01 About
A multipotentialite, by design.
I have never fit a single box. For over a decade my work has moved across international development, venture building, capital, and culture — held together by one thread: value what the world overlooks, and build the systems that price it correctly.
For more than a decade I have worked at the intersection of international development, the creative economy, and venture building, across fifteen countries and three continents. I have run multi-country development portfolios, scaled accelerators for founders the market overlooks, and built the production infrastructure African craft never had.
Today I build across four ventures: Catalyst Impact Lab and Catalyst Studio, my venture studio and Africa-focused fund; Atelier MBOKA, the brand reimagining African craft for the global market; and The Host, luxury real estate reimagining the African experience.
Underneath all of it is one conviction: the knowledge and craft held in African land, materials, and people is the most underpriced capital in the world. My work is the infrastructure that prices it correctly. Not empowerment, not rescue. Revaluation, on the makers' own terms.
02 Career
Twelve years, key insights, a solidified thesis.
International development, innovation ecosystems, and the artisan economy — the same work, seen from different angles.
Three continents · 15+ countries
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2025
Executive Director
Innovate Africa Foundation · LagosOperationalised and scaled a pan-African innovation platform: the Inspire Africa Conference in Kigali with 500+ participants, product tours across three African markets, and the first World Product Day in Lagos. Reached 1,000+ founders and raised $150K+ in cash and in-kind partnerships, with partners including Silicon Valley Product Group, JP Morgan, Mind the Product, Credit Direct, and Prdkt+.
Inspire Africa Conference 2025, Kigali. Speaking with RBA press at the pan-African product conference. 
Africa Creative Economy Lens 2025, Kigali. Speaker on investing in Africa's creative industries for sustainable growth, hosted by Africa Creatives Alliance and Africa in Colors, 28–31 August. -
2021 — 2024
Senior Program & Partnership Lead
DMZ, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityScaled the Black Innovation Program into a nationally recognised platform. Supported 1,000+ Black founders, stewarded a 50+ partner portfolio valued at $17M, and raised $2.5M in direct grants plus $2M+ in covered legal retainers for founders.
Fireside chat with Marc Lafleur at the DMZ Black Innovation Summit, 2023, with Tina moderating. 
DMZ Black Innovation Programs. With founders and speakers at the summit, Toronto. -
2021
Bilingual Program Manager
Plan International CanadaLed a $15M multi-country development portfolio funded by Global Affairs Canada, GPE KIX, and IDRC, coordinating country teams, ministries, and donors across Senegal, Laos, Cambodia, Tanzania, and Egypt.
Impact report · PDFStrengthening Women Entrepreneurs in Egypt (SWEET). Year 5 report on supporting 3,100 women carpet and handicraft makers in Giza, funded by Global Affairs Canada. 
Policy brief · PDFAccelerating access to pre-primary education. Results and policy recommendations from the LEARN Plus project's eight-week pre-primary program in rural and remote Cambodia. 
Lessons learned · PDFStrengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW). Gender-transformative maternal and child health in Bangladesh, Ghana, Haiti, Nigeria and Senegal, funded by Global Affairs Canada (2016–2022). -
2016 — 2021
Regional Program Officer & WEE Advisor
Crossroads International · Southern & Eastern AfricaDesigned and scaled programs in women's economic inclusion and gender equality. Helped grow grant funding from $14M to $37M, expanded into Uganda, Ethiopia, and Zambia, added 20+ partners, and worked with 12 producer associations supporting 780 basket weavers in eSwatini.
Program Officer, Tina Mbachu visited our long-time partner @kwieco_Tanzania in Moshi. We are working to ensure that its safe house, a refuge for survivors of gender-based violence and sexual assault, is recognized by the government, and other civil society organizations. https://t.co/lKlV7gslRz
— Crossroads International (@CrossroadsIntl) February 19, 2020 -
2018 — 2020
Founding Director of Programs
The Rainmaker Enterprise · Canada & South SudanBuilt the program strategy for solar-powered water infrastructure supporting food security in South Sudan. Secured founding funding from the Humanitarian Grand Challenge and established the World Food Programme as a direct buyer.
Presenting The Rainmaker Enterprise at the World Food Programme, at a Creating Hope in Conflict: A Humanitarian Grand Challenge event, on solar-powered water for regenerative agriculture in South Sudan. Watch → -
2015 — 2024
Founder & Independent Consultant
Gender Impact ConsultingInvestment-readiness, entrepreneurship advisory, and organisational development for multilateral institutions, the African Development Bank, World Bank, and UNFPA, across COMESA, EAC, and ECOWAS.
03 Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship at the intersection of impact, innovation and creative economy.
The ventures I'm building now, each a different attempt at the same idea: pricing Africa's overlooked talent, craft, and ideas correctly, and connecting them to global capital on their own terms.
A Few Good Things
An online concept store bringing together African design across fashion, skincare, home goods, and more, in one considered place.
Learn more →
Atelier MBOKA
A luxury house built on Africa's material culture, made for the intentional woman. Pieces designed to be lived with and passed on.
Visit Atelier MBOKA →
The Host
Luxury, curated hotel spaces reimagining the African experience. A home away from home, designed to hold the continent's culture at its full value.
Catalyst Ventures
An innovation ecosystem reimagining how development solutions are built, tested, and scaled across Africa.
Read the impact report →04 Featured Work
The work, in motion.
