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Persistent strengthens the team in East Africa with five new members and additional venture building expertise

February 8, 2022

We are excited to announce that our team keeps growing across Africa with the addition of five great professionals that bring new skills and their strong expertise in their respective fields.

Based in East Africa and starting as consultants in October last year, Joy Rukundo and Peter Huisman are now a part of the Persistent staff, strengthening the team in the areas of Marketing & Communication and the technological side of our Venture Building activity respectively.

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Joy Rukundo is a Marketing and Communication Manager at Persistent. She is responsible for our internal and external communication as well as brand and design perspectives. Joy holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Macromedia University of Applied Science in Munich, where she studied Media Management with a special focus on Brand Communication and Advertising. In 2011 she founded a non-governmental organization, focusing on child education and entrepreneurial projects. Before joining Persistent she worked for a German advertising agency, as well as a freelancer on several design and web content projects in Kenya and Germany. Since Joy lives at the Kenyan coast it will be easy for her to connect with the team in Nairobi as well as our partner companies in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA).

Joy says: “I am driven by working with a motivated team that is focused on a positive and regenerative impact. At Persistent I found a team of high professionals, all aiming to set an example through their daily work routine. Being able to support them with my skills, while working towards a positive change in the climate space is a great opportunity.

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As Venture Builder with a focus on technology, Peter Huisman works with portfolio and partner companies on technology-related issues such as business IT and product hardware. During due diligence of potential investment opportunities, Peter assesses the technology landscape and ensures investment decisions are well understood from a technology perspective. Peter stays on top of the latest technology trends and sees how these are or might become relevant for Persistent. Peter has worked and lived in SSA for the last 14 years. After several tech-related volunteering positions, Peter co-founded SolarNow, one of the first generation solar PAYGO companies in 2011. Here he worked until 2020 as CTO, working predominantly in business administration, IT, product development, and sourcing. In 2020 he started a new agritech business in aquaponics which he combines with his role at Persistent. Peter, who has a MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Twente, has broad experience setting up and running businesses in East Africa with a strong focus on Technology.

“Climate change and global social equity are the world’s largest problems. It is a privilege to work on both at the same time through Persistent. And in this way to be a small part of seeing technology help solve some of our greatest challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa.” says Peter.

The team is further completed with two new staff members supporting our venture building efforts in East Africa, Faith Wilson and Serge Musingilwa, and a legal analyst, Winfred Kiberu, who will support Persistent’s team in the areas of legal and compliance.

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Faith Wilson will be focused on identifying and evaluating investments, as well as offering venture building support to companies across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). She brings over 5 year’s progressive experience in consulting and advisory services. Prior to joining Persistent, she was an Investment Analyst with Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) and previously worked at KPMG East Africa as a Senior Accounting Advisor in the Consulting unit. She holds a first-class honors degree in Economics and she is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Faith says: “I’m passionate about investments in climate smart technologies for small and medium enterprises, and so working at Persistent will give me a unique opportunity to work with such enterprises across the continent. At Persistent I will also have the opportunity to work with smart and talented professionals, while also bringing my contribution to climate and socio-economic impact in Africa.”

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As a Venture Builder Serge Musingilwa will be working as an analyst on diverse partner projects as well as on pipeline efforts. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, is an affiliate of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Serge has worked on research projects into new investment areas with high potential in Africa. Before joining Persistent, he worked as an intern for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) in the D.R. Congo and co-founded the Congo Youth Entrepreneurship Forum.

Serge says: “Persistent offers me the unique opportunity to work with talented professionals while bringing my contribution to one of the biggest problems facing the world today. The dynamism of the team, their conscientiousness as well as their tremendous willingness to help are growth-provoking to me and make me a better professional every day.

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Winfred Kiberu is a Legal Analyst, offering legal knowledge and support to Persistent and its partners, to ensure compliance with laws and professional industry practice standards. Before joining Persistent, Winnie was a Legal Intern at Wairimu & Co. Law + Policy, where she provided legal support and gained experience in various legal fields including commercial law, employment, energy law, investment, taxation, and IP law.

Winnie says: “I am proud to be joining Persistent, a company that is positively impacting Africa by supporting and investing in innovation in the continent’s renewable energy sector. I look forward to contributing to the meaningful work done at Persistent.”

Persistent keeps looking for professionals to continue growing the team across Africa. If you are interested in working with us, you can find current job offers from us and our partner companies in the career section of our website. Feel free to share them with your network as well.

For more information please contact joy@staging.persistent.energy