Adisa Amanor-Wilks
Adisa is the Founder and CEO of Abjel Communications, a strategic communication, branding and media relations consulting firm focused on Africa. A former journalist, Adisa has 18 years’ experience working in the public, private and charity sectors across continents. She’s consulted with leading organisations in charity and led notable global crisis communications projects.
Mick Bardella
Chair of Trustees
Mick is a partner at EY. Born to Italian migrant parents in South Africa, he moved to the UK in 2007 having spent the prior eight years in Australia. Mick works predominantly in the Mining & Metals sector and has extensive experience working in low and middle income countries. He is part of Team Abana, who have ridden across America and Australia to raise funds for Chance for Childhood.
David Crone
Youth Trustee
David works in policy and advocacy in the field of international affairs, currently as an advisor to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. He was Technical Lead for the Youth Advocacy Group of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative, which was created to emphasise the importance of education in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. He previously advocated for children’s rights domestically and internationally as a member of advisory panels for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England and Plan International. As a young person, David ensures lived experience of our membership within our Board.
Joanna Heywood
Joanna started her working life as a social entrepreneur and has worked in several charities in fundraising roles, as well as in international development. Joanna works at impact investor Big Society Capital, where she builds partnerships and new ways of working with foundations and mission-aligned investors to help solve crucial social challenges in the UK. She is a founding member of the UK Venture Philanthropy Steering Group and co-chairs the Social Impact Investing Steering Group.
Elizabeth Ntege
Elizabeth is the Co-founder and Director of NFT Consult Group, a business process outsourcing and consultancy firm with offices across East Africa. She has extensive experience in business strategy and transformation, serving as business advisor and integrator at Uganda’s largest start-up business incubator and a non-executive director at Stanbic bank among other governance positions. Elizabeth has recently joined Impact2Invest, an initiative that supports the development of a growing community of 100 women entrepreneurs in Africa. Her purpose is to inspire others in the belief that they too have the potential to make a difference in their community.
Maryanne Ochola
Maryanne started out in the financial services sector, working for Barclays Bank of Kenya before transitioning into Impact Investing. She has worked in several African countries in the agriculture, renewable energy, microfinance and technology sectors sourcing deals for impact investment and structuring technical assistance packages for impactful enterprises. She is the Regional Chapter Manager for ANDE (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs) in East Africa, a network of organizations working to propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Maryanne believes that entrepreneurship has the potential to lift communities out of poverty sustainably while providing positive social and environmental outcomes.
Carole Ramella
Carole has over twenty years’ experience in fundraising advisory, financial analysis and company valuation having worked with Paribas, Arthur Anderson and Duff & Phelps among others. She has experience among multiple sectors and has worked with companies across 15 countries. As well as founding GFA consulting in 2011 to support the growth of African businesses, Carole is also a Foreign Trade Advisor for the French Government and sits on the Investment Committee of Investisseurs & Parenaires, a leading French private equity fund investing in Africa.
Tony Wellby
Tony has nearly 30 years of experience working in an environment where governance, focus on positive outcomes, clear reporting for stakeholders and cost effectiveness are paramount. Supporting Chance for Childhood’s growth, via the merger with Street Child Africa, growing the reach and effectiveness of the charity’s programmes are some of the strategic goals that the trustees, executive team and Tony are passionate about.
Dominic White
Dominic is Head of International Development Policy at WWF-UK, with 25 years international experience in community and natural resource management across a range of countries including Nigeria, Nepal, Malaysia, Belize and across a range of policy issues including international sustainable development, natural resource scarcity and climate change. Dominic’s core skills are in strategy, team leadership, policy development, project management, and stakeholder engagement. He is currently Co-Chair of UKSSD (Stakeholders for Sustainable Development), the UK network aiming to transform the UK into a sustainable society.
