Our team
Our team is drawn from diverse, proactive and passionate individuals who are involved in the management of e-CATS work. Mark you the key to success of this initiative is based on the passion of people willing to spend their time fully dedicated to maintain a personal link with the beneficiaries of the project.
Romano Iluku
Co-founder
Romano Iluku is the co-founder of e-CATS. He is passionate about empowerment and transformation. His passion towards transformation is guided by his desire to Learn, Love and Serve Humanity. Romano has over 10 years of work experience with nongovernmental organizations in the area of Community Work, Peace Building, Trauma Consciousness and Resilience, recently pioneered the Microloan project at e-CATS. Romano has further engaged with various community groups including the refugees at Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, institutions of learning, Prisons and victims of violent extremism.
Romano offered Creative Conflict Management and Transformation; Trauma Mindfulness, Consciousness and Resilience Training in Somalia and Sudan. He has further traveled to several countries in Africa, Asia and Europe where he has interacted with people of different cultures and backgrounds. His notable engagements include; Co-Secretary at the Coordinating Committee for Alternatives to Violence Project International (AVP International); Volunteer Local Coordinator with Spirit in Action International; An alumnus, trainer and trainee at CAUX Peace & Leadership Program (CPLP) Initiatives of Change Switzerland 2018 (IofC), a graduate of the Mandela Mile Leadership Program 2020 and lastly an alumnus for Oaks & Crown Leadership Program.
Romano’s diverse educational background ranges from Social Work and Community Development, International Relations and Diplomacy. Presently he is pursuing Bachelors of Arts Degree in Development Studies (Project Management Option) at The Management University of Africa (MUA).
Esther Wambui Nguyo
Co-founder
Wambui Nguyo is co-founder of e-CATS. She has over 10 years of experience working with non-governmental organizations in the informal settlements of Nairobi, prisons and higher learning institutions. She has a background in banking and finance and years of experience in accounting and administration, financial management and reporting. Wambui has been exposed to training in the international world that has seen her travel across Asia, Africa, Switzerland and the United States.
The training was part of a leadership development program that used a combination of interactive training and fieldwork to expand the capacity of each participant coming from different generations, nations and faiths to form a diverse learning and working community that represents an increasingly globalized world. It also focused on personal change and development and emphasized personal integrity.
She’s passionate about building peace in her community, working on conflict and livelihood programs.
e-CATS Members
Jack Francis Onyango
Official
Jack has over ten years of demonstrated experience in accounting and administration, financial management reporting and financial systems setup, human resources and organization policy formulation for not-for-profit organizations.
He is equally skilled in internal and external auditing. Jack has headed in the finance and administration portfolio at Alternatives to Violence (Kenya) Trust, Life in Abundance, International Aid Services, IRDO, and CERELPA among others. Jack holds MBA and Bachelor’s degrees in Finance. He is Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).
Mathew Obonyo Okisai
Official
Mathew has over five years of demonstrated experience in teaching. He is trained as a gender champion who targets at eliminating the kind of abuse that takes place in school, offices and other sited places.
He is also an advocate of HIV/AIDS awareness to teenagers and young adults. Mathew is further a skilled facilitator/supporter in the rehabilitation of the victims of Drug and Substance Abuse.
Consolata Murigu
Official
Connie is an Administrator with eight years of experience working in the Import Department in an Agricultural Company. Connie holds a degree in Business Administration and a diploma in Information Technology.
She is a trained mediator and aims to understand the true feelings of others. She uses her positive attitude to communicate and encourage others never to give up in a world that is never perfect. Connie has also participated in the Caux Peace and Leadership Program held in Switzerland under Initiatives of Change International, which continues to explore the concept of peace through dialogue. It is there that she learned more about the power of personal reflection through other people’s experiences, interaction and service to others.
Our board of advisors
Rebecca Petit-Frere
Rebecca Petit-Frere is a minister and Social Worker from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania focusing on outreach ministry. She is running a non-profit named Connect Ministries which mainly provides local and global families with resources through connections from churches, schools and non-profit organizations. Rebecca also operates a food pantry that services 30 families biweekly.
Globally, Ms. Petit-Frere has stamped her presence around the world. She is an alumnus of the Caux Peace and Leadership Program in Switzerland. A partner with the non-profit organization Youth Building in Synergy to End Poverty in Burundi, Africa centering around providing street children and vulnerable mothers with food, shelter, educational and economic opportunities for growth.
In partnership with YBSP, she started a Women’s Empowerment School educating and supporting single moms with their businesses and agricultural projects. As a woman, Rebecca has pioneered for girls and women by providing doula services and sanitary pads for girls in developing countries through an initiative named Pads for Peace.
Rebecca is currently getting her Masters in Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania and hopes to continue working with families to provide counseling and mental health services. Her main mission is to connect, learn and serve! She believes in true connection through relationship building.
Rebecca believes that real change cannot take place until we truly sit down and learn about the people we hope to help and serve. In her words, “once there is true connection then we can learn without judgment and pride, this will help us to serve accordingly.” Finally, Ms. Petit-Frere brings technical expertise into the advisory board key to planning and execution of several e-CATS projects.
Gavin Anderson
Gavin Anderson was Executive Counsellor at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development until May 2020.
He was a member of the Senior Management Team and engaged in the approval of the Bank’s investments, and in strategic, policy and risk management issues.
Gavin Anderson joined the EBRD in 1992 and as Director, Operations Policy and Product Development until 2001, was responsible for advising on Bank-wide operational policy. He was also responsible in 2001 for supervising the Bank’s Group for Small Business. From 2002-2006 he was Business Group Director for Infrastructure, responsible for the Bank’s activities in the Transport and Municipal sectors.
Gavin Anderson worked from 1985-1992 with the British merchant bank Schroder’s, developing and implementing private infrastructure financing and privatization in the UK and South East Asia.
A UK national, he began his career with the British Foreign Office working on international economic and political affairs.
Francesca Varrenti
Francesca is a Designer from Milano (Italy).
With an academic background in Architecture and Interior Design, she started working as a Web and Graphic Designer in 2015.
She worked as a freelance and she is currently employed as Art Director in a Web Agency located in Italy. Over the last 6 years, she has managed several projects of logo design, design of corporate identity, creation and restyling of websites, directing and managing the entire process of design and development with different clients from various countries.
Francesca loves contributing to projects that want to make the world a better and more ethical place.
She would like to use her graphic skills to make any complex information easy, attractive and interesting to visualize, helping more people understand the world we live in.
Francesca is honored in the development, design and management of e-CATS website. Her amazing and impeccable experience to e-CATS advisory board cannot be emphasized.
Nathalie Saxton
She has also been involved in education for more than 20 years, with a Master’s in Education; she has been a teacher, the founder of a school, a teacher trainer, and school administrator.
Later in life she followed her dream and earned a Masters of Architecture and has worked for several years in this field. As an advocate for world peace, Nathalie became involved with Alternatives to Violence and has led workshops in schools, prisons and communities in many countries; the USA, Dominican Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, and Nepal. Nathalie is very instrumental in offering guidance especially in program design.
