Meet the Team

Core Team

Matthew FarmerMatthew Farmer, Managing Director
Matthew leads the business and is responsible for its development and growth worldwide. He particularly enjoys working closely with clients and partners helping to make programmes effective and impactful. Matthew founded Emerging World in 2003 immediately after completing an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona. He has a B.Sc. in psychology from Cardiff University and is a trained Action Learning coach.
Contact Matthew


Colin WilliamsColin Williams OBE – Africa Director
Colin Williams manages our partnerships and operations within Africa. Colin has lived in Africa since 1974 and was awarded an OBE in 2002 “for his contribution to the fight against poverty in Africa”. His extensive network within Africa and first hand experience of designing, delivering, managing and supervising a range of programmes and initiatives enables our assignments to have maximum impact both in Africa and beyond.
Contact Colin


Ed Williams MBE - Coach Ed Williams
Ed Williams supports the introduction and implementation of Emerging World’ programmes into client companies. Ed is an experienced coach, people developer and senior executive and was awarded the MBE in 2000. He is passionate about the role of business in Society and the link between people and corporate responsibility – his experience across both learning and development and CSR ensures our programmes tick the right boxes for HR and CSR professionals alike.
Contact Ed


Christine Davies

Christine Davies – Learning and Development Specialist

Christine Davies supports the identification, selection and briefing of participants for Emerging World assignments. She then helps to match successful candidates with suitable partners, agrees objectives and outcomes, as well as providing coaching before, during and after the assignment. Christine is a founder member of Group Relations International, a not for profit organisation that works for a just world through group relations. She has a wealth of learning and development experience that spans the private, public and voluntary sectors.
Contact Christine


Kirsty FosterKirsty Foster – Assignment Manager
Kirsty Foster coaches and prepares new assignees for their experience. She also works with individuals during assignments to ensure both assignee and partner are gaining maximum benefit from the experience. Kirsty is also responsible for developing the best practice risk assessment procedures and health and safety frameworks to keep assignees safe whilst overseas. Kirsty’s considerable experiential learning experience has been gained not only in the UK, but also through her educational and environmental work with NGOs in Africa.
Contact Kirsty


Anita Bhasin - Client Services Director, North America Anita
Anita brings twenty years of international and organizational experience to her work, with both large corporate and non-profit customers. Anita’s specialisms include trans-cultural communication, facilitation, and learning design. Her passion is helping clients forge new ground through collaboration by optimizing the capability of people and organizations. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest. Anita holds a Masters degree in organization development and a MSc in marketing. She is also a senior certified Action Learning Coach.


Country Representatives

S. SaravananS. Saravanan - India
Saravanan is based in Hyderabad, India. He’s responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with our partner organisations in India. This work includes helping partners identify needs that can be supported through assignments and making sure they get maximum value from their experience with us. Saravanan experience lies in Hospital and Health Care Management. He has worked at the Aravind Eye Hospital and LV Prasad Eye Institute - both partner organisations of Emerging World.
Contact S. Saravanan



B.R ShamannaB.R. Shamanna - India
Sham is based in Hyderabad, India. He acts as the first point of contact for assignees when they arrive in India and acts as their “sounding board” whilst they’re in India. He also de-briefs the assignees, supporting their reflection and personal learning process and capturing achievements and areas for future development. Sham is a medical doctor and has worked with the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, as well as teaching at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Contact B.R Shamanna



Peter MandaPeter J Manda – Zambia
Peter is based in Zambia. He identifies suitable partners in the area, develops terms of reference for assignments and acts as the local contact point for individuals once they’re in Zambia. Peter is an expert in agribusiness development and has a particular interest in rural entrepreneurs.
Contact Peter


 

Eric NangEric Ngang – Cameroon
Eric is based in Cameroon. He looks after assignees once they’ve landed in the Country and makes sure they have the local information to help them get the most out of their assignment. Eric has a wealth of experience working for a number of NGOs in Cameroon, including VSO.
Contact Eric


 


Edward KakandeEdward Kakande - Uganda
Edward is based in Uganda. He manages relationships with partners and makes sure assignees make a big impact during their time in the country. Edward’s experience lies in human rights and social justice. Six years ago he set up the Action Aid International Country Programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo and contributed to the UN mandate review decisions in 2007.
Contact Edward


Advisors

Professor Chris Bones
Chris Bones is professor of Creativity and Leadership at Manchester Business School and Dean Emeritus of the Henley Business School where he led the merger of Henley Management College and the University of Reading, now one of Europe's leading institutions. Chris is an independent director of the UK's Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board, a Trustee of the Terrence Higgins Trust Chair of the Supervisory Group of AIESEC International and a regular media contributor on management and leadership topics. He has recently been voted in the top five most influential HR thinkers in the UK over the past five years.

Peter Davies
Peter Davies was awarded the OBE in 1995 for his work in establishing links between business and education under the DTI’s Enterprise Initiative. Former Managing Director of Business in the Community, he is currently the Sustainable Futures Commissioner for the Welsh Assembly Government and independent chair of the Climate Change Commission for Wales. In addition Peter coordinates The Prince of Wales’ Charities in Wales and is Professor of Practice at the University of Trinity St Davids.

Phil Radcliff
Phil is an Executive Fellow at Henley Business School and the course director for their leadership programme. He is also an independent consultant, specialising in organisational development, change programmes and coaching – recent clients include Aviva, BT, BBC, GSK and Reuters. Phil is a trustee of a charity providing mentoring in Young Offenders Institutes and also coaches leaders in the voluntary and educational sectors.

Shannon Banks
Shannon is a Senior HR Business Partner for Microsoft’s Western Europe region. As Microsoft’s global thought leader for action learning, she was responsible for Front Lines - their award-winning action learning experience, developed with Emerging World. Shannon is a Senior Action Learning Coach, certified through the World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL) and has contributed to a number of publications on the subject, such as Action Learning for Developing Leaders and Organizations (Marquardt et al 2009) and The Future of Action Learning (ADHR 2010).