Team & Network
SCIO Management Team.
Tobias Straube 
Partner (Co-founder)
Tobias brings 10+ years of experience in digitalisation, governance, higher education and entrepreneurship projects across Africa, Europe, North America, East Asia, and Latin America. He is Principal at the San Francisco-based consulting think-tank Cambrian Group, advising companies and public institutions becoming Artificial Intelligence (AI)-savvy. As a former adviser to the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Tobias co-designed and co-led projects with combined budgets of $60 million. Those efforts included key finance, advisory and leadership roles in the creation of the African Governance Architecture for the African Union, the establishment of the Pan African University, the global AI for All Lab and tech entrepreneurship initiatives.
Filippo Brasesco
Partner (Co-founder) & Man. Director
Lead Adviser on Agriculture & Food Systems Development
Filippo brings his 10+ years of experience with Inter-governmental Organizations and with the United Nations system in the fields of Agribusiness and Value Chains Development. He is an Agricultural Economist specialised in Agricultural Development, Tropical Agrarian Systems and Development Management. An innovative and open-minded person, with a clear point of view and the passion to advance it. Filippo’s work experience in over 15 countries includes technical backstopping and management of multi-million projects with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as well as research and technical publications with FAO and with the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).
Parag Kamble
Partner (Co-founder)
Lead Adviser on Strategy & Organisational Development
Parag brings 12+ years of experience in Public Sector Advisory, Governance and Transformation. Operationalising a vision by breaking it down to the minutest of details and seeing this vision taking shape and delivering impact is his idea of professional satisfaction. His past experience includes working with Ministry of IT in Ethiopia for National e-Governance Strategy and developing Unified Billing Systems project, Ministry of Finance in Ethiopia and Kenya for Public Finance Management reforms and Change Management. As an Associate Director at PWC, Parag led Digital Payment Transformation initiatives for Smart Cities and Metro Projects in India. His experience spans across South Asia, East Africa, and the Middle East.
Emmanuel Nomafo
Associate Partner
Lead Adviser on Private Sector Development & Innovation
Emmanuel has 10+ years of experience in international development cooperation, with expertise on employment promotion, green TVET, grant management as well as entrepreneurship and SME development and youth policy and empowerment. He is a coach and trainer on entrepreneurship, financial literacy and soft skills, and has been providing technical assistance to entrepreneurs and organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Germany.
DR. ROBERTA PELLIZZOLI
Senior Expert
Lead Adviser on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Roberta, PhD in Development Studies, brings 15+ years of academic research and consultancy experience in mainstreaming gender issues and promoting gender transformative and social inclusion approaches in rural and agricultural development programmes, agro-food value-chain development, MSE development, education, child protection, digital technologies, institutional strengthening – having worked in different capacities for bilateral donors, international development agencies, international NGOs, Universities, private sector actors. Her experience spans across Southern Africa, North Africa and Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Stefania Chirizzi
Senior Expert
Lead Adviser on Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
Stefania brings 15+ yars of expertise in protection and empowerment of diverse groups (with a focus on women and youth) as well as capacity strengthening of civil society and local communities. She ensures technical insights on equality, diversity, and inclusion through all key phases of the methodology, from the design of data collection tools to the analysis steps and the synthesis phase. She combines extensive field experience in the humanitarian context and protracted crises, with technical expertise on participatory and qualitative evaluation approaches.
Dr. Keni Kariuki
Director | Scio Kenya
Keni brings 8+ years of experience as a legal expert and political economist. He leverages his background in policy research and passion in agricultural policy to advance the work being done in the African regulatory space. He has a PhD in agricultural political economy, which interrogated the institutional frameworks, rents, rent-seeking and power dynamics that affect service delivery. He continues to conduct research, tutoring, mentoring and to pursue a clearer understanding of the dynamics that influence market outcomes.
Enoch Wiafe Ntiamoah
Head of Finance and Accounting
Enoch Wiafe Ntiamoh is an accomplished professional with over 15 years of experience in corporate banking, financial management, assurance, and risk management with extensive global experience across Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. He is an ACCA fellow and holds an M.Sc. in Economics and Finance and a B.Sc. in Accounting. He has served as an accountant with KPMG, corporate banker with Standard Chartered Bank and Financial Advisor with Edward Jones Investments. Wiafe is passionate about building financial literacy skills among the African Diaspora and volunteering in the local community.
Nora Jana Fedisch
Senior Associate on Business Operations
Nora brings 5+ years of experience in developing sustainable value chains across Sub-Saharan Africa. She has extensive experience in fostering gender inclusivity in agricultural value chains and supporting startups and young entrepreneurs in rural areas. Her know-how ranges from gender and youth inclusive development approaches, to developing innovative training methods, designing and implementing projects to cooperating with public and private stakeholders.
