Humanities
How did you obtain your position?
Ify Umunna bit.ly/3xjCCTd
Current position: Programme Lead at Nourishing Africa
Past positions: Research Analyst at Sahel Consulting Research Officer at African Philanthropy Forum
Academic history: 2017 Master of International Development at University of Warwick 2016 Bachelor of Social Science Honours specialising in Gender and Transformation at UCT 2015 Bachelor of Social Science with majors in International Relations, Gender Studies and Sociology at UCT
136 / CAREERS SERVICE GUIDE 2021
I had interned at Sahel Consulting prior to doing my Masters at Warwick. After obtaining my Masters, and a year of work experience in other organisations, I returned to Sahel as an analyst to work on a ‘Nourishing Africa’ project. This project grew into being a standalone company that was then incubated by Sahel and my colleague and I became co-leads of the organisation. Today, Nourishing Africa is an independent organisation – a digital knowledge and membership platform focused on supporting African agriculture and food entrepreneurs to scale their businesses through the provision of critical resources, tools and opportunities, including funding, capacity building, data, networking events, e-learning, local and global nominations, and mentoring. Currently, Nourishing Africa supports more than 800 agri-food SMEs through these entrepreneurs, with membership from across the continent.
What are the key skills that have contributed to your success so far? For me, it’s important to access your environment and understand the people you’re engaging with, prior to delivering whatever it is you aim to provide. When ‘selling’ anything to an individual or a group of people, whether it’s an idea, vision or a product, you have to ensure that you know where your audience is coming from and their needs so that your pitch is tailored to their requirements. In order to do this, you have to listen and understand them first.
What are your day-to-day responsibilities at Nourishing Africa? I manage partnerships, communications, ICT and governance and policies. Given that we are a start-up, tasks vary, and responsibilities shift but in a ‘regular’ week I would work with the ICT team to ensure that all aspects of the Hub are optimised and the content is accessible and user friendly, we would also strategise on new features and additions to the platform. I would engage the Comms team to ensure that we have disseminated information about Nourishing Africa to our members, stakeholders and general users and informed them on all ongoing and future activities. I liaise closely with our Board of Directors and partners to ensure that they are up to date with our work and for us to discuss matters arising and lastly, I would typically have a range of discussions with new and potential partners.
