Board of Directors
The members of the board of directors, some of whom have known and worked together over the last two decades, bring strong technical abilities in business, law, diplomacy and medicine; a track record of getting things done, and a commitment to overcome the challenges that face The Majority World.
Michael Fairbanks
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Michael Fairbanks is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Akagera Medicines. He focuses in the fields of economic development, business strategy, and biotechnology. He invested in treatments for cancer, acute injuries, and infectious diseases for nearly thirty years.
Mike was a U.S. Peace Corps teacher in Kisii, Kenya (1979-1981). He is a Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and was a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. He was an adjunct professor at Tufts and Georgetown Universities.
Mike worked with the President of the Inter-American Development Bank on his Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, the President of African Development Bank on his China in Africa strategy, and the President of the World Bank on his Comprehensive Development Framework. He co-led Sir John Templeton’s five-year project on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty. He worked in Colombia during “the Apertura,” El Salvador after the peace accord, Serbia after the Yugoslav wars, Rwanda since the genocide, Afghanistan during the war, and Haiti before and after the earthquake in 2010. He worked directly on multi-year engagements with presidents in Latin America (i.e., Gaviria, Fujimori, Sanchez de Losada, Cardoso), the Caribbean (Preval, Fernandes), Afghanistan (Karzai, Ghani) and Africa (Mandela, Nyerere, Kagame) on business strategy, export competitiveness and private sector development.
He co–authored Harvard Business School’s landmark book on business strategy in emerging markets: “Plowing the Sea, Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Advantage in Developing Nations,” with a Foreword by Professor Michael Porter, was a Washington Post best seller and named one of the top ten business books of the decade by Brazil’s leading business magazine, EXAME. He conceived and edited, “In the River They Swim: Essays from Around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty,” with a Foreword by Pastor Rick Warren. He conceived and edited the global best seller, “Culture Matters, How Values Shape Human Progress,” with Professor Samuel Huntington and noted thought leader, Larry Harrison at Harvard. Mike’s books have been translated into 14 languages including Korean, Estonian and Serbian. He has testified to the US Congress on post-conflict nation building, the effectiveness of foreign aid, and rebuilding Haiti. He has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Project Syndicate, The Hill, Fox News, Huffington Post, Christian Science Monitor, the New Times of Rwanda, Philanthropy Magazine, The Fletcher Forum at Tufts, MIT’s Innovations Journal, and The Harvard International Review.
Mike and his wife, the musical theater performer, podcaster, and Tony Award-winning producer, Marylee G. Fairbanks (https://www.stagespodcast.net), produced two award winning films about Africa, and are part of a small group of investors who brought the Tony-award winning musical, Kimberly Akimbo to Broadway in the fall of 2022. Marylee is co-producing the play, The Outsiders, which won the 2024 Best New Musical Tony Award. Marylee became a citizen of Rwanda in 2024.
Mike is a member for nearly two decades of President Kagame’s advisory council with among others, Joe Ritchie, Tony Blair, Pastor Rick Warren, and Professor Michael Porter. He was Chairman of the Board of the Akilah Institute for Women, the first women’s college in East Africa; and was a founding director of the Rwanda Biomedical Center, which oversees that nation’s healthcare system.
Mike grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania and studied biochemistry and philosophy at the University of Scranton, a Jesuit University where his father taught the Philosophy of Science and Ethics for 47 years, and where Mike was a student athlete, a trustee, and received a doctorate in humane letters in 2006 for his “accomplishments and devotion to social justice”. He studied African affairs and international finance at Columbia University in New York City. He began his career as an executive in the Africa division of Chase Manhattan/JP Morgan on Wall Street and then in Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, and Zambia.
Mike had setbacks, failures, and botches too. (Decorum and space available prevents us from listing them here.) He tells students and young entrepreneurs to gain a skillset and focus on one of the world’s biggest public problems (i.e., clean water, housing, wealth disparity, climate change, injustice, global healthcare equity); and then “fail fast, frequently, and originally” from a small private platform until you solve it.
Michael Fairbanks is a citizen of the United States of America; Éire, the Republic of Ireland (EU); and the Republic of Rwanda (AU and Commonwealth of Nations).
“The people of Akagera Medicines have beliefs that rise up from disparate cultures, insights that cross fields of science, and goals that transcend national borders.”
Ambassador Valentine Rugwabiza
Ambassador Valentine Rugwabiza
DIRECTOR Emerita, founding Director of Akagera Medicines, and former Rwanda representative to the United Nations
H.E. Ms. Valentine Rugwabiza was appointed Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations in New York in November 2016. Ms. Rugwabiza, who until her current appointment served as Minister for the East African Community since 2014, remains a member of Cabinet of the Government of Rwanda.
From 2013 to 2014, she was Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Development Board and Member of Cabinet. Between 2005 and 2013, Ms. Rugwabiza was Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Prior to that, she was the Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations Office in Geneva and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland.