Edith Kagia
Junior Associate | Administration & Finance
Edith is an experienced professional with a strong background in Business Administration and IT. With 2 years of experience in accounting and financial management, she is skilled in budget forecasting and management, financial record-keeping, and reporting. She is also proficient in handling administrative duties and project support to ensure efficient operations, timely completion of projects, and accurate handling of financial tasks.
Mercy Ndanu
Junior Associate | Marketing & Business Development
Mercy is a skilled Business Development and Marketing professional with over 1 year of experience. Her key focus is on lead generation, developing communication content, and creating effective marketing collaterals. She is proficient in managing social media platforms and has a good understanding of evolving communication strategies. Her expertise in creating and implementing marketing strategies helps businesses effectively reach their target audience.
SCIO Advisory Council.
Meseret is the founder and managing director at Ignite Investment, a growth accelerator/investment advisory firm facilitating financing for Ethiopian businesses, especially women owned SMEs and building their capacity to enable them utilize these resources as well as run their businesses successfully. She is also currently serving as the president of The African Women Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) Ethiopia chapter. Prior to Ignite investment, Meseret worked with several companies in Ethiopia including Addis-Africa International Convention & Exhibition Center (AAICEC) public and private partnership Share Company and was able to mobilize a tremendous number of local and international investors to raise millions of dollars for the project. Previously, she worked for Statistics Canada in Ottawa, Canada, Global Affairs Canada (formerly known as CIDA), the United Nations various donor agencies and governments.
BORJA SANTOS PORRAS
Managing Director – IE School of Global and Public Affairs
Professor of Practice
Borja is an expert in public policy and international development. He is the Executive Director at IE School of Public and Global Affairs and professor of the practice of International Development and Public Policy, Social Entrepreneurship and Project Management. He has 10 years of professional experience in the design and evaluation of public policies and programs in countries in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia. Amongst others, he has led the development of economic growth strategies for the Government of Sri Lanka and the Harvard Center for International Development; carried out impact evaluations in Perú and Belize with international development banks; managed institutional humanitarian response programmes of United Nations and the Government of Ethiopia and Ecuador; and coordinated international aid projects at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
DR ULRICH LEFFLER-FRANKE
Managing Director – LFC Development Consulting
Contributor
Ulrich is a governance and decentralization expert with over 35 years of experience, mainly in Africa. As expert at the German Development Institute (GDI), director at the consulting company GFA, interim manager at GIZ and freelancer, he has advised various governments on the elaboration of decentralisation policies (political, administrative, fiscal) and accompanied the practical implementation process through context-adapted pathways. The nexus of local governance/decentralisation with conflict and violence-prevention has been one cornerstone of his engagements, pursuing pragmatic policies and solutions that further long-term state-building with a realistically limited margin of maneuverability. Against this background, he has contributed to various reform processes in African countries, e.g., the fine-tuning of an Intergovernmental Fiscal Architecture (IFA), the structuring and implementation of functional assignment (FA) and the state-building in Libya.
SCIO Network Members.
Eric Boateng Acheampong
Practitioner of Sustainable Forestry and Natural Resources Management with 4+ years experience.
Emily Addonizio
Agriculture and environmental sciences specialist with 10+ years in complex operating environments.
Sanne Bakker
Trainer, technical advisor, researcher, and project manager with 11+ years of experience on food and nutrition security.
Anthony Blenman
Business transformation specialist with 20+ years in telecoms and digital innovation.
Alexander von der Borch Nitzling
Circular economy and sustainability expert with 17+ years of experience in business admin & finance.
Matteo Borzoni
Senior evaluator with 18+ years of experience in agriculture, livelihoods enhancement, food security and social protection.
Hélène Calame
Peacebuilding & conflict resolution specialist with 10+ years of experience.
Anna Canning
Marine and carbon specialist with experience in conservation, carbon analysis and sustainability.
Sergio Carnevale
Senior-level strategist, project leader, innovator with 13+ years of versatile technical expertise.
Ipshita Chaturvedi
Lawyer with 11+ years in international legal processes and natural resources management.
Davide Chinigò
Expert with 13+ years of experience working at the intersection between academia and international development.
Nikoloz Chkheidze
Economist and financial audit, analysis and reporting specialist with focus on SMEs.
Vikram Cirigiri
Software engineer, enterprise architect with 20+ years in the software industry.
Ludmilla Dadrass
Governance and rule of law advisor, programme development expert with 10+ years of experience.
Valeria Fabbroni
Digital technologies and innovation manager with 25+ years of experience in the emergency sector.
Antonino Faibene
Development consultant and coach with 17+ years of experience with local and international civil society organisations
Laila Fathi
Researcher on conflict, identity, and legal theory with demonstrated experience as M&E expert.
Kilian Gaillard
Research and data analyst with experience in economic regulation, project implementation and financial modelling.
Michele Galli
MEAL expert with 10+ years of experience in designing, managing, and evaluating projects.
Luisa Gatteschi
Economist with 10+ years in policy formulation and resilience building interventions.
