CEO

Kalame Fobissie

Fobissie is the founder and CEO of Fokabs. He provides strategic leadership to the company. Before founding Fokabs, Fobissie worked in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia as a climate change expert with the University of Helsinki-Finland, WWF and CIFOR. He has provided climate change advisory services to the World Bank, AfDB, GCF, UN (UNDP, UNECA, UNEP, UNFF, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNOPS, IOM) and others. He has published extensively and worked in more than 60 countries on climate change. During the drafting of the Paris Climate Agreement and its implementation rules, he led some of the negotiations for Africa.
Fobissie is a Professor at the School of International Development, University of Ottawa-Canada, and a Professor of Tropical Forest Management, University of Helsinki-Finland. He holds a PhD in Agriculture, Forestry and Climate Change, and a Master degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Helsinki. He completed his Executive MBA at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Area of expertise: 

• Strategic Leadership, 

• Climate Mitigation,

• Climate Adaptation,

• Climate Finance,

• Climate Policy

ESG Analyst

Samantha Hui

Samantha has experience as an environmental educator, researcher, and science communicator, through working with the Toronto and Durham District School Boards, HZ University – Netherlands, and print and online publications. She received a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo – Canada, where she specialized in environment, resources, and sustainability studies. She later received her Master of Environmental Sciences from the University of Guelph – Canada with a specialization on ecotoxicological research and environmental risk assessment. In Fokabs, Samantha focuses on using an interdisciplinary lens to bridge the social and natural sciences, and to analyze and bring solutions to global environmental, social, governance and general sustainability issues.

Area of expertise: 

• Climate Adaptation,

Senior Manager

Dieudonne Alemagi

Dr. Alemagi holds a Ph.D in Environmental and Resource Management from  Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany. During his career, he has published more than 50 publications including journal articles, book chapters, policy briefs, and reports in the area of forest policy as well climate change mitigation and adaptation in Cameroon and the Congo Basin. His papers have appeared in international journals such as Climate Policy, Energy Policy, Forest Policy and Economics, Land Use Policy, Resources Policy, among others. He has held a number of high profile positions including, Climate Change and Policy Associate Scientist at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF). At ICRAF, he conducted research in the areas of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), sustainable forest management, and biodiversity conservation in Central Africa. From 2008 – 2011, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. During the course of his career, Dr. Alemagi has provided consultancy services to international organizations like the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), National Resources Canada, and the Environmental Management and Poverty Alleviation. Dr. Alemagi joined FOKABS in May 2017.

Area of expertise: 

• Climate Mitigation,

• Climate Adaptation

Associate Partner - Smart Green Building & City

Henry Abanda

Prof. Henry Abanda is the Smart Green Building & City Lead at FOKABS. Before assuming this role, he was an Associate Professor (Reader) in Construction IT at the School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University, UK. With a distinguished academic career spanning multiple disciplines and institutions, Prof. Abanda is recognized for his expertise, versatility, and significant contributions to digital construction technologies. He has a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Physics, a Dipl. Ing. in Civil Engineering, MA in Monitoring & Evaluation and holds a PhD in Construction IT from Oxford Brookes University, UK.

His prolific research portfolio includes over 135 scientific publications, comprising 73 peer-reviewed journal articles, 44 peer-reviewed conference papers, books and technical reports. He has also supervised to completion six PhD candidates and over 200 MSc students, primarily in the areas of digital construction technologies and Artificial Intelligence.

As a passionate advocate for BIM, Prof. Abanda has become a global leader in driving its adoption. He has spearheaded an international awareness campaign, engaging audiences on five continents in countries such as Spain, France, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Ecuador, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, and Ethiopia. His hands-on workshops have equipped construction professionals worldwide, including over 180 in the UK, with practical BIM skills for project management and quantity surveying.

