Mariko is a design strategist, strategy consultant, and advisor for social innovation projects in the developing world. With expertise in Design Strategy (HCD), marketing strategy, market-based development, and business strategy, she works with development organizations to develop sustainable solutions to complex social challenges. She has led projects across Asia and Africa, on topics spanning farm extension services, household water access, horticulture marketing, pesticide abuse, sanitation, hand hygiene, rural electrification, school water supply, education policy, and micro-entrepreneurship.
With an aspiration to propagate user-centred approaches in the developing world, Mariko previously founded and grew inCompass, the first social innovation lab of its kind in Southeast Asia. She also facilitated an acclaimed Human-Centred Design workshop for pro-poor innovation, taught user-centred marketing to social entrepreneurs in Ethiopia, facilitated an Innovation Lab process for the South African Presidency, and developed social innovation and marketing curricula for the University of British Columbia.
Mariko has advised and led projects for a range of partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF, WWF, the World Bank, HKI, USAID, IDRC, CIDA, and AUSAID.
