AgDevCo

Joanne is the Market Systems Development and Partnerships Manager of the BlueBiz Programme – a programme dedicated to youth empowerment and sustainable development in the Blue Economy – at TechnoServe. She has over 15 years of experience in agriculture, sales, consulting, and the hospitality industry.

Prior to joining TechnoServe, she was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Kentaste, a leading producer of coconut products in Kenya, where she oversaw the smallholder sourcing network and led a team directly involved with smallholders. She also managed factory operations and commercial departments, driving revenue growth and profitability.

Joanne is an independent Technical Assistance Committee (TAC) member at AgDevCo and has experience working with various technical assistance (TA) programmes through Kentaste grant/TA initiatives. She has collaborated with several grant providers and investors, including AgriFI, FINCA, CASA TAF/TechnoServe, and Acumen. She is well-versed in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

Before her roles at TechnoServe and Kentaste, she worked as a consultant specializing in sales, marketing, and governance consulting across multiple value chains, including sesame, dairy, and groundnuts in Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda.

She holds an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.