Eelko’s passion for innovative development finance brought him to LendXS. Having been involved in numerous capital raising and financial advisory assignments across emerging markets over the last 30 years, he became increasingly fascinated by the challenge to improve financial inclusion in agricultural supply chains.

Eelko is Managing Director of Financial Consulting Services and Chairman of the Board of the Advans Group, an international microfinance investment firm. Eelko has extensive experience in international, commercial and development finance and in building businesses in the financial sector.

Before joining LendXS, Eelko was the CEO of the Orangefield Group, following its management buy-out from ING Group in 2007. Until 2007 Eelko worked for ABN Amro Bank for 20 years in a variety of commercial and senior management roles in The United States, Asia, and Europe.

​Eelko holds a Master of International Law Degree from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and has completed the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD, France.

After a 20-year career in finance, sales & marketing, and various Board positions in the IT industry and banking sector, Carel became an entrepreneur and co-founded in 2011 the Amsterdam-based Marie-Stella-Maris, a social enterprise that a.o. produces, markets, and sells bottled drinking water. Through the Marie Stella Maris Foundation it also sponsors the development of clean drinking water projects in Asia and Africa.

Carel has been inspired by the UN Resolution adopted in 2010 where access to clean drinking water and hygiene was declared a basic human right. In addition to building the Marie Stella Maris brand and organization, Carel has developed with selected corporate partners a framework and policy for the efficient development and implementation of projects in small communities in rural Africa.

Carel is passionate about translating innovative, proven private sector-driven concepts to drive sustainable impact. At LendXS Carel will use his extensive marketing experience to support the development of a brand and product that is singlemindedly client-focused, affordable and will contribute to greater and measurable financial inclusion in rural markets.

Carel holds a MSc in Business Economics from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Francis is a Java backend developer who specializes in Java enterprise technologies.

In cooperation with Incentro, he supports LendXS as the Senior Software developer.

He is experienced building complete backend API systems and working with Java SE, Java EE, Spring Framework and PostgreSQL.

Francis holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Having worked with Craft Silicon, a leading fintech solutions provider, Kennedy has gained over 6+ years of experience in the design, development, testing, and implementation of various architectures and systems in banking and microfinance.

Kennedy is well versed with multiple project implementations for financial institutions across East Africa on agency banking, mobile banking, ATM solutions, and system integration with multiple core banking systems.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology from Mount Kenya University.

Whitney is passionate about humankind wellness and that has a lot to do with financial inclusion. She is privileged to work with Financial Access where we aim at eradicating poverty by equipping small-scale farmers with the financial muscle to improve their livelihoods and in return there is food security. That way we make the world a little bit better for everyone.

Prior to joining Financial Access, Whitney worked for Zamara Actuaries Administrators and Consultants Ltd for four years where she held the position of a Business Analyst.

Whitney holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Daystar University and a Project Management certification from Computer Pride College.

Ciira Kibebe is a Fullstack Software Engineer with over 7 years experience building modern web applications in various business sectors. He has experience in frontend development working with React Javascript Library and backend API development using Python Django Rest Framework.

Ciira is the developer in the LendXS agile cross-functional product development team. In collaboration with other team members, he is involved in user requirements refinement, code implementation, testing, and quality assurance. His technical, agile skills and customer-focused approach ensure that the product team frequently delivers the right product.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from Kenyatta University.

Simeon is passionate about financial inclusion through digital transformation, and believes that with the right data-driven approach we can rapidly close the gap between investors and smallholder farmers, thereby strengthening the global agricultural supply chains and ultimately contributing to food security and poverty alleviation.

Prior to LendXS, Simeon worked in grant finance and grant management for an international NGO, managing an EU-funded programme and contributing to the financial and operational soundness of the overall grant portfolio. His interest for the developing context and his enthusiasm for financial data sparked during his time at university.

Simeon attained a BSc in development economics and a MSc in political science focusing on financial decision-making in a complex political environment.

Dennis is passionate about agribusiness specifically smallholder farmers in Africa to improve their productivity and standard of living. He provides support for the team in financial management and project finance. He believes it is a great feeling to be part of LendXS because everyday, three times a day, you need a farmer and what makes it exciting is helping to mobilize finance to smallholder farmers. Dennis previously worked for Cargill in Ghana and Zambia in their cocoa, cotton, maize and soyabean businesses.

Dennis holds an MBA from Hanze University and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of the West of England.

Kripa Pandurangan is from southern part of India with 9 years of work experience, where she has worked as a Relationship Manager for financial institutions like bank and housing finance for 5 years and for the rest years as business development and marketing professional in digital and media firms.

Throughout her career, she developed expertise in time management, customer relationship management, business development, creative problem solving, and being a proactive team player. Travelling, meeting deadlines, and achieving organisational goals were part of her job profile. While growing these skills, she stood out due to her self-motivation and interpersonal communication skills.

At LendXS, she is obsessed being organised and making everyone’s life easier. Kripa takes immense pride to work for LendXS which supports agricultural institutes, small agri-businesses that positively impacts the lives of farmers, boosts her morale.

She holds an MBA degree from one of the leading universities in India

John van Vliet supports Financial Access with the writing of news updates and social media posts as well as creating marketing materials. John enjoys creating content for a company that does great good for rural lenders and communities across the globe. Having grown up on a dairy farm in southern Idaho, John understands the important role that farmers have in local and global economies.

John studied journalism at Idaho State University, where he also was a member of the Idaho State Bengals (American) football team. He later earned his Master of Arts in International Relations (European focus) from Durham University in Durham, England. He moved to Wroclaw, Poland in 2015, where he played and coached American football whilst teaching English to business professionals and university students. In Poland, he started his professional career as a writer and editor.

Soro Ismael is a Full-Stack Engineer with over 6 years experience building modern App web application. He has experience in frontend development working with React Javascript Library and backend API development using Python Django Rest Framework.

He holds a bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Christ University

David is enthusiastic about promoting financial access and using data to create digital financial solutions for emerging markets.

He has prior experience working for a Ghana-based data analytics and Artificial Intelligence company, where he was involved in development of digital lending products for clients in Fintech, Neobank, and retail online marketplaces. He has also served as a product manager in the Digital Innovation and Development department at Bank of Africa Kenya, leading the development of digital corporate payment and collection solutions.

At LendXS he is responsible for development of the product roadmap and rallying the agile cross functional teams in development of the platform.

David is certified in Business Analytics and Data Science from Predictive Analytics Labs, holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting Option) from Egerton University, and CPA Section 6.

Joy has more than ten years of steadily growing experience building and supporting innovative solutions. She is a results-driven leader who is enthusiastic about digital transformation and innovation dedicated to fostering business automation solutions.  A creative thinker who values collaboration, working with both business and technical teams to ensure continual improvement and develop long-term goals for the organization’s success.

Prior to joining LendXS, Joy has experience working in the publishing, government, and telecommunications sectors. Through the Huduma Kenya Program, she played a crucial role in changing the public sector to be more accountable and to provide services that are both effective and of high quality.

Joy has a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology (Strathmore University) and an MBA – Strategic Management (University of Nairobi). Along with her expertise in information technology and project management, she also brings a commitment to providing outstanding customer service to the clients and partners.