In addition, Prof. Abanda serves as one of the five Strategic Advisors for BIM Africa. In this role, he supports the advancement of digital technology adoption and regulation within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries globally, fostering innovation, sustainability, and resilience in the built environment. Dr. Abanda’s dedication to advancing digital construction technologies and his global influence position him as a transformative figure in the fields of BIM, green building, and smart city development, shaping the future of sustainable urbanization worldwide.

Area of expertise:

Green Buildings and Smart Cities

Building Information Modelling (BIM)

Artificial Intelligence

Data Science

Digital Twins

Ontology and Knowledge Engineering

Semantic Web

Associate Partner - Climate Finance and Green Investment

Kevin Enongene

Kevin is a Senior Climate and Low Carbon Development Analyst at FOKABS. He has experience in the domain of renewable energy, climate change adaptation and mitigation in 15+ countries. He has several peer reviewed publications on climate change, natural resources and energy and has provided climate consulting services to governments and diverse clients including but not limited to the Green Climate Fund, World Economic Forum (WEF), African Development Bank, ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), United Nations (UNDP, UNIDO and UNICEF), Global Water Partnership, World Bank, GIZ and WWF. Kevin supported ECREEE in conducting feasibility study for the integration of renewable energy technologies into residential buildings in Nigeria.

Area of expertise: 

• Climate Mitigation,

• Climate Adaptation,

• Climate Finance,

• Renewable Energy

Manager – Gender & Sustainability

Elsie Fobissie

Elsie holds a master’s in Environmental Sociology from the University of Ottawa – Canada, a BSc in Sociology & Anthropology, minor in Gender Studies, as well as a BSc in Health and Social Services. Elsie leads Fokabs work on gender, climate change and sustainability issues.  She plays a lead role in assessing gender consideration in energy, transport, agriculture, forestry, environmental, infrastructure, water and rural development projects and programmes developed by organizations such as FAO, World Bank, AfDB, ADB, KDB, and many other organizations for submission to access climate funding. Elsie also supports the preparation, implementation and evaluation of climate change adaptation and mitigation projects. Prior to Fokabs, she worked in the health care sector in Europe. Elsie joined Fokabs in September 2017.

Area of expertise: 

• Genre, 

• Climate Adaptation,

Project Coordinator

Vanessa Comeau

Vanessa has a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Laurentian University – Canada, and a Business Certificate from C.S.S. Des-Rives-du-Saguenay. She is very fluent in French and English. With a passion for the environment, Vanessa has worked in many jobs that mirror her values. Vanessa worked for the Government of Canada in the Environmental bureau, participated in numerous fieldstudies, such as the identification and record collection of flora species, a study on bats and birds, fish species within lakes, and snakes. She was also in charge of the implementation of educational panels for endangered species. She worked at Scales Nature Conservation Sanctuary, where she worked in animal care for different land and aquatic species. She participated in the S.T.A.R.T. “Saving turtles atrisk today” for turtle conservation. At Fokabs, Vanessa manages a portfolio of different climate change adaptation and mitigation projects and coordinates Fokabs’ Climate Finance course.

Area of expertise: 

• Project Coordination

Senior Manager – Geomatics Lead

Armand Tanougong

Armand Tanougong is Senior Manager Climate Change and Geomatics Lead at Fokabs. He holds a double Masters degree in Natural Resource Management and Geomatics. His expertise includes digital mapping including land use planning (LUP), forest mapping, carbon stock mapping and bamboo resource mapping. He also specialises in greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and projections, vulnerability analysis, agriculture and forestry, mitigation, climate modelling and climate information analysis. Armand has worked on numerous development and research projects in Africa and the Caribbean. He provides services to renowned organisations (ICAT, UNDP, UNIDO, INBAR, IUCN, FAO, AFD, World Bank, Sahara and Sahel Observatory, WWF, African Development Bank, GIZ, GWP and COMIFAC) and contributes to the development of online climate change MRV platforms to enable countries to store, monitor and analyse information on GHG inventories, climate change policies and support to climate change policies. He also contributes to the development of mitigation measures in different project scenarios in policy and project documents. He plays a key role in providing essential support to the countries of the Central African sub-region in the establishment of digital solutions based on the latest generation of climate information to enable key actors in the various sectors to make informed decisions in their practice of resilience to the effects of climate change. He was also an instructor at the Department of Forestry and the Centre de Recherche d’Enseignement Spécialisé en Agriculture, Forêt et Bois of the University of Dschang where he taught courses on remote sensing and landscape management, environmental geomatics and advanced airborne and spaceborne image processing.

