Our
Leadership Team
The Africa Growth Lab was borne out of a desire to bring the best digital talent in Africa together to help our clients create change that matters, and we try to live up to that promise every day
Justin Anyona; CEO
Justin has built his career working on the vanguard of the digital transformation in Africa, first with Google helping create local content for the region and managing various blue-chip digital accounts then at WPP-Scangroup where he founded their digital media and analytics practice before heading back to Google to manage their agency and client relations for the region.
In addition to his excellent marketing tech, SEM, display and video advertising, and programmatic and social media advertising skills, he is also very excited about data, measurement, and analytics and how they can be used to solve complex business challenges
He’s also passionate about training, coaching, and mentoring the next generation of digital marketing experts in the region.
Richard Rio; Lead, design, UI, and UX
Richard is an experienced design leader managing full stack User experience teams (Interface designers, Experience designers, User researchers, and design engineers).
He has recently led high-performing design teams in the FinTech space working on frictionless payment experiences, and ensuring fast and reliable payments.
His primary focus is on empowering teams to do their best work while actively contributing to strategy, quality & excellence through collaboration with leaders in engineering and product development.
Richard has led the design and delivered on key UX projects in companies such as Booking.com in the Netherlands and is one of the members of the Google Sub-Saharan UX community
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Thomas Schoemaecker; Lead, Publishing and
Performance Marketing
Thomas is an advertising technology consultant with over 15 years of experience in the digital space, 10 of them in Africa. He is the current Global Director of Technical Solutions at Smartly.io, the largest Facebook Marketing partner in the world.
He has recently completed his executive MBA with Quantic.edu and regularly consults for some of the fastest-growing digital-native companies such as Spotify, Uber, Airbnb, and Zalando to support them in the areas of user acquisition and marketing automation.
He is a Performance Marketing Specialist in Search, Programmatic and Social - having worked at Google and Facebook.
He has consulted on DFP, Programmatic Ads, Yield optimization, and run ROI positive campaigns for Publishers and Classified Sites such as Gumtree, OLX, Le Figaro, and Les Echos.
Mavin Waganda; Strategy Lead
Mavin is a marketing practitioner, brand curator, storyteller, and communication strategist with over 10 years of experience leading marketing and digital strategy for leading brands in Africa, including Sportpesa where he was the head of digital, and Betsafe where he was the CMO. He’s also worked as a senior media director at WPP and the head of marketing at Text Book Centre.
He is well-honed in setting up marketing and analytics for businesses from scratch, increasing their awareness and visibility, performing marketing, and driving profitability through marketing.
He’s a strong believer, leader, and achiever in developing ideas, resources, and execution plans that work for business and the brand, through insights and interpersonal relationships.
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