Youth Alive! Kenya Board
We direct YAK’s efforts towards creating meaningful impact
Jacqueline Mathenge
Board ChairJacqueline Mathenge is a programme management expert with over 8 years’ experience in the non-profit sector across national and international organizations. She has expertise in governance and human rights programming and international development projects. She also holds a Master of Arts degree in Peace Studies and International Relations from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations from the United States International University – Africa and currently completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Planning & Management from the Kenya Institute of Management. Jacqueline is the current Board Chair of Youth Alive! Kenya, a position she has held for 4 years now.
Dennis Mungo
Board SecretaryMr Dennis Mungo is currently the Executive Director of Youth Alive! Kenya (YAK). In his role, he steers YAK’s vision of a society where young people are empowered to realize their full potential. In particular, he works to break the self-perpetuating cycle of exclusion of young people so that they may actively chart and address issues affecting their well-being and development by empowering and providing a platform for them to amplify their voice in the development discourse and emerging realities that they face through robust youth engagement. He has over a decade’s experience and passion working on human rights programming, governance and access to justice having previously worked with the Kenyan Correctional Services. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of London, and another Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems and Technology from United States International University. He is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration. Dennis has a strong passion for his work as well as to share knowledge, skill and experience geared towards empowering the young people in Kenya and beyond.
Victor Kapiyo
Board MemberVictor is a lawyer, human rights defender, researcher, and a tech-enthusiast based in Kenya. He is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Commissioner for Oaths and a Notary Public. He has worked in the legal sector for over eight years. His areas of specialization include among others: corporate and commercial law, legal practice, legal compliance, research, arbitration, human rights, human resources, project management, research, monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, strategic planning and public policy. He has a keen interest in leadership, business, governance, Intellectual property, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and social justice. Victor is an alumni of the University Of Nairobi School Of Law (LL.B and LL.M), Strathmore Business School and the Kenya Institute of Management. He is also a member of the Law Society of Kenya, where he serves in its Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Committee in 2018 – 19, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Kenya) and the Internet Society (ISOC). He also serves on the boards of the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) and Youth Alive Kenya (YAK).
Rita Karau
Board MemberRita Karau is currently a Senior Associate with Kaplan & Stratton Advocates, responsible for joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, privatizations, capital markets, intellectual property, international & cross-border transactions. Rita holds Kenya School of Law, bar qualifications, an LLB degree from the University of Nairobi and is a Certified Public Secretary. She is a member of the Law Society of Kenya, International Bar Association, Law Society of England & Wales and the International Trade Mark Association.
Chris Muthuri
Board MemberChris has been a Board Member at Youth Alive! Kenya since 2016. He served as Treasurer from 2016 – 2018. He has over a decade’s experience working with several international, regional and local organisations across Africa. Chris has extensive experience in advocacy, programme management and fundraising having taken up leadership roles on several instances. He works as a Senior Programme Officer at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) and has been in this position since October 2017. In this role, Chris manages RWI’s Regional Africa Programme whose overall objective is to realise a demonstrable improvement in access to justice for all and implementation of human rights commitments in Africa.
Maria Ndung'u
Board MemberMaria currently works as a public finance management consultant and compliance expert. She has over 10 years’ experience in the provision of professional services to various institutions ranging from governments to International Funding Institutions, development partners and funded projects/organisations, to promote accountability and more effective and efficient use of public resources. Maria holds a BSc. in International Business Administration (Finance option) and is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). She is passionate about youth development matters, with a desire to see young people become economically independent, and increase their productivity within their communities to leave a positive impact. Maria has extensive experience in carrying out financial audits, expenditure verifications, compliance reviews, and value for money reviews, capacity assessments and institutional / organisational reviews. She oversees the finance and audit aspect on behalf of the Board.
Fred Muli
Board MemberFreddy is an inspirational leader with a relentless desire to build value-driven relationships, tell stories that connect and inspire action. Currently, as an advertising professional that specializes in digital marketing, Freddy has been integral in shaping and telling the stories of brands and institutions such as Kenya Tourism Board, Mastercard Foundation, Blaze by Safaricom, Adebisi Babatunde Thomas Entrepreneurship Institute, WPP Scangroup and British Council to name a few. He co-founded Youth+ Africa in 2016 and served as the Team Lead for 3 years, leading a team of 19 people in 2 countries (Kenya & Uganda) and playing a pivotal role in the curation of the organization’s corporate strategy and brand development. He is also served on the Next Generation Kenya Youth Task Force between June 2017 and June 2018 as part of a 15-member team of young leaders that presented youth policy recommendations to the Government of Kenya through the Chief Administrative Secretary, Ministry of Youth. Freddy is also an alum of the Inuka Leadership Program, the Global Changemakers Program, the Ashoka Changemaker Xchange Program, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society and a TEDx Speakers with talks on leadership and behaviour change. Freddy continues to be fuelled by a passion to link youth with opportunity through the exchange of information, transfer of skills and integration of ideas. He believes strongly in working with like-minded people to create youth-driven solutions to challenges facing his generation, and is committed to effecting sustainable change & progress among Kenya’s most promising demographic; its youth.
Nelson Gacheru
Board MemberNelson holds a Bachelor degree in commerce-finance option and he is also a member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). He previously worked at KPMG Kenya within the Audit and Tax functions and at Greenlight Planet as a Manager in Process Excellence. Nelson has considerable experience in tax consulting having worked on tax compliance, due diligence, transfer pricing and dispute resolution assignments for some of Kenya’s largest corporations. Specifically, he has consulted on the following matters since setting up Niall & King: a) Provided multi-jurisdictional structuring advice to FrontEnd Ventures, a USD 5 million seed innovation VC Fund based in Nairobi. b) Successfully represented a large electronic goods importer and its directors in a ~USD 2.85 million tax dispute at the Tax Appeals Tribunal. The final consent agreement signed between the KRA and our client resulted in an 81% success rate compared to the original assessment. c) Advised Gari Tech Limited, a subsidiary of the Nigerian automotive trading start-up Cars45 Limited, on the VAT implications of different business operating structures under consideration. d) Provided tax advisory services to an outgoing CEO of a large healthcare PE in relation to taxation of employment income. e) Codified practice management processes for a top oncologist’s clinic. Financial information is now captured systematically thereby improving periodic tax compliance.
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