Meet Our Team
Alphonse Kouagou
Alphonse is the founder and inspiration behind the Benin Education Fund. He was born in the village of Tampegre in northern Benin. Alphonse has 10 brothers and sisters, none of whom can read or write. His native language is Ditammari; he also speaks two other African languages, plus French and English. At the age of six, Alphonse was recruited by the village chief to attend the new primary school in his village.
After primary school, Alphonse chose to continue his education. With a few francs and a sack of yams, he walked 20 miles to the city where the high school was located. Alphonse eventually graduated from high school and college. He began teaching French and local African languages to Peace Corps volunteers, which ultimately led him to the U.S. Today, Alphonse has a B.S., a C.P.A., and an M.B.A. He works at the International Finance Corporation in Washington, DC. His dream of helping young people in Benin was realized when he and his wife, Karen, founded BEF in 1998.
Jenny Malseed
Jenny is the BEF board chair. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin from 1998-2000 and is fluent in French. After the Peace Corps, she worked with Winrock International, where she managed grants for a scholarship program that supported thousands of female students in Africa. Jenny earned her M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management in 2005 and later worked at IBM and at ChildFund International. Today she is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at GlobalGiving. She joined the BEF board in 2005 and became the chair in 2008.