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Gillian Pais

Managing PartnerNairobi

Leads McKinsey’s work in nature and agriculture in Africa and advises governments, development partners, and private companies on sustainable economic development topics

Gillian is the managing partner of our East Africa office. She started her career at McKinsey in Canada in 2008 and moved to Kenya in 2015, and has worked across multiple geographies, with a focus on emerging markets (Africa, Latin America, and South Asia). She is a leader in our nature work globally and also leads our Agriculture Practice in Africa.

Gillian focuses on sustainable economic development topics, including agriculture development, nature conservation, sustainable land use, manufacturing and job creation, tourism development, and rural development. She serves governments and donors, as well as the private sector. Some examples of her work include supporting multiple countries in unlocking large-scale financing for nature conservation; coleading a major development program unlocking over $1 billion in the manufacturing sector in Africa; developing a strategy with an African country to scale coffee production by fivefold over ten years; supporting sustainable enterprises in creating business models to protect over 9 million hectares of tropical forest; working with multiple agriculture businesses to scale their models across Africa and other emerging markets; and leading the tourism development strategy for a major nature tourism destination.

Gillian has also led critical research on agriculture development, climate adaptation, e-mobility, and rural electrification in Africa. This work has been featured on CNN, CNBC Africa, and The Economist. She previously worked at One Acre Fund, an agriculture social enterprise serving several million smallholder farmers in Africa. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto.

Published work

"What climate-smart agriculture means for smallholder farmers," McKinsey & Company, September 2022

"Addressing the challenges of plastic waste: Circularity and leakage," McKinsey & Company, September 2022

Nature and financial institutions in Africa: A first assessment of opportunities and risks,” McKinsey & Company, June 2022

Power to move: Accelerating the electric transport transition in sub-Saharan Africa,” McKinsey & Company, February 2022

How digital tools can help transform African agri-food systems,” McKinsey & Company, January 2021

Safeguarding Africa’s food systems through and beyond the crisis,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020

Winning in Africa’s agricultural market,” McKinsey & Company, February 2019

Bringing (solar) power to the people,” McKinsey & Company, June 2018

Education

University of Chicago
MA, sociology and economics

University of Toronto
BA, international relations and economics