People

Contact Us

Resiliencia Rwanda

Kigali Heights, eighth floor

Kigali

Resiliencia Ethiopia

Blue Space - Grace Plaza, 3rd floor

Namibia Street, Addis Ababa

Resiliencia Mozambique

Rua de Dar es Salam 845 Bairro 1

Chimoio

Resilience BV

Bevrijdingsstraat 38, 6703AA

Wageningen, The Netherlands

Our Team

Gertjan Becx

Director and Founder

Gertjan is senior expert in agribusiness, tropical agriculture, development economics and building inclusive value chains. He is the manager of Ethiopia Netherlands Trade for Agricultural Growth (ENTAG), the program coordinator of the TRAIDE program in Rwanda and business developer Africa for Solynta.

Guido van Hofwegen

Director and Founder

Guido is the founder and director of Nazava Indonesia seeking to provide everyone with access to safe and affordable drinking water. Currently, he is developing a water filter supply chain in Ethiopia. He is also in charge of financial management at Resilience.

Joep van den Broek

Director and Founder

Joep is senior expert in horticulture and seed sector development with a focus on agribusiness and policy. He manages projects in Ghana, Angola and Myanmar from his base in Ethiopia.

Wouter Beekman

Director

Wouter manages Resiliência Moçambique and IRIPO. He has great expertise in irrigation and hydrology and seeks to expand this (research) portfolio to the other East-African offices.

Anicha Diemkoudre

Consultant

Anicha Diemkoudre has a background in Rural Development and has experience working on horticultural projects in Francophone Africa, most notably Benin and Rwanda. She recently joined Resilience and will be the HortIvoire project coordinator. Hortivoire focuses on commercial horticulture and youth employment in Côte d’Ivoire working with a cluster of companies and government organisations.

Annemieke van Ginkel

Administration

Annemieke works as office manager for both Resilience BV and the TRAIDE programs. She takes care of human resources and financial administration, and ensures that the office operates smoothly and efficiently.

Anniek Elemans

Consultant

Anniek has a background in tropical agriculture and sustainable development. She currently works as general manager for Nazava Ethiopia, a social enterprise aiming to produce and market household water filters for Ethiopian households. Anniek also works on the TRAIDE Ethiopia program where she focuses on monitoring and evaluation, responsible business conduct and private sector association support.

Aucke Plantinga

Consultant

Aucke is an agribusiness consultant with a background in agricultural and development economics. He is currently supporting the team in Ethiopia. His work revolves around feasibility and scoping studies, private sector support and proposal writing related to agricultural projects. 

Bonne Amie Bayisenga

Consultant

Bonne Amie is an experienced agronomist with a demonstrated history of working in the farming industry. She is skilled in agronomy, agricultural economics and agribusiness. Via Resilience, Bonne Amie is Trial Manager and Agronomist for Solynta. She coordinates Solynta's technical adaptation trials, registration trials, screening 3 trials, mechanical trials and high yield performance trials in Rwanda.

Claudio Gundana

Senior consultant

Gundana is country representative and Vice-Director of Resiliencia Moçambique. He is the project manager of the APSAN-Vale project and supports the NAZAVA and IRIPO Project activities. He is also responsible for the office management of the Chimoio office.

Cremilde Saracuchepa

Consultant

Cremilde is a sales operator at Nazava water filters Mozambique, she also has experience in procurement and logistics.

Daniel Levelt

Operations Manager

Daniel is responsible for the strategical integration of the activities in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Rwanda and Mozambique) and provides support to projects in Mozambique. He is a water management and irrigation expert.

Elham Mohammed Abdi

Consultant

Currently working as a Business Support Project Officer for the TRAIDE program in Ethiopia, Elham has a business and technology background. She uses her expertise for the creation of business to business linkages, public-private dialogue facilitation and overall trade and investment support.

Elna Memelink

Consultant

Elna has a background in water management and gender. She currently works for the Sustainable Livelihoods Development project for the Gorongosa buffer zone communities in Mozambique. She assists in project and research activities in the field, primarily focusing on gender and Monitoring Evaluation, Reporting and Learning

Emenet Ephrem

Consultant

Emenet is an agribusiness consultant with an educational background in project management and engineering. She is an experienced analyst and consultant with a demonstrated history of working in government institution, private sector, and non-government organizations. She is also skilled in analytics, leadership and public speaking.  

