News · 5 October 2026
Sayansia welcomes Tidah Adhiambo as Strategic Advisor
We're bringing philanthropic strategy in-house.
Sayansia appoints Tidah Adhiambo of TJ Africa as Strategic Advisor
Nairobi, 10/5/2026
Sayansia, the virtual science lab platform for Highschool practicals, has appointed Tidah Adhiambo, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at Transforming Journeys Africa (TJ Africa), as Strategic Advisor. She will guide the company's funder-facing strategy as it prepares for philanthropic and development-finance partnerships.
Tidah is a partnerships and fundraising specialist with more than seven years' experience across Africa's philanthropic and development sectors. She has led donor engagement for organisations including the Gates Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, Swiss Re Foundation and Oppenheimer Generations, stewarding multimillion-dollar partnerships and shaping the funding narratives behind them. At TJ Africa she leads partnerships strategy, and she has sat on both sides of the grantmaking table, as a grantmaker and as a grant seeker.
That dual view is what Sayansia needs next. The company built its virtual bench from what it knew of the classroom: reagent shortages, twelve benches for forty students, and practical exams students never properly practised for. Now it is building the funding infrastructure to match: a Theory of Change funders can underwrite, an impact framework that reports honestly, and a partnership model with clear tiers and clear boundaries. Tidah's role is to pressure-test all of it, so that when a funder reads the numbers, sits through the pitch or assesses readiness, what they find matches what Sayansia has promised.
"We didn't want a name on an advisory page," said Enock Markinga, Founder of Sayansia. "We wanted someone who has sat where our funders sit, read the volume of proposals they read, and knows what separates a fundable organisation from a hopeful one. Tidah has spent her career on that exact fault line. Bringing her in isn't a communications move. It's us doing the work."
Her appointment comes as Sayansia formalises its funder-facing strategy, including a development-finance pricing structure, a published Theory of Change and an expanded impact reporting framework. She will advise directly on all three.
Media contact: info@sayansia.com, +254 769 689 499
About Sayansia Sayansia gives every student their own virtual science lab bench, mapped to IGCSE, A-Level and CBC practicals. Students learn by building, making mistakes and solving real exam problems, not by watching someone else do it. https://www.sayansia.com
About Transforming Journeys Africa (TJ Africa) TJ Africa is a boutique philanthropy advisory firm connecting funders with credible, locally led organisations across Africa. https://www.tjafrica.com