Anton Cartwright is an economist focussed on Africa’s urban transition, infrastructure and services, green finance, environmental degradation and poverty alleviation and the implication of these issues for the discipline of economics itself. He has post-graduate degrees in Economics and Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
He is the founding Director of Credible Carbon South Africa's first voluntary carbon market registry and a candidate registry for the Department of Minerals and Energy’s Domestic Carbon Standard.
Gary is the author of the WWF publication on electromobility “Plugged In: The End of the Oil Age”. He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Liverpool and has been a season ticket holder with Liverpool F.C. since 1991.
He is affiliated to the African Centre Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town and a Fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and Cambridge University (UK). He led the New Climate Economy’s Special Initiative, the Coalition for Urban Transition’s, and in this capacity established and runs the Tanzanian Urbanisation Laboratory in Dar es Salaam and the Ghana Urbanisation Think Tank and advised local and national governments in the respective countries on infrastructure procurement programmes.
He was a lead author on Chapter 4 of the IPCC’s Special Report on of 1.5°C of warming released in 2018 and a Contributing Author to Chapter 6 of the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report (WG2).
Elspeth worked for Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) from 2008 until she retired in 2021. She was responsible for designing and delivering CISL’s education work in South Africa. In addition to customised work with various organisations, she directed the CISL Sustainability Practitioner Programme and the Business and Sustainability Programme in South Africa. She was a tutor on CISL’s Post Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business, Head Tutor on the Online Business and Sustainability Management and currently Co Convenor and Head tutor on CISL’s online programme Business and Social Justice. Elspeth’s passion is preparing current and future leaders for a very different future through “curated” learning experiences. Elspeth is Chair of the Board of Sustainability Matters an NPO that works to prepare young South Africans for this different future and a member of the Just Share Board a shareholder activist NPO in South Africa.
Elspeth’s interest in Sustainability, Well Being & Human Development comes from her science background when she studied Zoology, Biochemistry for a BSc at the University of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Therapeutic Dietetics and much later on in life an MBA from University of Cape Town.
Khanyi Mlambo is passionate about driving sustainability and shared value principles for businesses to purposefully pursue sustainable growth while positively impacting customers, society, and the environment. She is the MD of KM ESH consulting, an Independent Sustainability Consultant, a Facilitator, a Transformational Executive Coach, and a Speaker. Her career spans over 30 years across multinational businesses, including Old Mutual as Head of Responsible Business, Standard Bank Group, and Corobrik, as an Executive Director and Board member.
She is a Non-Executive Director at Nozala Investment Trust, the Southern African HIV and Aids Collaboration (SAHAC) and Legacy Africa Publishing (LAP). She is a Committee Member of the Institute of Directors SA (Social and Ethics Committee), an associate of the Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI), and a Senior Associate at Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership. She is a previous Board Member of the UN Global Compact SA Network, the National Business Initiative (NBI), Motheo Construction Group – Chair of SEEC, South African Women in Construction – Chair, Construction Industry Development Board.
She holds an Honors in Psychology, a Bachelor’s in Applied Social Sciences, a National Diploma in Architecture, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management. She attained certificates in Business Management (UCT) and Executive General Management (GIBS) and attended Cambridge's CISL Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme. She is a master’s degree in Community Psychology candidate.
She co-founded and Chaired the South African Women in Construction (SAWIC) and is key in assisting stakeholders in collaborative efforts to deliver the UN's sustainable development goals.
Susan is deeply passionate about and committed to embedding sustainability thinking, practice, and authentic communications into business, education, and policy towards creating a world where we care about each other and our shared future. She is Managing Director, Responsible Business Consulting. Prior to consulting, Susan was Head, Sustainability & Community Engagement, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya. Before this, she worked with Unilever as Head of Corporate Affairs, East Africa and prior to that with DHL Express as Head of Marketing & Communications East Africa. She has held various management roles with DHL in corporate responsibility and communications in Europe and Asia. Susan also worked with CSR Europe, Europe’s leading business network for CSR, as Senior Programmes Manager leading CSR services delivery, project design and management for CSR Europe’s members.
She has over 20 years’ experience working with multinationals in Africa, Asia and Europe in sustainability and communications. Susan has worked in various leadership and management roles, driving national and regional sustainability strategy, programme delivery, multi-stakeholder partnerships, employee engagement and volunteering, external and internal communications, and crisis communications.
Susan is also an Executive Fellow at Strathmore University, Strathmore Business School, Kenya, and an alumna of the CISL Prince of Wales Business & Sustainability Programme, Stellenbosch.
