OUR TEAM
Anasthasie TUDIESHE
Press attaché and PR
Co-founder
Déo KASONGO
Communication, Advertising, Digital and Media expert
Co-founder
Fidélie PALANKOY
Legal advisor
Co-founder
Jean Paul KIBAMBE
Professor UNIKIN
Co-founder
Jules DEBOUTTE
Conservation Biologist
Co-founder
Jules KASEYA
Expert Accountant
Co-founder
Leon HABERKORN
film maker
Co-founder
Marcel COLLET
Herpetologist
Co-founder
Maximilien MULAND KAYIJ
Agronomic Engineer
Co-founder
Nouria MUKABA
Public Relations
Co-founder
Olivier MUSHIETE
Agricultural engineer
Co-founder
Victor DEBOUTTE
Conservation Biologist
Co-founder
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Anasthasie TUDIESHE
Anasthasie Tudieshe is a young international journalist and broadcaster who works for Voice of America, among other organizations. She divides her time between the United States and the DRC. An insatiable traveler and foodie, she has a keen interest in the arts and a special passion for nature and ecology. With her keen eye, she will be a great asset in documenting the positive changes that Bombo Lumene will undergo. Communicating with the national and international press and public comes naturally to her.
Déo KASONGO
An advertiser who has built one of the most creative and effective advertising agencies in the DRC over the past nearly 20 years, known by the acronym Des idées qui Valent de l’Or (DIVO). A specialist in crisis communication and a prolific creative talent, Deo Kasongo is also the owner of the Cinebuzz movie theaters and of Showbuzz, the largest event venue in Kinshasa.
He has set up one of the most modern recording studios, called Studio350, in the Gombe district, where his radio station, BuzzFM, and his fully equipped D9 television studio are also located.
As a lover of innovation, travel, and nature, he couldn’t help but incorporate this project into his work. He takes a keen interest in—and is fully committed to—anything that can contribute to a positive image of the DRC. He is a 40-year-old avid traveler.
Fidélie PALANKOY
Fidelie Palankoy is a member of the Kinshasa Matete Bar. She earned her law degree from the Protestant University of Congo in 2017. In 2018, she studied international marketing at SOAS University of London, then completed an internship at W Legal, an English law firm in London specializing in anti-corruption and bribery laws. Upon returning to Kinshasa in 2019, she has been working at the law firm Boris MBUKU LAKA, where she handles legal, commercial, and real estate cases, among others. Fidelie Palankoy is a young woman who loves to travel and has a deep passion for nature, animals, and the conservation of endangered species. Her legal training will be a great asset both for the internal organization of the nonprofit and for providing us with legal support regarding the Domaine de la Bombo Lumene.
Jean Paul KIBAMBE
Jean-Paul Kibambe Lubamba is an associate professor at the University of Kinshasa and focuses on the use of geospatial information and the development of GIS-based models and tools for land-use planning, mapping and modeling changes in land use and land cover, and forest monitoring via remote sensing, particularly in the context of REDD+ implementation in the DRC. He also serves as the GIS and climate change coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s program in the DRC. He holds a Ph.D. in biological, agricultural, and environmental engineering. His expertise and skills in working on zoning and GIS maps for the Bombo Lumene Estate and Reserve, as well as the broader region that is part of the Bateke Plateau Ecological Corridor (CEBAT), are a highly valued asset to our NGO.
Jules DEBOUTTE
Jules spent his childhood in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Having the privilege of visiting national parks across Africa instilled in him a love for nature and wildlife conservation from a very young age. Jules went on to earn his degree in ecology and conservation at Royal Holloway, University of London. It was while finishing his studies that he rediscovered the Bombo Lumene Reserve. Although he had occasionally visited Bombo Lumene while growing up, he had never once seen a large mammal there and believed that the reserve’s ecosystem lacked wildlife (a belief shared by the majority of Kinshasa residents to this day).
However, the sighting of an antelope in early 2018 changed everything. He then returned to Bombo Lumene equipped with 20 camera traps to complete his senior research project on the diversity of mammals surviving in the reserve. He continued to search for wildlife with his brother Victor Deboutte and his cousin Leon Haberkorn, and shared their discoveries online as part of an exciting project called “Bombo Lumene Expedition.” During his visit to Bombo Lumene, he also witnessed the reserve suffering under the pressure of increasing poaching, logging, and charcoal production. In early 2021, he transformed his passion project into an NGO to help the reserve address these challenges and founded the Bombo Lumene Foundation.
Jules KASEYA
Jules Kaseya is an auditor and tax specialist in the DRC. He has more than 9 years of professional experience auditing international and local companies, assisting entities with tax and legal matters based on the DRC’s tax regulations. At one point, Jules Kaseya worked for several years at GPO Partners, Deloitte’s former representative office in the DRC. Deloitte is one of the world’s leading providers of audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax, and related services.
At the foundation, Jules will handle all accounting and tax matters and will be instrumental in producing financial reports that are accessible and transparent for everyone to review.
Leon HABERKORN
Leon earned his bachelor’s degree in film and cinematography from the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Antwerp. His childhood passion for wildlife was further fueled by his travels across Africa and visits to his family in the DRC. He quickly realized he could combine his passion with his studies and went on to work for the Mangrove Marine Park and Lola ya Bonobo, capturing video and photographs for fundraising events, campaigns, and social media, and creating short documentaries and informational videos. In 2018, Léon joined Jules and Victor Deboutte on an expedition to document and showcase the incredible biodiversity of Bombo Lumene and immediately fell in love with the reserve. He created a short documentary-style video titled “Bombo Lumene Expedition” to show the public the beauty and conservation value of the reserve. As a media consultant, Léon continues to create content, manage our social media accounts and website, and assist with fundraising and promotional activities.
