Rita Field-Marsham – Founder

Rita Field-Marsham is a Kenyan born lawyer. She worked in the private sector as a lawyer and founder of Field-Marsham & co advocates, worked in the executive arm of government as prosecuting counsel at the State Law Office in Kenya and in the in legal aid sector as a pro bono lawyer for the high court and court of appeal in Kenya. From 2005-2010 she served on the board of Young Patron’s Circle (YPC) at the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2009, she founded Knowledge Empowering Youth (KEY), a charitable program that provides turn-key libraries in Africa of which she remains the CEO. In 2011, she co-founded Glorious&Free Foundation and Glorious&Free Group Inc., a Canadian based for-profit social venture.

Charles Field-Marsham – Co-Founder and Chairman

Charles Field-Marsham is a Canadian entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in building businesses in Africa. Charles acquired a wide array of international business and investment experience, beginning in 1991 when he joined Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, then while living and working in Kenya between 1993 and 2003, and through a number of ventures that led him to found Kestrel Capital Management Capital (KCMC) in 2004, when he returned to Canada. KCMC provides strategic, investment and management consulting services to Charles’ businesses outside of Canada. Charles owns and is chairman of the following businesses: Kestrel Capital, which he founded in 1995 and developed into the leading investment bank and broker in Kenya; Panafrican Group, which he founded in 1996, which has since grown from being the exclusive distributor of Komatsu equipment in Kenya to include distribution rights and operations in five countries across East and West Africa; and Kenya Fluorspar, a fluorspar mine he purchased in 1997. These companies employ approximately 500 people with offices in Canada, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Dubai.

Charles is dedicated to fostering strong communities where he lives and works and is involved with numerous charities and not-for-profit organizations. Charles sat on the boards of The Foundation of the Hospital for Sick Children, Grand Challenges Canada, and the African Medical Research Foundation Canada (AMREF). He is a founding donor and board member of The Next Canada an entrepreneurship program. Charles is also the principal benefactor and chairman of the Kenya Scholar Athlete Program (KENSAP), an initiative that since 2004 has helped secure full scholarships for more than 145 Kenyan students at top-tier American universities, including Harvard, Yale, MIT and Princeton. Charles’ dedication to community service led he and his wife, Rita, to create The Charles and Rita Field-Marsham Foundation.

Marilyn Field-Marsham

Marilyn Field-Marsham practiced commercial law for over 20 years at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt in Toronto. She was a director of AIM Canada Fund Inc., AIM Global Fund Inc. and AIM Trimark Funds Advisory Board. She has served on the boards of several not-for-profit and public companies over the past 15 years and also on their governance, human resources, finance and audit and investment committees. She is the chair of the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries in Toronto and the incoming chair of the governance committee of the Mount Pleasant Memorial Services. She served as a committee chair at the American Bar Association. She served on the editorial board to the Intellectual Property Law Quarterly, Corporate Lawyer Series, Federated Press. She is also author of numerous articles on developments in legislation and jurisprudence. She has been actively involved with Massey College University of Toronto, Toronto Trees and Parks Foundation, and supported Trails Youth Initiative. She is currently a volunteer for the aboriginal governance and strategic planning projects, CESO (Canadian Executive Services Organization).

Wandia Gichuru

Wandia Gichuru has over 15 years’ experience in international assistance gained at DFID (the British Government Department of International Development) and the World Bank. She has expertise in strategy development and policy analysis, institutional analysis and Capacity Building, public sector management, aid effectiveness and harmonization and program management, monitoring and evaluation. She has 10 years as a governance adviser with the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID). She held policy roles for DFID in London, the United Nations in New York, and worked on long-term assignments in Kenya, Uganda and in Sudan, where she provided advice on bilateral and multilateral projects designed to strengthen the accountability, transparency and efficiency of governance systems. Previously, she worked at the World Bank, City Bank and Kenya Wildlife Services in Kenya. She currently runs a coaching and consulting practice in Nairobi, Kenya.