Anne Kitelesi: Kenyan Woman Who Rose from House Help to Founder of Zero Waste Kenya

Anne Kitelesi is a Kenyan sustainability expert and the founder of Zero Waste Kenya Organization.

She is a finance expert and social impact woman whose journey from working as a house help for nine years to becoming the founder of Zero Waste Kenya Organization shows resilience, discipline, and purpose-driven leadership.

Anne Kitelesi’s Early Life and Education

Anne Kitelesi began her education at Shibuye Girls Primary School, now St. Agnes, where she scored 378 marks in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

Due to financial setbacks, she worked as a housekeeper for 9 years, an experience that shaped her work ethic.

Through the support of her employer, she joined Kahawa Garrison Secondary School and later transferred to Drumvale Secondary School.

Kitelesi scored a B+ (73 points) in the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. She emerged as the best girl in Njiru District, an achievement that earned her a place in the Equity Leaders Program (ELP) as a paid intern.

Anne later joined Kibabii University in 2014 to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Energy and Biofuels Technology.

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At Kibabii University, she paid her university fees entirely using her internship earnings, without loans or external sponsorship.

In 2018, she graduated with a Second-Class Upper Division.

Anne later enrolled at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE Executive Education) in 2021, where she completed an Executive Training Certificate in Sustainable Finance and Green Bonds in October 2022.

Career at Equity and Sustainability Leadership

Immediately after graduating from Kibabii University, Anne was employed at the Equity Group Foundation, where she began her career as Sustainability Strategy and Solutions Officer.

Her role at Equity was to develop strategies to enhance the embedding of sustainability across Equity clients’ and suppliers’ operations. She later managed the Equity Group Sustainability Solutions Pillar, overseeing the growth of a KSh 24 billion climate finance portfolio, which earned international recognition from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Anne played a key role in transforming Equity’s sustainability agenda, helping to drive the 35 million tree-growing initiative and embed climate action into the bank’s operations.

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Currently, Anne is working with Lybra Consulting as a Sustainability consultant, a position she has held since 2024. Her role is to support clients in developing sustainability strategies and solutions, implementing them, building capacity, and reporting using global disclosure frameworks such as IFRS S1 and S2, IR, and GRI. I lead the development of carbon credit projects and climate risk management.

Founder of Zero Waste Kenya and ESG Consultancy Work

Beyond corporate leadership, Anne Kitelesi is the Founder of Zero Waste Kenya Organization, a full-time initiative she launched in August 2024.

Through the organization, she leads the development of training materials and technology-driven solutions for sustainable waste management and mobilizes impact investors interested in social and environmental returns.

Within its first week, Zero Waste Kenya attracted 50 volunteers who are now grassroots agents of change across the country.

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