We have a small team based in London and employ a number of staff in East Africa on specific programmes. More information on the London team is given below.
Peter Hesketh
After a career of over twenty years with BAe Systems (formerly British Aerospace), Peter joined the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts in January 2002. Since 2008 he has been Director of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, supporting and further developing Gatsby’s specific range of interests and grant-making activities.
Justin Highstead
Justin has been with Gatsby for four years, building and leading the Africa team and restructuring Gatsby’s Africa portfolio. Justin previously spent five years with the Department for International Development as a Private Sector Development (PSD) Advisor, and five years as a management consultant with Accenture. He has extensive experience working across Africa and Asia, including two years as a Voluntary Service Overseas volunteer in Zambia. Justin specialises in innovative approaches to catalysing the growth of sectors, but has worked across most areas of PSD.
Ian Anderson
Ian manages a range of programmes for Gatsby on sector development and social investment, with particular responsibility for the Tanzanian cotton & textiles programme, Gatsby's venture capital for agriculture initiatives, and the capacity-building of Gatsby-founded African institutions. He previously worked as a private sector strategy consultant, and has lived and worked in India, Ghana and Tanzania. He has a Masters in International Relations and a degree in History, both from Oxford.
Jane Kelly
Jane works across a number of Gatsby projects and is also responsible for Africa communications. She previously worked in a variety of marketing roles in the UK and Europe before moving to Zambia where she worked in the development and private sectors for eight years.
Abigail Brown
Abigail manages the tea programmes in Tanzania and Rwanda, and coordinates Gatsby’s sector development work in East Africa. She worked as an economic development consultant in China and Malawi before joining Gatsby in 2010. She has a Geography degree from Cambridge and a Masters in International Relations from Peking University and the London School of Economics.
Laurence Cockcroft
Laurence Cockcroft is a development economist who has worked closely with Gatsby on its Africa programme since 1985. He has been responsible for the development of collaborative programmes between research institutes in the UK and Africa, Gatsby’s Tanzanian cotton & textiles programme, and forestry initiatives in three East African states. He has been particularly involved in building the six local institutions founded by Gatsby across Africa, and is currently a board member of Kilimo and Tanzania Gatsby Trust. He is also a founder board member of Transparency International and was Chair of its UK chapter from 2000 to 2008.
Ademola (Demmy) Adesina
Demmy is the Senior Executive for Business Development and Corporate Strategy at AQUIFER LIMITED – an investment company supported by Gatsby. He also works for Gatsby on private sector development activities in Africa. Demmy previously worked for the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, where he assisted in managing the Foundation’s portfolio of programme-related investments. Earlier in his career he structured financial derivatives for JP Morgan’s investment bank.
David McNicoll
David conducts research relating to existing and potential programmes. He also helps produce reports, website content and other communications materials for both the Africa team and Gatsby as a whole. He studied English Literature at Durham University and has a journalism qualification.
Carole Bennett
Carole has been the Personal Assistant to the Gatsby Africa team for six years, coordinating travel, diary planning and grant management. She is also the PA to the Africa Executive of The Indigo Trust. She previously worked for the Chairman of a large property consultancy company.