Meet our Trustees and staff
Mr. Kelvin Mbizi Tembo
Trustee Chair
He is a seasoned Electrical Engineer, licensed installer and a member of the Malawi Institute of Engineers. He lectures at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS). He also manages Renewable Energy projects under the Centre for Water Sanitation, Health and Technology Development (WASHTED). He holds an MPhil from University of Strathclyde, Scotland.
Email: kelvinmbizi@gmail.com Cell: +265 882 230 267
Mr. Vincent Gondwe
Trustee
He is an accomplished energy sector practitioner with extensive experience in the clean cooking sub sector. He was instrumental in the clean cooking projects at Mulanje Renewable Energy Agency (MUREA). He then joined Total Land Care as Operations Manager and managed several projects including carbon trading. He has since retired and operating agriculture and clean cooking stoves businesses.
vitegondwe@gmail.com Cell: +265 999 266 812
Mr. Yamungu Anwel Botha Botha
Trustee
He is an environmentalist and renowned energy entrepreneur. He is the founder/Managing Director for Sun Fire Energy, a company he started after retiring from HIVOS as Project Manager for Sustainable Energy for Rural Communities (SE4RC) Project. Prior to HIVOS, he worked for United Purpose where he was key in setting up the Sustainable Energy Unit and negotiated carbon trading projects.
Email: y.a.botha@gmail.com Cell: 265 888 406 202
Mr. Kondwani Thapasila Gondwe
Trustee
He is a lecture at the University of Mzuzu’s School for Sustainable Energy Systems. He is an electrical engineer with extensive industrial and academic experience. He is also a Fellow of the Geothermal Training Programe (Iceland) on Geothermal Utilization. He was instrumental in starting the Testing and Training Centre of Renewable Energy Technologies (TECRET). He holds an MEngSc. in Sustainable Energy from University College Cork, Ireland and is currently pursuing a PhD.
Email: kondwanigondwe@gmail.com Cell: +265 995 297 954
Our Team
Edgar Kapiza Bayani
Founder and Country Director for Community Energy Malawi. Edgar is CEM’s founding CEO, Edgar coordinates partner liaisons, programs and finance departments to co-create new solutions and attain efficient utilization of resources. He is a Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) certified Installer of Renewable Energy Technologies. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Development from Maynooth University, Ireland. He graduated in Agriculture & Natural Resources Management at Natural Resources College, Malawi. For his Masters, Edgar researched on Gender Aware Energy Policy with Malawi as case study and is a strong advocate for genderrising the Malawi National Energy Policy. He has also received trainings in Gender and Social Inclusion in Energy from ENERGIA, HIVOS and IEED. He is a Common Wealth Professional Fellow in Climate Resilience and Sustainable Energy (University of Edinburgh, Scotland). He has received energy trainings from University of Mzuzu (Malawi), University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland), RES4Africa Foundation (Italy) and IEEE/PES (Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa). He is an active member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Power and Energy Society (PES), IEEE Smart Village (ISV) Ambassadors’ program, Power and Electronics Society, Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT) as well as the IEEE Energy Access Technical Committee.
Dumisani Kananza
Technical Service Manager. Dumisani is a Renewable energy professional with over 6 years’ experience in planning, developing, designing and implementing renewable energy technologies with a focus on building more resilient communities using clean energy solutions. Experienced in power sector maintenance and operation using solar and hydro as energy source, community energy productive uses of energy needs assessment and planning, eco inclusive Enterprise Development with a triple bottom line of social, environmental and financial focus. As Technical Services Manager at CEM, he supervises the deployment of operations and maintenance of Sitolo 80kW Solar mini grid and the other 2 micro-grids. He also coordinated and supervised the installation and commissioning of projects like 12.5kW Nakatale Energy Hub with cold storage and 4.5kW Mdeza Primary School, ensuring that all electrical equipment functions correctly. He has also designed the expansion systems with prospects of extending to the Kaname trading centre in the area. He is Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) licensed installer (CLASS E) grid tied 3 phase Renewable energy minigrids.
Memory Suwedi
Energy Officer –Productive Use of Energy and Gender and Social Inclusion. Memory joined CEM as an intern after graduation in 2015. She takes charge of Gender and Social Inclusion issues in CEM having being trained by HIVOS/ENERGIA on the same. She has taken lead on Productive Use of Energy (PUE) Trial projects for CEM leading on to great insights and reports on approaches to effective PUE in rural communities. Her PUE work in Dedza gave rise to the report on addressing barriers in the enabling environment for Productive Uses of Energy through studies on Mobile Money, Micro Finance opportunities and Mini-grid delivery models. She also led the Scottish funded Building Community Climate Through Sustainable Electricity for Enterprise Project where she helped train 20 entrepreneurs (12 of them women) in distribution of solar lamps as a business. She also facilitated sensitization activities meant to encourage people of Sitolo Village to utilise the mini-grid for clean cooking and other productive uses. She also led the Market Assessment on Modern Energy Cooking Services in Malawi. She is critical to the success of PUE and Gender mainstreaming activities in CEM
Glyn Kamuvwikamo Munthali
Finance and Administration Manager. Glyn is responsible for financial management and administration functions of CEM and its subsidiaries. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Financial Management from Mahatma Gandhi University, Final level of Accounting with Association of Chartered Accountants (ACCA), Bachelor of Accountancy, Diploma in Accounting (Public Accounting Examination Council of Malawi), Diploma in project Management, Diploma in Risk Management and Certificate in Accounting. His work experience includes in audit, private sector, non-profit sector and academics as a part time lecturer in Finance studies. Glyn possesses extensive knowledge of donor rules and regulations, professional accounting standards, professional auditing standards and local accounting and tax requirements. He has an in-depth understanding of accounting software packages like QuickBooks Enterprise LTD, Sage line 1000, Sun System Accounting Package, Case Ware, eAudIT and Sage pastel. He is also versatile on Microsoft Packages (including Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Word).
CEM organizational structure
Community Energy Malawi org structure is heavily influenced by the organisation’s corporate vision and mission statement, which are translated to the features of the structure itself.
