Kyle Schutter - Founder & Director of Technology
Niraj Varia - Managing Director
Niraj, a Kenyan, brings 14 years of business and social sector experience including 4 years at McKinsey & Co., 4 years in agribusiness and SME development and 6 years as an actuary. At Takamoto Biogas, he is using his passion, business and finance experience to solve a problem rural farmers face in all 10 African countries he has worked in – energy poverty.
Graham Benton - Director of Market Development
On most days you will find Graham in the village surrounded by eager listeners while he trains the locals on the value of biogas. Having built a Takamoto biogas system in the past year while working in operations, Graham holds a deep understanding of the importance of biogas and can teach each family how biogas will work for them. Previously he has conducted training and developed youth programs for Sail Caribbean where he was a program director. Graham holds a degree in Adventure Education and Environmental Studies from Prescott College.
Susan Nakami – Office Manager
You are likely to find Susan in the office with a phone on her shoulder, typing rapidly on the keyboard and making sure that the rest of the team is on target and everything is running smoothly. And she will still greet you with a smile. Susan is in the process of completing her Bachelor of Economics at the University of Nairobi. Previously she has worked in finance administration and sales and completed a certificate in ICT.
Paul Muthui - Research & Development Engineer
Paul is responsible for Takamoto’s research and development. He conducts experiments on existing plants to develop standards and designs appliances for local manufacture. If you followed Paul for a day you could end up on a farm testing a system in Kiambu, in industrial area searching for unique parts or reengineering something in the Nairobi office. He is a Chemical Engineer from Moi University.
Avani Parekh-Bhatt - Fundraising Consultant
Avani comes to us with 12 years experience in the nonprofit and social enterprise sector, playing many roles. What really excites her is helping organizations and businesses change their models to include principles of people, planet, AND profit. Recently she was in India working with a healthcare social enterprise working on their fundraising strategy. She also founded the Delhi Social Entrepreneurship Meetup group while there. She loves startup environments and has started several nonprofits in India and the US during her career.
Esther Njoki Gitau - Shopkeeper & Marketing Representative- Kiambu town
Esther manages our first retail shop in Kiambu town where people can come and learn about biogas, Takamoto, and even see the appliances or visit a local biogas site. She is a recent graduate of Inforidge College Kiambu where she studied computer application and graphic design.
Tedline Owino
Tedline is the go-to man at Takamoto Biogas. You have to be very lucky to see him sitting still during the day because he is probably helping to run tests on the biogas systems, traveling upcountry or downtown, or doing one of a million other tasks. He has just begun his first semester at Kenyatta University where he is pursuing a degree in education.
