Renewables in the electrification of Mozambique
Adam Ayache has a background in infrastructure engineering with a focus on energy. Adam has been working for AFD Maputo as an Investment Officer in the infrastructures sector for 2,5 years, trying to enhance their support to sustainable strategies to meet their objectives as a development institution.
Andrew Muguwa holds a Master of Science degree (in Electrical Power Systems) from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. He has over fifteen (15) years’ working experience in the energy sector including academia. Andrew is currently employed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) as a Principal Power Engineer in the East African region where he is engaged in preparation of pipeline & lending programmes of energy infrastructure projects including renewable generation, transmission lines and last-mile connections as well as smart off-grid solutions.
Armando Abacar is an experienced Mechanical Engineer who has worked in the energy, mining and construction companies, EPCM firms and contractors. He is experienced in power generation applications and technologies across major fuel forms including fossil fuels and renewable with competence in operation and maintenance of power plants and has skills in plant design, for both mine and power generation applications. Armando has undertaken project engineering, contracts management and project management roles across mining and energy industries having provided significant role to developing feasibility studies and detail engineering in the mining sector, as well as the management of design and construction projects. He holds MSc in sustainable energy engineering from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).
Boris Atanassov is the founder and general director of Greenlight and is primarily responsible for the Project Development and Renewable Energy division. Boris holds A Master of Science from the Stockholm University specializing in Energy Development. He holds over 10 years of experience in research, project management and business development. Key focus areas include: renewable energy, bio-energy, climate financing, market development and social impact assessments. Boris holds strong experience in developing feasibility studies, business plans and managing projects within the mentioned fields. Notable projects include: A solar mini-grid public private partnership in Maputo province; cotton waste to electricity feasibility study in Cuamba district; A mini hydro electrification project in Niassa; the introduction of ethanol cook-stoves in the Mozambican market; solar home system market development; as well as A sustainable charcoal production business in Gaza province.
Casper Sikkema started his career as an M&A advisor working on various mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships. After that he moved to the corporate side, working as a manager of the corporate development department for Royal IHC Merwede. His focus was primarily on Oil&Gas, Mining and Renewable energy within the Sub-Saharan Africa market. In 2014, as CEO, he completed a financial and legal restructuring of a Dutch sale and lease company before joining SolarWorks! in 2015.
Cyril Perrin is working in the renewable energy sector for 8 years. He started his career at Neoen in 2008 as project manager in the biomass department. He took the head of Neoen’s solar developments in Portugal in 2013 and moved to Mozambique in 2015 to open Neoen’s subsidiary. He is currently Regional Director for Southern Africa – in charge in particular of the Zambian (Scaling Solar project) and Mozambican (Metoro) developments.
Damião Victor Namuera, graduate in Geology in Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique in 2006.
His professional work experience dates back to 2007, when he joined to Energy Ministry, where he work as geologist in Alternative Energy Department on National Directorate of New and Renewable Energy. Responsible for geothermal and small hydropower activity. He participated in the elaboration of the Development Strategy of New and Renewable Energy, Renewable Energy Atlas and Feed In Tariff. He has also undertaken a number of renewable energy training.
In 2015 was appointed head of Renewable Energy Department in Energy Directorate at Ministry of Mineral Resource and Energy.
Emmett Costel is a business development specialist operating as an independent consultant who brings over 9 years of experience in various roles in the development, social enterprise and impact investing sectors. With comprehensive local knowledge of the Mozambican market and a solid frame of reference of the regional context, Emmett brings tried and tested experience working in the development of base-of-pyramid business and markets, retail and distribution for fast moving consumer goods, leading business development for new ventures, and supporting the commercial development of renewable energy projects and businesses in both on-grid and off-grid energy. In addition to undertaking a wide range of service provision contracts, Emmett provides direct support and works hand-in-hand with clients and partners across all stages of the project cycle to develop and grow projects, ventures, businesses and investments with a triple-bottom-line.
Emmett is a co-founder of Epsilon Energia Solar (EES), and is currently engaged as Operations Director. EES is a company that distributes and finances small solar systems in rural Mozambique. The business model combines last mile distribution, connected equipment, mobile money and effective credit management to deliver a Pay As You Go service to bottom of the pyramid households. The venture is backed by respected local investors Epsilon Investimentos, Mozambique’s largest domestic NGO FDC led by Graca Machel, and Kevin Kennedy, an experienced PAYGO investor and manager.
Agronomist engineer, leading Grupo JFS since 2005. Experience in several business sectors.
Chairman of Mozambique Cotton Ginners Association (AAM). Member of the Board of the Mozambique Automotive Distributors Association (AIDAM). Member of the Board of the Mozambique Industrial Association (AIMO). Vice-President for Industry of the Mozambique Private Sector Federation (CTA) until 2016.
Isabel Cancela de Abreu is an Environmental Engineer with an Executive Master on Sustainable Energy Systems.Her experience in renewable energies started at APREN, the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association, where she was Director of the Technical Department.