Anja Grob
M&E Expert with 5+ years of experience in designing and implementing research projects.
Sina Henke
Governance and policy expert with 8+ years of experience in international cooperation.
Andrea Kick
Organisational development specialist with 20+ years of experience in Higher Education.
Camilla Kuckartz
Development Economist with 6+ years on education, skills development and SME promotion.
Sara Landström
Practitioner with 8+ years of experience on entrepreneurship and job-creation, gender, youth development, and migration.
Jenny Lang
Development professional with 6+ years of experience in sustainable value chain management and public-private collaboration.
Barbara Lilliu
Evaluation specialist with 16+ years of multi-sector experience in development programs.
Philip Maciocia
Carbon projects developer and adviser in energy, agriculture (livestock and arable), forestry, carbon markets, commodities and logistics.
Poorna Mazumdar
Development economist with 5+ years in research, health, education and human rights.
Elvis Melia
Economic growth, governance, and digital transformation adviser with 10+ years of experience.
Georg Meuser
Business and financial strategy adviser, and expert in start-up support.
Gabriele Mugnai
Rural development advisor with 20+ years of experience in project design, mamangement, monitoring and external evaluation.
Kwalar Vera Muring
Governance, elections, peace-building, education specialist with 15+ years in development.
Nungari Mwangi
Strategy advisor, researcher on agriculture policy and value chains with 7+ years of experience.
Paolo Napolitano
Analyst with 10+ years of experience on fragility, conflict and violence, political & security analysis.
Amie N'Dong
Social entrepreneurship and value chain expert with over 10+ years of experience fostering effective NGO and private partnerships.
Krupa Patel
Entrepreneur with 11+ years on improving market-driven solutions to low-middle income households.
Patricia Pella Fernandez
International infrastructure specialist with expertise in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).
Matiullah Rahmaty
Entrepreneurship promotion and SME development expert with 7+ years of experience.
Vinod Ramanaraynan
Entrepreneur-scientist with 10+ years on environmental, urban, and social challenges.
Pierre Rialland
Economist with 8+ years of experience in applying quantitative and mixed-methods research for policy and investments
Zita Ritchie
Food security and climate change expert with 10+ years in agric. extension, policy and research.
Chiara Romano
Development expert with 10+ years in social sustainability, gender, youth inclusion.
Shivangi Saxena
Management consultant and Engineer.
Matthias Schnier
Agripreneurship and rural development expert with 7+ years of hands-on experience.
Sharmi Sheth
Strategy consultant interested in gender equality, education for all and access to healthcare.
Ann-Christin Solas
Development professional with 6+ years in political advisory, strategic partnerships and donor relations.
Beatriz Gonzales de Suso
Agricultural Engineer with 20+ years of extensive experience in international contexts.
Thomas Tamanini
Environmental engineer with 15+ years in water and energy works, and infrastructure.
Nicola Tissi
International specialist with 10 years of experience in education and training system management with focus on skills development and employability.
Juan Torres
Information Management Specialist with 13+ years of experience working in data collection, analysis, and visualization.
Caroline Valois
Medical anthropologist with 12+ years as researcher on health and illness, and public health policy.
Kwabena Obiri Yeboah
Entrepreneurship, innovation management, and business incubation expert with 10+ years of experience in Africa and Germany.
Muhanad Yousif
Project Manager and M&E specialist with 8+ years of professional experience.
Blaga Zlateva
Development expert with 8+ years’ experience in sustainable agriculture and value chains, MEAL, social innovation.
SCIO Corporate Partners.
AgNext is an India-based disruptor that provides artificial intelligence-based food assessment technology for the agriculture industry. In doing so, AgNext enables the agricultural community, particularly in the Global South, to improve the quality of their agricultural outputs, optimize costs, and ensure food traceability. Scio Network and AgNext have entered into a strategic partnership to promote technological innovation in agriculture, one of Scio’s verticals, across value chains and countries to improve the competitiveness and productivity of farmers worldwide.
UBS Ltd. is a leading information technology and business consulting firm based in Dubai, UAE, specializing in M&E software solutions for international development cooperation. UBS’ portfolio of M&E software tools is used by NGOs, governments, regional cooperation bodies, donors and capacity building organizations. Scio Network and UBS have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at promoting data-driven and cost-effective decision-making for evidence-based policy and project design. Thus, the partnership contributes to Scio’s “Monitoring & Impact Evaluation” vertical.
Impact Hub Leipzig is part of the global Impact Hub network, a diverse and engaged community of founders, creatives, established companies, investors and NGOs, all with the goal of inspiring, connecting and empowering our local community to develop and implement their ideas for a more sustainable world. Scio Network is a shareholder in the Impact Hub Leipzig. Our strategic collaboration covers areas in line with Scio’s verticals, such as social innovation, promoting entrepreneurship and building innovation ecosystems.