Astrid (Kühne) Benker

Co-Founder & Project Director

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Zürich, Switzerland

Experience

Jan 2019 - Dec 2020
2 years
Kenya

Co-Founder & Project Director

UTU Food4Good

  • Responsible for successful series A and B equity financing which secured USD 11 Mil
  • Established governance, HR, finance and operations structures and policies
  • Expanded, trained and led team from 2 to 10 full-time staff members
  • Managed set up of first of its kind test kitchen in Africa
  • Managed development of 3 new recipes to be launched in East Africa
Jan 2016 - Present
10 years 1 month
Germany

Co-Founder & Project Manager

Bradora.com

  • Received invitation to take part at "Die Höhle der Löwen" to pitch business idea to venture capitalists
  • Assessed global market and its drivers – derived top-line potential and market needs
  • Created marketing material for stakeholders and potential business partners
  • Managed external communication including set up of website
Jan 2014 - Dec 2015
2 years
Tanzania, United Republic of

Co-Founder

Financial Access Solution

  • Used human-centred design approach to develop an innovative cash-free, branch-free, paper-free micro-finance model to promote financial inclusion of waste collectors
  • Set up loyalty program that increased plastic waste collections from pilot group by 35%
  • Conducted extensive research of bottle collectors which became basis for the creation of collection app
  • Conducted interviews with bottle collectors and leadership team of recycling company to understand pain points and user experience of new collection app
  • Assessed end-to-end customer and user journey and mapped key pain points for bottle collectors
Jan 2010 - Present
16 years 1 month
Kenya

Co-Founder & Director

School4Life.org

  • Fundraised over USD 2,5 Mil, with 100% of funds reaching the projects
  • Turned mud hut for 200 orphans and 7 untrained teachers into permanent kindergarten, primary and secondary school, greenhouse and kitchen for 800 orphans and 100 trained full-time staff members with fixed monthly overheads of USD 10 k
  • Set up first school for 30 disabled children in the area
  • Set up 2 orphanages for 60 needy children with permanent care
  • Set up leavers program to support 100+ graduates with university and college fees
  • Distributed over 3,5 Mil free school lunches
  • Leading volunteer team consisting of 25 core team members in Europe and Kenya
  • Managed over 250 international volunteers onsite

Summary

As an all-rounded Senior Strategy Consultant, certified in Change (Prosci), Project Management (GPM) and Agile (Scrum), I help leaders and organizations to embrace change, creating high performance teams and delivering long-term success. I have worked as a Manager at a top-tier consulting company for FTSE100 multi-nationals on complex, international and multi-cultural projects across various industries, business functions and countries.

Skills

  • Change Management (Stakeholder Management, Change Impact Analysis, Change Strategies, Change And Communication Plans, Corporate Communications (Internal And External), Resistance, Conflict And Crisis Management, Culture Change, Change Kpis)
  • Training And Development (Training Needs Analysis And Plans, Train-the-trainer Concepts, Designing And Delivering Training Programs, Leadership And Team Development, Coaching, Team Building, Performance Development, Moderating Workshops)
  • Project Management (Agile Methodologies, Risk And Issue Management, Timeline And Resource Planning, Project Lifecycle Management)

Languages

German
Native
Portuguese
Native
English
Advanced
Spanish
Advanced
French
Advanced
...and 1 more

Education

Oct 2008 - Jun 2010

Leuphana University of Lüneburg

PhD, Intercultural Teams - New Strategies on Effective Global Collaboration · Lüneburg, Germany · magna cum laude

Oct 2005 - Jun 2008

University of Hildesheim & University of Coventry

Bachelor of Arts · International Communication and Translation · Coventry, United Kingdom

Oct 2003 - Jun 2008

Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Diploma, Masters · Organizational Behaviour, Technology Management & Decision Modelling · Lüneburg, Germany

Certifications & licenses

Certified Project Manager

International Project Management Association

Certified Problem Solver And Change Manager

GAQM

Certified Professional Scrum Master TM I

Scrum.org

Certified Prosci Change Manager

Prosci

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