MicroLoan Foundation Australia was founded by Brian Keen.

Brian is a business man who lived in Malawi for many years, running a number of construction, development and transport businesses. Brian moved to Australia in 1976 and continued his business career there.

When Brian retired, he dearly wanted to start a charity helping the people he worked with in Malawi. The organisation he founded was the Australian Branch of the MicroLoan Foundation established by Peter Ryan.

Brian really related to the concept of ‘giving a hand up, not a hand out’ and the idea of building an economic future for families through business. So, in 2009 Brian worked with Peter to set up the Australian organization.

Clive is a Chartered Accountant who has been the Finance Director of a number of private and publicly listed companies over the last two decades, and, until recently, was the CFO of a property investment company based in Sydney. He is married with two young children and lives in Freshwater Sydney.

Before emigrating from Wales in 1984, Clive travelled extensively, and he particularly enjoyed his time in south east Africa where he felt that the people had a positive and balanced attitude to life. He has been drawn to the concept of micro finance as a way to give people the tools they need to create the life they want, rather than create the life we believe they should have.

Clive travelled to Malawi in June 2009, and was hugely impressed by what Microloan Foundation was achieving in the country, both with respect to benefits to our clients and the efficient manner in which the local operation was being run. Further details of his visit can be found on our Home page in the article “Our first office is open!”

Clive is our CEO and Development Director, and has been responsible for much of our initial set up, and a good deal of our fundraising in New South Wales.

Chris McArdle is the Principal of McArdle Legal, a Sydney law firm specialising in Employment, Contracting, and Anti Discrimination Law and is on the board of MLFA. He has been in practice for 20 years, and is accredited as a Specialist in Employment and Industrial Law by the Law Society of NSW.

Prior to entering practice, Chris served as a judicial officer as a Commissioner of the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW.

Chris – like many in his profession, despite the reputation – has served on a number of volunteer and charitable bodies during his time in legal practice. He tells us that he has developed a passion for the work of MLF due to its aim of helping without patronising, and its emphasis on self sufficiency and dignity.

Chris lives in Sydney with his wife Mary Anne, and they are both keen minders of grandchildren. Chris provides the secretariat to MLFA and his firm provides the Sydney premises. This is in accordance with our philosophy of keeping overheads to a minimum, and ensuring that all Gift funds get to their intended recipients.

Carol is the proud owner of The Shoe Garden, a shoe shop specialising in longer sizes based in Brisbane. With a background in journalism, PR and fundraising, she knew as soon as she opened her own business in 2012 that it would be a not-just-for-profit, giving back to charity with every sale in-store and online. In April 2015, after much careful research, she close to donate monthly to MicroLoan Foundation Australia. Carol was fortunate to travel to Malawi to visit the Dodo group to witness herself just how powerful and life-changing it can be when women are given not just a small loan, but also valuable business training. She will never forget the leader of the group, Dorothy, telling her: “I used to have to beg my husband for money. Now he comes to me.” Carol was delighted to become a Board Member in December 2018.

Peter Ryan is a Chiswick businessman with a background in starting up businesses for other companies in Europe and Africa. During a trip to Malawi in 1997 which he described as “mind-blowing” he was profoundly influenced by what he saw, particularly the disparity between the rich and the poor. Recognising the need and opportunity for microfinance services in sub-Saharan Africa, Peter founded the MicroLoan Foundation in the late 1990’s.

Mateo joined the Charity in July 2014 as a consultant. From January 2015 he took a permanent position as Regional Director for Africa. Mateo graduated with a degree in Management Accounting and Corporate Finance from Wits University. After that he spent a few years as a business consultant. In 2005, he joined The Small Enterprise Foundation, a leading micro-finance institution in South Africa as an Administration Manager. He went on to assume various senior management roles in the organization. In 2008, he was appointed as Chief Operating Officer, a role he did until he started with MLF as a consultant.

Medha Wilson is the Chief Executive Officer at MicroLoan Foundation. In her current role she oversees the activities of MicroLoan’s operations in Africa and is responsible for developing the overall strategy of the Group. She serves on the board of the three MicroLoan subsidiaries in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Medha has over 10 years of experience in financial inclusion. Prior to MicroLoan, her most recent role has been with Agora Microfinance where she played a key role in developing and strengthening the portfolio of the Group, which included MFIs in Asia and Africa.

She is a Qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a degree in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from The London School of Economics.

Jack Ngoma is Chief Executive Officer of MicroLoan Foundation Zambia. In his current role he is responsible for implementing strategic plans for Zambia operations, identifying partnership opportunities and developing the local team.

Jack has vast experience in the microfinance sector. Prior to joining MicroLoan, he worked with a leading commercial microfinance institution in Zambia. Jack first joined MicroLoan in 2009 as the Finance Manager for Zambia before spending some time with our Malawian operation in 2013. Jack returned to Zambia and was appointed Chief Financial Officer, where he played a key role in the in the growth of the operations. He was promoted to his current role in 2018.

He is a chartered certified accountant, a member of the ACCA, has a BSc in accounting from Oxford Brookes university and is currently completing an MBA in finance with the University of London.

Randall Williams is the Chief Executive Officer for MicroLoan Foundation Malawi. In this role he is responsible for leading the implementation processes of the organisation’s strategies aimed at achieving MicroLoan Foundation’s goals.

Originally from Jamaica, Randall has lived and worked across different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing with him a wide range of skills in banking, fintech and microfinance. He’s no stranger to Malawi having lived and worked there in 2016 during his time with Zoona Group.

Randall obtained his bachelor’s degree in Management Studies and Economics from the University of the West Indies (Jamaica), and holds a Masters in Finance from the University of London (UK). He also recently completed an Executive Certificate in Financial Inclusion from Harvard University (USA).

Malin is Director of Fundraising & Communications at MicroLoan, responsible for managing relationships with high-value individual donors, ensuring that they have full insight into the impact of their philanthropic giving.

She brings ten years of experience in business development and fundraising in the international development sector to this role. Prior to joining MicroLoan Malin worked with numerous charities focusing on education and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. Her expertise is major gifts, and she has a track record of setting up successful major donor programmes and developing impactful corporate partnerships.

In this role Malin also develops tailor-made partnerships, events and employee engagement opportunities for corporate funders to maximise the mutual benefits.

Malin has a degree in International Politics and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and has lived, worked and travelled extensively in sub-Saharan Africa.