As AMI expands, so is our team. We have added a new Chief Learning Officer, Klara Michal, who is also running our Johannesburg office. Joan Kamau has joined as General Manager, East Africa, running our Nairobi office. Patrick Obath, leading Kenyan businessman and director of KEPSA has joined our board as director. And Peter Bamkole, founder and CEO of the Lagos-based Enterpise Development Centre, has also joined our board.
Klara Michal
Chief Learning Officer
Klara has been helping organizations and individuals learn for over 15 years. As a certified executive coach and an internationally recognized expert in adult learning and leadership development, she’s led learning initiatives in corporates, non-profits and higher-education institutions around the world. Before joining AMI, Klara founded Khwela Learning, a training company based in South Africa that focuses on developing front-line managers, and was Chief Learning Officer at African Leadership University, where she was responsible for leading the university’s new approach to learning and curriculum development.
Prior to this, Klara was the global Dean of Organizational Learning at McKinsey & Company, where she was responsible for curriculum development for key leadership development programmes, the training of McKinsey’s facilitators, the development of capability building and transformation programmes at global clients, being lead faculty on key programmes, and the continuous improvement of McKinsey’s global training offering.
Klara joined AMI at the beginning of 2016 as Chief Learning Officer, responsible for AMI’s learning philosophy and methodology, the development of integrated learning programs (using AMI’s content & platform), the tracking and monitoring of programming impact, and the development of AMI’s facilitator network across Africa.
Joan Kamau
General Manager- East Africa
Joan is responsible for leading the strategic partnerships in the B2B learning and development across East Africa. Joan joined AMI from Equity Ban
k where she was the Head of Entrepreneurship – SME Non-Financial Services & Diaspora Banking & Investments. With over 13 years in the banking sector, Joan brings a wealth of experience in capacity building, entrepreneurship and development across African and European markets.
Joan holds a Bachelor Degree in finance and international business from the University of Alabama. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Entrepreneurship at California Miramar University. She is a member of the American Women Association, Kenya chapter. And also a member of the Kenya Institute of Management.
Patrick
Patrick Obath
Director
Patrick is Managing Consultant for Eduardo Associates, a private practice consultancy in Energy, Extractive Industries, and Engineering with special emphasis on Leadership, Governance and Sustainability.
Patrick held many management positions in Shell and Shell advised companies in Kenya, United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Malaysia working in the areas of general management, distribution, engineering and sustainability. Patrick joined the oil industry in 1976.
Patrick has wide experience in management at the international level and extensive experience in social, government and development issues and is a regular resource person on governance, leadership and sustainability issues in both Kenya and across Africa. He is currently engaged in extensive local and international consultancy for the emerging and exciting Extractives sector in Kenya working with Adam Smith International and various international development agencies.
Patrick has been involved intimately in the business community in Kenya and East Africa at the top level since 2005 and is a past chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), sits on the boards of several Business Member Organisations and is a member of the National Economic and Social Council of Kenya – a presidential think tank.
He holds a BSc. in Mechanical Engineering from Nottingham University and is a Member of the Energy Institute (UK), the Petroleum Institute of East Africa and the Institution of Engineers in Kenya.
He is Chairman of PZ Cussons EA Ltd and is a Non Executive Director in companies involved in banking, oil and gas, international development and ICT. He is a Fellow of theAspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) and the African Leadership Initiative (ALI). He has been awarded several national recognitions in Kenya.
Peter Bamkole
Director
Peter Bamkole, Pioneered the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan-Atlantic University in Jan 2003 – now one of the top enterprise development centers in Africa and a model which has been replicated in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania & Rwanda. As the Director of the Center, he is responsible for the overall program development, capacity building and support services to entrepreneurs. He initiated and led several programs for the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Private sector (Diamond Bank, Etisalat) and International organizations (World Bank, Goldman Sachs Foundation, The Coca Cola Africa Foundation, British Council. Peter consults widely in Sub-Saharan Africa on entrepreneurship development and practice.
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