The People Behind Tusome

Dr Bea Simpson founded Tusome Africa in 2017 from a simple belief: that every child deserves the chance to start school ready to learn.

Following her passion for early childhood education, Bea pursued her studies in early childhood development and foundational learning at the University of Cambridge, where she completed her PhD in Education.

She brings over a decade of experience working across research, policy and community programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, including leading early childhood and foundational learning work in Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, and across health, justice and public sector reform.

At Tusome Africa, she leads with a focus on what works in practice: community-owned solutions, local women as educators, and play-based learning that stays.

Aggie is Co-Founder of Tusome Africa, where she brings a deep commitment to making public services work for people.

A graduate of the University of Oxford, where she studied at the Blavatnik School of Government as a Felix and Blavatnik Scholar, Aggie's work is driven by a simple question: how can reform in places like ours truly serve children, women and communities?

She has over a decade of experience working alongside governments, development partners and communities on governance, public sector reform and education systems across Sub-Saharan Africa.

At Tusome Africa, she brings strategic thinking, a focus on people behind systems, and a belief that lasting change comes from local ownership, relationships and collective action.

Macey has been part of Tusome Africa since 2018, bringing with her a first-hand understanding of the challenges we are tackling.

Having previously worked in Uganda, she saw how many children start school without ever having had the chance to learn through play, stories and books — simply because affordable early learning is out of reach. That experience stayed with her.

Macey brings strong expertise in business planning, strategy and fundraising, alongside experience in market research, impact assessment and project management from her work across Southeast Asia.

At Tusome Africa, she helps shape our strategy, strengthen how we work, and ensure we can grow sustainably while staying rooted in the communities we serve.

Daniel is central to how we develop and plan our programmes at Tusome Africa.

He works with smallholder farmers in a way that builds lasting, mutual growth — offering markets for their produce at fair rates and building sustainable business models that are practical, disruptive and grounded in real benefits for all parties.

With over a decade in business development, inclusive markets and enterprise support, and as Managing Director of Rabboni Group Limited in Uganda, Daniel brings strategic planning, market linkages and a deep understanding of rural economies.

At Tusome Africa, he brings that lens to early learning — ensuring our community-based model is sustainable, locally rooted and designed to grow.

Ros is an experienced educator who believes teachers can weave magic into children's lives — especially for those who don't have the best start.

For over two decades she has worked to transform primary schools in the UK and internationally, including most recently in India with marginalised communities. As a former Head Teacher and now Lead Adviser for School Leadership at Education Development Trust, she specialises in improving teaching and learning and supporting school leaders.

She is passionate about early years, about helping children reconnect with the joy of learning, and about sharing what works so that excellent practice can be embedded and scaled for children who need it most.

Steve has been a Trustee of Tusome Africa since 2019, bringing over two decades of senior leadership from across the international arena.

He is an experienced strategist and consensus-builder, known for helping organisations become more effective, efficient and aligned to their purpose. His career spans major reform and leadership roles in the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the OECD and the education sector.

At Tusome Africa, Steve brings strategic planning, governance and organisational transformation — supporting a young charity to grow well, stay focused on children, and make the most of its resources to deliver lasting change in rural communities.

Elise brings multilingual and multicultural expertise to Tusome Africa, with a passion for ensuring every voice is heard.

A graduate with a background in communication and a skilled conference interpreter fluent in French, English, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi and Swahili, she has worked with mission-driven organisations across humanitarian, sustainable development and international business contexts — from the UN, AU and EU to INGOs and global events.

Elise is also the Founder-Director of EASE Agriculture in Uganda.

At Tusome Africa, she brings inclusive, mission-aligned communication, cross-cultural understanding and experience working across diverse communities — helping us bridge languages, cultures and perspectives to keep children at the centre.

Chris brings over 30 years of senior leadership from the world of global commodity trading, having led trading and risk teams across sugar, cocoa, coffee and metals for leading international houses.

He is known as a disciplined, consistent performer with deep experience in strategy, risk management, origination and finance — from managing large teams and complex markets to overseeing liquidity and governance at senior leadership level.

At Tusome Africa, Chris brings that commercial rigour and steady judgement to a young charity focused on early learning — helping ensure strong financial stewardship, thoughtful risk management and a clear strategy for sustainable growth.

Esther is a Human Capital practitioner who believes in translating vision into practical action that creates value for people.

With over 17 years at Stanbic Bank Uganda, where she is People & Culture Operations Manager, she has led work across learning and development, employee engagement, compensation and benefits, policy development and change management.

She is also a mentor for young women and a Board Member for two charities — Hands Extended and Tusome Africa.

At Tusome Africa, Esther brings deep people-management expertise, operational excellence and a commitment to building teams and systems that support staff, volunteers and communities to thrive.

Patrick brings a background in strategy, finance and technology to Tusome Africa, with experience spanning Africa, energy and enterprise software.

A graduate of the University of Oxford, he has led teams to scale a proof-of-concept into an enterprise-grade trading platform, and previously led the $7bn revenue planning process across 15 African countries for Vivo Energy (Shell licensee) and worked in strategy consulting.

At Tusome Africa, Patrick brings expertise in business growth, financial planning and software project management — helping us think clearly about systems, sustainability and how to build solutions that work at scale while staying grounded in the realities of the communities we serve.

Barbara brings a strong background in administration, operations and people management to Tusome Africa.

Conscientious and hardworking, she has built her career in recruitment and operations management, with experience spanning payroll, employment contracts, compliance and team coordination — currently as Operations Manager at Elite Healthcare.

With earlier experience in Uganda in administrative management and as a Revenue Officer, Barbara brings valuable insight into both UK and Ugandan contexts.

At Tusome Africa, she brings practical operational know-how, attention to detail and a steady, people-focused approach — helping ensure our day-to-day work is well organised and supports our mission to give every child a strong start in learning.