Area of expertise: 

Land use change analysis,

Deforestation and degradation,

Carbon stock and greenhouse gas estimation,

Forest inventory

Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change

Climate modelling

Climate Economist

Serges Okala

Serges Okala is an Environmental Economist at Fokabs. He works as an economist on issues related to climate change adaptation and mitigation, agriculture, green growth, forest, climate finance, renewable energy and circular economy. He provided and continues to provide climate change advisory and technical services to governments from Western, Easter, Central and Southern African countries, and to organisations such as GCF, World Bank, African Development Bank, CTA, WWF, World Economic Forum, United Nations (UNDP, UNEP, UNECA, UNIDO) and others. In 2019, he participated, as a consultant for Cameroon and Chad, at the West and Central Africa Regional Workshop aiming at promoting Climate Finance for agriculture through the NDCs at Abuja, Nigeria

Serges Okala holds a Masters in Development Economics at PTCI/Ouagadougou and Cameroon, and completed a PhD in Environmental and Development Economics at University of Yaoundé 2, Cameroon. As a specialist on environmental issues, he participated in developing a full GCF proposal on climate smart agriculture for Liberia, in reviewing and revising Gabon’s NDC, in developing the National REDD+ strategy of Central African Republic (CAR) and in developing the Green Climate Fund country programs of Cameroon and Central African Republic. Before joining Fokabs, Serges worked as a researcher in a laboratory for analysis and research in applied economics, at University of Yaoundé 2 (Cameroon), focusing on sustainable development and international trade.

Area of expertise: 

• Climate Economic, 

• Climate Mitigation,

• Climate Adaptation,

Environmental and social analyst

Stelle Djeukam

Stelle Djeukam is an environmental and social expert and has been working in this field for almost 7 years.

She has worked in projects of several international institutions such as COMIFAC, World Bank, UNIDO, GIZ, WWF, UNDP, TFA, African Development Bank, Sahara and Sahel Observatory, in more than 10 African countries. As a consultant, she has implemented environmental science projects specifically on forestry, agriculture and community development, gender and climate change, climate change adaptation… She has assessed the social and environmental impact of different activities (logging; agriculture, urban development, …). She also has experience in environmental and social risk assessment for several projects in the forestry, agriculture, etc. sector and has prepared environmental and social management plans and environmental and social safeguard reports for some projects. Stelle Djeukam holds a Mater in Geography, option Rural Geography (2013) and a Master in Environmental Sciences, option Environmental and Social Impact (2015) from the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon. She is now putting her experience at the service of FOKABS as an analyst of environmental and social issues

Area of expertise: 

• Social safeguard , 

• Gender,

• Climate change

Natural ressources mangement Analyst

Karol Mezafack

Lavoine Karol MEZAFACK is a natural resources analyst at Fokabs. He holds a Master’s degree in Geomatic Sciences and an MSc in Geography, Planning and Environment with a Climatology option. Karol started his career in 2019 as a member of the Environmental Geomatics laboratory of the University of Dschang, where he had to participate in several development projects. With more than 3 years of practical experience, Karol MEZAFACK has worked in many development projects in Cameroon, especially in the fields of geomatics applied to natural resources management, and climate change. He has provided services for organisations such as INBAR, PROFOREST and IUCN.

