The TEAM
Catherine Jura Sentamu Founder/Strategy Director
Catherine Jura is the founder of Edify Learning Forum Africa (ELFA) and the architect of the MAPS framework. Based in Calgary, Canada, she has spent her career designing and managing organisational learning processes across the African continent - with a specific focus on helping teams understand the contextual forces that shape every organisation, market, and partnership they enter.
Her work is built around a core conviction: that training which does not account for context does not stick. Through ELFA, she has developed a body of practice that moves beyond generic skills training to create real, measurable behaviour change in teams operating in Africa's most complex environments.
Dr. Patricia Opondo Health Programmes
Dr. Awiti brings extensive expertise in health systems as our advisor, programme development, and organisational capacity building across East Africa. Her work spans the intersection of health policy, leadership development, and the contextual dynamics that determine whether programmes succeed or fail in complex African environments. She advises ELFA on the design and delivery of programmes for organisations operating in health and development sectors, where understanding informal power structures and stakeholder relationships is critical to execution.
Gert Kriek Strategic Advisor Markets
Africa Experience in Market Entry, Gert Kriek is a strategic advisor with deep experience across African markets, bringing insight into the power dynamics, institutional relationships, and operating environments that organisations encounter when entering or scaling across the continent. He advises ELFA on contextual intelligence strategy and the practical application of the MAPS framework in complex African settings.
Odi Lagi Strategic Advisor (West Africa)
Based in Nigeria, Odi Lagi brings practitioner-level expertise in navigating complex stakeholder environments across West Africa and the broader continent. With a background in strategic advisory and programme delivery, Odi provides ELFA with ground-level insight into the authority structures, informal power networks, and systems dynamics that organisations must understand before deploying into unfamiliar African contexts.
Alemnesh Zewdie Strategic Advisor (Data and Measurement)
Based in Ethiopia, Alemnesh Zewdie brings deep on-the-ground expertise in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, with experience spanning development programme design, institutional capacity building, and navigating the political and social systems that shape how organisations operate in East African contexts. She advises ELFA on programme content, measurement and delivery for teams entering Ethiopia and the broader Horn of Africa region.