Zuhura Ogada-Odhiambo
Chair Lady
Zuhura Ogada-Odhiambo is a leading expert in Business Management, Organization Development, a Communication and Media Expert and has got over 15 years experience in Marketing. For the past two decades she has had extensive experience in the field of communication, marketing strategy, events and brand management. She has been instrumental in exploring the convergence between marketing strategies and the use of data for organizational transformation. Her desire is to see businesses develop winning strategies, generate multiple income streams and nurture strong brands. Over the years she has enabled companies to turnaround in East Africa through enhanced consumer experience and increase of revenue for sustainability.
She is a co-founder and Director of Cocoa by Design an events- management firm with activities in Kenya, Uganda & Tanzania.
She is also the current CEO of New Revenue Solutions Africa a prolific revenue generating company which enables organizations accelerate profitable revenue through the use of data, strategy and commercial development. Her experience in media sector spans over 10 years at the Nation Media Group and Capital Group and CNBC as a Commercial Director.
Some of the key achievements in her career history includes: (i) Couching and Mentoring startups to develop award winning business cases and plans during incubation with ibiz Africa a Standard Chartered Bank Initiative, (ii) A leader in the formation of the first Female Governor’s Network in Kenya that will enable better County service delivery in the 5 year time frame.
Instrumental in introducing various revenue activities which generated high revenue using data
Initiated partnerships and was involved in having the first Indian Film Festival Kenya from the Indian Film Festival Worldwide being the first in Africa in August 2019 and have been also involved other Women Forums in Kenya.
Her desire to ensure that Affirmative Action is embedded in organization’s polices has seen her develop frameworks for gender diversity in the workplace and has undertaken the Women Directors Leadership Summit at the Strathmore Business School (SBS). She is also an alumni of Female Future Force programme from FKE (FFP), Senior Management Leadership Program & Developing Leadership Competencies from SBS.
Her leadership skills have made her serve in several Boards namely; Chairperson of Events Managers Association of Kenya (EMAK) Board,Vice Chair of 30% Club E.A that advocates for gender diversity inboards, and has also served on the GorMahia Sacco which empowers members socio- economically
She holds a Masters in Business Administration (Marketing) from Kenya Methodist University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Limkokwing University, Malaysia. She is also a member of Women Corporate Directors (WCD), MSK (Marketing Society of Kenya), PRSK and CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing).
Eric Musembi Mwanzia
Vice Chair
Eric is the Managing lead at the Arts Group Ltd – a Nairobi based integrated communication, marketing & events agency for the last 6 years. The company creatively offers Communication & Marketing solutions (brand design & merchandising), social media & digital solutions and Event Management solutions (planning, organizing & management). I am responsible for the day to day management and achievement of profitable sustainable growth through the creation & execution of successful business strategies.
The Arts Group Ltd was a finalist in the Top100 SME 2019 awards organized by KPMG East Africa, having ranked at position 50/100.
Over time – 19 years hands on experience, I have developed a multidisciplinary skillset spanning Hospitality sales & marketing, branding, creative, events & projects management and general business management. I spent 13 years as the team leader of sales, marketing and events’ teams at the Sarova Panafric & Intercontinental hotels based in Nairobi.
I have a deep understanding of both domestic and international distribution channels encompassing retail, wholesale, direct & international markets.
A versatile and analytical professional who is results-driven, I can collect, analyse information, digest facts / figures and easily grasp complex issues with a focus on exceeding expectations for customer service delivery while ensuring optimum brand impact.
Some significant positions I have held include; the current Vice Chairman & a founder member of Event Managers Association of Kenya (EMAK), Immediate past Board member of Mathatani Secondary School – Machakos, Trustee of the Intercontinental Hotel Pension scheme, Vice chairperson of the Intercontinental Savings and Credit. I was part of the management task force to Intercontinental hotel Lusaka, Zambia in 2012 that was tasked with establishing the events & conference department in line with the global Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) brand standards.
I hold a Bachelor of commerce degree – Marketing option from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (2000) and a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) – Strategic Management option from the University of Nairobi (2012) amongst other professional qualifications.
I am an entrepreneurship fellow at enpact C.V. – a German headquartered non-profit organisation empowering entrepreneurs, ecosystems and international cooperation..
Nimit Shah
Treasurer
Nimit Shah studied Bsc. Management at the London School of Economics before cutting his teeth at Deloitte, London in Corporate Finance. He is now the managing director at Event House Ltd, a company specialising in event management services for the private and corporate sectors across East Africa.
Nimit also sits on the board of directors of EMAK (Event Managers Association of Kenya), a professional association practising and maintaining professional standards for the good of the events industry. Nimit is keen to leave a lasting impression in the events industry by creating bespoke events for his clients.
