Persis Ashers

Operations Officer

As Operations Officer, Persis Ashers runs the global operation function that supports the collective and individual operational needs of Firelight. This includes procurement, equipment and supplies, IT, tech support, travel, safety and security, human resources administration and operational knowledge management.

Persis is an Operations professional with over 13 years expertise within the private and non-profit experience, and specifically across education, technology, talent and impact sectors. She is professionally curious about building efficient, replicable and authentic people and operations processes in multicultural work spaces in Africa.

In her most recent role as the Africa Regional Operations Director at IDinsight, Persis was responsible for the strategic operations of six country offices across Anglophone and Francophone Africa for 90+ teammates. In this role, she led scale operations with a focus on developing seamless operations and compliance, and facilitated the recruitment and development of more locally grounded teams. Before IDinsight, Persis was with the African Leadership Group for five years in varied capacities; including the setup and leadership of a People Operations function for a fully remote business in the organization and the leadership of a Pan-African data science programme for engineers funded by General Electric and the Rockefeller Foundation. She has gained other notable operations management experience from Nielsen, Microsoft and her entrepreneurial venture, afriQuest Research.

Persis Ashers is a certified Six-Sigma Business Improvement professional, a Mandela Washington Fellow, a Georgia Tech GWEI Fellow and a Vital Voices Grow Fellow. Persis holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations degree from the United States International University Africa.