Emily ter Steeg

Consultant

Emily is working on her PhD research project focused on market-driven changes in vegetable seed systems at Wageningen University & Research in development economics. She also has a part-time position working for SeedNL, the Public-Private Partnership of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Plantum. This partnership aims to contribute to seed sector development in emerging markets. 

Filipe Tomas Lenhao Sitole

Consultant

Filipe is a communication and image technician for IRIPO with a background in ecotourism and wildlife management. He further contributes to the technological support of the Sustainable Livelihoods Development program for Gorongosa buffer zone communities.

Geronimo Zumba

Consultant

Geronimo Zumba is a irrigation technician based in Chimoio, Mozambique. Through the APSAN-Vale project, he is coordinates and supports the irrigation and water management related activities. He is also involved on technical proposals writing, design, and implementation of irrigation and agriculture projects. He contributes to capacity building activities through training and technical assistance to various professional levels. 

Gretta Ishyaka

Consultant

Gretta has a background in Rural Development and Agribusiness. She worked as an instructional designer and trainer before joining Resiliencia Rwanda. Currently, she mainly works on the TRAIDE Rwanda program and focuses on marketing, communications and building a knowledge management system.

Haymanot Genene

Consultant

Haymanot has a background as sociology and marketing management and experience in marketing, supply chain and logistics. She currently works as a water filter development expert for Nazava Water Filters. She is part of the Young Expert Program (YEP).

Hemen Sirahbizu

Consultant

Hemen has a background in economics, business development, and RBC. She has a passion for sustainable business and social responsibility. She is currently working as a business support project officer at TRAIDE Ethiopia where she focuses on business opportunity studies, business-to-business linkages, and investment attraction.

Hiwot Tadesse

Consultant

Hiwot works on several consultancy projects in Ethiopia. With a background in Economics and Development Policy Analysis, she has knowledge and experience in working together with businesses, farmers and governmental actors in a development context.

Jelle van den Akker

Consultant

Over the past several years Jelle has gained hands-on work experience in innovative agricultural projects in several regions in India, Mozambique and Tanzania. These projects had a focus on bridging the gap between digital technologies and practical agriculture. He is currently supporting the team in Mozambique.

Joao Inacio Gabriel

Administration

Gabriel is an administrative and financial assistant for Resiliencia Mozambique. He contributes to office management, logistics and financial administration.

Josephine Damstra

Consultant

Josephine has a background in international relations, with a focus on private sector development and sustainability. She worked at our Rwanda office for two years, mainly focusing on trade facilitation in the agriculture, energy and digital sectors. Currently, she is based in Brazil and supports various studies and projects.

Júbia Uchavo

Consultant

Júbia is a mid-career professional with work experience in Agribusiness Private Sector Organizations focused on creating market-based solutions. Currently, she works in the OCIF project in Mozambique as Business Development Specialist for start-ups and credit analyst. OCIF aims to support young Mozambican entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by providing access to capital and technical assistance.

Katrien van Krieken

Consultant

Katrien is a water management expert based in Maputo, involved in the training of irrigation staff, farmer-led irrigation development and building the network of Resilience in Mozambique. She also works in Angola on sustainable business development.

Maída Manuel A. Mandomando

Consultant

Maída is an agricultural and environmental engineer. She works as an agronomist within the Sustainable Livelihoods Development program for Gorongosa buffer zone communities.

Manuel Aguiar Namurove

Consultant

Namurove is a technician for the Apsan Vale project (Mozambique) in the province of Manica to improve water productivity and income of smallholder farmers. His focus is on the improvement of irrigation and water management practices and technologies.

Mariamwork Tesfaye

Consultant

Mariamwork is a junior agribusiness consultant at Resilience Ethiopia. She has an educational background in sociology and experience in working in different agribusiness sectors.

Marie Fidele Umutoniwase Ndahimana

Consultant

Marie Fidele has a background in Tourism and Hospitality Management with experience in data collection. Mainly working on data compiling, research investment opportunities in Rwanda, matchmaking between Dutch Companies and Rwandan companies/institutions, and company support in the process of investment. Has worked on different projects in the sectors of energy, waste management, and digitalization.

