Baraka Africa

Hafeez Esmail was born in Nairobi, Kenya where he grew up and spent a majority of his childhood. His family has had a long history of supporting orphans in Kenya. Today, he serves as Vice President at Main Management. Main Management has exclusively used Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and option strategies to manage money and has one of the longest and most prominent track records within this asset management niche. Prior to joining Main, he was a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management. At Merrill he increased tax efficiencies and lowered client risk profiles by utilizing ETFs for core client portfolios. Hafeez was also an advisor at Morgan Stanley Global Wealth Management, working with wealthy individual clients as well as non-profit and corporate entities.

Lindsey Kneuven serves as the Global Grants Manager of the Salesforce.com Foundation. She is responsible for the strategy, management, and success of the Foundation's $3.5 Mio annual granting initiatives. Lindsey has developed innovative programs to drive employee engagement while cultivating relationships with grantees. Lindsey believes in the power of communication translating her extensive nonprofit development and management experience to the programmatic growth of Baraka Africa. Lindsey has traveled, studied, and lived in Kenya and is excited to apply her passions and expertise to the success of this organization.

Hassan Sachedina holds a PhD and Masters Degree from Oxford University where his studies have focused on African Development. He is a high achieving and entrepreneurial individual with a strong background in sustainable development and natural resource management in Africa. He has ten years of professional work experience from a grassroots to international level challenged which honed his problem solving skills and articulate communications skills. From the beginning of his career, Hassan has worked in leadership positions coordinating projects in Tanzania and Kenya raising 11 million dollars in donor funds for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation initiatives.

With a mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father and educated in Africa, Europe and the United States, he considers himself a 'global' citizen. He excels in multi-cultural environments which require skilled communication and cultural sensitivity.

Britta Stromeyer Esmail has extensive business and human resources management experience in the for profit sector. Britta honed her non profit skills at Results, nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS instilled in her the commitment to find effective solutions to alleviate poverty and hunger. Britta holds a master's degree in International Communication from American University and a bachelor's degree in Management from the University of Konstanz (Germany).

Kate Kennedy, Operational Support

Kate is an attorney living in Minnesota. Kate is dedicated to improving the lives and educations of low-income children and has worked with numerous programs that share this objective. In addition to working directly with children as a tutor and mentor, Kate served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for two years and successfully implemented literacy programming in low-income elementary schools, achieving a 100% pass rate on the state administered third grade reading evaluation. She brings her training as an a ttorney and her passion for developing programming for children in need to Baraka Africa. For fun, Kate enjoys cooking and outdoor activities.

Nancy Tran, Fundraising Strategist

Nancy honed her skills in development and major gifts fundraising for Georgetown University Hospital. She also developed and implemented a volunteer mentoring program that paired in-patient pediatric patients and Georgetown University student-athletes. In May 2008, she received her Masters from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies where her studies focused on Southeast Asia Studies and Emerging Markets Economics. She is the first American-born of her Vietnamese parents and has traveled extensively throughout the world. Because of her Vietnamese heritage and global travels, she gained a desire to help impoverished global communities in developing countries. She brings her experience to Baraka Africa to help develop and enhance our fundraising strategy.