Harald Bekkers

Director

The founder of OU, Harald has established a business and a team that upholds his pursuit of ‘good’ development – development work grounded in context, evidence and ethics.

He has a unique ability to identify, understand and explain complex issues methodically and clearly, and can shift seamlessly from strategy to implementation, from results chains to a reports, from a business plan to a blog. The challenge for everyone else can be keeping up!

Harald doesn’t shy away from getting his boots dirty and is recognised for his work in relation to shallow markets, resilience, women’s economic empowerment and the DCED Standard for Results Measurement. 

A history buff who likes to travel and with a family as up for adventure as he is, Harald has lived and worked in more than seven countries before finally (although maybe temporarily – who knows) returning to the Netherlands. We do take a moment to warn that his Dutch sense of humour really is an acquired taste.

You can follow Harald on Twitter at @haraldbekkers  

Nabanita Sen Bekkers

senior private sector engagement specialist

Nabanita brings that rare combination of a strategic mind who can also get into the details and do so with energy and enthusiasm. Private sector development is her forte and she has managed and/or worked within programs that apply market systems development across a number of sectors, including agriculture, skills development, urban economy and health care.

Through her ongoing work with the DCED, Nabanita is at the forefront of new techniques that can be applied in research, evaluation and results measurement and plays a key role in knowledge generation for the wider development community.

While Nabanita is a respected and talented private sector development specialist, this is outdone her super-mum status to three spirited children under six. Nabanita is also a fierce advocate for a more inclusive society and blogs regularly for HuffPost UK.

Mujaddid (Muja) Mohsin

senior private sector engagement specialist

Sustainable and inclusive private sector interventions are Muja’s specialty and he has worked on the ground with program teams and partners across Asia, South Asia and the Pacific. A results measurement specialist turned implementer, Muja can quickly visualise opportunities within partnerships, sectors and countries and he brings his trademark creativity to strategies and solutions for economic growth.

Curious and approachable, we can drop Muja in the middle of ‘anywhere’ and he will ask the right questions, meet the right people and come away with everything needed to develop smart, effective strategies. He will also find and connect with the right partners. Most importantly, he very quickly finds the best local food.

These days Muja calls Fiji home and makes the rest of us jealous as he grows vanilla and enjoys Pacific hospitality on a daily basis. He balances out a love of history books with comics and watching cartoons with Kaiju, Kira and Cole, his beloved canine friends.

Muneeb Zulfiqar

Private sector engagement specialist

Muneeb is on a constant quest to make data ‘work’ and is squarely focused on an evidenced-based approach to private sector engagement, women’s economic empowerment, inclusion and development more broadly.

Building, using and adapting practical results systems is no easy feat, but with a strong research and evaluation background, coupled with the curiosity and people skills needed to make it work, Muneeb has successfully built results systems in different countries with different programs. He works side by side with teams to build their research strategies and results systems from scratch, or to re-work what is in place – all while ensuring alignment with the DCED standard.

While data may take up much of Muneeb’s time, video games is where the action is at (or so he tells us!). He also likes to put the rest of us shame with an unshakeable commitment to the gym.

JON MARLOW (PROAND ASSOCIATES)

SENIOR ADVISER - AGRIBUSINESS AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

Jon has an extensive career working in the agribusiness and livestock products sector, particularly addressing processing, supply chain and marketing issues. Jon has worked everywhere – from South East Asia to Africa, South America, across the Pacific and everywhere in between. He has been the Managing Director and Principal Consultant of ProAnd Associates Australia Pty Ltd since 1988, a small specialist consultancy servicing the livestock products sector. Jon has a chemical engineering degree from Canterbury University and has a solid grounding in strategic analysis and change management. In recent years Jon has been involved in a number of market systems development programs on management and technical advisory roles, including GEMS1 in Nigeria and the Market Development Facility in Pakistan. Jon has a strong understanding of how to engage with the private sector on initiatives designed to deliver sustainable impact.

LISA RITCHIE (ENGAGINGDEV)

COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

Lisa is a versatile communications professional, able to turn her hand to strategic communications, communications team management, writing, photography, report production, multi-media content development and everything in between. She’s no stranger to private sector development, having worked on a number of market systems programs, most recently in Vietnam, Uganda and Ethiopia and she spent three years with the multi-country Market Development Facility. Outside of traditional development programs, Lisa has worked with a range of private sector clients striving to improving their social impact through a development approach. Lisa specialises in communications within the humanitarian and development sectors.

MAIRA RIAZ

Results Measurement Specialist

Maira brings a decade of experience in research, monitoring and evaluation and impact assessments and has worked across a range of sectors and program areas, including education, financial inclusion, ICT for development, agriculture, nutrition, gender, disability inclusion and private sector development. During her three years with the Market Development Facility, Maira helped design and implement a monitoring and evaluation system for the multi-country program that was successfully audited by the DCED. Maira has extensive field work experience that has involved working across socio-economic classes, gender, geographies and cultural contexts.

Maira is interested in human-centered design and applies this approach to create systems and strategies designed to foster results-oriented cultures within organizations or programs. Maira also draws on this approach to align individuals to organizational goals. She has worked with various international donors such as the World Bank, DFAT and DfID. Maira is also an Acumen Fellow and holds a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University.