Kelly is the Vice President of Content Acquisitions at Ingram Content Group.

He joined Ingram 6 years ago from Bowker, where he was previously VP of Publisher Services. He has a deep knowledge of the publishing landscape, which he brings to help NABU navigate the publishing space. Kelly has long been involved in Rwanda and is involved in coffee production in the country. Kelly has a Bachelor of Science in scientific and technical writing from Northern Arizona University.

Kelly Gallagher, Chair

Kathryn Ritchie is the Founder and CEO of KR Strategy. KR Strategy is an international strategy execution ﬁrm.

Kathryn is the architect of the firm’s intellectual capital and international growth strategy. Kathryn was previously in management at Macquarie Bank, and then a niche-consulting firm, Corporate Vision. Her areas of expertise lie in igniting the potential of companies and enabling organizations to clarify and prioritize objectives and successfully execute their agreed strategy. Kathryn earned an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and holds an applied science bachelor’s degree in Speech Pathology.

Kathryn Ritchie

Damien has been a Partner at Goldman Sachs for almost 20 years, and is head of the FICC Execution Services division in New York. He and his wife Tina have been long time supporters of children’s charities, including the Global Fund for Children and War Child in the UK. Damien is Australian and has a bachelor’s of business from Bond University.

Damien Vanderwilt 

Deanna Lane is a management consultant and board director with a career spanning more than 20 years in senior executive roles advising on strategy, business development and fundraising, stakeholder engagement, business planning and alignment of purpose with key messaging.

She has deep sector experience with top tier law and accounting firms: global brands including KPMG, Reuters, Citibank, ASX, Time Warner, Thomson Legal & Regulatory, Park Hyatt Sydney, Conde Nast and CHANEL. Industry associations/ professional education institutes and universities: IFSA (now Financial Services Council), Australian Institute of Company Directors, Institute of Actuaries, Faculty of Economics & Business – University of Sydney, Australian Institute of Management, Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Human Genetics Society of Australasia. Arts organisations: Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Bell Shakespeare, Australian String Quartet.

Deanna Lane

Kweku Mandela is the grandson of the former South African President and anti-apartheid revolutionary, Nelson Mandela. He is the Founder of Based On A True Story, a leading TV and film production company, and a partner in Mandela Media. In 2009, he co-founded the non-profit Africa Rising with Ndaba Mandela. Africa Rising seeks to contribute to the development of the African continent, and to change the perception of Africa by the global community through publications, film, media and social interaction. Kweku attended the APA International Film School in Sydney, Australia. Kweku was born in Transkei, South Africa, and grew up in the US, only to return to his homeland in 1993.

Kweku Mandela

Isabel Sheinman is currently pursuing her MBA at New York University.

A co-creator and Board Member of NABU and for six years she served as the Director of Strategy and Development for the organization. Isabel is a co-Founder of the Roadmaps Festival, a humanitarian and cultural festival in NYC, and serves on the advisory councils of arts organizations No Longer Empty and BYkids. Her areas of expertise lie in strategic partnership development and community mobilization. Isabel holds a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Georgetown University.

Isabel Sheinman

Diana Cohn has worked on environmental, economic, and global justice issues as a teacher, media activist, and as an advisor and program director to grantmaking institutions with social change philanthropy missions. During her 13 year tenure as the Executive Director she was responsible for the Foundation’s Social Imagination/Arts and Social Change, Creativity and Education programs and for oversight of its Corporate Accountability; Dignity, Freedom & Solidarity; Food & Democracy; and Renewal & Resilience Programs. She was an active member of Grantmakers in the Arts and Grantmakers in Education as well as Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. She serves on the Advisory Committee for Voice of Witness, and previously served on the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Visual Understandings in Education, and the Food Craft Institute Board of Directors.

Diana is a Certified Co-Active coach and works with non-profit leaders and cultural creatives. Diana is also an award-winning children’s book author. Her books include, Si Se Puede! Yes We Can!, Mr. Goethe’s Garden, The Bee Tree, and Crane Boy. Her first book, Dream Carver was adapted into a bilingual musical puppet show produced by the LA based company, Swazzle.

