Board of Directors (USA)
Apolo Karemera Ndyabahika
Chairperson
Apolo is President & Chairman of the Board at Grace Villa – USA. GV-USA has been set up to raise financial support and collaborators to enhance the work of Grace Villa Kabale a loving home and sanctuary for vulnerable girls that works to empower and uplift he girl child in Kabale, Uganda.
He is passionate about bring balance, an end to global inequity to usher in an era of true Ubuntu, “I am because we are”. It’s not just about how you are doing but how the very least in our society is doing.
He is the Director of Business Development at Luminis Broadband Infrastructure a company set up to build out fiber optic networks for backhaul service and to enable low cost last mile connectivity. The company also plans to build an assembly plant for computing devices such as laptops, desktops and tablets, these devices will come with customized educational content already installed.
He is also working to bring new innovative new tech for building such as M2-Emmedue from Italy. M2-Emmedue is a fast build low cost tech solution that uses a proprietary load bearing panel system to build affordable homes. In addition, he is working with various tech partners to establish vendor neutral data centers on the continent.
Apolo realizes that our greatest wealth and asset is in our people – that is where his passion lies; in giving people hope and belief in themselves, investing in our human capital, educating our young, cultivating relationships and connecting people.
Apolo has worked as a grants manager at research hospitals in the Boston area for over 10-years and with African Diaspora community organizations such as the East African Cooperation Forum – Diaspora where he served at the Director of Communications and President.
Apolo was born at Kabale Hospital in Kabale, Uganda. He spent his early formative years in the USA, Scotland, Kenya and Uganda where he studied at Kings College Budo and Makerere University. While in the USA he was educated at Massachusetts
Communications College (Audio Engineering) and Messiah College (Mechanical Engineering).
Ruth Kendegye Ndyabahika
CEO
Ruth is a Ugandan – American Child Psychologist who uses her platforms to advocate and lobby for the rights of marginalized children. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Grace Villa, a sanctuary and child development center for at-risk girls in South Western Uganda.
A graduate of Wheelock College, Ruth began her career in Boston, MA. Her philanthropic and lobbying efforts have received award and recognition, such as from U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, Jane Goodall of The Jane Goodall Institute, OXFAM International, the Diamond Awards Uganda, Rotary Club Kabale, Lions Club International, the Ugandan Diaspora Awards, and the Uganda North American Association. Past guest speaking engagements include Harvard Law School, Williams College, Voice of America’s Straight Talk Africa, the Cedric Live Show and Desert Island Disks.
She serves as Board member of several organizations, including one of Uganda’s strongest cultural organizations – the International Community of Banyakigezi (ICOB), of which she is the past President.
Today, Ruth lives and works in the hills of Kigezi at Grace Villa, with the children and community that she serves.
Adrian Braka
Board Member
Adrian Braka is an operations officer with the Department of Transportation Operations and Maintenance unit. This team manages and operates multiple traffic, facility and security systems statewide. They oversee the States Bridges, Tunnels, roads and support businesses, emergency and security stakeholders tasked with providing a safe, reliable, robust and resilient transport system in Massachusetts. Adrian received a graduate diploma from Boston University and his MBA from Oral Roberts University.
Emmanuel Sabiiti
Board Member
Emmanuel Sabiiti is the Head Trader and a Principal at Boston Common Asset Management, a Boston-based ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investment firm with over $2.5 billion in assets under management. He is primarily responsible for implementing and overseeing the trading of clients’ U.S. and Global investment portfolios, and for fixed income research. He received his BA from Middlebury College with a major in Mathematics and a minor in French. Emmanuel is a CFA charter holder, a CFP professional, and a candidate in the MIT Sloan Executive MBA program. He sits on the board of TutoringPlus, a Cambridge-based non-profit focused on education equality.
Emmanuel Sabiiti
Board Member
Andrew is currently the CEO KyM Properties and Investments, a family-based property and Investment organization operating in the North East of the USA. Andrew has several other
responsibilities in several family-based firms in the UK and Uganda.
Andrew has also worked in several Biotechnology Companies as a Scientist and Engineer and is currently at ThermoFisher Scientific as a Global Project Manager Commissioning and Qualification and Validation Engineering.
Andrew completed graduate studies in Biotechnology and Biotechnology Engineering at Tufts University Medford, MA and graduate studies in Project Management and International Business Management at Boston University, Boston MA.
Andrew is an avid sportsman, recovering adrenaline junkie and involved in a few nonprofit organizations.
Rahel Getachew
Board Member
Rahel Getachew is an entrepreneur and founder of Afrolehar, an ICT driven brand marketing, trade and publishing company for multicultural markets. Afrolehar offers country image strategies, product branding solutions and user experiences through its array of services ranging from digital diplomacy to content/ multimedia production and business strategies advisory, in addition to public relations, multimedia productions and media relations services. Under the leadership of Ms. Getachew, Afrolehar has been able to secure government private sector and select International non-profit clients to provide multicultural branding services including but not limited to strategic branding, media relations, and digital diplomacy. Moreover, Afrolehar has developed technology brands such as www.agrifrica.com, www.brandmoiahora.com and www.mojanews.com.
Ms Getachew launched her business, after a wide-ranging domestic and international career in North America and several African countries, to extend her extensive experience in global affairs, public diplomacy, ICT, organizational change and creative productions with the goal of consistently entering the multicultural marketplace of ideas and products into the psyche of consumers and various stakeholders.
As part of building capacity, Ms. Getachew has trained participants in the US and in Africa on ICT, starting a business and building brands. She has been a speaker as well as participants at various high-level conferences, seminars and meetings on Trade, security, global affairs and emerging markets. Ms. Getachew has been an occasional speaker on topics like branding, youth and women entrepreneurship, and International trade at various institutions including the Wilson Center, StartupAfrica, USAID Africa Bureau, Africa Today TV, and “Your Mark on the World” by Forbes contributor Devin Thorpe.
A graduate of Concordia University in Political Science and Business with a focus on globalization and emerging markets, and is certified in ICT and teaching ESL. Ms. Getachew is a multi-linguist, fluent in English, French and Amharic, and proficient in Spanish. As an Ethiopian born North America woman who has traveled 4 continents visiting countries such as Germany, Lebanon and the UK aside from implementing programs in countries like Benin, Ghana and Ethiopia, she enjoys cultural exchanges and understanding organizational behaviors. As an avid reader, the 3 books you often hear her recommend, are: The Art of War, eMyth and the Coming of Jobs war.