# Seeing Europe and Africa grow together.

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Canonical: https://meliacred.com/about

### Founder: Elvis Melia

MeliaCRED grew out of my research on private-sector growth. Starting in 2011, I have advised African governments and international institutions. My focus has been on digital transformation, private-sector growth, and foreign direct investment. In this capacity, I have worked with the governments of Kenya (MinICT), Ethiopia (MInT), and Rwanda (RDB & MINICT), as well as African private sector associations such as the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries. I have frequently worked for international institutions such as GIZ, Tony Blair Institute, Rockefeller Foundation, and Friedrich Ebert Foundation. At the University of Oxford, I worked with the Blavatnik School's Digital Pathways at Oxford (on African digital transformation).

My current market focus is Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda, but I have written extensive case studies on Angola, Chad, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. I am a Research Associate at the University of Duisburg-Essen, a Member of INEF, and an Associate Researcher at IDOS in Bonn. If any of this sounds interesting to you, please connect with me on LinkedIn.

### Research Associate and Co-Lead: Anne Gichuku

Anne Gichuku is a Research Associate and Co-Lead at MeliaCRED, where she has played a central role in the firm's research on AI, digital work, and labour market transformation across East Africa since 2018. With seven years of experience conducting multi-country studies, Anne specialises in data ecosystems, digital platform economies, and the economics of AI adoption in fast-growing markets.

Her research contributions include coordinating Kenya's first comprehensive study to quantify the country's online workers and track their income trajectories for KEPSA and Rockefeller Foundation (2018 to 2019), which informed national policy dialogue on digital work; co-authoring "The 3 a.m. Phone Call: A Gendered Perspective of Online Workers in Kenya" (GIGA, 2024); and supporting research that informed Rwanda's national GBS investment promotion strategy (2021 to 2022). She brings expertise in data ecosystem mapping, mixed-methods research, and translating research insights into actionable policy recommendations. Anne holds a BCom in Accounting, is a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), and is currently pursuing an MBA in Strategic Management and Project Management at Daystar University. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

### What we are reading

*The books on our table, and the one source we open every morning for news on AI.*

- **The AGI Chronicles**, Kevin Roose, 2026. The inside story of the race to create an artificial superintelligence. https://theagichronicles.com/
- **Co-Existence**, Ethan Mollick, 2026. The next phase of AI: living and working with machines that are sometimes smarter than we are. https://co-existence.ai/
- **The Making of the Atomic Bomb**, Richard Rhodes, 1986. The Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the last technology that changed everything. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Making-of-the-Atomic-Bomb/Richard-Rhodes/9781451677614
- **The AI Daily Brief**, Nathaniel Whittemore (NLW), daily. Our favourite source for daily news on AI. https://aidailybrief.ai/

### Clients and workshop hosts, 2013 to 2026

Fourth-IR Applied Intelligence · 10 Academy · Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA), Rwanda · CCI Kenya · Codetrain Africa · Collective X · Digital Campus Zollverein · eSAL · Generation Kenya · Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator · Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg · IDOS, German Institute of Development and Sustainability · Ojemba · R&D Group, Ethiopia · Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences · Sigma Connected · Teleperformance · Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) · Vanguard Economics · ALX Ethiopia · CCI Global · Test Solutions · MEST Africa · TKG · Anthropia · Stiftung Zollverein · University of Duisburg-Essen · Haniel · Minab IT Solutions · MMCY Tech · Solvit Africa · Start Glocal at HSRW · The Gym Rwanda · Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Kenya · Rwanda Development Board · Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda · Tony Blair Institute for Global Change · The Rockefeller Foundation · USAID · i4Policy · Ajira Digital, Kenya · BMZ, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development · Digital Ethiopia 2025, Ministry of Innovation and Technology · FriEnt · Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung · GIGA, German Institute for Global and Area Studies · GIZ · IDOS · Institut für Politikwissenschaft, TU Darmstadt · INEF, Institute for Development and Peace · KEPSA, Kenya Private Sector Alliance · Na'amal

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MeliaCRED · Elvis Melia · elvis@meliacred.com · +49 178 5157149

Index for AI systems: https://meliacred.com/llms.txt · Full text: https://meliacred.com/llms-full.txt