Diana Cohn

Sashi joins us with over 20 years of global institutional financial services experience from Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch in New York and San Francisco. She recently held global positions running sales, account management and client strategy teams with Fintech firm Symphony in New York and London. And most recently built and led the institutional global account management team at Digital Asset exchange, Coinbase.

Sashi recently founded a fintech and blockchain consulting and advisory firm, 

 She is focused on bringing her expertise and GTM planning knowledge to Fintech as a broad ecosystem to bridge market opportunities in Blockchain, Web3, Digital Assets and Finserv Technology globally. She is passionate about inspiring culture, people and developing transformative strategies and solutions for companies.

She has a dual BS/BA degree in Economics and Business Management from S.U.N.Y Stony Brook with Magna Cum Laude honors, and has completed the Oxford Blockchain Strategy as well as Harvard Business School Disruptive Technology Programs.

 for Excellence in Fintech and has MC'd the flagship Symphony Innovate conference in NYC. She is a board member and advisor 

, promoting children’s literacy around the world for underserved markets, and serves as an advisor to 

 at Nova University in Portugal, ambassador to 

, focusing on Data and AI solutions for capital markets, advisor to 

, alongside bespoke global fintech, capital markets technology and blockchain projects. She continues to balance her professional time with mentoring talented professionals and via her passion for dance, where she distinctly held a 2-year position with the NBA, dancing for the Golden State Warriors.

Sashi Dias Valtz

Taylor brings a wealth of leadership and tech industry expertise to the NABU. With a background in computer science from Princeton University and experience at Facebook, Fidelity Investments, and J.P. Morgan, Taylor's journey from intern to board member reflects her dedication to NABU's mission. Her passion for tech-enabled solutions to global challenges was sparked during her internships with NABU, where she supported fundraising efforts and introduced e-library products to schools in Haiti. Now, as an investment professional at General Atlantic, Taylor is committed to shaping NABU's future and bridging the digital divide to bring literacy to those who need it most. 

Taylor Jean-Jacques

Accelerating Literacy Through Access to Mother Tongue Books

When children can read in their local language first, they grow in confidence, and literacy levels shoot up. By offering training for writers and illustrators, we create original local language books that support children in learning how to read. Nabu.org is our free reading app that distributes our children’s books to millions of readers globally. To accelerate the mission, we develop reading programs in underserved communities in which the children learn to read on our reading app by reading our NABU children's books.

The NABU app is available anywhere in the world. If you have access to a smartphone or tablet device, you can download our app from the 

How do I get access to the NABU App?

The NABU app is, and always will be, open and free for anyone to access. 

Are there any costs for accessing the NABU App?

Yes! The NABU app is optimized for low bandwidth environments. If you are reading from our mobile app, the books you download while you are connected to the internet become available in your My Books section when you are offline, and you can read as often as you'd like.

My area doesn’t have Internet. Can I use the NABU App?

NABU does not provide or sell hardware. However, as long as you have an smartphone device or tablet, you can access the app. In some countries, we partner with device manufacturers who sell hardware to our users at low cost.  Contact us for more information.

Do you sell devices?

We are adding new titles and languages all the time! Our growing digital collection currently has high-quality books in English, French, Haitian Creole, Kinyarwanda, Swahili, Romanian, Ukrainian, Pashto, Dari, Tagalog, and Lingala. We will be adding new languages to our programs as we continue to scale.

What languages are available on the NABU App?

Currently, we have over 2,000 books available for enjoyment on the app. Our collection is always growing as we create and acquire new content.

How many books are available on the NABU App?

Generally, no. Through our publishing network of local writers and illustrators we create original high-quality levelled and decodable readers that are curated to local needs. We do translate some of the best titles from local authors into English for wider enjoyment.

Does NABU translate books?

