Nekesah T. Wafullah

Nekesah T. Wafullah is a Venture Builder Expert- Agri & Climate for the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT's Accelerate for Impact Platform (A4IP). Nekesah supports the valorization and scaling of Alliance/ CGIAR-led science-based innovations. She encourages collaboration among corporate and investor partners by guiding teams and innovations through the various stages of the development process and explores market driven approach to supporting scientists to scale research from the lab to market ((e.g. investor readiness program). Nekesah is a Kenyan and holds an MSc. in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a BSc. in Horticulture. Her previous positions included Business Development Manager, Africa at Cropnuts Limited, where she promoted the use of soil testing technologies and services among smallholder farmers through B2B partnerships in Africa and BIOFIX brand manager where she was responsible for the commercialization of legume inoculant technologies in the COMESA region.

She is also a mentor at Bridge for Billions- Opportunities for Youth in Africa (OYA), the Innovation, Development, and Entrepreneurship for All (IDEA) Platform, which is supported by UNIDO, FAO, the African Union, and the Italian Agency for Development Corporation, and a SAIS 2 project Business Coach through the VC4A Platform inclusive innovation capacity building program. As a mentor and business coach she was tasked with assisting businesses and startups to develop and actualize their business ideas by ensuring that they reach the implementation, commercialization, and funding stages.

Her desire to see impactful innovations adopted and commercialized keeps her on the lookout for the next big thing!