Marino Gulamo

Consultant

Marino is a technician for the Apsan Vale project (Mozambique) in the province of Sofala to improve water productivity and income of smallholder farmers. His focus is on the improvement of irrigation and water management practices and technologies.  In addition, he worked on the hydrological study of the Messica river.

Nabyoullah Dosso

Consultant

Nabyoullah is an agribusiness engineer with proven experience in project management and green comodities value chains economic analysis within international institutions. He had also conducted different studies for the private sector (such as in cocoa, coffee, cashew, rubber, honey, vegetables) and worked on marketing development in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Senegal.

Natalia Herrera Jiménez

Consultant

Natalia is an Agricultural Engineer, with experience in coordinating and supervising processes in the food industry. She is part of the Resilience team in Colombia supporting projects related to agro-logistics, water governance and business development. 

Nelson Marula

Consultant

Nelson is a GIS and data expert. He is responsible for data collection, analysis and storage. He also works on the management of IRIPO - a communication platform which delivers agricultural extension services.

Olga Mufanequisso

Consultant

Olga is an agricultural engineer and works as a monitoring and evaluation specialist in the FASIMO project. She also has experience organizing fresh product value chains and has a passion for food processing and nutrition.

Osvaldo Soares

Consultant

Osvaldo is an agronomist with background in agrarian sciences. He works as an agronomist technician within the Sustainable Livelihoods Development program for Gorongosa Buffer Zone communities and contributes as consultant in rural extension and development as well as agricultural business management.

Piloto Rodrigues

Administration

Piloto has been an administrator for Resiliênçia Moçambique since the beginning of our presence in Mozambique. He does office management, financial administration and makes sure all the staff are connected.

Pita Magodi

Consultant

Pita is an agronomist with a background in market and business development. With his expertise in climate resilient horticulture, he works as consultant within the Sustainable Livelihoods Development program for Gorongosa buffer zone communities.

Sander de Raad

Consultant

Sander has a background in sustainable international business, with over 7 years of experience in Latin-America and Eastern Africa. As the country director for TRAIDE Ethiopia, he is responsible for general program management and is involved in various projects related to attracting Dutch investments, increasing Ethio-Netherlands trade, and supporting established companies. He is also the founder and director of JaguaHenna.com.

Simone Sitima Magrasse

Consultant

Simone is a technician for the Apsan Vale project (Mozambique) in the province of Tete to improve water productivity and income of smallholder farmers. His focus is on the improvement of irrigation and water management practices and technologies.

Steven Ramsey

Consultant

Steven is a Fulbright alumnus and graduate of the Elliott School of International Affairs where he concentrated on Global Energy & Environmental Policy.Steven speaks Arabic and has worked in development projects in Indonesia and Jordan. At Resilience Steven is working on developing new projects in Asia on water and climate resilience.   

Susanna Cocchini

Consultant

Susanna is the representative of Resilience in Colombia, where she is involved in agroforestry, agrologistics and water governance studies and projects. Moreover, she supports the TRAIDE program in Ethiopia and Rwanda, aimed at fostering private sector development in the countries. 

Thijs de Klein

Consultant

Thijs is a hydrologist, active in integrating the water management aspect in our projects in East Africa and developing new projects in the region. Moreover, he supports the hydrological team in Mozambique.

Thijs Rensink

Consultant

Thijs works as Business Consultant for Resilience. He has extensive experience as a logistics and innovation consultant and has led numerous implementation projects. With his background in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration he will work for the Ethiopia office on short-term business support assignments and the ISSD Ethiopia programme.

Thijs Rutgers

Senior Consultant

Thijs has almost 10 years of work experience with Africa. He worked in several African countries and his main expertise is building bridges and creating new partnerships

Timon Weitkamp

Consultant

Timon is writing his PhD proposal and works on the FASIMO project in Mozambique. He is an expert in remote sensing, irrigation and water management. He uses satellite-generated data to retrieve meaningful information about irrigation and agriculture.

Titus van Boekel

Consultant

Titus has a background in Urban and Economic Geography. Currently, he supports the TRAIDE NL team with database compiling, researching investment opportunities, coordinating trade missions and organizing webinars.  

