Water Life Systems Africa (Pty) LTD.

Peter Akari is a Ghana based International Development Professional with penchant towards Water Resources Development. Mr. Akari has over 30 years’ work experience in the conception, development and management of infrastructure and water resources schemes. 

His key competencies include:

• policy and strategy formulation, 
• institutional development, 
• project development and management. 

Akari has worked in national institutions (Ghana Water Company) and international organizations (World Bank, African Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development) where he has occupied senior positions and assumed lead responsibility for a variety of innovative infrastructure and water resources endeavors, some of which have resulted in paradigm shifts in the sectors. Akari has also provided short-term support to other international organizations - GIZ, and GAC (formally CIDA).

Notable projects Mr Akari has worked on include:

• The application of “integrated urban water management” principles and the development of sustainable urban water and sanitation business models, and multipurpose water resources development programs. 
• He has developed private-public-partnership business models for various infrastructure: irrigation, sanitation and water supply programs. 
• His experience has provided him with knowledge and appreciation of the complex social and economic cross-pressures associated with the pursuit of sustainable development activities, especially activities directed at the poor and the vulnerable. In this regard, Akari has developed knowledge products in various infrastructure and water resources subjects. 
• In view of his immense knowledge in national and international development he has frequently been invited as a conference speaker, trainer, facilitator at various international forums and inter-agency processes.

Akari has working experience in: Botswana, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, UK, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Thomas Yeung is a United Kingdom based internationally experienced project engineer and former consultant (PwC, Logica, and AT Kearney) with over twenty years’ experience of planning, building, and managing/contracting energy and utilities services for urban and rural communities. This has included: 

• Developing and delivering utility services (power, water, waste-water, district cooling, and solid waste management) for Masdar City (a zero-carbon city being developed in Abu Dhabi, UAE), and 
• Developing an integrated long-term plan for energy, water, and waste provision in new cities and urban communities in Saudi Arabia. 
• Developing, negotiating, and managing third-party contracts for power, water, and steam, most recently between the cogen plant (1500 MW electricity, 3800 MMBTU/hr steam, 770 m3/hr water) and adjacent mixed industrial/residential site at Fadhili in Saudi Arabia.
• Restructuring and rebuilding the power and water infrastructure on the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. This included developing new products and services (including a sewage network with centralized water treatment) and integrating operations across all the utilities. 

Before moving to Saudi Arabia to work for Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company, Mr. Yeung was UK Energy Manager at Vodafone and UK Energy Buyer for Virgin Media. At Vodafone I oversaw the roll-out of 500 smart meters across our sites, and at Virgin Media he negotiated a new electricity supply contract (500 GWh or approx. £40 m pa).  Yeung has also worked with Anglian and Severn Trent Water on biogas and sludge digesters for local power generation and CHP, and with Suez on a 300,000 ton pa EfW facility in Suffolk. 

In 2018 Yeung worked with WaterAid in London (as a pro bono volunteer) on water supply, wastewater treatment and sanitation (WASH) projects in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Pakistan; with Drax Haven Power (a consultancy project helping set up the new Energy Services team); and currently with WaterAid (pro bono) advising on WASH in the context of urban planning and development.

WLS president, Thomas Murphy, is participating in the inaugural cohort of the InnovACTION Post-COVID Readiness Program, a 4-month program for innovators and entrepreneurs in Africa to support the development, deployment and diffusion of home-grown innovations. It offers African entrepreneurs and innovators the much-needed support in accelerating their products/services, ameliorating existing technologies and redesigning business models for the post-COVID-19 period.

The program is offered by experienced, passionate and committed Global Network of Innovation Experts for Africa. The diverse backgrounds of instructors, mentors and coaches ensures that participants receive a multi-level and multi-disciplinary support for innovation development.