Isabel was afterwards invited to work as Policy Adviser at EREC, the European Renewable Energy Council.
Later on, she decided to take advantage of her national and international experience to found ALER, the Lusophone Renewable Energy Association, where she now works as Executive Director.
In addition, Isabel was also a social volunteer in Niassa - Mozambique, and did an internship at Grameen Shakti in Bangladesh to learn about their microcredit and Solar Home Systems programs.
Jan has worked for the past 19 years in renewable energy and rural electrification in Africa, the Pacific Region and Europe. He has experience in energy policy, PV, wind, biofuels and hydro power, remote monitoring and management models of sustainable rural electrification. Jan is currently responsible for the RECP policy advisory activities and coordination of activities in Mozambique. Prior to his engagement with the RECP, he worked at Fundo de Energia (FUNAE) in Mozambique; the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague; the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC/SPC) in Fiji; UNDP Energy & Environment Programme in New York and the Energy Research Foundation (ECN) in Amsterdam. He holds a Master's degree in Renewable Energy and International Development from the University of Eindhoven.
Jennifer Garvey has practiced legal advisory in the energy, natural resource, and public infrastructure investment sectors in Mozambique since 1986, in government (Mireme), tax and legal advisory (KPMG) and then as chief legal counsel in ICVL Mozambique (previously Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique) participating in the strategy and execution of the projects’ evolution through exploration, development and construction and operation including community resettlement and environmental assessment as well as mine and support operations. Most recently, she has been concentrating in the energy sector. Jennifer Garvey can be contacted at +258-82-3180130 / +258-84-3180130: jennifer.garvey.mz@gmail.com.
José Carlos Edo Monfort has been in Mozambique since September 2015 and is Head of the Rural Development and Infrastructure Section at the EU Delegation in Mozambique.
He has previously worked for the private sector in the area of public infrastructure construction (Barcelona, Spain) as well as in the area of natural gas and oil production (Groningen, The Netherlands).
José Carlos Edo Monfort is Spanish, and his academic training in Civil Engineering was obtained from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona - Spain) and the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (Lyon - France). He holds a Master's in Project Management from Infrastructures obtained from Columbia University and Stanford University (USA).
Julia Crause is a Principal Project Manager at KfW Development Bank where she is responsible for the energy portfolio in Mozambique. Before joining KfW she worked for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya. Her fields of expertise is infrastructure financing with a focus on energy and urban development. She has a Master in Social Anthropology, African Studies and Portuguese from Hamburg University.
Lauren Thomas is the Regional Manager for Mozambique, overseeing the project development for all initiatives in the country. Lauren joined eleQtra in 2011 as Project Developer and Financial Analyst. Lauren has a background focused in corporate finance and development finance in Southern Africa. Prior to joining eleQtra, Lauren worked with TechnoServe, Inc. to facilitate the launch of a smallholder facility for the African Agriculture Fund, a $500 million pan-African private equity fund, and to initiate private capital raising activities for SME entrepreneurs in Africa. She also has provided advisory financial services for AgDevCo, the South African Trade Hub and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Mozambique, and founded the social enterprise Mozambikes to apply bicycles to combat rural poverty. Before moving to Mozambique in 2008, Lauren was in the Leveraged Finance Group of Deerfield Capital Management LLC as part of a 5-person team that built and managed a $400 million alternative investments portfolio. Lauren began her career in the Financial Sponsor Group of Banc of America Securities LLC, the investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America. Lauren Thomas graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S.B.A. from the Kenan-Flagler Business School and a B.A. in Spanish from the College of Arts and Science. Lauren holds a bilingual Masters of Business Administration at IESE Business School in English and Spanish.
Manuel Ruas has more than 35 years of work experience in the energy and development sectors. Manuel has experience as Power Engineer at the Mozambique National Power Utility - Electricidade de Moçambique, particularly related to Rural Distribution Network and Development Planning. He has six years of experience as Head of the Department of Energy, in Mozambique, and Project Coordinator of The World Bank/IDA Energy Credits. Manuel worked for three years as the Project Coordinator for the Community Based Natural Resources Management at the Rural Development Institute, and has also held the position of national focal point for the World Bank Regional Programme of the Traditional Energy Sector. During the period 2000-2003, Manuel was Project Manager of the Beira Development Corridor (under the Regional Spatial Development Initiative) and was tasked with identifying and preparing the project portfolio with comparative and competitive advantages for the Beira Development Corridor, in order to promote public and private sector investment and further development. Between 2012 and 2014 he was the Nacala Development Corridor Project Manager, under the Spatial Development Programme coordinated by the Mozambique Ministry of Transport and Communication and funded by the World Bank. In addition, Manuel has consultancy experience related to Sustainable Development and Energy, Demand Side Management and Efficiency, Decentralized Power Generation, Electrification Networks and Renewable Energy. At OneWorld, between 2009 and 2012, he was involved in supporting the Mozambican Government with accessing climate finance and negotiation support. As an independent consultant worked for the World Bank funded Spatial Development Programme, between 2012 and 2014, and in the two subsequent years as responsible for the Business Development in Mozambique of the South African Companies NuWater and Citius Energy. Currently, is working for KfW funded GET FiT (Global Energy Transfer Feed in Tariff) Mozambique Programme, as Coordinator.