She holds an Msc. Sustainable Development, with the University of London, SOAS. A bachelor’s degree in business management from Daystar University, Kenya, a Charted Institute of Marketing Diploma in Marketing Communications, a Public Relations Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Sibusiso is the Africa programme manager at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Prior to joining CISL, Sibusiso worked in political polling at Afrobarometer. He has experience with a diverse background spanning media, academia, and think tanks. He held key roles at Afrobarometer, focusing on strategic partnerships, communications, and research. A major part of his work focused on the African Union.
Beginning his career in journalism, Sibusiso worked with reputable publications such as Cape Times, Cape Argus, and The Sunday Independent. His transition into research led him to contribute to notable think tanks like Good Governance Africa and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.
Actively engaged in academia, Sibusiso has served on the management committee of the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa at the University of Cape Town (UCT). As a visiting academic at UCT’s Centre for Social Science Research, he delivered guest lectures on politics, media and history across various departments. He is an alumnus of UCT’s Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative.
Furthermore, he contributes to the Western Cape Archives and Records Service Advisory Committee and has an extensive record of presentations to governments and intergovernmental organizations across the globe (Africa, Asia, Europe and North America).
He completed his education at the universities of Stellenbosch, the Witwatersrand and Cape Town.
Professor Richard Calland came to South Africa in 1994 to work on a voluntary basis for the ANC’s election campaign, following seven years as a barrister in London. He stayed in South Africa in order to take a position at democracy thinktank Idasa, to head a new parliamentary monitoring and information service during the heady days of the first democratic parliament. In due course he founded or co-founded a number of organisations including the Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG), the Open Democracy Advice Centre and CASAC – the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution on whose advisory council he still serves.
Following 16 years based at the University of Cape Town as an Associate Professor in Constitutional Law from 2007-2023, he is now Emeritus Associate Law –– and a Visiting Adjunct Professor at the University of Witwatersrand School of Governance. Since 2022, he has led the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)’s new Board Leadership programme and in mid-2023 was appointed as Director of CISL’s new Africa programme, from its South African office.
A prominent political analyst, and a columnist for the Mail & Guardian newspaper in South Africa since 2001, his latest book – The Presidents: From Mandela to Ramaphosa, Leadership in The Age of Crisis – was published in late 2022. Earlier books include Anatomy of South Africa: Who holds the power? (2006), The Zuma Years (2012) and Make or Break: How the next three years will shape South Africa’s next three decades (2016).
Flamingo Sanitation Solutions was started by Talitha Bertelsmann-Scott, a resident of Milnerton, during the COVID lockdown period. Talitha is a well-recognised researcher and monitoring and evaluation expert, both in the field of international trade policy and aid projects. She most recently held the position of Programme Head of the Economic Diplomacy Programme and the Regional Futures Observatory at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
She has published in many books, in journals, research papers and donor reports and has spoken at several international conferences, including at the Think Tank20 meetings that form part of the G20 process. Through more than twenty years’ experience of observing what works and what does not work she has developed the ambition to work closer to the ground and to be part of the solutions South Africa is seeking, rather than commenting and developing policy for governments in Africa that take a long time to show results. She holds an MA in Political Science and an MPhil in Economic Policy.
Talitha is an avid reader and recently found empirical evidence that cats are by far the best therapy for lock-down blues.
David Farrell is a founding partner and the CEO of Blue North Sustainability, a specialist sustainability consulting practice based in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He has worked in the agricultural sector in South Africa for more than twenty years with the last thirteen years focussed on sustainability in farming systems and agri-supply-chains. He founded Blue North in 2011 and has been involved in a wide range of projects and activities towards improving the sustainability of the sector, including the development of the content of the Sustainable Fruit Initiative (SFI), which has become the Environmental Standard of the sustainability program for the South African fruit industry (SIZA). Blue North also runs the Confronting Climate Change Initiative (CCC) on behalf of the fruit and wine sectors and manages the implementation of FruitLook, a satellite based remote sensing solution funded by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and made available to all farmers in the Western Cape Province. David has a B.Sc. Agriculture (Horticultural Science) and a master’s in business administration (MBA) and is a Senior Associate and member of faculty of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).
Dr Gary Kendall has been working at the intersection of business strategy and systemic risk for well over a decade. He spent 8 years with Nedbank until early 2022, driving culture change and purpose fulfilment. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) in Cape Town for 3 years, helping business leaders in Southern Africa to understand the mounting system pressures that will reshape their operating context.
Gary previously served as Executive Director at SustainAbility, a hybrid think-tank and strategy consultancy based in London, where he advised numerous blue-chip organisations - including Ford, Shell, Nestlé, Novo Nordisk, Anglo American, A.P. Moller-Maersk and Sasol – on how to strengthen their business strategies with enhanced systems intelligence. His career in sustainable development began when he joined WWF International’s Climate & Energy team in 2006, which followed 9 years in the downstream oil industry with ExxonMobil, spanning diverse roles from technical services to sales, marketing and business development. Working across Europe, the US and Asia offered Gary first-hand insight to the strategic challenges faced by one of the economy’s most important yet problematic sectors.