Yanna Luca in ‘t Veld

Consultant

Yanna has an educational background in macroeconomics and development economics. Currently, she works as an agribusiness developer and supports projects fostering private sector development in Ethiopia and Rwanda.

Zoé Waller

Consultant

Zoé is an agroforestry expert with a background in biology and environmental sciences. She works as junior manager for the Sustainable Livelihoods Development program for Gorongosa buffer zone communities (Mozambique) and contributes as consultant to agroforestry projects. She is further developing Resilience’s carbon neutrality strategy.

Alumni

Adriana Sanchez

Consultant

Within Resilience, Adriana worked on IRIPO: a mobile platform that aims to deliver rural extension, crop production and market prices to farmers in Mozambique. She supervised field activities and developed inclusive business strategies.

LinkedIn

Netherlands

Auke Boere

Senior consultant

Auke Boere has ten years of experience in private sector development in various African countries, including Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. Within Resilience, he has been responsible for developing new projects in Francophone Africa. Formerly, his engagement has been in Ethiopia, as co-manager of the Ethiopian-Netherlands Trade for Agricultural Growth (ENTAG) program.

LinkedIn

Netherlands

Bouwiene Zwaan

Consultant

Bouwiene has a background in plant sciences and a strong interest in applying it to developing countries. At Resilience, she worked on the Hortinvest and Innowide projects in Rwanda and Kenya. Both projects are focused on testing and enhancing the growth process of the hybrid seed potato developed by Solynta.

LinkedIn

Netherlands

Evelien Lambooij

Consultant

Evelien has a background in sustainable development and is specialized in energy and agricultural development in emerging markets, particularly in Rwanda. She supported TRAIDE programs in Rwanda and Ethiopia in the renewable energy program and she was involved in Responsible Business Conduct projects.

LinkedIn

Rwanda

Eveline Massop

Consultant

Eveline is an agricultural engineer with a background in international development and rural sociology. At Resilience, she worked on monitoring, evaluating and learning for several projects, including gender aspects. 

LinkedIn

Netherlands

Fasika Yalew

Consultant

Fasika has a sociology and project management background. Within Resilience, she worked on the Context Sensitive Investment (CSI) program in Ethiopia, assisting foreign investors in understanding the Ethiopian context and investing responsibly.

Ethiopia

Joao da Costa

Consultant

DaCosta is a technician in agronomy specialized in climate-resilient agriculture. He supports field technicians and smallholder farmers in good agronomic practices within the Sustainable Livelihoods Development program.

Jos Hazenbosch

Consultant

Jos has a background in market system development approaches and using systems thinking to induce system change. He is also experienced in M&E approaches for adaptive programs and multi-stakeholder partnerships.  Within Resilience, he worked as a policy analyst, identifying success factors for inclusive agricultural systems in Mozambique. 

LinkedIn

Netherlands

Joseline Umuhire

Consultant

Within Resilience and Resiliencia Rwanda, Joseline supported the TRAIDE and Nazava Water Filters Projects in Rwanda. TRAIDE aims for inclusive and sustainable growth of the Rwandan agricultural sector whereas Nazava water filters lead to improved access to clean drinking. The projects relate to different Water and/or Agrofood themes and SDGs.

LinkedIn

Rwanda

Nicky Schepers

Senior consultant

Nicky is a hydrologist and she was based in Chimoio, Mozambique. At Resilience, she was the hydrological specialist in the APSAN-Vale project and was responsible for the development of hydrological programs within the region. She also managed our Nazava water filters in Mozambique.

LinkedIn

Mozambique

Rixt Komduur

Senior Consultant

Rixt has a multi-disciplinary background with a MSc in biology and a PhD in applied ethics and communication science. Within Resilience, she worked on policy making on a wide variety of subjects such as GM crops and scientific trends of (alternatives for) animal experiments and currently attitudes towards climate change.

LinkedIn

Netherlands

Rob van Oudheusden

Consultant

Rob has a background in value chain management and agriculture. At Resilience, he was working on agri-extension and farmer application projects, developing digital products for farmers and field staff. These products bring tailored and practical agricultural advice in the hands of the users and support management decision on individual and project level.

LinkedIn

Netherlands

Vania Almeida Bata Cambula

Administration

Vania was responsible for the financial management, operational and logistics processes of the Resiliencia Mozambique office.

Mozambique