Akshay Vishwanath is an environmental professional seeking to solve some of Africa’s greatest natural resource problems through leadership, empowerment, social justice and entrepreneurial initiatives. Akshay currently works as a Portfolio Manager at Maliasili, an organization that supports leading African conservation organizations become even better. Previously, Akshay worked at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for close to a decade implementing conservation projects across Eastern and Southern Africa.

Akshay is also passionate about social justice issues and advocacy work, and plays a key role in several groups and campaigns that seek to protect public green spaces in Kenya and strengthen good governance of these resources. He was in the leadership of the Friends of Nairobi National Park from 2013-2018 (including 2 years as Chair of the Board), during which time he was the lead coordinator of the SaveNNP Campaign which sought to protect the Nairobi National Park from infrastructure development such as the Standard Gauge Railway. He now serves as an advisor to the Friends of Oloolua Forest.

Akshay has an MBA from the African Leadership University, a MSc in Environmental Studies from Macquarie University (Australia) and a BSc in Environmental Studies from Bangalore University (India). Akshay was selected one of the Top 100 Young African Conservation Leaders in March 2021 by a collaboration between the Africa Alliance of YMCAs, World Organization of the Scout Movement, African Wildlife Foundation, and WWF.