Scaling Innovation at the Energy-Agriculture Nexus in East Africa: A Sectoral Business Condition Brief

Allison Robertshaw

Allison became the SEED Executive Director in 2015. She brings with her over fifteen years of experience in the space of climate change mitigation, most recently as Director of Zennström Philanthropies. Allison holds a BSFS in Economics from the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and an MSc in the History of Economic Development from the London School of Economics. She is based in the UK.

Amélie Heuër

Amélie Heuër worked for SEED from 2009 to 2016 as Head of Research. Before joining SEED Amélie worked for several years on marine conservation and coastal resources management in the Philippines, where she conducted and managed several socio-economic and livelihood research projects. While working for the NGO Coral Cay Conservation, she was also in charge of community development and initiated a few livelihood development projects.

Previously she worked in London as Deputy Manager for the Author’s Licensing and Collecting Society to protect and promote the rights of authors. 

Amélie has a Masters Degree (MSc) in Human and Development Geography, which she studied at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the University College of London (UCL).

Christian Pirzer

Since 2013, Christian works for Endeva, a research institute and consultancy, as a consultant and project manager. He is an expert in international development, with experience in inclusive business, agricultural value chains, off-grid electrification and adaptation to climate change. He is one of the lead authors of the Sectoral Business Condition Brief on Scaling Innovation at the Energy-Agriculture Nexus in East Africa.

Christian is always looking for ways to create synergy between different sectors. For him, creating mutual benefits is the best way to build ownership and secure sustainability. But above all, he enjoys leaving the office for the real world and working with others.

Before joining Endeva, Christian worked as a Junior Consultant for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Brazil, where he focused on community-based adaptation to climate change and disaster risk-reduction. He is a graduate from the Center for Rural Development (SLE), a postgraduate program on international development cooperation in Berlin, Germany.

Christine Meyer

Christine joined SEED in 2016 and designs, implements and provides strategic guidance on SEED’s capacity building formats for eco-inclusive enterprises and actors of entrepreneurial ecosystems. She furthermore cultivates and develops strategic partnerships, which entails the cooperation with local and international financing institutions, NGOs, consultancies, and policy makers. In her role as Senior Manager and Co-Lead of adelphi’s Green Entrepreneurship Programme, Christine specialises in working on the intersection of sustainable entrepreneurship and green finance.

Before joining adelphi, Christine has gained experience in impact evaluation in the context of international affairs at Goethe-Institute and with a focus on private sector development and international cooperation at the Center of Evaluation.

Christine studied Geography at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg. She also holds a Masters in Geography of Global Change of Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. 

Dr. Christina Tewes-Gradl

Dr. Christina Tewes-Gradl is an expert on inclusive business. As a founder and managing director of Endeva, she works with partners from all sectors to identify and implement innovative market-based solutions to poverty. Christina has more than 13 years of experience in research and advising on sustainability, strategy and development issues.  She is a thought leader on inclusive business and related policies and ecosystems, having contributed more than 20 publications and speaking regularly at events on these topics.

Christina is a Research Fellow at the CSR Initiative of the Harvard Kennedy School, a Strategic Advisor to the UNDP Inclusive Market Initiative and a former Kofi Annan Fellow on Global Governance. She holds a PhD on the business model concept and Masters degrees from the University of Passau and LSE.  Previously, Christina worked as a strategy consultant with McKinsey&Co and with rice farmers in Madagascar.

Jona Liebl

Jona Liebl has supported SEED since 2010 and is in charge of the operational management and implementation of the SEED Programmes. In his position as Senior Project Manager at adelphi research, Jona works on projects in the area of sustainability entrepreneurship, corporate responsibility and green and inclusive business models.

Prior to joining adelphi, he trained as IT Specialist at Hewlett-Packard. He also worked as Programme Assistant at the UNDP Equator Initiative and was a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Equator Prize 2012 and 2014.

Jona holds a Masters Degree (M.A.) in Political Science from Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (LMU). He was a visiting fellow at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM).