Alumni Update:

Currently, she is working as a consultant for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Office for West and Central Africa. Her work focuses on a regional research project to assess recruitment and protection mechanisms for migrant workers from the region abroad, primarily in the ECOWAS and Gulf Cooperation Country regions.

Fellow Bio:

Anna graduated in May 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Global Liberal Studies (concentrating on Politics, Rights, and Development) and double minoring in French, and Public Policy and Management. Anna has worked for several nonprofit organizations throughout her academic career, from Girl Rising, a documentary campaign to promote girl’s education, to Human Rights Foundation, an organization which supports political dissidents in countries with authoritarian governments. Her interest in development work in Africa was strengthened last summer, which she spent in Dakar, Senegal, interning and conducting research for her thesis on female migration and its’ impact on social and economic development. Anna returned to Senegal for a month last January to finish her research, and was awarded the best thesis overall in NYU’s Global Liberal Studies class of 2017. In her free time, Anna loves to read and hike, she is an avid backpacker, adventurer, and “Couchsurfer”. Lastly, she can’t wait for the fellowship to explore Benin, continue her research, make new friends and practice her French!

Andrew graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Mathematics and Economics, minoring in Computer Science and Financial Economics. At Vanderbilt, Andrew was involved in the school’s business fraternity (Alpha Kappa Psi), serving as a mentor to the new members, and The Afterschool Program, tutoring low-income students. He has significant exposure to finance through internships across varying sectors. Andrew has worked in mezzanine lending (high-risk debt), private equity investing, and impact investing (using investments to help the environment and society). During these internships, he learned various financial modeling tools and gained a strong understanding of the ways companies grow. In addition, he spent a summer working for a healthcare startup, looking to change the way the American Healthcare system works. Through his academic and professional experiences, Andrew is very well prepared to make an impact on his organization through quantitative and qualitative work. 

Amanda graduated from Georgetown University in 2017 with a degree in International Health.  While at Georgetown, Amanda volunteered as an Emergency Medical Technician and ambulance driver in Washington DC. She held a number of internships during her academic career including at HIPS, a harm-reduction NGO that works with high risk populations for HIV prevention and health promotion. She also interned in the Social and Behavior Change Communication department at FHI360, a nonprofit human development organization. Amanda was able to pursue her passion for public health while doing research abroad at the Western Australian Centre for Rural Health, where she focused on social resilience programs for at-risk youth. She conducted evaluations of a social resilience program implemented in schools and helped deliver youth empowerment programs in several schools across Western Australia. Originally from France, Amanda has lived in Colorado for the past 10 years. She loves the outdoors, good food and coffee. She looks forward to exploring Togo and working with Hope Through Health!

Alumni Update:

After her fellowship, Alexandra has stayed on with her fellowship organization, eleQtra, as a financial associate and now splits her time between New York City and Kampala. She is currently working on developing and investing in a number of power projects in Uganda and Rwanda, including gas, solar, and hydro.

Fellow Bio:

Alie is from Tucson, AZ, and is a 2011 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Alie majored in Finance and minored in Mathematics, Economics, and French. While at Penn, Alie lived abroad twice in Compiègne and Paris, France, studying at the Sorbonne and Sciences Po. Since graduation, Alie has worked in the Public Sector and Infrastructure Investment Banking group at Goldman Sachs in New York City. In her free time, Alie enjoys dance, yoga, cooking, traveling, and running half marathons. While in Uganda next year, Alie looks forward to exploring East Africa, learning a new language, and influencing international infrastructure development through her work with EleQtra.

Akinyi Ochieng is a philanthropic adviser and nonprofit board director who identifies, incubates, and scales innovations that advance a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world. She currently leads strategic planning and operations at the Autodesk Foundation, which invests in nonprofits and startups helping to de-risk innovation and leverage design and engineering solutions to address the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Prior to Autodesk, Akinyi served as Director & Vice President at APCO, where she advised leading corporations, foundations, and nonprofits on their social impact initiatives. She partnered with innovators and changemakers to design and scale programs that support economic mobility and inclusive innovation throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Her clients included global brands such as Visa, BlackRock, Meta, IKEA, Expedia, and Chelsea FC, as well as leading nonprofits and foundations such as Schmidt Futures and Pivotal Ventures. She began her career in the financial services industry, developing economic mobility campaigns and programs at innovative companies including Nova Credit and WorldRemit.

Akinyi holds deep expertise in economic development and food security in Africa, with a successful track record of mobilizing multi-million-dollar public-private partnerships to accelerate sustainable business practices in the region. Her insights on business, culture, and politics in Africa have been featured in Forbes, CNBC, BBC, African Business Magazine, and the World Economic Forum. She continues her commitment to sustaining and developing the African continent by serving as Board Chair of SOS Sahel USA and as a Trustee of Operation Fistula, organizations dedicated to food security and maternal health in Africa. She previously served as co-president of the inaugural PiAf Alumni Board and was a Fellow at Global Shea Alliance in Accra, Ghana during her time as a Princeton in Africa Fellow.

Akinyi holds an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and a BA (with distinction) in Political Science and African Studies from Yale University. She has also completed certificates in strategic philanthropy and social impact from the University of Cambridge’s Judge School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent under 40.

 

Ahyeong graduated from Messiah College with a BA in Sociology and Anthropology and minor in Psychology. Her passion for diversity steadily grew as she became exposed to different cultures at an early age. As an international student, she dedicated herself to bringing diversity to the campus through various involvements. As a research assistant at the Office of Institutional Research, she conducted an independent research project regarding prospective international students’ recruitment process in efforts to increase the total international student enrollment. During her academic career, she pursued various cross-cultural experiences. In Ecuador, she participated in the Street Children Project, assisting children with the development of academic and social skills, building nutrition and hygiene awareness, as well as learning English. In Rwanda, she participated both in an internship and independent research project related to child malnutrition and the role of agriculture in rural nutrition. In Fiji, as a field researcher, she explored the sociological impact of clean water and focused on sustainability efforts to maintaining clean water systems. Ahyeong is grateful for the opportunity to work with Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project as a Monitoring and Evaluation Fellow and looks forward to being part of the Nyakagyezi community.