Who We Are

Our Founders

InnoVuntu’s leadership team includes renowned experts and practitioners based in Zambia, South Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and the United States. They work across disciplines—in systems, innovation, leadership development, and strategic planning as well as climate, food systems, youth engagement, women’s empowerment, and enterprise development. The team is led by Daniel Kamanga, ALT Foundation founder and InnoVuntu executive director, and Seema Patel, founder and CEO of GKI. Both bring decades of experience in systems-based approaches to challenges in Africa.

InnoVuntu was founded to convene change-makers to generate a collective future vision for their country, identify and refine solutions, form new partnerships, catalyze new investments, and create a new impact to address the crises facing Zambia and neighboring nations. Leadership development and systems tools are integral to the InnoVuntu approach, powered by a partnership between two nonprofits, ALT Foundation and the Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI).

They share a collective passion and commitment for a future where people, ecosystems, and economies thrive in Zambia whose food systems are secure and resilient.

ALT spearheads leadership training to create an Africa that works for everyone, working in collaboration with African universities and like-minded organizations in target countries.

GKI activates collaborative networks globally to deliver the innovative solutions needed to build more resilient systems. Its programs foster the environment, the mindset, and the experiences necessary to enable stakeholders to gain clarity of purpose, relationships, and momentum needed to transform systems.

Our Team…

Daniel Kamanga

Daniel Kamanga is the founder and executive director of the ALT Foundation, which conducts leadership training in partnership with universities in Ghana, South Africa and Zambia.
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Seema Patel

Seema joined GKI as CEO in January 2019. She brings experience in leading entrepreneurial teams working to empower people, organizations, and networks to solve complex development challenges.
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Dr. Kabwe Mubanga

Kabwe Mubanga, a lecturer at the University of Zambia, is a climate change specialist under the National Technical Committee for Climate Change and is a member of the core team of climate change negotiators for Zambia.
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Dr. Kapambwe Mwelwa

Kapambwe Mwelwa is the vice-chairperson of the Africa Leadership Transformation (ALT) – Zambia Foundation, a not-for-profit, nonpolitical, non-governmental organization operating in Zambia since 2019.
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Akufuna Muyunda

Akufuna Muyunda is a Pan Africanist with over 10 years’ experience in advocating for youth development, climate justice, and environmental sustainability.
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Joni Praded

Joni Praded has been publishing and consulting on the nexus between environment, economy, and politics for more than three decades.
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Shafeea Zubair

Shafeea Zubair has spearheaded transformative initiatives for access to education, institution building, leadership for women, teacher education, literacy, non formal education, and skills training for youth employment in The Maldives.
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Lola Salako

Lola Salako works with the ALT Foundation as Financial manager and Head of Admin. She is a chartered accountant with over 12 years of experience in banking, Financial Accounting, and Tax.
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Affiliate Organizations

The University of Zambia is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is Zambia’s largest and oldest learning institution. The university was established in 1965 and officially opened to the public on 12 July 1966.

The Center for Climate Change Policy and Integrated Research (CCCPIR) is a professional and multi-disciplinary body that aims to contribute to climate change research and socio-economic development in Zambia through:

  • Innovative Research
  • Professional Dissemination
  • Academic Training

Young Volunteers for the Environment Zambia is a youth-driven movement founded on the premise of mobilizing and strengthening youth voices for climate justice and environmental sustainability in Zambia. YVE concentrates its activities around three main areas: Energy-Climate-Development, which mainly focuses on the utilization of improved stoves and solar energy solutions; Natural Resources Management, focusing on forest and land management, access to safe drinking water and sanitation; and Citizen’s Engagement, in which ecological conscience and social justice are achieved through promoting volunteering, environmental education, radio and TV programs, and empowerment of vulnerable communities, especially those directly affected by the climate crisis.

The InnoVuntu team is in the process of developing partnerships with other organizations such as The Hunger Project and Lusaka City Council.

Contact Us For More Information About InnoVuntu.