Ms. Doreen Chipika Bwalya’s professional career spans over 18 years, working in the public, donor, academic and private sectors. Prior to joining NRECA International in March, 2023, Doreen was the country manager in Zambia for the Africa Clean Energy Technical Assistance Facility. She has a wealth of experience in water, environment, climate change and renewable energy, providing technical and operational support to government and in-country stakeholders. She is passionate about improving the lives of the poor and vulnerable people and has worked on several projects promoting sustainable development.  She holds a master’s degree in Environmental and Resources Engineering from the State University of New York - College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), in USA, where she was a Fulbright scholar, and a bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Zambia. 

Olamide Niyi-Afuye (‘Lamide) is a versatile professional with extensive experience in commercial litigation and transactional law practice, financial market architecture development & regulation, product & business development as well as business intelligence, innovation, strategy & acquisitions. He has garnered vast experience in multiple sectors including law, financial markets, investments, and renewable energy. 

He began his career at William Bailey Solicitors (London, UK) where he served as a Paralegal/Executive Assistant before returning to Nigeria to attend the Nigeria Law School. Upon qualifying to the Nigerian bar, he worked as an Associate at the law firm of the renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Wole Olanipekun. In 2014, he became a pioneer staff of FMDQ Securities Exchange (now FMDQ Group), Nigeria's foremost debt capital and derivatives-focused securities exchange where he developed regulatory and market frameworks for the Exchange. He also supported FMDQ’s evolution from an OTC securities exchange to a full-service financial markets infrastructure group. 

Prior to joining AMDA as CEO, ‘Lamide served as Strategic Advisor to the CEO of Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited, West Africa’s leading hydropower generation company and concessionaire of Kainji and Jebba Hydropower Plants from 2019 to 2023. At MESL, Olamide leveraged his experience and versatility to serve on multiple Committees and drive the end-to-end processes for the acquisition/concession of strategic investments from initial due diligence to negotiations and handover. Most notable acquisitions include Yola Electricity Distribution Company and the 40MW Kashimbila Hydropower Plant. He also served as the Financial Secretary and Chief Investments Officer of Mainstream Staff Investments Cooperative Society Limited, from 2020 to 2023.

‘Lamide holds an LLB Law (Hons) degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK) and a master’s degree (LLM) in international commercial law from the University of Birmingham (UK).

Tombo is an engineer passionate about sustainable development, with a focus on closing the energy access gap for over 500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. She is based in Nairobi where she leads CrossBoundary’s Mini-Grid Innovation Lab. The Innovation Lab is supporting the energy sector transition to the ‘power grid of the future’ – a decentralised network balancing millions of nodes of generation, storage and consumption across utilities, public-private partnerships, and consumers. Her work entails trialing new business ideas that drive commercial viability and ultimately public and private investment into mini-grids. Mini-grids are a least-cost technology for delivering renewable energy to many communities, an essential enabler for transformative rural economic development.

Tombo holds a MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge and a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London. She is a chartered engineer registered with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers UK.

John is the Chief of Utility Operations at PowerGen Renewable Energy, a leading Distributed Renewable Energy Utility in Africa. He leads several teams developing cutting edge software to monitor and control decentralized energy resources while ensuring sector leading asset performance and customer support. Prior to joining PowerGen, John was a Senior Consultant in Dalberg’s Nairobi office where he worked in the areas of agriculture, access to finance and energy with a functional focus on value chain analysis, business strategy, and learning management.

Before Dalberg, John worked as an Associate Director at the Austin, TX office of The Advisory Board Company (ABC), a Washington D.C. based research, technology and consulting firm focused on healthcare and higher education. While at ABC, John managed the deployment and maintenance of ‘Crimson’, the company’s flagship physician performance management technology platform at 15 national hospital systems. He also headed CSR at the company’s 400-person Austin office.

John holds a master’s degree in Public Administration in International Development (MPAID) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a member of the inaugural class of Polaris Fellows at the University of Austin (UATX).