Cllr Marianne Alapini

Highly committed politician, serving as Cllr in Royal Borough Kensington and Chelsea: Key responsibilities for OSC Community Partnerships and Economic Development, Health, Families and Children. Sits on Equal Opportunities, Investment, and Planning Services & Licensing Committees. School Governor to Primary Schools and a Beacon 6th Form College and several CVS committees. Active on Police Consultative Working Group and proactive Mediator during the Notting Hill Gate Carnival, which takes place in the Colville Ward she represents.

She is a highly experienced and successful fund-raiser, writes complex and integrated Bids in excess of £35 Million that involve diverse stakeholders and beneficiary groups. She supports their successful implementation by undertaking Baseline Studies at the start of the programme delivery, developing Contract Management, Monitoring and Evaluation Framework contributing to effective project delivery and genuine partnership between the community served, beneficiaries of the funding application, lead organisation and delivery partners.

She has a wide-ranging experience of capacity building and providing technical assistance and infrastructure development by developing robust, viable and sustainable Business and Forward Plans. Complementing these with Baseline Studies developed via inclusive, genuine and action focused Community / Partnership Consultation, involving the ‘hardest to reach/hear’ and vulnerable groups.

She has also represented on strategic working groups at Government Office for London (GOL) ESF 2000/6 Working Group) and Department for Employment and Skills (contributing to the development of Equal Opportunities and Soft Skills Indicators Toolkit for ESF programmes). Approved Scorer of ESF Bids for GOL and Learning & Skills Council’s.

Other contributions include:

• 2nd year Winner of “I’m a Cllr Get Me Out of Here!” in October 2006 and 2005, reaping 86% of the votes. (Energising young people to take an interest in politics during National Democracy week).
• Finalist at European Federation of Black Women Business Owners (Ethnic Organisation category), 2004.
• Awarded the Runners up prize by Prime Minister Tony Blair, MP - under the ‘Sustainability Category’ – (establishment of viable food co-op social enterprise) for the prestigious Health Service Journal Awards, in November 2002. Report and Case Study “Emerging Trends and Key Lessons to Learn from London and Luton Health Action Zones”, presented to the Department of Health and health care professionals.
• Contributed substantially to “From the Margins to the Mainstream” Report, published by London Development Partnership as a prelude to the establishment of the London Development Agency (LDA).
• Working towards PhD: “Evaluating the consequences of the NHS restructuring into the Primary Care Trusts and the effect on career progression and ‘glass ceiling’ levels for women, black and minority ethnic people and disabled people”.

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Mr Richard Gold

Mr. Gold has thirty years international experience holding senior positions with Commonwealth Secretariat, Canadian International Development Agency and Asian Development Bank. He has directed numerous multi-sector development co-operation programs in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The focus of his activities was on current global issues of trade capacity building, poverty alleviation, small and medium size industry development, governance and policy development. Most recently, he was Director of the Special Advisory Services Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Other positions he has held include Director at the Canadian International Development Agency and Senior Economist at the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines.

Richard holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA from York University. Following his undergrad in 1966, he taught both English and Economics at the University of Bangkok. He has helped raise funds as the chairman of the commonwealth Secretariat Social Committee.

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Mr. Joseph Kinyua; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance

Mr. Joseph K. Kinyua has joined the CCK Board following his re-appointment as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in July 2004.

Mr. Kinyua is an accomplished Economist, with a wealth of experience from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Civil Service.

He started his career as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Nairobi in 1978 following his graduation from the same university with a Master of Arts in Economics. He served in that position for two years before joining the Central Bank of Kenya as a Research Officer in September 1980.

In June 1985, Mr. Kinyua joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an Economist on a fixed term appointment.

He left the IMF to rejoin the Central Bank of Kenya as Senior Research Officer in July 1989. He served in this position until June 1995 when he was elevated to Director of Research.

Barely a month later, was Mr. Kinyua appointed Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, in which position he served for four years. Between July 1999 and September 2002, he worked as the Director in charge of Financial Markets at the Treasury.

In October 2000, he rejoined the Central Bank of Kenya where he served as the Chief Economist up to August 2002, when he was appointed the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. In 1993, he was transferred to the Ministry Planning and National Development, where he served for six months before been transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture. In July 2004, he was re-appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. He has served as a Director on several boards of state corporations. He is also a member of the programme committee of the African Economic Research Consortium (ARC) and Alternate Governor, World Bank Board of Governors

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Sam Ochieng, MBA, Bsc (Hons)

He is a dedicated community leader actively involved in an organisation that serves thousands of Kenyans and other communities in the UK.

Since joining the voluntary sector as a community worker he has continued to enjoy a personal relationship with people from all walks of life who look up to me for information, advice, counselling and guidance. He has held more than 100 information days for the benefit of Kenyans in the UK.

His involvement in community-based activities dates back to 1991. By that time, there existed no single organisation that catered for the needs of Kenyans who travelled to the UK to study, to visit, for treatment or to settle. In 1996 there was a huge influx of Kenyans into the UK, he launched the first ever-Kenyan community organisation – the Kenya Community Support Network (KCSN).

KCSN has grown to become a household name within the Kenyan community in the UK. Since its inception it has helped more than 15, 000 Kenyans to settle permanently in the UK. Through the organisation’s careers advice and guidance, more than 3,500 Kenyans have attained skills development courses to a degree level of education. In addition, the organisation has helped more than 5,000 Kenyans living in the UK to access HIV/Aids treatment.

The success of KCSN elicited interest from other communities, which led to the establishment of SACOMA to cater for the needs of people from other countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, among others.

SACOMA has grown to become one of the most respected black-led voluntary organisations in the UK, serving nearly 5000 people every year, of which 50% are Kenyans. Because of its excellent track record, SACOMA has achieved several national awards such as:-

• The Matrix Excellence Award, 2004 for Information, Advice and Guidance
• Business of the Year Award for Small Business, 2003
• Moving Forward with People Awards for Voluntary Awards, 2002
• Charity of the Year 2003

To date, through his business advice expertise, he has helped 42 Kenyans to start their own businesses in the UK.