Catalyst’s Core Team

Senior Associate

Andrew has over a decade of experience working across Africa in agriculture, education and clean energy access. He previously worked as Africa Operations Manager at Fenix International, and helped develop and implement the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa results-based funding facility.

Senior Advisor

Christine has 25+ years of experience in decentralized energy enterprise development and finance, strategy, and partnerships. She previously served as Senior Advisor to Sustainable Energy for All, co-founder and CEO of E+Co, and a Director of SELCO India.

Managing Director

Dan has 20+ years experience working in over 30 African countries. Prior to founding Catalyst, he co-founded Côte d'Ivoire’s first PAYGo solar company, and spent 15 years at the World Bank in a variety of operational roles. Co-founder of VentureBuilder and PAYGo Lab.

Senior Associate

Prior to Catalyst, Henry worked for Fenix International and ENGIE Energy Access in market expansion, business strategy and project management roles that saw him support the launch of Fenix Côte d’Ivoire, and work on the design and implementation of the ENGIE Energy Access integration.

Head of Insights

Ian has 15+ years of diverse energy-sector experience with tech and business-model expertise across off-grid solar, mini-grids, and clean cooking. In addition to Catalyst, he has worked for the World Bank, EarthSpark International, and PFC Energy (now S&P Global).

Senior Associate

Itoro is an interdisciplinary engineer with 7 years of experience, including as a renewable energy researcher & consultant. She has experience supporting various clients with renewable energy & e-mobility rollout in the U.S., Latin America & sub-Saharan Africa.

Associate

Jennifer is a multifaceted engineer with expertise in energy and environment. She has over 5 years of experience in project management and education. Before joining Catalyst, she was an energy researcher at the International Energy Agency (IEA) focusing on the energy transition in emerging economies.

Senior Associate

Kaluba leads teams on several Catalyst assignments. Former advisor at GIZ Zambia, with a focus on renewable energy, including a secondment to the Zambian Solar Industry Association. While at Solar Aid, project managed an FCDO-funded rural healthcare electrification program

Head of Strategy

Megan is a cross-functional organizational development leader with over 10 years of experience
powering impact cultures, strategic differentiation, and multi-stakeholder action agendas across the
corporate, non-profit, and public sectors.

Senior Associate

Rachel spent 7 years as a practitioner with EarthSpark International, leading its spin-off Haitian social enterprise, Enèji Pwòp. She is an operations specialist with experience developing training programs and leading business processes in the nonprofit and social entrepreneurship sector.

Head of Enterprise Development

Russell brings expertise in leadership and organisational culture, risk management, financial services, and project management to Catalyst. Most recently, he led the Global Distributors Collective (GDC), supporting 200 last-mile distributors across 60 countries. He also served as Managing Director of a solar/clean cooking social enterprise in Zambia, and spent 15 years in UK financial services

Senior Advisor

Shazia is an advisor who guides companies bringing transformative technologies to emerging markets. She has 20 years of experience in the energy space and is the former Founder and CEO of EcoEnergy. She is an attorney with a concentration in energy and international business.

Senior Associate

Wangui is a finance professional with over 10 years of experience in the corporate and energy
access sectors. This includes finance roles at d.light Ltd. Previously she held financial
roles at Ezra (Fintech).

Senior Associate

Xan is energy access and decentralized rural energy distribution practitioner, having worked in senior roles with leading PAYGo companies (Mobisol, Bboxx, SolarWorks).

Affiliated Consultants

DIMA REDA

Dima has 20 years experience in natural resource management, climate change, gender, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). She is the President and Founder of Nataij Group. Previously, she served as the Results Based Management Coordinator at the Global Environment Facility

ESMERALDA SINDOU

Esmeralda is an energy engineer and economist with over 10 years experience managing and developing energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa including market analysis, RBF design and management.

EVAN COLTON

Evan is a business strategist with broad experience in emerging markets, clean energy, and the technology industry. He co-founded energy efficiency startup Incenergy and helped launch Asha, a Nairobi-based software startup company.