About Scale

Eva Muraya is the Founder and CEO of BSD Group, a regional award-winning brand strategy and communications company. She co-founded Color Creations Ltd, the first advertising and branding business to gain the global quality management systems standards ISO 9001:2001 Certification, in Sub-Saharan Africa, in 2007. Eva has more than 20 years industry experience and has been recognized internationally for her business innovation and leadership.

She serves as a Director, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) managing both Gender and SMEs and is a co-founder and former Chairperson of the Kenya Association of Women Business Owners (KAWBO). Her achievements at the helm of KAWBO include securing strategic partnerships with Vital Voices Global Partnership and ExxonMobil Foundation, the Kenya Hub for the Africa Businesswomen's Network (ABWN) and championing advocacy for supplier diversity in Government agencies, the private and development sectors as critical inroads to market linkages for women entrepreneurs.

An Aspen Fellow, her business leadership has earned her a variety of awards and prestigious appointments, including the Eve Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2007, Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) Warrior award 2007, Goldman Sachs Fortune Global Leaders Award, 2008, and The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) World of Difference 100 Award.

An alumnus of the Columbia Business School's Entrepreneurship Excellence Centre and Harvard Business School SEPA Program, Eva holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and Marketing from the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi, a Diploma in Advanced Business Management from the IESE (University of Navarra) and Strathmore Business Schools. She is also a graduate of the global Stanford SEED Entrepreneurship Program.

Richard is the Group Director at Africa Practice (AP), a Pan African Strategic Advisory Firm with offices in London, Dar es Salaam, Perth, Casablanca, Johannesburg and Lagos. He is the Senior Stakeholder Advisor to business and government leaders particularly in the Infrastructure, Energy, Oil and Gas sectors and advises a portfolio of companies who have collectively invested in excess of USD 5 Billion in Africa. He was co-facilitator of the initial strategy workshops that led to the formulation of the African Union's Agenda 2063. Prior to joining the company, Richard worked with Microsoft Africa as the Head of Global Strategic Alliances and also worked with SAP as the East African Regional Manager.

He is passionate about unleashing the potential of a more integrated and collaborative continent, and the need for Africa to think about its human capital in a more holistic way, increasing investment in shaping a progressive mindset, ethics and values in addition to the existing investments in health and education. A concept he calls the "soft infrastructure" of development.

Mr. Kiplagat studied Economics and Political Science, with a focus on the economics of development at the University of Toronto Canada. He is also the Chairman of the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority Board (Kenya) and sits on the boards of Brand Africa, GearBox, Aga Khan University Advisory committee, Heart Attack Concern Kenya and Akiba Group of Schools.

Nzioka Waita is a leading Kenyan advocate who has served as the 2nd Chief of Staff of Kenya's State House and Head of Kenya's Presidential Delivery Unit. Prior to this appointment, Waita served in the capacity of Deputy Chief of Staff and Deputy Head of the Public Service. In these capacities, he was in charge of the President's Delivery Unit, Office of Budget Management, Performance Contracting and Oversight Office and State Corporations Oversight Office in the entire Government of Kenya.

Previously, he joined Safaricom from 2001 where he rose steadily through the ranks to serve the company in various capacities until April 2015 when he resigned as the Corporate Affairs Director. He was a founding Trustee of the Safaricom Foundation and served in that capacity for 11 years. Waita has held various other positions within the ICT environment including serving as the company secretary of the international fiber optic company TEAMS Limited.

Nzioka is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya of 18 years standing, a Certified Public Secretary and a member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Sheffield and a Masters (LLM) in IT and Communications Law from Queen Mary University of London both obtained in the United Kingdom.

Wambui brings more than 20 years of experience in the professional services (digital, mobile marketing, and technology consulting) industry, aligning business and technology strategies, and building and leading technology organizations to deliver cutting-edge digital solutions.

Previously, Wambui was the Regional Managing Director, EMEA for Elephant Ventures, a technology innovation professional services and venture firm. Wambui was Chief Strategy Officer and later, Vice President of Client Engineering at Andela, a global technology talent network that connects companies with vetted, remote engineers in emerging markets. While serving as CSO at Andela, Wambui initiated a capacity-building partnership between Andela and technology companies, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, which has raised over $1 million and has successfully trained 80,000 software developers across 50 African countries.

Wambui was formerly Group Managing Director, Pan Africa, and South America, for global technology consulting firm ThoughtWorks, and has held positions with Praekelt Consulting, IBM Global Business Services and Digitas (Publicis Groupe). In addition to serving on Medic's Board, she is currently a non-executive board member of Mozilla Foundation and FSDH Asset Management. Based in Nairobi, Wambui is Medic's first Kenya-based Board member.

Nick Vilelle has spent 15 years working with and for entrepreneurs. There is nothing he enjoys more than helping a young entrepreneur turn an idea into a reality.

Nick's work has included direct training and mentoring of startups as well as program development for organizations including TechnoServe, Global Entrepreneurship Network and the Peace Corps. Most of this work has been focused on the African continent, where he has worked in 20+ countries. In addition to supporting entrepreneurs, Nick has founded two social enterprises and three for-profit businesses. Nick's work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post and on the BBC.