Board and Subcommittees
Our Board and Subcommittees are the driving force behind our mission. Each member brings unique expertise, passion, and dedication to advancing our goals, ensuring that every initiative is guided by strong leadership, collaboration, and integrity.
Meet the Board
View Past Boards
Kosam Nyamdela
President
About
Kosam is a project management professional and business leader. He has taken part in and led several successful large transformation projects and programs in broadcasting engineering, telecommunications and other business forms over more than 30 years. Kosam played a key role in leading technical teams and contractors in the analogue to digital TV broadcasting transformation in New Zealand and Australia.
He holds an MBA – Strategic Planning from Heriot Watt University, Scotland and a Masters in Professional Business Analysis from Victoria University of Wellington. In all his years of experience, Kosam has successfully trained, coached and mentored tradespeople, technicians, engineers, project management professionals, students and executives in technical, business and leadership skills. Kosam is past president and CEO of Project Management Institute of New Zealand. He led PMINZ through a change process with award winning initiatives which have been recognised by PMI Global and AuSAE.
Kosam is the founder of his own consultancy – Global Consultants Limited which specialises in empowering businesses and individuals to formulate and realise sustainable goals. Kosam’s passion and interest in joining the ACCW executive is to help raise the African community profile and ability perception in New Zealand with the ultimate aim of realising the recognition that all worthy Africans deserve. Kosam believes that if all Africans unite and put aside any real or perceived differences, we can collectively achieve our aspirations and more importantly, those of our offspring by paving a clear path of success for them.
Jessy Salumayi-Masson
1st Vice President
About
Jessy was born and raised in Zambia. In 2001, she relocated to New Zealand, where she has built a thriving career and and a community leader. She is also a mother of 7 children who she loves so dearly. Jessy works as a midwife, providing essential healthcare services to expectant mothers and their families. Her commitment to maternal and child health has made a significant impact on the well-being of countless individuals in her community.
She has a Bachelor degree in Midwifery and currently pursuing an Executive MBA (EMBA), which will further enhance her leadership skills and business acumen, allowing her to contribute even more effectively to her professional and community roles. As a community leader Jessy advocates for the interests and well-being of African immigrants and fosters a sense of unity and support within the community. In addition to her service on the board of the ACCW, where she helps shape policies and initiatives that benefit the community.
Jessy is also an experienced event planner, organizing events that celebrate and promote the achievements of women, and fostering opportunities for networking and empowerment. Jessy Salumayi-Masson is a dedicated professional and community leader, continually striving to make a positive impact through her work and volunteer efforts.
Ras Judah Seomeng
2nd Vice President
About
Judah was born and raised in Botswana in Southern Africa. He immigrated to New Zealand with my family in September 2004. He currently works for ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum as a Researcher and Community Connector, mainly focusing on connecting refugee and migrant background communities with necessary resources and employment opportunities.
He is a cultural anthropologist by training, with a professional background is in community development, advocacy, and capacity building. His work experience is in community development space spans over two decades. He is also a music enthusiast who makes music for recreation and relaxation. His time in the music industry has also exposed him to event production and coordination.
Judah also volunteers on a few community initiative projects in Wellington and nationally, including being a part of the Te Whatu Ora Consumer Advisory Group (based in the Hutt Valley), the Ethnic Communities Employment Sector Network, and The Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand. He is a long standing member of the African Communities of Wellington (ACCW) since 2013, and joined the board in early 2023.
Wallace Imoudu Enegbuma
Secretary
About
Wallace was born and spent his early years in Nigeria before moving to New Zealand to fill the skill gap in tertiary learning. He is currently a Senior Lecturer with Victoria University of Wellington, delivering building information modelling (BIM) integrated project management expertise to future project management graduates and post-graduates programmes.
His research expertise focus is on BIM adoption with specific interest in retrofitting, cost analysis, heritage, disaster knowledge, management, smart building, and project management. He is committed to ensuring adequate recognition of potentials of African migrants by leveraging his research and planning expertise into the board for policy and education matters including developing robust and sustainable operational strategies.
Wallace also serves on the Hutt Multicultural Council (HMC) and appointed reviewer session’s chair, and editorial committee for several international conferences. He is the cofounder of Smalls Consult Limited with passion in building consultancy, event planning, photography, videography and educational excellence. In addition to community engagement and enjoying family time, he enjoys travel, cycling and chess during leisure.
Cynthia Makau
Treasurer
About
Cynthia Makau is a wife, mother of 3 amazing kiddos and an accountant by profession. She is an analytical thinker and loves reading books by African writers in her free time. Her all time favourite author is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and has read all her books, currently reading them.
Cynthia was born and bread in Kenya, where she grew up enjoying and experiencing the rich sense of ubuntu. She is keen to ensure that this same experience can be replicated in Aotearoa. She considers herself a global citizen having worked or lived in different countries and experience different cultures including Ethiopia, Tanzania, United Kingdom and Papua New Guinea.
