Celestin Hirwandame is the Land Accelerator Manager who oversees the capacity building program for restoration entrepreneurs specifically in Lake Kivu & Rusizi River Landscape in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi.

Prior to joining WRI, Celestin worked for the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as the Agribusiness Specialist managing the Rural-Urban Nexus project that provided grants and built the capacity of SMEs involved in processing organic waste into compost.

Previously, he also worked for Agriterra as the Business Advisor supporting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal project and Outgrower Service Company model for the maize and soybean value chain where his primary responsibilities were increasing productivity, facilitating finance and market access for SMEs and farmer cooperatives.

Celestin holds a bachelor's degree in crop production from the National University of Rwanda and an MBA in Agribusiness from Symbiosis International University (SIU) in India. He also holds a Data Science for Business certificate conferred on him by Harvard Business School.

In his spare time, Celestin watches football matches or Basketball games.