Area of expertise: 

• Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, 

• Climate change mitigation,

• Securing the domain of indigenous peoples,

• Applied geomatics,

• Sustainable management of natural resources

Assistant Project Manager

Katty Claudia Chiteh

Claudia holds a Bachelor degree in Environmental Science, obtained from the Higher Institute of Environmental Science Yaounde (Cameroon), where she also obtained a Higher National Diploma in the Production of Crops. Seeing the profound importance of nature and as a crop production technician she worked for the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), on the production of ameliorated seeds of annual crops. In addition to this, Claudia participated in the laboratory research for Tissue culture at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). She was a field investigator for the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) on the different Bamboo species. These activities shaped her outlook and preferences, to be purely environmentally oriented. At FOKABS, she works as the Assistant Project manager, on projects geared towards creating greener communities.

Area of expertise: 

• Project Management

Natural ressources mangement Analyst

Parfait Kamta

Parfait KAMTA NKONTCHEU is a natural resources Management Analyst at FOKABS. Holder of a master’s degree in Environment, with specialization in Natural Resources Management and a bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Dschang, Cameroon. Parfait is passionate about the issues regarding sustainable management of natural resource. This passion motivated him to initiate a project after his master’s degree aimed at the valorization of raphia in the highlands of western Cameroon with the material support of the American organization IDEA WILD. He was also a lecturer at the Research Center for Specialized Education in Agriculture, Forestry and Timber, where he taught courses including: scientific research methodology, protected areas and wildlife management, and ecological monitoring. Since 2018, Parfait has been involved in several projects mainly in Cameroon in the fields of human-wildlife conflict, forestry, and hydrology. He has worked as consultant for organizations such as GIZ, INBAR, and IUCN.

Area of expertise: 

• Human-wildlife conflict, 

• Socio-economic surveys,

• Wildlife census,

• Participatory mapping,

• Landscape restoration

Financial and administrative assistant

Corine Stella Ngounou

Corine Stella Ngounou is an administrative and financial assistant at FOKABS. She did her higher education at the SIANTOU University Institute where she successfully obtained a Higher Brevet of Technicien Supérieur and Business Management, option Commerce and Management, and then a Professional Degree in Finance and Accounting. She worked for three years at TF consulting Sarl as an accountant. She also worked in many commercial companies as a stock manager and contributed to their commercial, economic and financial development. She has also assisted these companies to have a good control of their stocks.

Area of expertise: 

• Accounting,

• Inventory management,

• Finance,

• Taxation,

Senior Manager – Innovation, Strategy & Marketing

Nishant Vinayak

Nishant is a former consultant and entrepreneur based in Ontario. He has worked on innovative projects with multinational companies across Europe and the Americas. He was awarded the EY exceptional people award for creativity in 2015 and his company was listed as one of the emerging start-ups in 2016. He has a bachelor’s degree in Management from the University of Leicester-UK and a diploma in International Business from ESLSCA – Paris. He is presently completing his Executive MBA at the University of Ottawa, Canada and is also a UNCTAD empretec trainer.

Area of expertise: 

• Innovation,

• International Business,

• Corporate Strategy,

• Business Development, Marketing

Project Management Assistant

Blanche Djambong

Sorelle Blanche DJAMBONG holds a professional degree in Marketing, obtained at the University of Dschang (Cameroon). She is currently preparing her professional master’s degree at the INSTITUT SUPERIEUR POLYTECHNIQUE BILINGUE LES ARMANDINS (ISPA) with a major in Project Management. Blanche is an intern at Fokabs Cameroon in the project management department where she is working on the influence of monitoring and evaluation on the performance of development projects: Case of the zero deforestation project in cocoa production. Blanche has provided her services to companies such as Guinness Cameroon, Les Brasseries du Cameroun and MTN Cameroon as a market developer which consisted of recruiting new clients and finding practical solutions to various challenges.

Area of expertise: 

• Project Management