Yes! You can donate your digital content to the network and make it accessible to readers in any one or all countries, by assigning us a license to distribute your work. We accept high-quality content for all ages, and you can send us digital files in virtually any format. Contact us to donate your content.

Can I donate my books to NABU?

Yes! We are currently accepting applications for writer workshops in Kinyarwanda, Swahili, and other languages on our roadmap. If you are an organization with a venue, access to 10-20 windows laptops, ability to gather to 20+ participants (they do not have to be trained writers) and a small budget to cover hard costs, please reach out to us.

Can I run a writer workshop in my community?

Together, we will eradicate illiteracy by 2030.

We are a passionate team and community who believe that access to literacy is a foundational right. 


A child needs access to 160 mother tongue reading books at the early grades. We train local artists to publish high quality books in mother tongue languages.


Content is useless without distribution. We have developed the NABU multilingual kids book app, the best reading app for low bandwidth environments, to provide free access to books.


Literacy requires children to be actively reading everyday. We link reading behavior to in-app reward, and invest in local reading programs.

Form 990

Annual Report

Isabel leads NABU as the Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. Isabel Co-Created the organization in 2013 as a university student with a passion for social entrepreneurship and a firm belief in technology as a tool for change. Isabel holds a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Georgetown University and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.

Camille is a passionate, seasoned, strategic operator with a wealth of experience. She was the Government Relations, Policy & Compliance Lead for One Acre Fund, where she led efforts in Burundi to scale the customer base from 100K to 1M. Most recently, she was the Global Head of Operations, Business Development & Partnerships for the fin tech startup SPEKTRA, a developer of financial services/banking app targeting markets in Africa. Camille was the Founder and CEO of Touch Haiti, a non profit program that trained and empowered young filmmakers and graphic artists to work in e-commerce creative for agencies. She is also a native french speaker, fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Camille Park

Taniya works with NABU’s teams across New York, Africa and Haiti to develop strategies and partnerships that ensure efficiency and sustainability as the organization scales. Taniya is an Australian Lawyer, and worked in international refugee litigation before joining the founding team in 2015. Taniya holds a Masters Degree in International Law and Development from the University of Melbourne.

Taniya Benedict

Tanyella co-founded NABU in 2013, soon after completing her studies at Cambridge University in England. She was formerly Executive Director at Artists for Peace and Justice, and worked at the Campaign for Female Education. She was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2017, and is a recipient of the esteemed Echoing Green Fellowship.

Tanyella Allison

Michael is an artist, practicing in the fields of design and architecture. Michael brings an array of eclectic skills and experience as NABU’s Creative Director, building the organization’s visual and artistic identity. He joined Nabu in early 2019, after working as a designer and architect for Ai Weiwei.

Michael Ross

An accomplished social entrepreneur and business school graduate, Amos drives the growth and engagement of our readership. Leading the team in Rwanda, Amos is developing a model to scale to other countries in the East and Central African region. Before joining the NABU team in 2018, Amos co-founded and managed a professional counselling service in Kigali.

Amos Furaha

Judith Paredes is a results-driven Learning Designer with extensive experience leading teams in the planning, development, and implementation of learning projects. At NABU, she uses her expertise in education and early literacy to ensure seamless alignment between storybooks and global learning standards, as well as the user experience and learning sciences that describe how children learn most effectively. Judith has also leveraged her deep understanding of pedagogical best practices to develop and lead professional development programs for educators within our markets. Prior to joining NABU, Judith spent 10 years in classrooms across primary grades as an educator for children acquiring English as a second language and as a content developer for a bilingual ed-tech platform. Judith holds a Master's Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from CUNY City College of New York.

Judith Paredes

Jessica is responsible for all activities related to the procurement of funds for NABU organisation. She is the primary grant writer and manages donor and partner relations. Previously she worked as a freelance grant writer for non-profits in Africa and Latin American focusing on refugee and migrant rights, period poverty and conservation. Jessica strives to make the world a better place and has dedicated her personal and professional career to sustaining the efforts of non-profits globally.

