About — The Manda Projects

About us

The Manda Projects builds responsible businesses in East Africa's most significant landscapes — ventures where commercial success and environmental integrity are built from the same foundation.

We operate in landscapes that demand a different kind of company. Kenya's coastal archipelagos, frontier rangelands, and borderlands are among the most ecologically significant and intact places on earth. We work here because we know these places, because we are trusted within them, and because we believe commerce — done right — is one of the most powerful tools for protecting them.

Responsible business, as we practice it, is simply business that takes the long view seriously. In the landscapes where we operate, long-term commercial success depends on ecological health, and ecological health depends on communities who have real reason to protect it. We build businesses alongside people who have earned deep trust in the places we operate, and with communities who have a genuine stake in the outcome. That's not a value statement. It's how the business is built.

As we grow, we bring the same discipline to other industries where sustainable development is both possible and overdue. The standard is consistent: commercially rigorous, ecologically regenerative, rooted in community, and built to last.

Aerial view of an East African coastal archipelago — Photo: The Manda Projects

Our team

Dr. Edward Brooks

CEO

A farmer by birth, Edd fell in love with Africa working on farms and in lodges in Zimbabwe in the late 1990s and has been building things on the continent and beyond ever since.

He holds a PhD in Marine Biology and has spent his career translating science into commercial and conservation outcomes. As an early architect of The Cape Eleuthera Island School, he went on to serve as its COO and then CEO — building an institution recognised internationally for conservation science, sustainable engineering, and educational reform. He has since launched ventures in renewable energy, tourism, and hospitality — and brings the operational discipline of someone who has built, run, and learned from businesses across multiple sectors and geographies.

Edd came to Kenya four years ago. As a relative newcomer, he has spent that time learning from people with lifetimes of experience in these landscapes — and brings to that foundation a global store of entrepreneurial and operational knowledge that is rare in this sector.

An accomplished pilot, Edd is working on his Kiswahili.

Dr. Kieran Avery

Director of Conservation

Kieran was born and raised in Kenya. His ties to the country's northern landscapes — its communities, cultures, and wildlife — run deeper than his CV.

A trained veterinarian and qualified pilot, Kieran has worked in northern Kenya's community conservation space since 2017. His technical expertise spans wildlife capture and immobilisation, rangeland management, community development, and carbon project development — including a founding role in the launch of the world's first and largest soil-based carbon project. He has worked extensively with endangered species, supporting sanctuaries for elephants, black rhino, Rothschild giraffe, and hirola antelope.

Kieran brings to TMP something that cannot be built quickly: embedded relationships across the communities and institutions that determine whether responsible business in these landscapes succeeds or fails. He is fluent in English and Kiswahili.

Whitney Brown

Director of Communications and External Relations

Whitney has spent two decades working at inflection points — technology transitions, the evolution of educational institutions, and now the emerging intersection of commerce and conservation in East Africa. Her work spans strategic communications, fundraising, and donor relationship development across nonprofit and private sector contexts.

At TMP, she leads brand and communications strategy, and the cultivation of partnerships and funding relationships that advance the organization's work — bringing to an early-stage venture the discipline of someone who has built reputational credibility for organizations from the ground up. She also serves as Executive Director of RadicaLab Foundation, a fellow member of the Stær Collective — a hybrid philanthropy and impact investing network addressing critical challenges facing humanity.

Whitney is working diligently to maintain her Duolingo daily streak in Kiswahili.

Honorable Francis Chachu Ganya

Director of Community Engagement

Chachu Ganya served three consecutive terms as Member of Parliament for North Horr Constituency in Marsabit County from 2008 to 2022. During that time he was among the most consequential legislators on environment and natural resources in Kenya — sponsoring the National Drought Management Authority Act and the Climate Change Act, both passed in 2016, and playing a central role in passing the Wildlife Conservation Bill, Mining Bill, and Water Act. He also sponsored motions to combat poaching and introduce emission standards, work that reflected a consistent conviction that legislation could be a tool for landscape protection.

He began his career in the United States with the U.S. Forest Service as a Wilderness and Back Country Ranger, and holds a Master's in Public Administration with a focus on Environmental Policy and Management from George Mason University, and a Bachelor of Arts from St. Lawrence University.

Chachu is a Board Member of Kenya Wildlife Services, co-founder of the Northern Kenya Fund, and founder of the Chalbi Scholars Organization, which provides scholarships to students from the region. His leadership has been recognised with the Sol Feinstone Award for Humanitarian Service and the National Diversity and Inclusion Award.