Team Members

Dr. Frank Aswani

Chief Executive Officer

Dr Frank Aswani has extensive experience in both the private and social sectors. Before joining AVPA Frank held the position of VP and Director of Strategic Relations for six years at the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in Johannesburg, where he led ALA's corporate partnerships, business development and fundraising activities. He has also worked for Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) as the Regional Director for Africa and spent fourteen years with Eli Lilly where he worked in Kenya, England, Switzerland and South Africa. His last role at Eli Lilly was Sales Director for South Africa and Regional Director for Sub Sahara Africa.

Frank is a Kenyan national living in Johannesburg. He holds a Veterinary Medicine Degree from the University of Nairobi and an MBA from GIBS (Gordon Institute of Business Studies), University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is also a certified Design Thinking and Design Sprints Practitioner.

Tafadzwa Nyagano

Chief Finance Officer

Tafadzwa is a finance and accounting professional who is deeply passionate about Pan-African

development.  In a career spanning over 13 years, he has had the privilege to work in social

impact organizations in Zimbabwe, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, and most recently in

South Africa (Letten Foundation, ATEMP, and African Leadership Academy). Common to the

roles he fulfilled was end-to-end management of the finance function, operationalizing

organizational strategy, cost control and efficiencies, treasury management as well as audit planning and execution.

Tafadzwa has a number of impressive qualifications under his belt which include: an MBA from

Gordon Institute of Business Studies (GIBS), University of Pretoria, South Africa; a Bachelor of

Commerce Degree in Finance from the National University of Science and Technology in

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Accounting from the

Oxford Brooks University, London, UK.  Tafadzwa is a certified practitioner in the European

Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Business Excellence Model and PRINCE2 methodology (PRrojects IN Controlled Environments).

Zimbabwean by birth, Tafadzwa now permanently resides in Pretoria, South Africa. Outside the

office, Tafadzwa is a family man, a fitness and adrenaline junkie competing in ultra-marathon

and triathlon events as well as being an outdoor adventure enthusiast.

Tochukwu Ezeukwu

Regional Director, West Africa

Tochukwu is a finance and investment leader with over a decade of experience raising capital for and facilitating the flow of funding into qualifying enterprises.

He has served as a Global Tony Elumelu Foundation Guild Mentor and as a mentor to startups and SMEs across Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, West Africa, and Nigeria.

Tochukwu qualified as a chartered accountant in 2009 and has a degree in Finance from the University of Lagos.

He has spent the last 11 years across enterprise consulting, commercial banking, asset management, and international development, building a career that has since seen him become a sought-after Finance & Investment professional.

Tochukwu's core skills and areas of deep experience are financial planning, credit analysis, investment analysis, business analysis, market development, transaction structuring, business advisory, business development, financial modelling, and capital raising.

Tochukwu is a widely engaged thought leader and has trained extensively across the following subjects: Client Attraction, Enterprise Growth, Business Strategy, Customer Experience, Business Communication, Financial Management, Finance for Non-Finance Leaders, Business leadership, Teaming, Presentation Skills, Capital Attraction, Work Ethic, Personal Finance, and Credit.

Prior to joining AVPA as Regional Director, Tochukwu was the Investment Lead at the USAID Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity where he helped with facilitating nearly $100m into various qualifying enterprises.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tochukwu-ezeukwu-9328b92a

Nasri Adam

Regional Director - East Africa

Nasri Adam is a highly seasoned professional with a rich background in the development sector. Prior to her current role at AVPA, Nasri held a pivotal position at the African Philanthropy Forum where she served as the Regional Programs Lead. Her career also features a decade-long commitment to The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation, where she played a key role in leading Global Compliance and Quality Assurance, while actively supporting Global Programmes.

Nasri, a native of Kenya, is currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, and holds an LLB in Law from the University of Nairobi.

Chinedu Allinson

Member Relations Manager, West Africa

Chinedu has an extensive background in planning and managing cross-functional business operations and projects ranging from oil and gas services, media & public relations, property brokerage, management consultation, team building, professional development, strategic implementation, and company collaboration.

Chinedu is performance driven and creative and opens the line of communication between clients, customers, and businesses to get projects done.

She has most recently been functioning in a similar role in a different sector, as Secretary for the Organization for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA)  a multi-sectoral group of professionals, companies and organizations in Nigeria and ECOWAS countries that collaborate to advance cold chain supply of perishable commodities and products, medicines and vaccines. In this role she has had the responsibility of administering the membership database and executing the member management strategy towards the organization’s growth and sustainability

Chinedu has a Bachelors’ degree in Political Science from the University of Lagos.

Zachary Mikwa

Project Manager

Mikwa is a social and environmental sustainability subject matter expert well versed in leveraging sustainable finance instruments to strengthen the ability of small and medium-sized social enterprises to deliver a green and just transition across Africa. He has ten years of experience leading sustainability and development impact projects in the agri-business, renewable energy, water, and sanitation sectors. Before joining AVPA, Mikwa worked as the project manager at the Confederation of Danish Industry and as the climate and sustainability advisory manager at the KCL consulting based in Nairobi, Kenya. Before that, he was the sustainability initiatives lead at the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre. At KCIC, he helped several climate and social enterprises access green finance and offered technical support on sustainable business development. Most recently, he was instrumental as the technical lead in formulating Kenya’s draft Social Enterprise Policy 2021. Mikwa holds an MSc in Environment and Development Economics from the London School of Economics.

Aby Mokua

Communications and Marketing Associate

Before AVPA, Aby served as a marketing associate at Nova Pioneer. She, as part of the marketing and admissions team, supported the launch and growth of the up-and-coming innovative Nova Pioneer Schools in Kenya. Her passion for social impact, especially on the African continent, led her to AVPA where she handles research and marketing communications. She manages AVPA social platforms, supports external communications, and conducts research for AVPA’s investor programs, platforms, and services. Aby holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from the African Leadership University, Mauritius.

Abu Okari

Communications and Marketing Manager

Okari is a Creative Writer, Content Marketer, Communicator, and Brand Strategist. Some of his memorable work includes the essay "How to Write about Tech in Africa", which has also been published in German. He previously worked as a Global Communications Executive for a renewable energy social enterprise where he helped launch a flagship product, as a Multimedia Content Editor for Africa’s pioneer tech. hub, and as a Communications and Marketing Lead for an Entrepreneurship School and Investor whose storytelling for a Pan-African expansion he helped craft. Professionally, his motivations are best summed up by Toni Morrison's words, "I want to do good work, I want to be involved in other people’s doing good work".