Our Team
We are African women who have founded businesses, run non-profits, built side hustles, and led ventures. We ask what keeps you up at night because we know what it takes to bring an idea to life.
Jo Opot
Founding Director
Jo grew up in Nairobi and started her career working for the United Nations in Kenya, Russia and the USA. She then joined StartingBloc, a social innovators fellowship program in New York, as the Director of Programs and subsequently became the Executive Director. Following this, Jo was the Global VP of Business Development at TerraCycle, where she grew the company’s partnerships from six countries to twenty-two markets. Prior to Gather, Jo was at Acumen, where she backed companies and leaders that were innovatively tackling poverty as Head of Business Development in San Francisco and then as Head of Leadership and Strategy in Nairobi.
Jo is a recipient of the Sundance Eco-Warrior Award and a Social Venture Network fellow and has been featured in the New York Times and Fast Company. She holds a BA in Political Science and French from Middlebury College and a Masters in Sustainability from the University of Cambridge. Some of her favorite moments are trail running with her husband, daughter and dog.
Street Cred
At 13 years, I ran a roadside food shack in Nairobi. I did everything from cleaning vegetables at 5.30am to balancing books and paying wages at 5.30pm. I have never worked so hard and earned so little. Each day, I struggled to differentiate my product and build customer loyalty and each night, I tried to figure out a new cost cutting measure. I’m humbled by every small business owner and entrepreneur I meet - knowing the audacity and resilience they carry with them every day.
What keeps me up at night?
Figuring out how women can own assets and create climate smart intergenerational wealth.
Shiru Mwangi
Chief Investment Officer
Shiru has 25 years of experience in global markets, corporate banking, private debt and equity . She was the Regional Director for Acumen Fund in East Africa, driving overall business strategy, overseeing investments by the East Africa portfolio team, and managing operations. Prior to joining Acumen, Shiru was the Head of Agriculture Debt Financing at responsAbility Investments AG, handling debt investments spread over commodity trading and processing companies across Africa. She also held the role of Regional Head of Global Markets in East Africa for Stanbic Bank in Kenya managing a multi-million dollar budget, and prior to that, as Executive Director Corporate and Investment Banking at Stanbic Bank, a subsidiary of Standard Bank of South Africa.
Shiru holds a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has worked in New York, before transitioning back to work in Africa, for Citibank, initially in Tanzania, but also in Bahrain and Kenya, holding regional roles and board positions in East Africa. She has a Bachelor's degree in Biology and Spanish from Amherst College, in Massachusetts and spent a year abroad at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, South America.
Street Cred
I transitioned out of banking to start a farm, growing mangoes in Makueni county, Kenya, for export. I was quickly humbled into realizing I had so much to learn, from the people, the land, the weather, and the demands of the market. With my team we built systems, we worked to understand what worked best, we implemented good agricultural practices, and acquired a decade-long buyer of our mangoes in the Middle East. Lessons in excellence from my past paid off and allowed me to focus on quality, and the consumer experience, and a desire to deliver a nutritious and healthy product to the market. I am still learning, and building from prior year lessons, and 13 years in, I can see the impact our work has had on the community in which we operate.
What keeps me up at night?
The need for continuous innovation, for growth, to understand the changing market, changing tastes, changing demographics, not only on my farm, but also for the companies we invest in. I desire to apply myself to learning and seeking knowledge, in order to anticipate the shift in market dynamics and walk alongside our companies as they pivot their business models to success.
Ivy Macharia
Head of Portfolio
Ivy has 10 years’ experience advising and investing in early stage ventures. She started her career at Shona in Uganda working with social enterprises raising funding. In this role, she supported the cohort to raise $1m of investment. She then transitioned to I-DEV International, a boutique consulting firm in Nairobi. There she conducted financial analysis, investment due diligence, and other strategy consulting to facilitate investment in early stage businesses across sub-Saharan Africa. She leveraged her experience in consulting and investment advisory to start her career as an investor.
Ivy worked at Acumen in their Nairobi office where she was part of driving the investment strategy in East Africa, focusing on businesses tackling the energy access challenge in Africa. She invested in and managed relationships with 3 portfolio companies where she also sat on the boards as an Observer. Prior to joining Gather, she worked at Enza Capital, an pan-African VC fund with $60m AUM. At Enza she led investments into 6 companies, managed relationships with over 10 portfolio companies and designed the firm’s portfolio management strategy.
Ivy holds a Bachelors in Business Science (BBS) Degree in Actuarial Science from Strathmore University in Nairobi. She enjoys traveling with her husband and singing along to made up tunes with her daughter.
Street Cred
I spent most of my holidays in university managing my mum’s retail shop where we sold dry cereals and household essentials. I learned the importance of great customer service especially at the end of a long day; how to multi-tasking between serving customers and keeping good records; and how to price products. Every day was a balancing act between making sure we can maintain our already thin margins and ensuring that our prices were competitive. Unfortunately after 4 years or so, my mum had to close down the shop because the margins were simply unsustainable. Years later, when I would sit across from founders of much more established businesses, I would marvel at how similar the challenges that they faced were to my experience at a small retail shop in Kamulu.
What keeps me up at night?
How can I move capital efficiently to the most impactful businesses that are transforming the lives of women and girls.
Ann Munyua
Systems & Projects Manager
Ann started her career at Open Capital Advisors as an Analyst and rose up the ranks to a Senior Project Leader before joining Gather Ventures.
During her time at Open Capital, she worked on more than 60 projects with entrepreneurs, investors, development partners and the public sector across more than 20 countries seeing first hand the challenges that local and female entrepreneurs face in building and scaling their businesses. Ann was part of the Gender Practice team driving gender mainstreaming to make a business case for engaging women as entrepreneurs, senior team members, employees, suppliers and customers. She also worked across multiple sectors spanning agriculture, water and sanitation, health, fast moving consumer goods, education, technology among others leveraging sector cross-learnings and innovation nuances.
Ann holds a Bachelor of Commerce with honors from the University of Nairobi and is a CPA finalist. Ann enjoys reading fictional stories particularly by African writers.
Street Cred
While at university, I stumbled upon a hustle of selling thrifted women's clothes to my fellow students. This taught me resilience, the reality of having a windfall on some days and selling nothing on other days, the promise of future payments that never came. The most valuable lesson of all was the realization that the profits not only stacked against costs but also on the opportunity cost of time.
What keeps me up at night?
Providing high value opportunities for women and girls to reach their fullest potential to impact generations to come.