017, he was the CEO of Bio Partner, the Swiss market leader in the supply of organic and Fairtrade food and already partner of the Max Havelaar Foundation. Andreas is an economist by education and has previously worked in leading management positions within the Lekkerland Group, a global convenience food company.

Anita is the Senior Policy, Research and Advocacy Analyst at Fairtrade International. Having joined Fairtrade back in 2009, she is an expert on child and forced labour issues, including protection of children and vulnerable adults.

Prior to joining Fairtrade, Anita worked at Save the Children in Canada for eight years as its Senior Policy, Research and Advocacy Analyst.

She has a vast experience on policy and human rights issues, having worked as an expert advisor to the U.S. Department of Labour’s Cocoa and Child Labour Oversight Body, and has on many occasions attended workshops as a trainer to several U.S. Custom, Immigration and Law Enforcement workshops, including the Toronto Police, on human trafficking for forced labour purposes.

Her passion in championing human rights issues is evident in her published academic journals, speaking out on labour and human security issues in agricultural and extractive sectors, involving several countries in West and East Africa and South and Central America and as one of the board directors of Partnership Africa Canada that played a key role in the prevention and sale of conflict diamonds.

Anita is an Indian born, Canadian citizen, who has lived and studied in Malta and currently resides and works in Bonn, Germany.

John is the Chief Value Officer as Fairtrade International, having joined back in February 2018. He has worked in the agriculture sector for over 35 years, gaining experience in shaping commercial facing activities for various companies including; ConAgra, Fresh Del Monte Produce, Bunge, Naturipe and The Schwan Food Company. He is currently working with our Producer Networks and the National Fairtrade Organization on the Fairtrade central office in Bonn to create and implement strategies that complement our traditional approach with new ways of enabling business engagement within the Fairtrade system.

John has been on the boards of the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association, Produce For Better Health, the International Banana Association, and the International Fresh-cut Produce Association. Then US Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman appointed John to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fruits & Vegetables Industry Committee where he served a two-year term.

John holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico and a Master in International Business Studies (MIBS) from the University of South Carolina in the United States. He has spent much of his career overseas and has lived in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Greece.

Aaron has over 15 years’ experience in championing community development, gender empowerment, farm economics, and nutrition education across the African region. Currently working as the Regional Public Affairs Manager at Nestlé Equatorial Africa Regional (EAR) Ltd, he develops state holder engagement strategies and is charged with creation of shared value projects.

Previously, Aaron worked as the Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department, Nestlé Ghana (including Liberia and Sierra Leone). He has spent majority of his career engaged in a number of community based projects; Health Kids Programme, Nescafé Plan, Nestle Cocoa Plan, Nestlé Cereal Plan, and Africa-Europe Youth Cooperation of the Council of Europe.

He holds an MBA in Marketing and Corporate Strategy with a Bachelor of Education in Social Sciences and Global Education.

Aaron is one of our panelist as we discuss how Fairtrade is strategically engaging women and youth in efforts at preventing or alleviating poverty.

The pioneer of the international certification scheme for Fairtrade, Ruediger Meyer founded FLOCERT in 2003. Previously he run his own consultancy business and was a Fairtrade International product manager. Rüdiger regularly contributes to conferences on advancing Fairtrade and wider trends in certification. He holds degrees in Business, Law and Organizational Development and a Masters in Sociology (from Germany, Switzerland and Brazil).