Wendy is a development professional with over 17 years of experience working in both the philanthropic sector and in direct implementation, including a specific focus on developing and delivering solutions to drive financial inclusion in emerging markets. She spent over 12 years working for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a large portion of that time working on digital financial services for smallholder farmers and women’s economic empowerment. She served as the Global Programme Director with the Boma Project and is now working as a consultant for CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and CARE USA in Nairobi.
Wendy has been a key supporter of Producers Direct for many years, since first connecting with us through her work with the Gates Foundation. Wendy’s expertise includes fundraising and donor connections, organisational culture; strategic planning and implementation; and has worked on programme development and implementation with smallholder farmers focussing on technology development; financial inclusion, and gender. Wendy is from the US but moved to and has been living in Nairobi with her family for the last three years.
Gregory is an advocate for environmental conservation, community development, and sustainable resource management. He has experience in program management, corporate governance, and policy implementation, specialising in farmer institutional development and tea marketing. Gregory has actively contributed to various projects, including leading Kayonza Growers’ Tea Factory to receive the prestigious Equator Prize from UNDP in 2015, representing the organisation at COP21 in Paris. Through collaborations with NGOs like CARE International and Fairtrade International, Gregory has actively contributed to conservation programs and agricultural production systems, empowering farmers to enhance productivity. Beyond his professional roles, as a smallholder farmer, former field manager, and Chairman of the Board at Kayonza Factory, Gregory deeply understands the challenges faced by smallholders, from market access and inputs to finance and product diversification.
John is an experienced finance professional who spent much of his career in a commercial business within the public sector, before moving into the charity sector. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and his last full time role was as Finance Director of Oxfam, stepping down in 2009. Since then his portfolio has included Trustee roles at Tearfund and Farm Africa, as well as a non-executive Director role at Cafédirect, where he was on the Board for over 10 years, stepping down in 2020. In both Trustee roles he was the Honorary Treasurer and at all three organisations he chaired the Audit & Finance Committees. During his time at Farm Africa he represented them as a non-executive Director on the Board of Sidai Africa, a Kenyan company, established by Farm Africa as a social enterprise veterinary services business working with smallholder farmers across Kenya. He joined the Board of Producers Direct in December 2023 and brings a wealth of financial management and governance experience as well as a passion for the important role of smallholder farmers.
Michael is the General Manager of CAC Chirinos Cooperative, based in the North of Peru. He grew up in Chirinos as the son of a coffee farmer, and holds a degree in Business Administration. Michael has worked in the cooperative for a number of years, before being promoted to the General Manager of Chirinos three years ago. Michael has been a strong supporter of the work of Producers Direct since becoming General Manager, including in the implementation of Centre of Excellence activities at Chirinos.
Jamie Anderson leads CGAP’s work on rural and agricultural livelihoods, focusing on women and their critical roles in food and financial systems. Previously she managed CGAP’s work across key client groups, including women, youth, and forcibly displaced persons, and demand-side research with smallholder households, which included national surveys in Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Bangladesh and financial diaries in three markets in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Pakistan.
Before joining CGAP, Jamie worked as a technical adviser in Rural Finance at the International Fund for Agricultural Development and as an independent consultant in rural and agricultural finance for the Boulder Institute of Microfinance and GIZ. Her experience in agriculture is both in research with the University of California Small Farm Center and on-farm in fresh-market organic vegetable production.
She has an MBA, MS in Agricultural and Resource Economics, and MS in International Agricultural Development from the University of California at Davis and an undergraduate degree in French from the University of Virginia.
As Managing Director of Sidai, a social enterprise operating in the livestock sector in Kenya, Anthony has good knowledge of smallholder farmers and the challenges they face, as well as business development in East Africa.
Based in London, Christele brings a great depth of experience in sustainability and supply chains. Now an independent consultant she has, amongst other roles, previously worked as Head of Sustainable Innovation for the Vodafone Group.
