PARTNERS
ANI Partners is an independent management company that specializes in progressive and innovative conservation management of protected areas at a landscape level. Its core ethos relies upon the focus on scale and the utilization of specialists within their fields to create operational efficiencies. The guiding philosophy is one that transcends boundaries recognizing the ecological and social interdependence of the landscape as a whole to develop high level ecosystem-based conservation.
Over the last 20 years the Laikipia District of Kenya, despite its diverse land use and formally unprotected status, has played host to some of the most progressive and innovative conservation development advances in Kenya – and indeed on the African continent. However, management dynamics across this landscape are highly fragmented with management resources, finances, activities and intellectual property being ‘contained’ within individual property boundaries, limiting meaningful wider collaboration. This is creating significant value leakage: compromised economic efficiency and resilience, inability to manage conservation at scale and significant unleveraged intellectual capital inhibit leadership in a sector and a country that need it now more than ever.
ANI Partners is seeking to address this in Kenya, starting with with the management of Lolldagia conservancy – acres of pristine habitat in central Laikipia.
OUR PILLARS
Conservation Management
We engage in direct front line conservation management, including all aspects of security, in accordance with national strategy, and liaise with relevant state authorities. We are dedicated to the application of best scientific practice and monitoring with respect to rangeland and ecosystem management.
Community Outreach
Infrastructure and Logistics
Creating the enabling conditions to support the delivery of the above two pillars, e.g. road infrastructure maintenance, water reticulation infrastructure and maintenance, fencing management, vehicle and plant management and maintenance.
Administration, Compliance, and Finance
The provision of specialized conservation administrative services including Financial management, Compliance, government engagement, Human Resources, and fundraising and grant management.
Enterprise and Business Planning Coordination
Help coordinate the planning and execution of enterprises so that it remains aligned with the conservation activities on each property.
DIRECTORS
MICHAEL DYER
Director
Michael Dyer born in Laikipia. In 2013 he successfully introduced a founder population of black rhino onto Borana Conservancy making available additional habitat for the thriving population on neighbouring Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. The two Conservancies now work collaboratively with their endangered species program. Michael played an instrumental role in developing the award winning Il N’gwesi Lodge and Tassia Lodge both owned and operated by neighbouring communities, and has since continued his commitment to fostering the development of the wider ecosystem – championing the development of conservation and social development beyond Borana’s boundaries, with support to institutional development for Il’Ngwesi, Lekkuruki, ILMAMUSI and Ngare Ndare Forest Trust and the development of the Elephant Corridor that Links Mount Kenya and The Laikipia Ewaso eco-system in perpetuity. Formerly a member of the NRT council of elders, Michael is now heavily focused on the Laikipia Conservancies Association and working on developing a Range Lands Management and Leadership School to be housed on Mukurian.
SOPHIE KINYUA
Director
Born and raised in Nairobi, Sophie is a successful restaurateur with a broad background in event management, corporate administration and fundraising. Sophie’s business, The River Café, plays a significant role in the sustainability of Nairobi’s Karura Forest through a monthly commission paid to the joint management committee of Friends of Karura Forest and Kenya Forest Service. Sophie is also a member of the board of the Mt. Kenya Trust, a not-for-profit organization working to protect and conserve the forest, water, people and wildlife around Africa’s second highest mountain.Her tertiary and secondary education was completed in Kenya, following which Sophie obtained a degree in Environmental Refugee Studies and French from Lake Forest College, a liberal arts college in America’s mid-west. She has worked in various capacities in Washington, DC, Paris, France and Nairobi and for the last twenty years, has played a pivotal role in raising funds for conservation under the aegis of the Rhino Ark Charitable Trust.
KIP OLE POLOS
Director
Jonathan Kipkorir Ole Ntere (“Kip”) is the chairman of the Il Ngwesi Conservancy, a Maasai community conservancy in Laikipia that has been a pioneer in the community-based approach to nature conservation. He is the chairman of the Laikipia Conservancies association, a member-led organisation established in 2019 with the goal of bringing together conservancies in Laikipia to address common challenges and amplify individual impacts. Kip was born in Laikipia and went to Lokusero Primary School, Mwenja High School, and Utalli College. Kip has been a safari guide working for some of the leading safari lodges, including Sirikoi Lodge on Lewa, as well as working as an independent guide for many years.
ABDI SORA
Director
Abdi Sora has been General Manager of Borana Conservancy since 2013. Prior to this he was the Finance and Administration Manager. He has over 20 years experience in Finance and administration having worked in different sectors in different capacities over the years. He was instrumental in the formation of Laikipia County Revenue Board which is mandated to advise, collect and legislate on County Government Revenue and revenue streams where he served as a board member for three years. He is a member of the ACCA (Association of Certified Chartered Accountants), IOD (Institute of Directors Kenya) and the IHRM (Institute of Human Resources Kenya). He was Chairman of the Agricultural Employers Association 2017 to 2019 and Director of the Agricultural Employers Association, the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, Lakipia Conservancies Association Board and the Laikipia Wildlife Forum and serves in the Agricultural wages Council.
PHILLIP IHENACHO
Director
Whilst the bulk of his career has been in establishing businesses in the finance and infrastructure sectors in Africa, Phillip has become increasingly involved in conservation in East and West Africa. Phillip is the Deputy Chairman of the Africa Council of The Nature Conservancy, the leading US conservation organization. After attending Yale University and Harvard Law School, and working for McKinsey & Co, an international management consultancy, Phillip established a number of businesses primarily in the finance and infrastructure areas in West Africa. Phillip founded an Africa-focused investment banking firm in London, Afrinvest, which he ran for over 10 years before its successful sale in 2006. Since 2007, through Amaya Capital, a principal investment firm he co-founded, Phillip remains involved with active investing in infrastructure-related businesses in Africa. Born in Nigeria and raised in the highlands of Jos, Phillip has had a lifelong interest in nature conservation and love of the African wilderness.
