OUR TEAM
Bpaaki Michael Vandi
Founder & CEO
Bpaaki Michael Vandi is a community activist and an immigrant from Sierra Leone. After the Ebola outbreak of 2014, he created Sinava to not only prevent such outbreaks in the future, but to promote education and provide basic health services to families, as well as provide medical supplies and equipment to health workers in Sierra Leone.
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Mr. Vandi has over eight years experience working with various nonprofits and volunteering at fundraising events. His goal, among others, is to see that students in Sierra Leone and their families get proper and easy access to education and basic health services. He briefly attended Shenandoah University in Virginia but graduated from Towson University in Maryland in 2012, where he received his Bachelors in Sociology and learned the importance of volunteering and affecting change. He most recently completed his Masters degree in Criminal Justice from University of Baltimore.
Phylis T. Tarawally
President
Phylis T. Tarawally is from Sierra Leone, West Africa. She have lived in the United States for about twenty years now and have been practicing in the medical field as a nurse for about 18 years. She is very passionate about helping people and being in the medical field has made her desire to help others and give back even stronger.
Ms. Tarawally joined Sinava to make her passion into reality. She is delighted to take this venture as far as it can lead Sinava and looks forward to working to ensure that Sinava becomes one of the best charitable organizations in the world.
Rashid Ibrahim Fefegula
National Director, Sierra Leone
Rashid Ibrahim Fefegula is from Eastern Sierra Leone, Kenema City. He is an Internal Auditor at the Apex Bank (SL) Ltd. He is a Motivational Counselor, Speaker and Writer. He is also a radio broadcaster and MC. He is an activist, a student leader and a volunteer who tours regions to deliver high power motivational messages designed to shake off mediocrity among the youth.
In his quest to impacting the young generation, serving the downtrodden and by extension humanity, he voluntarily joined Sinava, Inc. Mr. Fefegula believes that we become great by producing people greater than ourselves. As Sinava's National Director, he has been working diligently to make sure that truth is realized among our students and beneficiaries.
Abibatu Momoh
Deputy National Director, Sierra Leone
Ms. Abibatu Momoh is notably an activist that was born in the Eastern part of Sierra Leone, in Kenema. She is a rare personality that typifies hard work, perseverance, dedication and most importantly, she is quintessentially a modern-typed figure that proves to her community and the world at large that feminism is a thing of great concern. Ms. Momoh have, over the years, worked with several children advocacy forums which made her the archetype of a child advocate. She is presently the Vice President of the Youth Component at Planned Parenthood Association of Sierra Leone (PPASL) branch in Kenema.
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As a teen, she was the president for the Children Advocacy Platform (CAP), Sierra Leone. Now, she is selflessly working with with the Defense for Children International (DCI) and Sinava, Inc., among others. She is one of the most amiable young personalities in her community and has been certified by the East Base Social Club as the Activist of the year.
Abubakar Mansaray
Secretary-General & Finance Manager, Sierra Leone
Abubakar Mansaray was born and raised in Kenema, the Eastern part of Sierra Leone. He primarily and secondarily schooled in Kenema where he attained his National Primary School Examination, Basic Education Certificate Examination, and West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination certificates, respectively. Later on, he had an opportunity to pursue online courses on Show Biz and Theater Arts from the University of Legon, in Ghana.
Mr. Mansaray is one of the co-founders of the Sierra Leone Young Writers Union, formed in 2015, and he served as the president for two consecutive years. His desire to serve the needy and less privileged came into fruition when he joined Sinava, Inc., in 2017.
At Sinava, Inc., he was nurtured with the spirit of serving humanity, selflessly. Up until now, he unflaggingly surrenders his all to making sure that the mission and vision of the organization are achieved.
Obed Lartey
Chief Marketing Officer
Obed Lartey is a Ghanaian native, and a graduate of Norfolk State University. He studied Business Marketing at Norfolk State University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. He is currently a MBA student at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. While at Norfolk State University he had the opportunity to intern with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pharmaceutical Company through the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
At GSK Pharmaceutical, he worked on social media marketing, claims ideation, SEO and was part of the team for selecting an ad agency for the media marketing. He is the owner and CEO of Key Solution Marketing. He is also a member of the League of Extraordinary Men at Norfolk State University, a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, and a member of Order of Omega Leadership Honor Society.