Wangui Muna 2024 Speaker

Director of Innovative Finance - Africa • Africa Program

Heifer International

Biography

Wangui Muna is a strategic leader with over 15 years of experience in sustainable finance, private sector development, and capacity building across Sub-Saharan Africa. With a strong foundation in strategic management, she excels in designing and implementing innovative and sustainable financial solutions that drive economic growth and enhance livelihoods, particularly in the agricultural and renewable energy sectors.

Ms. Muna has dedicated her career to championing inclusive finance and development, with a focus on empowering SMEs, smallholder farmers, women, and youth. Her work has been instrumental in developing tailored financial products with banks, designing blended finance models, and structuring impactful investment deals that foster sustainable development.
She currently serves as the Director of Innovative Finance for Africa at Heifer International, where she leads transformative initiatives that expand financial access through innovative strategies aligned with the region’s broader development goals. Her efforts focus on creating inclusive financial ecosystems that empower underserved communities and drive sustainable development across the continent.

Previously, Ms. Muna served as the Investment Policy Expert for the Agriculture Sector in Kenya at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), where she led the development and implementation of policy advocacy strategies to enhance access to credit for women and youth-led SMEs. She also served as the Senior Agriculture and Finance Access Expert at HEAT GmbH, collaborating with UNDP on the Mitigation Action Facility (MAF) Project-Reducing Post-Harvest Losses Through Solar-Powered Cold Chain Services in Kenya, where she developed innovative finance mechanisms to drive the project.

Additionally, Ms. Muna was the Strategic Initiatives and Investment Promotion Manager at Africa Catalytic Investment Partners (ACIP), leading the design and implementation of strategic initiatives to promote investment in developing countries and emerging markets. As an SME Advisor and Capital Raising Specialist for Energy 4 Impact, she provided strategic advisory and capital-raising support to SMEs in the off-grid energy sector, working on several donor-funded programs to facilitate access to finance and investment readiness across Africa.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Muna worked as a Senior SME Technical Advisor at Action Against Hunger – UK in the Department for International Development (DFID) funded Trade Enterprise and Employment Program (TEE), improving investment readiness and access to finance for SMEs and at ASER Capital LLC, managing investment portfolios in agriculture, clean energy, and inclusive finance across Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, she worked at Climate Focus, leading the development of innovative East African businesses at the agriculture-energy nexus under the USAID-funded Feed the Future East Africa Catalytic Sustainable Agribusiness Investment (CSA-I) program. Her early work with USAID’s Kenya Mission on the Financial Inclusion for Rural Microenterprises (FIRM) program helped expand financial access for SMEs and rural enterprises.

MS. Muna is a Kenyan national and is fluent in English and Kiswahili. Her dedication to transforming and advancing Africa through innovative finance solutions and sustainable development reflects her commitment to making a lasting and positive impact across the continent.