Dr. Lindiwe Majele, Vice President for Policy and Strategic Partnerships, AGRA

Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda is the Vice President for Policy and Partnerships at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). AGRA’s vision is to catalyze and sustain inclusive agriculture transformation in Africa by increasing incomes and improving food security for smallholder farmer households. Her portfolio includes facilitating strategic partnerships for business growth, mobilizing public and private sector for an enabling business environment, and structuring affordable and accessible financial products for SMEs and smallholder farmers across Africa. Dr. Sibanda has over 25 years of trans-disciplinary experience in agriculture and rural development, public and private sector reforms and management. She is a globally recognized leader in agriculture, climate change and nutrition.

Edward Mabaya, Assistant Director, Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development

Ed is an academic and a development practitioner with more than a decade of experience with African seed systems. He is involved in several programs that seek to improve the lives of African farmers through private enterprises. Ed established and coordinates the Seeds of Development Program, a business development services and networking program for emerging seed companies in East and Southern Africa. As a Research Associate in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, he conducts research on food marketing and distribution, seed systems and the role of efficient agricultural markets in Africa’s economic development.  He is Assistant Director at the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development.  Ed earned his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics at Cornell University and his B.Sc. from the University of Zimbabwe.

Harriet Mugera, Economist, Survey Unit in the Development Data Group of the World Bank

Harriet’s research interests include poverty, labor, migration, agriculture and rural development. As a member of the LSMS team, she is an expert in survey instrument development, field operations, and data quality control and analysis of household and agricultural surveys. She is also the co-coordinator of the capacity building program within the Survey Unit. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked as an economist/econometrician with the Agricultural Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). She holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Management from the University of Trento.