Sebastian Wanjala

A Kenyan citizen, I have spent close to two decades working in progressively complex project management positions; as an agricultural field extension worker, trainer, consultant, enterprise capacity building expert, grant manager and managing relationships with government, private sector and farmers. I hold a BSc. Agricultural Engineering degree with honors, a current engineer's practicing certificate, post graduate education in project management l.

I started my career as an Irrigation and Drainage engineer with Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture - planning and designing small holder farmer irrigation system. Realising then that agricultural technology is best applied in cognizance of value chain and makret dynamics, my work has since focused on the role of enterprises in agricultural development. Having spent over a decade with ACDI/VOCA, one of the development world's pioneers in value chain approaches in agriculture, I can design and implement projects around value chain mechanisms with confidence.

I hold a Master's degree in business administration earned from the Imperial College London Business school with academic interest is in the role of heurisitcs in decision support for business strategy. I have a personal commitment to the intergration of women and young people in commercial enterpruse and currently sponsor the education of young people at various secondary and tertiary institutions in Kenya and Malawi. I have completed assignments in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Morroco, the US, and South Sudan. I currently serve with SNV/Keya as Team Leader on the Smart Water for Agriculture programme, an activity designed to support farmer-led irrigation development.

I believe I am a dynamic thinker, able to rapidly explore and exploit opportunities to address constraints within market systems by building effective partnerships and in designing practical technical assistance solutions.

I would fit best in an environment which breeds innovation by applying multi-disciplinary apporaches to create lasting solutions in agricultural development.