Michael Mwaniki Njogu

Mike lives with his wife Ann and children Steve (6) and Laure (1) in Njoro, Kenya. Mike and Ann sell the Maasai products that are for sale on this site, which are made by their family. Mike is a big Arsenal fan and his favorite players are Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Adebayor, although Keith has sent him an AFC Wimbledon shirt in an effort to convert him to a Dons fan.

Keith McGuinness

Keith developed an interest in Fair Trade through studying for an MBA and fortunately came across Alison and AVIF while he was looking for voluntary work. Born and raised in Ireland, he now lives in London and currently work in sales and marketing for AFC Wimbledon (see www.afcwimbledon.co.uk)

Alison Lowndes

Having worked in internet-based environments for the past 8 years forming a virtually-administrated charity was nothing out of the ordinary. In 2002, she established a 65-teacher international summer school in NE China, living there for 8 months with her 2 young children.  On returning to the UK in 2003 she spent some time working in internet security before deciding to go back to school, studying Astrophysics. With friends in Kenya, she realised the potential for summer schools there but knowing the economic situation, volunteer teachers were the only option.  "I decided to make AVIF a charity rather than a company as people are always more willing to offer time to a non-profit organisation". In March 2006 AVIF was born, the first volunteer placement ran over a 5 week period summer 2006.