Candice Jumwa

Candice Jumwa is a Mining Engineer who joined The Impact Facility – a social enterprise founded in 2018 to drive small-scale mines’ professionalisation – right after graduation. Candice supports the development of financial services designed to bridge the gap between artisanal miners and formal finance.

Over the years, Candice has worked closely with artisanal gold and gemstone miners in Western and Eastern Kenya and is supporting The Impact Facility’s work around the Fair Cobalt Alliance remotely.

In her current role, Candice is focused on driving engagement with corporates and (impact) investors to forge blended-finance partnerships – across industries and supply chain tiers –  seeking to address complex challenges through strategic collaboration.

Candice applies her engineering background to co-develop ASM-centric tools and services and speak to artisanal miners’ lived realities, enabling and incentivising the gradual adoption of improved and best practices by leveraging equipment financing.

“Artisanal cobalt producers contribute over 7% of the cobalt production in the world, almost a billion dollars in value with minimal resources and expertise. Imagine what would happen if actors across the cobalt supply chain invested and supported in mine improvement, decent working conditions and facilitated fair trading practices? Responsibly mined artisanal cobalt would easily flow into formal supply chains, and the economic potential of mining communities would be realised. The FCA aims to facilitate this, and I am excited to be part of the team.”