Gary is the author of the WWF publication on electromobility “Plugged In: The End of the Oil Age”. He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Liverpool and has been a season ticket holder with Liverpool F.C. since 1991.
Nicola is co-founder and director of Incite, a small, shared value advisory and coaching company operating in SA and across emerging markets world-wide. She works with organisations, teams and individuals, primarily as a shared value strategy advisor and systemic coach. Nicola’s sustainability approach is informed by complex adaptive systems theory and its correlates in pre-industrial African traditions and contemporary wilderness work. Nicola’s formal education includes a BSc (Hons) from University of Cape Town (1989) and an MSc in Industrial Ecology from Yale (1994). Current work: Nicola continues to advise and coach change-makers in sustainability, with a particular focus on resilience and profit-led social impact. She uses systemic processes to help teams untangle barriers to implementation. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She is presently working with the Sea Change Project to pilot a nature-based innovation process that draws on the insights of highly diverse groups. Current clients include Discovery (financial), Oceana (fishing), The Foschini Group (retail), AECI Group (chemicals), Impala Platinum (mining) Recent clients include: Woolworths, Telkom Group, Mondi SA Forests (corporate); GIZ, Zambia Business in Development (development agencies); and WWF-SA, Action Volunteers Africa (not-for-profit). Nicola is a mother and an avid free diver. She lives in Cape Town, a few minutes from the Great African Sea-Forest.
Himkaar was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and grew up in Johannesburg. He studied a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering at Wits University from 2011 to 2015, with his 3rd and 4th years being sponsored by an engineering company due to his outstanding performance.
After graduating, he worked an WSP engineering consultants where he designed roads and stormwater systems, with always keeping a keen interest in water projects. While working, WSP sponsored further postgraduate studies where Himkaar completed a Graduate Diploma in Engineering at Wits in 2017.
Also in 2017, Himkaar was seconded to work for Tongaat Hulett Developments in Durban for 5 months. During this time Himkaar developed a state-of- the-art business analytics and management dashboard for THD using Microsoft Power BI.
After completing the secondment in Durban, Himkaar resigned and moved to Germany to study a Masters in Integrated Water Resource Management. As part of the degree, he lived in Germany for 5 months, then Vietnam for 5 months, followed by 5 months in Jordan. He completed the degree in 2019. After returning to South Africa, Himkaar founded The Compost Kitchen in April 2019 with the aim of repairing the soil of South Africa so that its water security can be improved.
Due to Himkaar’s demonstration of integrity, energy and intelligence, in 2021 Himkaar was voted to the board of Dainfern Golf Estate, which has a budget of R70 million, and houses some of the most influential people in South Africa. He is the youngest ever board member of the estate.
Himkaar has shown every sign of great potential and is a leader, visionary and inspiration.
Anastashia has 5 years' experience in the corporate sustainability space. Previously, her role focused on environmental auditing. Currently, her role is focused on carbon footprint calculations, increasing staff awareness and incorporating sustainability solutions/ideas into the business, working on and developing sustainability strategy and improving our ability to screen clients and assist them in the Just Transition.
A follower of passions & curiosity, Jaco completed a BSc Biotech Hons in Malarial drug development & MSc Chem Eng (Biodiesel production). He enjoyed life as a R&D scientist in medical devices, cosmetics and later agriculture. Jaco felt the need to shift gears and pursued an MBA abroad. Upon his return, in the midst of Covid-19, he pursued his own venture in consulting, focusing on sustainable product manufacturing and business models before finally joining Kearney as a management consultant in the general practice, but with an association with sustainability.
Rene has been appointed as Enablement Manager in Group Sustainability team. Previously she was Business Manager to Heads of Group Corporate Citizenship, Operational and Market Risk. Part of her role is to enable her team to achieve strategic goals and objectives, some of which include meeting reporting requirements to indices, annual reporting, internal communications plan and project management in addition to providing support to the Executive.
Joanne graduated with a BSc Honours in Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences prior to that. She has a passion for sustainability, wildlife conservation and nature. She previously worked at EY South Africa as an Assistant Manager in the Climate Change & Sustainability department. And prior to that at African Parks for four years. She is currently working in the Investec Group Sustainability team.
Chris is moving into a group sustainability function for Virgin Active and would like to join the seminar to ensure he is better prepared for his new role. Currently he is the Safety and Facilities Director that include managing utility consumption which contributes to their scope 2 reporting.
