Asiimwe is a Ugandan advocate and policy leader with over 20 years of experience as a development advisor and practitioner.
She is the current Chief of Programmes TradeMark Africa (TMA)⏤ formerly TradeMark East Africa, an Aid-for-Trade organisation that was established in 2010, to grow ⏤initially East Africa’s and now the African continent’s prosperity through increased trade.
She is passionate about shaping Africa’s narrative and practice on governance, trade, regional integration and development issues. She has designed and managed programmes for government agencies, the private sector, civil society and donors across the African region (including in all East African Countries, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and DRC).
Ms. Asiimwe has served in the past as CEO of AVID Development, a regional consulting firm working on key issues of trade, development and governance in Africa.
She has also worked as a consultant for (attached to the Managing Director) at the African Export Import Bank (AFREXIM BANK) in Cairo, Egypt, supporting the implementation of the Intra Africa Trade Initiative, a programme aimed at increasing trade among African countries.
Between October 2011 to October 2016, she also worked as the Uganda Country Director for Trade Mark Africa (then Trademark East Africa). In this role, she oversaw a portfolio of USD100m aimed at improving the ease of doing business (cost and time reduction) through regional infrastructure (including roads and One Stop Border Posts); trade facilitation (including standards testing, reporting of Non-Tariff Barriers and use of ICT solutions like Electronic Cargo Tracking and Single Window Systems); and business environment programmes.
Prior to this she also served as a Bank Manager, at Standard Chartered Bank Uganda and had stints in Zimbabwe and Ghana as well as worked in various law firms. She also worked as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Law, Makerere University.
From Luuka to the Netherlands: The Rise of a Farmer Redefining Agribusiness in UgandaShe holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School (Edward Mason Fellow, 2017) and a Masters’s in International Business Law from the University of Manchester, UK (1998).
Ms. Asiimwe is passionate about women’s rights and has a strong community service record in the service of mankind. For example, while at the Harvard Kennedy School, Allen co-founded Girls 4 Girls⏤ an organisation that empowers girls to lead.
G4G believes that every girl has the potential to lead and actively We empower young women with the courage, vision and skills needed to take on leadership. G4G helps women achieve their ambitions through provisioning access to professional mentorship, skills-based tools and a global network of female leaders. Girls For Girls now has a footprint in more than 24 countries globally including, 7 in Africa.
She has also either chaired and or sat on the boards of FIDA Uganda (Association of Uganda Women Lawyers) the largest legal aid service provider in Uganda; FEMNET (The African Women Development and Communication Network) – an African-wide organization based in Nairobi, Kenya aimed at raising awareness around women’s rights. Other boards include the Center for Justice Studies and Innovations (CJSI) and the Governance Policy and Research Center (GPRC).
She is also the Chairperson for CivFund, a sister entity to CivSource, that supports the work of funding agencies and philanthropists in Africa. She also KCB Bank Uganda, the Uganda unit of the KCB Group, one of the region’s largest financial institutions.