Cynthia embraces ACCW vision and is keen to use her voice to reach to bring together women from different cultures to enhance the connectivity and make a positive contribution in advocating for issues families from diaspora may face in Aotearoa.
Victor Kofi Owusu-Ansah
Member
About
Victor is originally from Ghana, but currently lives in Wellington after migrating to Aotearoa several years ago. He is a graduate of Te Harenga Waka Law School, where he completed a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in February 2021. He also completed my professional legal course with the Institute of Professional Legal Studies (IPLS) in August of the same year. He is currently work at the New Zealand Human Rights Commission as a Case Advisor.
Before moving to Aotearoa, he trained in journalism and public relations in Ghana, and worked as a reporter and television broadcaster. He is very passionate about rights advocacy and social justice issues, particularly concerning marginalised minorities and vulnerable groups.
He consider himself a family man and an avid sports fan, spending most of his free time either with his young family or playing indoor football at the waterfront in Wellington.
Fredrick Acheampong
Member
About
Fredrick is a Policy Analyst in the Health of Disabled People Policy Team at the Ministry of Health. He previously held roles as a Senior Engagement and Partnerships Advisor and Policy Analyst at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities & the Office for Ethnic Communities, where he led projects focusing on employment action plans for refugees, migrants, and ethnic communities, as well as a survey on ethnic communities’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His educational background includes a PhD in Religious Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, with research concentrating on Pentecostals and Politics in Ghana’s 4th Republic. He also obtained a B.A. and MPhil degrees in Religious Studies from the University of Ghana, along with a Certificate in Field Studies in Religious Studies from the University of Gävle, Sweden.
Fredrick specialises in the History of Religions, with a particular emphasis on Africa. He also has experience researching Christianity in Northern Europe. His multidisciplinary background equips him to bring diverse and global perspectives to work. He has a passion for youth development and empowerment and currently the Youth Coordinator for Christ for Salvation Ministries International, New Zealand.
Ben Amadi
Member
About
Ben is originally from Nigeria and has called Aotearoa New Zealand his home for the past decade. He is a seasoned IT professional specialising in cybersecurity, strategy, and digital transformation. He is passionate about educating and empowering people to protect themselves and their organisations from cyber threats. His ability to simplify complex information for diverse audiences and connect the dots with clarity has been an invaluable asset to his work.
Ben has sixteen years of dynamic experience across diverse industries including Health, Education, State-Owned Enterprises and Banking. He has successfully led project teams through transformative growth, championed innovation and navigated complex challenges with unwavering resolve. Over time, he has developed the skill to effectively and rapidly build and maintain relationships with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, including senior and executive management. He is a community catalyst and an advocate for positive change, contributing towards a more inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand. He is driven by a deep sense of responsibility to serve and elevate the communities he belongs to.
His unwavering passion for making a positive impact on people’s lives has fueled his active involvement in volunteering and collaborating with not-for-profit organisations. He volunteers with various not-for-profits such as Job Mentoring Service where he mentors former refugees and skilled migrants to get their first New Zealand workplace experience in the IT industry. He also volunteered with Samaritans New Zealand for a few years. These experiences gave him a profound understanding of the voluntary sector’s dynamics, challenges and opportunities. He was recently honoured as a Male Champion of Change at the New Zealand Women in Security Awards, the recognition celebrates champions who fearlessly lead the charge against gender-based discrimination and bias in their workplaces. Ben believes that collective efforts can drive change and amplify the voices of those often unheard.
Nureddin Abdurahman
Immediate Past President
About
Nureddin is a dedicated and trusted leader. He is a family man, a community person and an entrepreneur who is running an import-export business. Nureddin is a proud African, unapologetic Muslim and patriotic New Zealander. His diplomatic personality, ability to influence, strategic and constructive thinking developed over many years through his work in diverse community leadership and NGO sector.
Nureddin who grew up in Africa’s diplomatic capital, Addis Ababa, and now resides in the coolest little capital of the world, Wellington, has always been fascinated by the art and craft of diplomacy and International Relations. Since he arrived in New Zealand in 2008 with nothing but hope, education has been his top priority. He has learned quickly how to walk through what he called the dense jungle of new life in the new land. He completed a Bachelor of Development Studies and International Relations, and a Master of International Relations from the Victory University of Wellington.
Nureddin was nominated and elected to the leadership because of his passion and experience in community empowerment. He is confident that ACCW has the potential to be the voice of Africans in Aotearoa. Nureddin currently serves as the Councillor under the Labour Party for Wellington City Council (WCC).
Lisa Satoro
Victoria University of Wellington Student Representative
Mardiya Abdulaziz
Member
Abubakar Sadiq Yusuf
Member
Subcommittees
Contact the leads and get in touch if you are looking to help out or join any of the following subcommittees.