Talks, films, and features from the Inspire Africa Conference in Kigali and the DMZ Black Innovation Summit.
Film
From Problems to Products
The 2026 conference film, on turning African problems into products.
Watch →
Highlights
Kigali Comes Alive — Day 1 Highlights
Day one of the 2025 conference in Kigali, Rwanda.
Watch →
Video
How Rwanda Became a Top Innovation Hub
On the making of one of Africa’s leading innovation ecosystems.
Watch →
Video
Powering Young Innovators — Osaretin Obano
A conversation on backing young innovators across the continent.
Watch →
Recap
Black Innovation Summit — Recap
The summit that scaled the Black Innovation Program nationally.
Watch →
Fireside
Marc Lafleur · 2023 Fireside Chat
A founder fireside from the DMZ Black Innovation Summit.
Watch →
Video
Kampala Product Tour — Testimonial
A founder testimonial from the Kampala product tour.
Watch →
Video
Thinking Sustainability
A conversation on sustainability and the creative economy.
Watch →
Video
The Tech Table
In conversation on the She Plus Tech Table.
Watch →
Video
A Few Good Things — Ep. 98
On building A Few Good Things.
Watch →
Video
On Being a Venture Catalyst — Ep. 279
On building Catalyst Impact Lab and Catalyst Studio.
Watch →
Video
WPD25 — Fireside Chats & Product Demos
Fireside chats and product demos from World Product Day 2025.
Watch →
Feature
Rwanda’s Ministry of ICT Joins the Conference
Government partnership behind the Kigali convening.
Read →
Feature
Official Media Partner: Mind the Product
The global product community joins as media partner.
Read →05 Impact
The record the work stands on.
Figures span international development, innovation ecosystems, and venture building, from Nigeria, South Sudan, and eSwatini to Senegal, Tanzania, Canada, and beyond.
06 Press & Recognition
Selected coverage.
Features, interviews, and quotes across African and Canadian media on the ventures and the case for valuing African craft and founders correctly.
News“A huge need” for incubators that back Black founders
As a senior program leader with DMZ's Black Innovation Programs, Tina spoke to CBC about the need for incubators that nurture tech entrepreneurs from the Black community.
Photo: Heather Waldron/CBC Read →
PrintBreaking Barriers in the Startup Ecosystem
How the DMZ is building tailored programming for entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.
OttawaIn conversation with Celina Caesar-Chavannes
With the former Member of Parliament on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, after Tina presented her economic development work in eSwatini.
Oct 2025Africa Bets on AI to Power Next Global Product Growth
Read →
InterviewIn Conversation With Tina
Read →
RadioL'heure de pointe Toronto
Listen →
Sept 2022The Return of Atelier MBOKA
Read →
LagosExpert Seeks Support For African Founders To Scale Globally
Read →
NigeriaWorld Product Day Lagos to Showcase Local Tech Talent & Jobs
Read →
AnnouncementEmpowering 100,000 Product Leaders Across Africa
Read →Recognition, credentials & affiliations
Named to The Peak's Emerging Leaders 2024 (Entrepreneurship). MBA Candidate, Columbia Business School (2027). MSc International Development, University of Amsterdam. PMP certified. Board Director, Canadian & African Business Women's Alliance.
07 Voices
What people say.
Words from the partners, founders, and organisations Tina has built alongside.
08 Writing, Talks & Ideas
Dispatches from the intersection.
Regional Editor, Africa
Served on the editorial team of Global South Development Magazine, a non-profit development publication based in Helsinki, as Regional Editor for Africa. The April 2015 issue focused on South Sudan: “A Fragmented & Forgotten Story.”
Read the issue (PDF) →Given the chance, women can lead African economic recovery
An op-ed arguing that while women in Africa, and in Canada, have carried a heavier burden from COVID-19, they can also lead the economic recovery if given the opportunity, and that Canada should be at the forefront of making that happen.
Read the op-ed →
Lessons learned from the gender-transformative SHOW project
The consolidated lessons from Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW), a maternal, newborn and child health project funded by Global Affairs Canada in Bangladesh, Ghana, Haiti, Nigeria and Senegal from 2016 to 2022, on what it takes to make health services work for women and adolescent girls.
Read the report (PDF) →
Human Library
April 26, 2018
Human Library on Sustainable Development
A featured “human book” on SDG 1, No Poverty, at OCIC's evening of conversations with Global Changemakers. Tina shared her experience in gender and economic empowerment, including organising 12 women producer groups in eSwatini for savings and income-generating activities.
About the event →09 Substack
Notes on leadership, knowledge and capital.
Essays written in the open on what it means to lead, and on African economic intelligence, inclusive innovation and the architecture of wealth.
Why Softness Is Your Most Radical Leadership Skill
On being misread, and choosing to lead from there anyway.
Read on Substack →
What Kind of Leader Do I Want to Be?
A question I didn't know I needed to ask, until I walked into a room that I thought wasn't built for me.
Read on Substack →10 Latest
Ngozi's Bright Idea.
A children's picture book about a girl who turns a sunny-day idea into a business — the same thesis as everything else here, written for the next generation.
Big ideas can start small.
While watching her friends play under the scorching sun, Ngozi has a thought: what if she sold them a refreshing treat? With planning, effort, and heart, she learns how one good idea can grow into a thriving little business.
Creative thinking · Practical courage · Community spirit
Pre-orders launching soon