Jessica Laing

David joined NABU as the Financial Controller in 2023. David is a CPA with 15+ years of experience in the Accounting Field with extensive experience in several leadership positions in the non-profit accounting sector. He graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor’s in Accounting. He is focused on ways to improve efficiencies and streamline processes. He is also particularly interested in the intersection of finance and technology. Influenced by numerous teachers in his family, he is very passionate about education and the power of literacy

David Acree

Françoise is driven by the prospect of bringing books to millions of Haitian children. Trained in Library Sciences at Columbia University, she has been a champion of reading in Haiti and the Caribbean region. Before joining NABU in 2014, she was the Director of the Haitian National Library for thirty years.

Françoise Thybulle

Philippe oversees partnerships and acquisitions for our programs. Before joining NABU, Philippe worked as the Admissions and Communications Assistant at Kepler as well as the District Manager at Babylon Health Rwanda. Philippe holds a Bachelor of Arts Management with a concentration in Logistics and Operations from Southern New Hampshire University.

Philippe Nkwakuzi

Beryl is a communication strategist with over seven years’ experience in the media industry. She is a content developer and writer with strong knowledge of the local, regional, and international media landscape. She has written numerous articles focusing on education, youth, and health matters in the East African region. Beryl holds a BA in Communication from Daystar University. She is pursuing her Masters at the Aga Khan University GSMC.

Beryl Oywer

Cristina Istrate is an experienced manager with more than 20 years of experience across a broad range of marketing and communication functions and diverse industry segment. Solution-oriented, resourceful and creative person, she strongly believes that education is the base for community development and advocates for continuous learning.

Cristina Istrate

Mauro is an experienced digital marketer, responsible for the strategic growth and partnerships of NABU Philippines. Prior to that, he successfully scaled a local video production company’s business as a General Manager, and worked with global brands such as NBA, Unilever, Discovery Network, Nestle and Globe.

Mauro Daez

Olushola is an experienced programs management, product, brand and growth marketing professional with years of experience incubating, managing and scaling some of Africa’s most ambitious youth focused projects. He has worked with Google Africa on the Google Digital Skills and Grow With Google programs, WhatsApp Business & Pearl Consulting team on localizing and translating WhatsApp training content across different African markets. He is passionate about people, Africa, education and the potentials of the internet as a leap frog for the African youth.

Olushola Aromokun

Monica Grecu

Kate Wanjira has a rich background in content development and project management. Holding a Bachelor's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Africa Nazarene University, she guides a global community of creatives at NABU, ensuring culturally resonant editorial content. Her previous roles include working as a content manager in the hospitality and marketing industry. Her passion for writing began in school, where she distinguished herself with her exceptional storytelling abilities. An avid reader and storyteller, Kate thrives in developing engaging content and is a worthy challenger at all board games.

Kate Wanjira

Marina is NABU’s Bookkeeper, and also supports the team with general office management and events. Marina believes in a world where all children can read. She joined the Nabu team in 2017 after several years working in the corporate book-keeping sector.

Marina Mihajlova

Ajibola Olayiwola

Dipankar Raj

Cuthbert Ayo Onikute has extensive experience in entrepreneurship, operations, and program management, with significant contributions to economic development in West Africa. Ayo founded Dechets a l'Or & DalO Systems in Guinea and led the award-winning #ISurvivedEbola campaign. Fluent in multiple languages, he excels in strategic communications and community development. Ayo is also a passionate social entrepreneur, sci-fi and fantasy fan, and advocate for literacy and education.

Cuthbert Ayo Onikute

Anastasia is an undergraduate at NYU Gallatin pursuing an individualized major in Environmental Humanities and Ethical Innovation. At NABU, she supports the CEO in managing donor relations, corporate partnerships, communication initiatives, and other special projects. A youth mental health activist and entrepreneur in her teens, she applies her research, design, and communication experience to advance youth education initiatives.