Ms. Rugwabiza holds a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology, and a Master of Science degree from the National University of Zaire.
“This is going to take intellectual and financial resources from across the world. Our board members, scientists, executives and partners are from Canada, Rwanda, the USA, Russia, Germany, China, Ireland and India.”
Patrick Migambi MD
Dr. Patrick Migambi, MD
MD/MS, Division Manager of Tuberculosis, Rwanda Biomedical Center
Dr Patrick Migambi is an infectious disease expert with more than 17 years of experience at the interface of research, policy and patient needs. Since 2006, he has held senior positions of the healthcare delivery system in Rwanda. He presently works as the Division Manager of Tuberculosis and Other Respiratory Communicable Diseases within the Rwanda Biomedical Center. He joined the Tuberculosis Division in October 2010 as a coordinator of the national tuberculosis prevalence survey. Prior to this from 2006, he served as the director of Kibilizi district hospital, which has a population of 224,430, and 8 health centers. He holds an MSc degree in epidemiology and general medicine from the National University of Rwanda. He focusses on finding and treating the missing persons with TB, and improving the management of TB patients.
The first meeting, August 14, 2019 Marriott Hotel Kigali
Dr. Patrick Migambi, MD and Dr. Daryl Drummond, PhD dive into the science.
“Akagera Medicines is majority-owned by the people of Rwanda. We understand tuberculosis and its impact on societies because our neighbors and we suffer from it. We built our first laboratories in Boston and San Francisco to solve it. The next lab will be in Kigali.”
Donald Kaberuka, PhD
DONALD KABERUKA, PHD
DIRECTOR Emeritus, founding Director of Akagera Medicines, Board Chair, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF); Director of the Rockefeller FOUNDATION
Donald Kaberuka, a founding board member of Akagera Medicines, stepped away to lead the Global Fund, and remains an informal advisor to the board of directors of Akagera Medicines.
Dr. Kaberuka was the 7th President of the African Development Bank Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors (2005-2015) and Special Envoy, African Union Peace Fund. The African Development Bank is Africa’s premier development Finance Institution. During his tenure as President Dr. Kaberuka significantly bolstered the franchise value of the Bank. Under his leadership the Bank tripled its capital from USD 30 billion to USD 100 billion and doubled the portfolio to USD 12 billion per annum. Dr Kaberuka’s leadership was characterised by a "big push” on infrastructure which accounted for 60% of Bank activities, with total commitments of over USD 25 billion, in transport, energy, water, urban development and IT. Under his leadership the Bank led from the front on private sector and business development, with a focus on improving the investment climate and extending tailored support to business through a wide range of instruments. In ten years the Bank support to the private sector grew from USD 500 million to USD 2.8 billion per annum. He championed an inclusive growth agenda; promoting a strong link between security, development and environment, establishing a ring-fenced facility for conflict-affected countries. The African Development Bank played a major countercyclical role during the global financial crisis where the Bank, for the first time, became the largest lender to Africa providing up to USD 12 billion in liquidity, balance of payments, budget and other forms of support to help African countries weather the crisis. Dr. Kaberuka also put in place an Africa Natural Resource Center and the African Legal Support Facility to enable African countries to more effectively manage natural resource wealth. Prior to joining the African Development Bank, Dr Kaberuka was Finance Minister of Rwanda for eight years (1997-2005) leading the economic team within the Government of Rwanda. In that capacity he served as Governor for Rwanda for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Dr. Kaberuka is an alumnus of the University of Glasgow in Scotland and was Hauser Leader in Residence at Harvard Kennedy School. He currently serves on the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Centre for Global Development and is a Senior Adviser to the global Private Equity firm, TPG-Satya, promoting investment on the African Continent, also Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group. He is a member of several international panels on global finance and development issues. In 2020, Dr Kaberuka was appointed as a Special Envoy of the African Union on sustainable Financing for the Union and funding for Peace in Africa.
“I have often had to point out to our friends in the international community who, though well-meaning, had not fully internalized Africans’ commitment to our own development agenda.
Building an African-owned private sector solution to a large public challenge like tuberculosis is an example.”
Paul Farmer MD
Dr. Paul Farmer, MD (1959-2022)
Director Emeritus, Founding Director of Akagera Medicines, mD/PhD, University Professor, harvard Medical School
Paul was an inspiration for our company without which it would not exist. His untimely passing in early 2022 was devastating to the world and especially to the people of Haiti, Peru and Rwanda. Those of us who felt his passion and benefitted from his trusted global network and intellectual contributions (global health equity, accompaniment), regard his self-effacement, humor and character as the standards by which we should all live.
