Elizabeth Okullow

Focus Areas

AquaMnara is a social enterprise strengthening smallholder aquaculture systems in Kenya by improving access to quality inputs, e-voucher financing, and reliable market linkages. It enables women fish farmers and traders to increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, and build more stable, dignified livelihoods within the Lake Victoria fish value chain. The platform integrates data-informed water quality monitoring with practical financing and distribution systems, bridging fragmented services and strengthening the entire aquaculture ecosystem.

Okullow is the Co-Founder of AquaMnara and a social impact leader working at the intersection of aquaculture innovation, women’s economic empowerment, and food systems transformation. She has participated in the Mandela Washington Fellowship and the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Programme in Impact Entrepreneurship, and has been recognized as a Top Blue Economy Innovator by Briters & Katapult. Her work spans building field-based market infrastructure, designing financing models for smallholder farmers, and scaling community-centered aquaculture interventions in Western Kenya.

“As a visionary leader, I strive to build systems that expand access to opportunity while dismantling the barriers that keep women small, invisible, and economically constrained.”