New staff

Samira Bouazouni joined AFC in January 2022. She strengthens the Human Resources department and supports the Francophone team in identifying experts, especially in Frenchspeaking countries. Previously, she worked for more than 14 years as a senior management consultant for a human resources consulting company in Germany where she gained extensive experience in the field of human resources management. She speaks French as mother tongue and German, English and Italian.

Rana Hajal joined the Anglophone team as Project Manager in August 2021. Ms Hajal holds a M.Sc. in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Business from Nürtingen-Geislingen University in Germany and a Diploma in Agronomy from Syria. She has six years of international experience as a consultant for agricultural projects. In Syria, she worked for five years in the department of land management and agrarian reform. In Germany, she completed an internship at GIZ in the field of climate change, rural development and infrastructure. She worked as a student assistant at GIZ in the Global Project “Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa”, where she wrote her Master’s thesis True Cost Accounting in Development Cooperation. In addition to her native Arabic, she is fluent in German and English.

Juliana Lampkowski joined AFC Project’s Assistance Team for the Financial Sector Development in June 2021. She holds a Bachelor in Law and an MBA in Foreign Trade and International Business. From 2017 to 2020, she supported the sustainability of eco-villages and their food production in Brazil. Mrs Lampkowski speaks Portuguese and English.

Wael Louhichi joined AFC as a Junior Project Manager in September 2021. He holds a Master’s degree in Agriculture Science-Animal Science from the University of Hohenheim in Germany and a Diploma Engineer in Animal Production from the Higher Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Chott Mariem Tunisia. He has both theoretical and practical background in agriculture, which he gained from several internships in Tunisia, Peru, and Germany. Prior to starting his new position at AFC Francophone team in the headquarters in Bonn, Mr Louhichi worked for various private companies in the area of dairy and poultry production. Arabic is his mother tongue and he speaks French, English, German, and Spanish.

Marie Müller joined AFC in August 2021 as trainee to become an office management assistant. She graduated in bilingual (French/German) A levels and gained first working experience as assistant. From August to April, she works in the Project Assistance team and then starts rotating through all departments in AFC. Ms Müller’s mother tongue is German and French, and she speaks fluently English.

Alexis Nyamugira joined AFC in May 2021 as Project Manager in the department of Financial Sector Development. He holds a master degree in Microfinance from the Université Libre de Brussels/ Belgium, an MA in financial management and a B.Sc. in Economics. Before joining AFC, he worked for the European Investment Bank headquartered in Luxembourg on a oneyear position as trainee. Mr Nyamugira also worked as a Junior Research fellow and independent consultant in international development with a focus on financial development in DR Congo and Kenya. He speaks fluently French, English, Swahili and is currently learning German.

Johanna Rañola has been freelancing for AFC as proof reader since September 2016. She joined AFC in May 2021 as a full-time Recruiter/Expert Relationship Managerfor the Financial Sector Development department, she worked as an editor for the CARD MRI Development Institute, Inc., a pioneer microfinance-training centre in the Philippines. She graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños with a Bachelor of Science degree in Development Communication, Major in Educational Communication. She is highly proficient in English and Filipino as well as the local dialect, Bikol.

Nora Reichmann joined AFC in October 2021 as a Junior Project Manager/ Management Assistant at the Anglophone team. She holds a Bachelor degree from the Humboldt University in Berlin and a Master degree in Sustainable International Agriculture with a specialisation in Agribusiness and Rural Development Economics from the University of Göttingen. She has previous work experience with an NGO in India and the GIGA Institute in Hamburg and speaks German, English and French.

Ingrid Smit joined AFC in March 2021 as a Senior Project Manager at the Financial Sector Development department. In the last 15 years, she specialised in micro and SME finance. Her areas of expertise include portfolio management, lending and savings methodologies, agri-lending, risk management, governance and social performance management. From 2012 to 2021, she operated a consultancy firm in micro and SME finance in Nairobi and worked on numerous assignments in SubSaharan Africa and other regions. Prior, she was Director Sub-Saharan Africa at Planet Rating, a global rating agency specialised in microfinance with offices in Dakar and Nairobi. Ms Smit lived in Tunisia between 2007 and 2009, in Kenya from 2009 to 2018 and is currently based in South Africa.

Ann Christin Weiler joined the AFC Francophone department as Project Manager in January 2022. She holds a Master of Science in Agricultural Science in Tropics and Subtropics from the University of Hohenheim. From September 2019 to December 2021, she worked for the AHT GROUP in Essen and was responsible for irrigation projects in Mali and Guinea. She has gained experience in different agricultural aspects from internships at the BMZ and Oxfam Novib, during her master thesis research in Mali as well as in project coordination of an organic cotton start-up in Myanmar. Ms Weiler speaks German, English and French.

Elena Yunatska joined AFC as Project Manager and Green Finance Consultant in January 2021. As a project and investment manager in international programmes in East and South East Europe, Caucasus and MENA, she makes a good fit to the Financial Sector Development team. Her expertise comprises sustainable development and green finance. In addition to Ukrainian – her mother tongue – she is fluent in English, German and Russian and currently studying Spanish.