- Job Title
- Coordinator Africa North, East - Partners in Transformation Desk
- Company
- GIZ Kenya
- Country
- Kenya
As the former head of a Berlin startup, Laura has made it as one of her missions to strengthen the startup sector in East Africa. Together with various partners, she works to improve the investment climate and promotes cooperation between German and African companies. Since 2023, Laura has been in charge of the Kenya location within AWE, where she implemented projects to prevent sexualized violence against women in the workplace with local associations, among other things. She has been with GIZ for 8 years and worked in the field of sustainable economic development in Sri Lanka, Uganda and now Kenya. Laura holds a BSc in Agricultural Science and a MSc in Integrated Natural Resource Management from Humboldt University Berlin. She is an alumni of the SLE (centre for rural development studies) postgraduate study programme and had consulted for various development and research organizations in Ethiopia, Turkey and China. Together with her colleague Edda Otieno as well as the DEG-Impulse colleague Hanna Dohrenbusch, Laura is managing the Partners in Transformation Desk East Africa.
09:00 am - 09:01 am
PV Applications: Agri PV, Water Treatment, Food & Agriculture
Kenya's abundant solar resources offer immense potential to supply clean water, boost agriculture, and enhance climate resilience amid frequent droughts and erratic rainfall. Affordable, scalable solar energy powers robust technologies for rural areas, such as solar-driven water pumps, wastewater treatment, desalination, and Agri-PV systems combining crop cultivation with energy production. These solutions enable more harvests, better plant growth through adaptive shading, and improved storage via solar drying/cooling, increasing farmers' income and food security. Solar-powered electric mobility with local two- and three-wheelers enhances transport and reduces reliance on gasoline.The session will showcase proven technologies improving rural livelihoods globally. Organized by GIZ Kenya and AWE, it features energy-efficient, scalable solutions integrating the Energy-Food-Water nexus. Attendees can explore innovative technologies and engage directly with solution providers.