Mariama Dieng is an expert in business and development with fifteen years of professional experience that consist of managing gender-sensitive development programs covering several West African countries under donor funding. She has overseen regional agriculture and fisheries micro and small enterprise programs aiming to raise revenues and better market access through quality improvements. Consequently, she has developed a thorough knowledge of food safety issues and she is highly motivated to promote a culture of food safety among entrepreneurs, consumers, and decision-makers.

Mariama is an expert field agent, adept at networking based on common values. Prior to joining FES, she served as the West Africa Fisheries Policy (REPAO) Program Manager for ENDA Tiers Monde.  She also collaborated with the National Confederation of Employers of Senegal as Advisor in Business Development Services before her most recent position with the Japan International Cooperation Agency as the Program Officer for the agriculture and fisheries team and Country Officer for The Gambia. She holds a master’s degree in Development Studies and a Certificate of Continuing Education in Entrepreneurship and Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and a bachelor’s degree in Business and International Trade from the University Gaston Berger of Saint-Louis in Senegal.

Thoric Cederstrom is a champion of market-driven approaches to reducing hunger and malnutrition. He is experienced in designing, implementing, and evaluating programs that engage public, private, and civil-society institutions and key actors in building sustainable, commercially-viable, safe, and nutritious food systems. A recognized research analyst and program strategist, Thoric’s expertise includes developing cash-based interventions for rural livelihoods, conducting participatory food security assessments, designing stakeholder training and capacity building programs, and conducting anthropometric surveys. From his roots growing up on a family dairy farm in Missouri, Thoric went on to work extensively in Latin America, Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia. He holds degrees in Development Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Agricultural Economics, and Archaeology; and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and conversational in French.

Tawanda Muzhingi is a nutritionist, food scientist, and development expert based in Research Triangle Park area in North Carolina. Tawanda is an adjunct professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC and an Innovation Consultant with RTI, Durham, NC. He also worked in the CGIAR system with the International Potato Center (CIP) in Nairobi Kenya as a Senior Scientist and Flagship Leader in CGIAR Global Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Banana (RTB) and in his native country Zimbabwe with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Before joining CIP, Tawanda worked at the Jean Mayer United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Services (ARS) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition and M.S. in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and Bachelor of science degree in Nutrition from the University of Zimbabwe. His research interests are in commercialization pathways for nutrition, technology transfer, food processing, food safety, market insights, and capacity building. Tawanda is supporting Food Enterprise Solutions (FES) as a short-term Food Safety Consultant for the Feed the Future Business Drivers for Food Safety (BD4FS), USAID funded project.