Marcel COLLET
Marcel was the director of the Mangrove Marine Park, a 768-square-kilometer national park and Ramsar site that protects the mouth of the Congo River, as well as a 37-kilometer stretch of the DRC’s Atlantic coast. He has held this position since 2012 and has done remarkable work protecting the DRC’s endangered mangroves from deforestation, as well as conserving the park’s biodiversity, which includes sea turtles and West African manatees. Born into a family of coffee farmers, he grew up in the forests surrounding Kisangani in the DRC. He therefore developed a passion for nature at a very young age. He studied zoology and became the DRC’s leading herpetologist, with several scientific publications to his credit. He was a member of the Anti-Venom Center at the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) and for many years ran a private snake park in the Mbinza Hills, introducing many generations of children to the DRC’s fascinating wildlife. Professionally, he worked with the DRC’s wildlife and protected areas for nearly 40 years and served as director of the ICCN’s Garamba National Park in the early 2000s. His extensive hands-on experience in conservation across various protected areas throughout the DRC was instrumental in the successful establishment of the Bombo Lumene Foundation. Tragically, Marcel passed away in early 2022. He will continue to serve as a role model for all of us at the Bombo Lumene Foundation, and we are forever grateful to him for all his help.
Maximilien MULAND KAYIJ
Maximilien MULAND KAYIJ was born in LIKASI in Upper Katanga. He holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering (Animal Husbandry) from the Catholic University of Louvain and completed his education at the Institute of Administration and Management (IAG) at the Catholic University of Louvain, followed by training in Business at the Zimbabwe Institute of Management. He has led, organized, and participated in numerous seminars and conferences both in the DRC and abroad (Zimbabwe, Congo-Brazzaville, France, Belgium, Germany, etc.). He is a great lover of nature, organic food, and the DRC’s biodiversity in general. Professionally, he has worked for 25 years in both the private and public sectors in the agri-food and livestock industries. He has served as a consultant and UNIDO national expert for the agri-food sector; as coordinator and secretary-general of the Tropical Agro-Territorial Center of Kinshasa (CAVTK); FDC Correspondent for the Belgian nonprofit organization Bureau d’échange et de diffusion d’informations sur les mini-élevages (B.E.D.I.M.) and Coordinator of the publication of the scientific journal *Troupeaux et Cultures des Tropiques*; He hopes that his expertise in livestock farming will be utilized in community food programs centered around the Bombo Lumene estate and reserve, as well as to create food self-sufficiency programs for our eco-guards, other staff members, and their families.
Nouria MUKABA
She holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign political journalism and a degree in communications from IFASIC. She was an intern at AFRICA TV and a contributor to ECO NEWS, with a particular interest in ecology and conservation. She completed her high school and humanities studies in Latin and philosophy at Bosangani/Sacré-Cœur High School. She was born into a family of six; she is the eldest child of her late mother and the third child of her father.
Passionate about communication, she will implement a strategy to advance the Bombo Lumene Nature Reserve.
Olivier MUSHIETE
Olivier is an agricultural engineer from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) with deep ancestral roots on the Batéké Plateau. He is the primary driving force behind the Ibi Batéké agroforestry carbon sink on his family’s land in the village of Ibi. This project is one of the first of its kind in Central Africa. It is unique in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and earned Olivier the King Baudouin Foundation Award, as well as selection as one of the three founding members of the OKAPI Fund for Nature Conservation in the Congo.
Over the course of his thirty-year career, Olivier has advised several Congolese ministers on environmental and climate issues (including the ratification of the Paris Agreement in 2017), the demobilization of child soldiers, and many other matters. He has also worked closely with the UNHCR on refugee issues in northeastern DR Congo.
Today, Olivier manages the Bombo Lumene hunting ground and nature reserve on behalf of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN). Along with other passionate advocates, he is a driving force behind the Batéké Plateau Ecological Corridor (CEBAT) project, which aims to create a 35,000 km² protected area with Bombo Lumene at its heart. He is thus at the center of the Bombo Lumene Foundation’s activities, where he will contribute his valuable experience working with local communities, thereby helping to ensure the success of community-based biodiversity conservation programs.
Victor DEBOUTTE
Victor is currently completing his undergraduate degree in ecology and environmental biology at Imperial College London. His interest in nature and wildlife began at a young age and grew over time as he explored the national parks of Southern and Eastern Africa. He grew up in Kinshasa and visited Bombo Lumene several times throughout his childhood. In 2018, he returned to the reserve to join his brother Jules Deboutte and his cousin Léon Haberkorn on an expedition to investigate the presence of any remaining wildlife in Bombo Lumene. Surprised to find signs of many different species, such as forest buffalo, pangolins, and side-striped jackals, the team returned the following year. Using 20 camera traps, they were able to document and reveal the incredible biodiversity of Bombo Lumene. They shared their findings with the world via social media to highlight the reserve’s conservation value and ecotourism potential. Witnessing the ongoing deforestation and poaching in Bombo Lumene, and seeing the reserve’s immense potential under threat, prompted him to co-found the Bombo Lumene Foundation with the goal of conserving the reserve and its wildlife.
