Team
Office
At Solafrica, we work solacratically – our agile form of collaboration inspired by holacracy. Management tasks and responsibilities are distributed among all team members. In total, we share around nine full-time positions.
Elias Kost
For over a decade, Elias Kost has brought continuity and clarity to the development of Solafrica with his strategic flair and understanding of the big picture. His many tasks include representing the organisation to the outside world.
Anna Abel
Anna Abel has a key role in project work: with a cool head and a clear view, she ensures that impact measurement, financial management and project planning are interlinked – and thus brings structure to the diversity of our projects.
Florian Schlegel
Florian Schlegel is an old hand. For over ten years, the project manager has been coordinating solar projects with a calm manner and a deep understanding of the local context – currently Solar Learning for Women in Kenya and Solar Learning Ethiopia.
Hélène Genolet
Hélène Genolet pulls the strings in the Santé Solaire programme. As a quick-thinking and precise project manager, she ensures that solar energy reliably supplies rural health centers in Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo with light.
Maria Bongard
Whether in East Africa in Solar Learning projects or in Senegal in the Solar Perspectives project: Maria Bongard thinks projects through from the ground up, with a keen eye, a strategic mind and impressive foresight for the important needs on the ground.
Martin Wanner
When it comes to scouts, Martin Wanner’s heart beats faster. The dedicated project manager of Scouts go Solar trains solar ambassadors worldwide with great conviction and experience and supports them in their own projects.
Anouk Geurts
Anouk Geurts builds bridges between project teams and institutional funding partners. With a great deal of overview, she links the financing and implementation of projects – and brings the two sides onto a common course.
Rebekka Gammenthaler
Rebekka Gammenthaler calmly and confidently combines the requirements of the funding partners with the realities of the project managers. She cultivates this dialogue attentively, with foresight and always with an open ear.
Anna Opladen
With decades of experience under her belt and a great deal of sensitivity for the wishes of our donors, Anna Opladen brings people and projects together. And the solar vignette? It goes straight to your mailbox via her desk.
Fabienne Biedermann
With a sharp pen and a keen sense for nuances, Fabienne Biedermann tells us what Solafrica does and what it achieves. She gets to the heart of stories from the solar projects and has a sixth sense for forgotten commas.
Tim Bacher
Designing graphics, maintaining websites, writing texts, juggling data: Tim Bacher brings technology, content, structure and design under one roof. Everything from a single source, everything with style – precise, creative and amazingly effortless.
Luana Fombe
From personnel administration to the printer and invoices to the coffee: Luana Fombe takes care of everything that keeps the office running with a clear overview, organisational talent and a lot of heart – often before anyone notices.
Renato Breitenstein
When you find a solar vignette in your letterbox, Renato Breitenstein has a hand in it. With calm precision, he processes the orders reliably and ensures that the solar vignettes reach you on time.
Theo Werlen
What Theo Werlen achieves in 20 percent is a small miracle: bookkeeping, annual financial statements and a trained eye for columns of figures that no one else sorts so skillfully. With an eye for detail, he ensures that nothing slips through the cracks in our finances.
Project partners
We work closely with our partners and partner organizations in the project countries as equals. We plan and make decisions together – from strategic issues to new project phases and projects.
Abigael W. Okello
Abigael W. Okello has been managing the implementation of several solar projects in Kenya for many years. As Managing Director of the Solar Mtaani organization, she coordinates cooperation with local partner organizations and representatives from government, business and civil society. She knows the local conditions from the reality of her own life.
Amsale Mulugeta
Amsale Mulugeta studied social sciences and community development. After decades of working in the non-profit sector in Switzerland, she founded the organisation Education for Sustainable Development in Ethiopia in 2007. She manages the Solar Learning Ethiopia project with an experienced team and a special focus on local involvement.
Steven Gama
Steven Gama teaches at the vocational school in Mbeya and can look back on more than 25 years of experience in the field of electrical installations. He is a qualified teacher and expert in solar technology. In the Solar Learning Tanzania project, he imparts in-depth knowledge of photovoltaics, based on his master’s degree in Clear Energy Technology and many years of practical experience.
Richard Ndendya
Richard Ndendya is a project manager with over nine years of experience, seven of which have been in the solar industry. He is responsible for coordination and networking in the Solar Learning Tanzania project. With strong communication skills and knowledge of logistics, monitoring and evaluation, he brings a wide range of skills to the implementation.
Cète Tiendrebéogo
Adideme Koutangni
Adideme Koutangni manages the Santé Solaire program in Togo. As a geographer, president of the Kekeli association and employee of the Institute of Statistics, she knows the local context inside out. She has a broad network and promotes poverty reduction, health and sustainability – especially for disadvantaged population groups.
Seidi Mohamed Abdourahmane
Seidi Mohamed Abdourahmane manages the Santé Solaire program in Niger. For over 20 years, he has been committed to improving living conditions – particularly in fragile contexts, solar irrigation and strengthening rural communities. In 2009, he founded the NPO ACRPE, our partner organization.
Dr. Dinsefa Mensur
Dr. Dinsefa Mensur is a professor at Adama Science and Technology University. He coordinates the academic work in Ethiopia in the Solar Fuels project. He holds a doctorate in materials science and engineering from Seoul National University in South Korea and has spent many years researching innovative energy technologies.
Salvatore Oricchio
Salvatore Oricchio coordinates the work of the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences in the Solar Fuels project. As a research associate at the Institute of Energy Systems and Fluid Engineering, he has over ten years of experience in the development of Power-to-X systems. His expertise makes him the ideal partner for technical questions.
Management Board
The Solafrica Board discusses and decides on strategic decisions, new projects and important developments – always with an eye on the big picture. The board members work on a voluntary basis.
Flora Conte
Flora Conte studied environmental sciences at ETH Zurich. She specialises in renewable energies, recycling, agriculture and environmental audits. She has many years of experience in international cooperation and, as a former Solafrica employee, set up the Santé Solaire programme.
Dr. Kuno Roth
Dr. Kuno Roth is a thought leader and long-time employee of Greenpeace and co-founder of Solafrica. He has been committed to a fair and sustainable global energy supply for decades. His tireless commitment and wealth of experience are invaluable to Solafrica.
Claudio Clematide
Claudio Clematide is a financial expert with experience in the private and non-profit sectors. At Solafrica, he contributes his in-depth understanding of figures and a trained eye for financial sustainability and supports the strategic development of the organisation with vision and responsibility.
David Stickelberger
David Stickelberger studied geography and completed a postgraduate diploma in environmental studies. He is the deputy managing director of Swissolar and has helped shape the development of solar energy in Switzerland. With in-depth knowledge of technology, education, politics and communication, he is very well connected in the industry.
Isabelle Meier-Glauser
Isabelle Meier-Glauser is a lawyer and qualified real estate trustee with many years of experience in the finance and real estate industry. At Solafrica, she contributes her expertise in sustainability, risk management and corporate governance – with a focus on combining responsibility and economic success.
Dr. Marta Ra
Dr. Marta Ra holds a doctorate in economics. She has extensive experience in investment banking and asset management. As co-founder of Women in Sustainable Finance, she is passionately committed to the transformation of the financial system towards greater sustainability and social responsibility.
Ambassadors
Our Solafrica ambassadors authentically represent our values and proudly stand by our side to give Solafrica even more visibility. It is important to them to make our commitment and our courageous projects known in new networks.
Carmen Carfora
Christine Badertscher
Eugen Brunner
Maphrida Wehrli
