Who We Are

ygap Kenya Country Director

Carol Kimari

Carol leads on the strategic direction of the ygap Kenya office, manages the delivery of the ygap Kenya Program, and represents the program throughout the East Africa ecosystem. A serial entrepreneur, Carol has started several businesses across different sectors. An avid book lover, Carol started Grab a Book, a social enterprise that sets up libraries in slums, with an aim to bring reading and library services to thousands of Kenyan children. Carol is a former Stockbroker on the Kenyan Stock Exchange. With over ten years of experience as an entrepreneur, she brings a wealth of knowledge on East African social enterprise. Carol is an alumnus of the ygap Kenya program and an Unreasonable Institute fellow.

ygap Kenya Program Manager

Albert Kimani

Albert has over 10 years experience advising start-ups, SMEs and corporates across East Africa. A key component of his work has been to support organisations to grow their efficiency and effectiveness in their respective ecosystems. Predominantly, this has involved Albert helping enterprises understand their markets and their customers,helping enterprises refine their MVPs and their value propositions,and helping these ventures develop impact and performance tracking frameworks for continuous improvement. Albert holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Statistics & Computer Science and a Diploma in Business Studies. In addition, Albert is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Strategic Management.

ygap Kenya Impact Officer

Periz Odhiambo

Periz is responsible for the implementation of ygap Kenya’s impact strategy including supporting ygap Kenya’s portfolio venture’s to conceive, prepare and fine-tune their venture-specific impact strategies. Periz provides input through comprehensive data collection and proactively advises on all aspects of impact tracking to the portfolio ventures of the ygap Kenya program.In the first 4 years of her career, she has spent time in research roles tracking social change with leading development intervention programs. She holds a Bachelors of Arts, specializing in Economics and Sociology.

ygap Kenya Business Development Officer

Mercy Munene

Mercy is a diligent and hardworking lady serving as ygap Kenya’s Business Development Officer. She has a passion for supporting African youth and women in  enterprising.She is an International Relations student at United States International University, Africa.Prior to joining ygap Kenya in 2021, she had and continues volunteering with the Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa as a core team member in Kenya, mobilising and sensitising young people to care for the environment. Her greatest drive is to see more African women entrepreneurs emerge at early ages.

ygap South Africa Program Manager

Hazel Mkwanazi

Before joining ygap, Hazel worked on the USAID Government Capacity Building and Support Project with a focus on Social and Behaviour Change Programmes for the Department of Social Development. She has worked for several NGOs in environmental management, public health, food security and child protection. Hazel is passionate about inclusive and sustainable development that enhances the lives and livelihoods of communities. She holds a Master of Social Science and Postgraduate Diploma in Development Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Development Studies.

ygap South Africa Program Assistant

Natacia Gwebu

Natacia Gwebu is the Programme Assistant at ygap South Africa. Natacia joined ygap South Africa as an intern in 2019 and soon after became a permanent member of the team, providing administrative and research assistance. Over her career, Natacia has worked in administration roles in various industries including Mott MacDonald, a Management Consultancy company, Procet Freight, a logistics company and Save the Children, an international NGO. Natacia is very passionate about entrepreneurship, which led her to start her own entrepreneurial ventures including the Vegetables Agency, a food packaging company that served established clients such as Salsa, a large restaurant franchise company in South Africa. She also co-founded the Rapid Growth Events company which involves hosting a variety of events in her community. Natacia is currently studying a degree in Industrial Organisational Psychology at the University of South Africa.

ygap Pacific Islands Regional Manager

Talei Goater

Program Coordinator, ygap Pacific Islands

Darran Davon

Having spent 6+ years in Fiji’s information and communication technology industry, Darran is well versed in stakeholder management, client acquisition, logistics and coordination. In addition to his role as ygap’s Fiji Country Coordinator, Darran is currently pursuing a Diploma in Business Management and has recently co-founded a graphic design agency.

Senior Program Coordinator

Ruth Ravai

Ruth has a passion for working with people and providing support to strengthen overall objectives. Having started her career within an SME 10 years ago and running her side-hustle of bespoke crafts, Ruth has a lived experience of the hardships that small businesses face in Fiji. She went on to work alongside robust leading women within different sectors, who guided, nurtured and empowered her to break discriminatory barriers. Because of this, Ruth is thrilled to be able to directly contribute to the development and inclusivity of women entrepreneurs, as well as being able to provide support towards a small part of their entrepreneurial journey. Ruth holds a Diploma in Management and is currently completing her Bachelors of Commerce with a double major in HRM, Employment Relations and International Business and Marketing.

During her down time, Ruth enjoys the adventures of the outdoors with her little family; whether it’s at the beach, hike spots or camp sites around Viti Levu. Nature to her, provides the best mental reset to take on any challenge.

Head of Learning Design

Kaitlin Tait

Kaitlin has over a decade of international development experience including nearly two years in East Africa working with grassroots development organisations before she launched and grew the ygap model across Africa and the Asia Pacific. She has designed and delivered Acceleration programs and resources that have facilitated the growth of hundreds of social ventures and now leads all learning design and content development for ygap and ygap’s clients. Having led and contributed to various women’s entrepreneurship initiatives over her career, including creating ygap’s yher Accelerator program, she is extremely passionate about supporting and championing the next generation of women entrepreneurs and leaders.

Program manager, ygap Australia

Anisha Senaratne

Anisha has a deep passion for working alongside marginalised communities in support roles that back people’s big ideas, and bring them to life.  She has over six years of experience in program design, delivery and management roles at organisations such as the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) and GetUp!.  She has worked with a small group of dear friends to co-found The Pod: Centre for Healing Justice, an organisation committed to nurturing a more just world through trainings, workshops, program delivery and events.

Global Impact Manager

Simphiwe Mntambo

Simphiwe believes in the power of business to change society. Simphiwe Mntambo is a dedicated enabler of youth entrepreneurship, having dedicated the past 12 years to empowering aspiring young entrepreneurs in South Africa to access training, business development and investment support. Driven by a varied career with exposure to education, management consulting, corporate affairs and impact management, Simphiwe has led highly impactful public-private ecosystem partnerships across the country.

Simphiwe’s expertise lies in designing, implementing, and managing comprehensive entrepreneurship and innovation development programs tailored to the needs of very early stage entrepreneurs. She has a proven track record of successfully scaling programs to reach a wider audience, Simphiwe has consistently demonstrated the ability to maximize the impact of these initiatives.

Simphiwe’s deep understanding of strategic commercial objectives enables her to navigate the intricacies of the business landscape, ensuring that beneficiaries and institutions can collaborate for innovation and impact. Simphiwe’s ability to build and maintain strong partnerships with key stakeholders, coupled with her unwavering commitment to a customer-centric approach, has made her an invaluable asset to the entrepreneurial community.

Chief Executive Officer

Meenal Khare

With a blend of commercial, international development and impact investing expertise, Meenal joins ygap with a strong understanding of ygap’s journey and audacious vision. She has previously worked in go-to-market strategy at Unilever ANZ before moving to India to co-design a grassroots female entrepreneurship model and lead a gender equity non-profit that improved the menstrual and sexual reproductive health outcomes of over 55,000 underserved women and adolescent girls during the global pandemic.

Meenal brings a breadth of experience across strategy, operations, fundraising and cross-cultural leadership, with a strong focus on technology and innovation. She has extensive experience partnering with global philanthropy, governments, institutions and NGOs to shape equitable systems and currently observes the board of CARE Australia. Meenal is deeply committed to working at the intersection of gender, climate and livelihoods to scale locally-led solutions.