Our Team
We're committed to using ethical investments to build a sustainable future for Africa
The faces behind the platform.
Energise Africa is a collaboration between two leading online investing platforms, Ethex and Lendahand. A small, but dedicated, professional and diverse team, we comprise experts in the fields of business, banking, marketing, social enterprise and international development, to bring you the very best products and service.
Lisa Ashford
CEO Energise Africa and Ethex
With over 20 years of experience in energy and environmental markets, Lisa is a leading voice in the positive investing and social enterprise sectors in the UK.
A regular media commentator and writer on her passion for ethical investment, Lisa has led the team at Energise Africa and our sister platform, Ethex to jointly raise over £100 million from investors to support projects that are making a positive difference.
Fiona Lamb
Chief Operating Officer, Energise Africa & Ethex
Fiona joins us as Chief Operating Officer (COO), with a 30 year career working for household names such as KPMG UK, NFU Mutual, Capita and Old Mutual, helping organisations to scale through transformation, strategy and product development.
Fiona has also spent two years at Oxfam GB on a pro-bono basis, supporting policy development in the Humanitarian division and project implementation in the Trading division. This gave her a deeper understanding of sustainability and improving outcomes across the whole value chain, ultimately to people.
Daniël van Maanen
Director Energise Africa and CFO Lendahand
Making sure Lendahand’s numbers add up is Daniel. His background ranges from Portfolio Manager at APG Asset Management to CFO of Aircrete Europe, an international technology company in the construction sector.
Koen The
Director Energise Africa and CEO & Co-founder, Lendahand
A self-proclaimed “reformed banker,” Koen is a former Executive Director at Goldman Sachs and Assistant VP at Barclays Capital, now putting his extensive financial knowledge and background to work fighting poverty as the CEO of Lendahand.
Philip Read
Head of Online Energise Africa and Ethex
Philip is a seasoned Director of Online with an award-winning background in digital media.
He has been responsible for overseeing the operation and development of the Energise Africa web platform since 2017.
Rachel Mountain
Head of Marketing and Communications, Energise Africa and Ethex
Rachel joined Ethex and Energise Africa in 2017 and is responsible for the marketing and communications activities of the Energise Africa platform.
She has more than 20 years of marketing and communications experience, particularly focused in the areas of green and sustainable finance.
Michael Flint
Senior Operations Manager, Energise Africa and Ethex
Michael has been working in the Financial Services industry since 2007.
At Energise Africa he manages the Operations Team and he makes sure investors have a positive experience when investing via our website. He’s also responsible for looking after our systems and processes, and ensuring the money raised makes it to where it needs to go to do good.
Isona Shibata
Programme Manager Energise Africa
Before joining Energise Africa, Isona spent ten years working in architecture and the built environment, and leading design and construction projects with a strong emphasis on sustainability and renewable energy.
She has worked on a range of projects in Nigeria as a freelance design consultant, as well as leading programme development for Prince’s Trust International in Kenya and Rwanda.
Sam Parkinson
Investor Support Officer Energise Africa and Ethex
Sam is Investor Support Officer to Energise Africa’s community of investors
Nicknamed “the Smooth Operator/Customer Champion”, Sam esures the smooth processing of investments on the site.
Rob Fielding
Digital Growth Manager Energise Africa and Ethex
Rob's role is to use data driven online insights to reach new audiences, ensuring that Energise Africa reaches people who want to have impact with their money.
He's an experienced digital marketer and has received several awards for his work on multiple, ambitious online projects.
Julie Dunn
Marketing Content Creator Energise Africa and Ethex
Julie has more than 15 years of marketing experience and forms part of the Energise Africa marketing team responsible for creating compelling content to help more people learn about the fantastic organisations that raise finance through Energise Africa.
Shahid Mian
Product Innovation Manager Energise Africa
Combining a masters in international development and climate change and a career in corporate finance, Shah enjoys the challenge of developing our next generation of innovative products marrying the needs of both our investors and borrowers.
Adriaan Schiphorst
Investment Analyst Energise Africa and Lendahand
The investment analyst who’s always up for a challenge, Adriaan went to the California Institute of Technology to learn about experimental physics and joined Lendahand in 2020.
Thomas Plaatsman
Investment Manager Energise Africa and Lendahand
Nicknamed the “Friendly Face of Investments,” Thomas is a Portfolio Manager on the Investments Team. He studied Econometrics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and is passionate about learning and providing equal opportunities.
Pietro Galardi
Investment Manager, Energise Africa and Lendahand
Part of the Investments Team, Pietro’s always working hard to bring people together: he hosts activities for the team such as The Walking Challenge and is always ready for a debate on important topics.
Pietro is Italian and studied at Saint Gallen University in Switzerland and Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden.
Chris Butler
Finance Director, Energise Africa and Ethex
As FD, Chris looks after financial reporting and helps the team to plan for further growth and impact.
Chris brings over 30 years of experience to the role, as a former Director and Head of Research at the global equity firm Martin Currie, CFO of Casemate Publishers and advisor to Christian Aid.
Nancy W. Kariuki
Sr. Investments Manager
Nancy is a seasoned professional passionate about working with impactful SMEs in emerging markets to grow sustainable and social businesses.
Nancy has a solid foundation in private debt (off-grid solar, Micro & SME finance and Financial Inclusion ), and ESG integration in private debt investments.