Dr. Paul Farmer, physician and anthropologist, is chief strategist and co-founder of Partners In Health, Kolokotrones University Professor and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He also serves as U.N. Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community-based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti. Dr. Farmer has written extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. His most recent books are In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, Reimagining Global Health: An Introduction, and To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer
RDF COMBAT training Facility, Rwanda, February 18, 2020
First Lady Madame Jeanette, Dr. Paul Farmer, President Paul Kagame, and Michael Fairbanks. Paul agreed to join the Akagera Medicines board that day.
“A narrow focus on cost-of-treatment per life-year-saved has constrained the global response to multi-drug resistant TB. The goal of Akagera Medicines is to use a different, validated technology to fight drug-resistant TB and lower the cost to patients — at the same time.”
Dr. Albrecht Conze
Dr. Albrecht Conze
AMBASSADOR (RET.), RECHTSANWALT (OF COUNSEL), DENTONS EUROPE LLP, BERLIN
Following forty years In the service of Germany, the European Union and the United Nations, Albrecht brings to Akagera Medicines a wealth of international experience and legal proficiency. He has spent most of this century in Africa and has acquired deep knowledge of development issues and the parameters of success and failure.
While, on the political side, his focus has been on stabilization, peace keeping and peace building, he is now, on the business side, assisting German and international companies with their investments in Africa, and advising African governments in infrastructure projects.
Albrecht has been Germany’s ambassador to Benin, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and, most recently, Uganda. He has held senior positions in two UN peacekeeping missions, in Kosovo and the DRC. In 2014 he was tasked by the European Union to set up and lead a capacity building mission, EUCAP Sahel Mali, for the reform of the security sector in war torn Mali. Previously, he served in China and Russia.
Educated at Freiburg, Heidelberg, Geneva and Cambridge, Albrecht holds a doctorate in International Law from Freiburg University. He spent an academic year at Harvard in 2011/2012 as a Fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, researching and writing about parameters for Africa’s political emancipation beyond aid.
Albrecht is passionate about Africa. His credo and mantra: not us for them, but they for themselves – with, possibly, us behind, to some extent and for a limited time.
Founding board member, ambassador Albrecht Conze and BioNTech cofounder,Dr. Özlem Türec in Kigali
Ambassador Conze invited by the Government of Rwanda to the BioNTech manufacturing inauguration, December 18, 2023.
“Tuberculosis continues to ravage Africa, China, Russia and India. It is one of our century’s least publicized scandals. Akagera Medicines, an innovative company driven by Rwandans, is investing and working with scientists from all over the world and across disciplines; it is determined to fight the greatest killer in human history.”
Eliane Ubalijoro, PhD
Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro, PhD
PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE, MCGILL UNIVERSITY & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SUSTAINABILITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE,MONTREAL
Éliane’s research targets innovation, gender and sustainable development for prosperity creation. She has taught for over the last decade and focused on facilitating leadership development.
She is the Director of Future Earth’s Canada Hub and a Research Professor at Concordia University in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment. She is a member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council and Presidential Advisory Council. Eliane is a member of the Impact Advisory Board of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet. She was a member of the Expert Consultation Group on the Post COVID-19 Implications on Collaborative Governance of Genomics Research, Innovation, and Genetic Diversity and of the African Development Bank’s Expert Global Community of Practice on COVID-19 Response Strategies in Africa.
She is a member of the Capitals Coalition Supervisory Board, Global Crop Diversity Trust Executive Board, the Board of Genome Canada and Digital Green and the Science for Africa Foundation Board. She is a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Special Policy Study on Post 2020: Global Biodiversity Conservation.
Prior to going back to Academia, she was a scientific director in a Montreal-based biotechnology company in charge of molecular diagnostic and bioinformatics discovery programs. Eliane is a co-editor of the 2021 book Building Resilient African Food Systems after COVID-19. Eliane is a member of the Advisory Board of ShEquity.
Rwandans meet at United Nations General assembly 2022 in NYC:
Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro (center) with Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire; Secretary General of the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo; and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Vincent Biruta, MD.
“Akagera Medicines aims to improve the livelihoods of mothers on the continent set to double in population by 2050. I am honored to be part of this initiative to alleviate the burden of TB and other infectious diseases that severely affect women in their reproductive years. ”
Philippe Watrin
Philippe Watrin
Chief Investment Officer of the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB)
Philippe heads the public institution mandated to administer social security in the country, which is as well the largest Rwandan investment fund.
Prior to joining RSSB, he used to work for the French sovereign wealth fund, Bpifrance, as a Deputy Head of the assets and liabilities management department, for Mazars and PwC in the Transaction Services and Financial Audit Departments.
He holds a Master of Science in Mathematical Finance and Strategy from Ecole Centrale de Marseille (France) and a Master of Science in Economic Research, Finance and Insurance from Aix-Marseille School of Economics.
“Akagera Medicines is an incredible venture in which talented individuals are dedicated to eradicate neglected diseases.
The company intends to have a tremendous impact on the socio-economic development of the African continent by addressing structural health issues, creating qualified employment opportunities and developing medicine production capacity.”