Management Team

Lawrence Attipoe, Country Director

Lawrence holds a bachelors degree in land economy, a masters degree in philosophy and a bachelors degree in law. He is also a Charted Management Accountant (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants,UK) and a Certified Valuation Advisor (CVA) of the International Association of Consultants, Valuers and Analysts (IACVA) in the USA. 

He joined SNV in 2004 as a Senior Advisor and started the private sector development programme in Ghana. He later became a Portfolio Coordinator. He moved to Zimbabwe as Country Director in November 2009. He is also the Coordinator of the FLO Partnership. 

Prior to joining SNV, Lawrence worked for two years with the Cape Coast Business Advisory Centre of Ghana’s National Board for Small Scale Industries, where he was responsible for developing the entrepreneurial capacity of owners of Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana’s Central Region.  He also spent a considerable amount of time as a Senior Consultant with Spectrum International, a management consulting firm with a focus on supporting growth-oriented private sector initiatives and promoting public private partnerships. While with Spectrum, Larry coordinated the African Telecom Summit, an annual gathering of African Telecom Ministers, policy makers, regulators and operators to review the development of African Telecommunications.  He also spent four years coordinating the Ghana Club 100; a listing of Ghana’s top 100 companies and produced the accompanying Magazine. 

Larry has a passion for teamwork and enjoys working with people across cultures and disciplines. He strives for excellence and constructively deals with challenges that come his way.  He likes to keep all tasks simple and motivates colleagues to give their best.

Mbekezeli Mthunzi

Mbekelezi holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) Degree and a Masters in Business Administration Degree. He has experience in business development services, credit management and banking, stemming from an over ten years employment in the banking industry.  His knowledge of loan portfolio’s and credit management for different business sectors of various sizes and his personal values of focus and commitment are the basis for his approach in providing advisory services to meso level organizations that are diverse in nature and at different functional and operational levels.

He first joined SNV as an economic development advisor specialising in the horticulture value chain.  He was involved in the strengthening of capacity of local producer associations, improving the quality of produce, establishment of market linkages and facilitating the collaboration within various value chain actors. In October 2009, he was appointed Portfolio Coordinator. He believes that engagement of team members across thematic practice areas and active participation from clients is an essential ingredient to success.

Collins Apuoyo, Portfolio Coordinator, Eastern Portfolio

Collins holds a Bachelor of Education and is currently pursuing an MBA and Masters of Art in Leading Innovation and Change. He has considerable experience in the business sector including self-employment as a proprietor in a business and as a Senior Business Advisor / Counsellor for Small Enterprises Professional Services Organisation. This experience has honed his skills in financial services, investment climates, private sector policy development, business development services and value chain development.

He joined SNV South Sudan in August 2005 as a Private Sector Advisor. In this capacity he was able to initiate SNV’s work in livestock and non-timber forest products. Among other initiatives, he supported the first export trade in Gum Arabic from Eastern Equatoria. He also took the lead in developing the first group of client organizations, culminating in the establishment of a peace market that promotes economic activities as a basis for peaceful co-existence in a post conflict setting. In 2006, Collins was appointed Portfolio Coordinator for Kapoeta. As PC he focused on developing a clear strategy with specific but flexible interventions that have become the hallmark of SNV’s work in South Sudan.  He moved to Zimbabwe in October 2011.

Prior to joining SNV he worked with DFID Kenya as a senior Programs Officer / Advisor for private sector development. He served for a period of two years as Donor Representative in the Government Task Force for the development of the MSME strategy for Kenya.

Over the last 10 years Collins has developed a keen interest in social entrepreneurship and explores various ways in which business approaches can be applied to social development. His work in entrepreneurship has earned him a number of awards over the last six years. Collins is a winner of Global Award for Innovations – World Bank, 2005.  He is an Ashoka Fellow - recognition for innovation for poverty reduction. He is also a Global Social Benefit Incubator Fellow of Santa Clara University, California. His work on environmental conservation has also won him recognition from The Dubai Award for Protecting the Living Environment.

Collins is passionate about management excellence, flexible leadership and clarity of purpose as a basis of team work, and encourages diversity of opinions as a basis for innovation and change.

Ronica Mashabidze, Country Controller
With extensive practical experience in accounting, Ronica’s strengths lie in management accounting, internal controls, policies andprocedures, liquidity planning. She is proficient in the use of Tetra and ACCPACC Plus accounting packages and successfully manages budgetary processes, and payroll process for SNV Zimbabwe. Ronica joined SNV as Accountant and was later promoted to Country Administrator/Finance Officer. She is currently studying to be a Chartered Institute ofManagement Accountants associate. Ronica holds a Bachelor in Accountancy Honors Degree, and a Masters in Business Administration.