Charles Kanyi
Vice Treasurer
Accomplished team leader with broad local and international experience in Hospitality, Event management, security and safety operations; Charles K Kanyi has a proven record spanning over 19 years in managing award winning Hospitality Hotels and Restaurants before taking over Chairmania Events in 2012.
Before taking over and transforming Chairmania Events Ltd, Kanyi was in charge of the Tamarind Kitchens, (the catering wing of the Tamarind group based at the Carnivore Restaurant) as the Catering Manager.
Charles also was in charge of The Carnivore Johannesburg as the Operations Manager before his return to Nairobi to establish the Catering wing at Carnivore Nairobi.
Charles is a graduate of Kenya Utalii College in Hotel Management and Strathmore Business School. He is a founding and current platinum member of Event Managers Association of Kenya and he holds various positions in various associations.
Jackee Ombajo
Secretary
Ms Jackee Ombajo, sits on the Board of Directors of one of the largest experiential marketing firms, and doubles up as the organization’s Chief Executive Officer. She is a passionate entrepreneur with a tenacious excellence attitude and strong leadership skills that transcend not just corporate spaces but overflows into social circles. She has a vibrant nature and always wears a smile that believes the strong and steel will with which she tackles client issues and usually almost always comes with a very practical solution. Jackee is driven and down to earth: “What you see is what you get”.
Her Journey to her current role began 15yrs ago when she teamed up with the founder of Trueblaq Ltd, her brother –the late Kevin Ombajo (Big Kev) to help him grow a 3-year-old entertainment & events company into a market –leading Experiential firm and brand. On his passing two years ago, with trepidation she jumped into the driver’s seat and started on a journey that has seen Trueblaq transform from a small outfit managed by a single person to a multi-million shilling corporate enterprise complete with a professional board of directors and fully kitted executive management team comprising of General Managers each handling the pillars that operationalize the organisation. The company’s exceptional business growth is based on the key pillars of integrity, youth empowerment, collaboration and creation of growth opportunities.
Trueblaq has a massive portfolio of top tier clients, which include EABL, Safaricom, Coca-Cola, Barclays, KAM, Stanbic, KCB, Resolution Insurance, among a string of others. All these precious organisations are handled by a lean staff of 46 members and contractual employees of up to 20,000 Pax who are contracted on a need basis depending on the weight of assignments. She has ambitious dreams of growing the reach of Trueblaq into the continent starting with East Africa and to the uttermost parts of Africa to become Africa’s foremost Integrated Marketing firm. Through Jackee’s firm but fair leadership; her consistent pursuit of excellence and keen eye for detail and execution –the company has more than quadrupled in size as it approaches its 18year anniversary. And as Jackee always like to allude to the famous African saying….” If you want to go fast, go alone, however if you want to go far, go with people…. go together”
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Rita Njuguna
Vice Secretary
Rita is a strategist and product marketing guru with over 19 years experience both locally and internationally.
She has successfully launched various products in the Telecommunication and Energy sector such as Orange Internet, Zuku Triple play fibre, Voila 3G Internet and First local roaming service for Digicel in Haiti, iPhone in East Africa and First complete Azuri Solar TV in Africa. She is currently the Programmes Manager at Azuri Technologies Kenya Limited.
Rita is also a partner at Go Gaga Experiential Company Limited a leading Conferencing Events Company in East Africa. The company is the franchise holder of internationally acclaimed Social Media Week Nairobi, Digital Media Awards and Zuri Awards. The company also works with notable brands such as Safaricom, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and BCS Group.
Rita holds a Bachelors of Commerce in Marketing from Catholic University, a Masters in Business Administration – Strategic Management from USIU (A) and is currently pursuing CIM Post Graduate Diploma. She is also a member of Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) and Chartered Institute of Marketers (CIM)
Christopher Kirwa
Member
Christopher Kirwa is a distinguished events organizer, Emcee, as well as a top notch events risk and assessment expert.
Before that he was a brand manager for rangers Restaurant and has organized successfully organized events like Choma Na Ngoma, iPhone 11 Launch, Coke Studio Master Class, DSTV Social Media Campaign for world Youth under 18 in Kasarani Stadium, Launch of Renault Cars in Kenya etc .
He started off his career in media at KBC and Metro TV, did internship in Nigeria as operations manager for exp Agency. He was voted the best operations manager across 17 coutries and was able to head projects for clients in Tanzania and Zambia during his 5 years stint at Exp.
He now runs CateChris Limited as Chief Operating Officer with his wife that deals with event management, Social media Marketing strategy, activations, PR and Risk Assessment / Mitigation measures for Events.
Chris Kirwa is passionate about Safety and Security and his vision is to impact entire industry to embrace safety/security best practices to ensure safety in all Events, by organizing training forums for Events companies under EMAK.
Under CateChris Limited he has done projects for DSTV Kenya, Vivo Energy, Standard Group, Coca-Cola, Simba Corp, Apple, Red Cross, PSTA – Private Security Training School and KICC among many other.