Marta A Monjane holds a Master degree on Forest Surveys by the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), the Netherlands, since 1995. She has more than 25 years of professional experience working in a variety of thematic, geographic and institutional settings.
Her experience stems, geographically, from Mozambique, Kenya and other countries across Eastern and Southern Africa Region. Her expertise includes fields such as Renewable Energy, Environment and Environmental Impact Assessments, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, REDD+ and, Forest management and conservation. Throughout her career, she worked for the Government, Academia, International Organizations, and consultancy companies, including the Department of Forestry and Wildlife in the former Ministry of Agriculture; the former Ministry of Environmental affairs; the University Eduardo Mondlane; UNDP funded Capacity 21 Programme; The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); ETC International and; Impacto, Lda.
Mateus Magala is the Chairman and CEO of Electricity of Mozambique (EDM). Before this appointment, Mateus worked at the African Development Bank as the Resident Representative of the African Development Bank for Zimbabwe, as Strategy Advisor for the President of the Bank and also as a Budget and Planning Economist since January 2010 to December 2015. He is an economist and engineer by training with extensive experience in both public and private organizations where he developed expertise in strategy development and advice, economic and financial analysis, analytics, infrastructure development and financing and value chain management. He led the development of the African Development Bank’s first Ten Year Strategy for 2013-2022.
Michael Feldner is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has accumulated over 20 years experience in VC and infrastructure project finance and focusses his work on assisting RE developers with reaching financial closure. Michael has been instrumental in the financial closure of the first commercially viable (4.6MW) biogas plant in South Africa. Prior to joining the RECP Finance catalyst team, he acted for the French Development Agency (AFD) assisting in the disbursement of €120m in long-term loans to RE and EE projects (SUNREF I) via three South African banks. Michael has also conducted training in RE project finance in both Uganda and Tanzania for bankers and developers. He has also advised a multitude of RE projects in Southern Africa through his work with the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN). Michael holds an MBA in Finance from Erasmus University in The Netherlands.
Miquelina Menezes was President of FUNAE, the Energy Fund of Mozambique responsible for off-grid rural electrification projects, between 1998 and end of 2015. Before working at FUNAE, Miquelina was responsible by the VAT project with IMF at the Finance Ministry.
Most of her professional career was in the energy sector. She served as Deputy Director General of the National Hydrocarbon Company between 1986 and 1998 and before that she worked at the Mining Development Company, at the Mineral Resources Ministry, at the State Secretariat for Coal and Hydrocarbons and at the National Coal Company.
Since 1992 she has been a teacher of management at Eduardo Mondlane University – Faculty of Economy. She is currently Vice-President of ALER.
Holds a University Degree in Electrical Engineering from Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. Born in Massinga District, Province of Inhambane, Mr. Bacela speaks Portuguese and English. Was the National Director of Energy in the former Ministry of Mineral Resources & Energy from 1999 to 2004. Appointed National Director for Electrical Energy in the Ministry of Energy in 2005. Member of the Mozambican delegation to the negotiation process with Portugal, for the restructuring and transfer of the Hydroelectric of Cahora Bassa ownership, a 2075 MW installed capacity power plant, from Portugal to Mozambique, completed in 2007. From 1996 to 1999, Senior Power Engineer in the Planning Division of the national power utility (Electricidade de Moçambique). Member of the Mozambique Engineers Association and Member of its Supervisory Board. National Director of Energy since 2015, in the current Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy with responsibilities in policy formulation and implementation in the fields of power, renewables and nuclear technology.
Pedro is with Quantum Power as a Partner in Mozambique leading the development of 4 projects across technologies (+/- 300 MW) and one Off Grid. Pedro has over 10 years experience in African Markets namely Angola, South Africa and Mozambique where he took a business development role for Espírito Santo Group, one of the Portuguese majors. Pedro has been involved as Investment Principle and Advisor on real estate, energy, infrastructure and financial services deals. In South Africa he led the creation of a pipeline of wind and solar projects of 2,000 MW for the REIPP Program in South Africa. In 2012 he moved to Maputo with an advisory and private equity group EAGLESTONE, where he was responsible for the development of projects in real estate (60.000 sq.m of Offices Buildings) and energy (200 MW of Power Generation).
Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff is the EU Ambassador to Mozambique since September 2014.
He started his professional career in the European Commission where he held several positions such as Economic Counsellor of the EU Delegation to Mozambique between 1992 and 1996 and the Ambassador of the EU Delegation to the Republic of South Sudan from 2012 to 1014.
He completed his PhD in Political Science at the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany, in 1987, and a postgraduate degree in Development Studies at the German Development Institute in Berlin the following year.
