Leading Urban Change Lab from Germany and Kenya — working together to connect ideas with craftsmanship across continents.
Jochen Baumeister is the founder of Urban Change Lab. He is an entrepreneur and consultant with over 25 years of experience. He studied urban planning at the University of Dortmund and is a trained electronics technician, which helps him understand the challenges faced by local artisans. Jochen lives between Berlin and Nairobi and is married to a Kenyan neurologist, giving him deep insights into Kenyan society. His vision is for a sustainable, anti-racist, and just world — and that’s what he works toward through Urban Change Lab.
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Victoria Achieng Odhiambo is a mechanical engineer (BSc, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology). She is the Local Operations Manager at Urban Change Lab in Kenya and ensures smooth project coordination and communication between artisans and clients. With a strong technical background and a deep understanding of local production, Victoria plays a key role in turning ideas into high-quality custom-made products.
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Imagine that every purchase you make has the power not only to enrich your life, but also to change the life of someone thousands of miles away. That’s the magic of the Urban Change Lab. A platform that connects not just continents, but hearts.
It’s a place where every transaction has a deeper meaning. It’s about relationships, understanding other cultures and celebrating the diversity that makes our world so wonderful
Every product bears the signature of someone with vision and skill. In a world drifting apart, it allows us to build bridges and promote understanding. Join us on this wonderful journey and let’s change the world together, not just with words, but with actions.
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The Artisans
The Advisory Board
Sina works for the German Development Cooperation and is currently stationed in Nigeria, working as an advisor in the area of Good Financial Governance. Prior to that she was with GIZ in Nigeria supporting the Nigerian Government in improving the Business Enabling Environment and supporting Local Economic Development. Like Jochen she holds a degree in Urban Planning and a post graduate degree in international development cooperation from the SLE in Berlin.
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Michael is one of the four co-founders of the International Green Party movement & has a Doctorate in European Environmental Planning & Property Development. Born in Coventry, he ‘grew up on the tools’ as an apprentice carpenter & builder & was educated at Warwick School, Loughborough, Coventry, & Newcastle Universities. As visiting Professor of Civil & Construction Engineering Research with the University of Wales, Newport he promoted environmental ‘eco’ construction issues. He is MD of specialist timber frame engineers, Benfield ATT Group.
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Archana Golla is a psychoanalyst based in Berlin. Processes around “encounters at eye level”, especially in the context of different skin colours, have shaped her work since 2012, mentioned in the publication “From segregation and assimilation to a multicultural society“. In the Urban Change Lab, she pays attention to the places where power disparities unconsciously arise from internalised whiteness and internalised serventality. The conscious confrontation with internalised racism can provide the craftsman and -women with negotiating skills, the client with a broader perspective, the team with an emancipatory (learning from mistakes and avoiding them) approach and a step towards a more socially equal world.
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Valerie Baumeister is a medical doctor in neurology, educated and practicing in Berlin, Germany. She grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. Driven by the interactions between traders and customers, she understands the benefits of fair trading and the resultant advantages in terms of quality for the customers and the profit for the artisans. Her market experience with the arts market in Kenya has helped bring a particular insight into the day to day interaction between customers and artisan. She acts as the sounding board to avoid falling into the “Danger of a single story” on a day to day consultancy with Jochen.
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