Anastasia Vlasova

Elessa Eboumbou is NABU’s Digital Marketing Manager, based in New York. She holds a Master’s in Innovation and Digital Marketing and hails from Paris. Before joining NABU, Elessa worked at Le Barbizon in Paris, where she progressed from community manager to communication officer. She is experienced in managing online communities, developing communication strategies, and creating engaging content across various media.

Elessa Eboumbou

About

Mother tongue books are one of the most cost-effective interventions in increasing literacy.

Result in stronger parental engagement in children’s education

Provide a bridge to reading in English, and other languages

Education is a fundamental human right. HP Inc. is proud to partner with NABU in supporting local illustrators and authors to increase relevant content creation and book production, ensuring children globally have access to enriching resources and content they need in their native language. HP creates technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. Through our product and service portfolio of personal systems, printers and 3D printing solutions, we engineer experiences that amaze. We focus on advancing Sustainable Impact, taking bold and comprehensive steps to drive climate action, protect human rights and accelerate digital equity backed with some of the most comprehensive goals in our industry. Partnering with organizations like NABU helps us deliver on our goal to accelerate digital equity for 150 million people by 2030. Learn more at www.hp.com/sustainableimpact.

With smartphone usage set to triple over the next 5 years, NABU is committed to making children’s books accessible to every child in the world by 2030. NABU’s diverse partnerships with government, education partners, and other nonprofit organizations support our efforts eradicating illiteracy for good.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, is the world’s leading children’s charity, and has been since 1946.

Every day, UNICEF helps children realise their full potential by providing access to clean water, life-saving vaccines, quality education and health care. UNICEF works to ensure every child is safe and protected from harm and is always there during times of emergency.

Alongside its partners, UNICEF works with families, communities and local organisations in more than 190 countries to protect and advocate for children and young people. UNICEF does this by leveraging highly sophisticated infrastructure, economies of scale, and working in collaboration with local in-country partners to deliver for every child, no matter what.

At UNICEF Australia, we’re supporting UNICEF’s global ambition while ensuring every child in need, here in Australia and across the Asia Pacific region, is healthy, educated and safe.

Bloomberg Philanthropies works to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people by focusing on five key areas: the arts, education, the environment, government innovation, and public health.

Encompassing all of Mike Bloomberg’s giving, Bloomberg Philanthropies includes his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a pro bono consultancy that works with mayors in cities around the world.

The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship is an entrepreneurship acceleration program designed to support promising, African EdTech ventures. Implemented in partnership with innovation hubs and EdTech accelerators across Africa, the Fellowship provides select EdTech companies with critical business and financial support, as well as insight into the science of learning, preparing them for scale, sustainability, and impact. The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship was launched in 2019 by the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning and supported 12 African EdTech companies from seven countries in its first year, reaching over 800,000 learners. 

The goal of the Centre is to partner with 12 Tech Hubs to support over 400 EdTech companies and reach at least 1.8 million young people by 2025.

NABU partnered up with the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) on a special adaption of a COVID-19 Health Collection book. This book addresses the anxieties and fears that may arise among children, parents, and caregivers during the pandemic. This is collaboration came about after a study conducted by AKF in Kenya, finding that children feel that life won’t be the same. The book seeks to open up the conversation for a joint solution between parents and their children. The Aga Khan Foundation East Africa (AKF EA) mission is to assist the poorest and most marginalized in society, with a special focus on women, girls, children, and the youth so that they can achieve a level of self-reliance and improved quality of life.

Partners

Mother tongue books are one of the most cost-effective interventions in increasing literacy, yet 40% of children globally do not have access to educational materials in a language they speak or understand. Increased access to culturally relevant, mother tongue books directly promotes higher reading engagement, leading to higher literacy scores.

Specifically, research shows mother tongue books:

• Increase a child’s motivation to read

• Result in stronger parental engagement in children’s education

• Provide an essential bridge to reading in English and other national languages

Help us to ensure that every child has free access to the essential books that they need to learn to read.

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