Katrin holds a degree in BA (Hons) Business Studies with German (Stirling University, Scotland) and an MSc in Environmental Management (University of Hong Kong).
Katrin has lived and worked in several countries, including the UK, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, USA, South Africa and Zimbabwe. She was an account manager while living and working in the UK. She completed an internship at UNESCO’s Education for Sustainability Development (ESD) unit for the Asia Pacific region whilst living and working in Bangkok, Thailand in 2007. Katrin worked for the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), while living in Johannesburg, where her task was to assist the NGO with its watchdog role of ensuring the environmental impact assessment process was carried out correctly within the fast growing metropole of Gauteng Province. Katrin moved to Zimbabwe in 2015 where she worked for a number of years as a strategic alliance coordinator for international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
Katrin took on the role of lead consultant for the sustainability division of Black Crystal Consulting, an environmental consultancy based in Harare, Zimbabwe in 2017. As project manager, with the support of a team of environment, social scientist and ecologist experts, provides hands-on advice to VFEX listed clients on the sustainability of their operations. This includes collating ESG data and compiling quarterly and annual sustainability reports. Clients range from Zimbabwe’s largest listed company (Innscor) to a major listed crocodile farm to a gold mine. Katrin has completed several GRI sustainability reporting courses as well as the Integrated Reporting Course (IIRC) in Johannesburg.
Personal interest: In 2010 Katrin attended a year’s (part-time) course to become a field guide, learning about Southern Africa’s fauna and flora as well as geology, astronomy and weather. Through the course she also gained her Field Guide Association of South Africa (FGASA) Level 1 (NQF 3).
Matthew works as a Manager at Kearney, a global Management Consulting firm. He is passionate about crafting innovative strategies alongside their clients to drive organisation-wide transformations and sustainable development. He helps clients in the public and private sectors to accelerate their strategy development and create tangible value with collaborative implementation. Over the course of his career, Matthew has worked with a range of companies in the transport, chemicals, oil and gas, and retail industries assisting clients to drive savings and improve operations efficiencies. Recently, he has taken on a leading role in their Johannesburg office to drive their sustainability focused engagements and help clients with their most pressing ESG and sustainability questions. Matthew has also led their local Social Impact and Sustainability committee for the past 5 years.
Jennifer is an Environmental Engineer with 7 years of experience, currently Sustainability and Communication Specialist at CCSM. My expertise covers corporate Social responsibility activities: ESG projects, sustainability projects, communication, and environmental consultancy (EIA, EIS, EMP etc).
Rediet is a sustainability and CSR professional with a background in electrical engineering and business leadership. She has been working as Sustainability Affairs Manager for the past 2+ years, driving Coca-Cola Beverages Africa's commitment towards a better continent through various sustainability pillars.
For the past 10 years through a business partnership approach, Omphile’s roles have always been geared towards providing best practice, integrated strategic sustainability, communications, and corporate affairs support to the organisations he has worked for, helping them to execute against their business objectives. In his roles he would support the organisations he served in meeting business goals through integrating their business values with their role in society and thus contributing to shared value, scaling up the force for good through strategic partnerships and driving both internal and external marketing communications.
Victor started his career as a Projects Supervisor in Engineering under Manufacturing at Coca-Cola Beverages Africa - Kenya and transitioned to Public Affairs Communications and Sustainability department in 2019 where he held the role of PET Recycling Project Coordinator for the Kenyan business. Victor’s role was to deliver on the World Without Waste Initiative goals for CCBA in Kenya, which included designing and implementing PET bottles recycling projects. He transitioned to his current role, Sustainability Coordinator, in January 2022, which expanded his scope to cover water replenishment, economic inclusion, local sourcing and decarbonisation, as well as waste management pillars of sustainability.
Lukhanyiso has over 14 years' experience in financial services across South Africa and global organisations. He is currently the COO for Investment Banking at Nedbank CIB, responsible for establishing and maintaining effective and efficient business infrastructure, ensuring compliance with governance, operational, performance, sustainability, and regulatory risk frameworks. This also includes digital enhancements, portfolio optimisation projects. Previous roles include Head of Markets enablement, Regional Business Manager for Transaction Banking, Americas and Global Correspondent Banking at Standard Chartered Bank in New York. Other previous employers include Standard Chartered AME, Allan Gray, Alexander Forbes and RMB.
Lukhanyiso holds a BCom Accounting degree from NMU, Management Programmes from Harvard Business School and University of Stellenbosch; Executive Leadership Programme from Oxford and is currently an MBA candidate with the University of East London, UK. Outside work, Lukhanyiso was selected in the 2019 M&G Top 200 Young South African cohort. He also enjoys travelling, golf, hosting braais and offering mentorship/academic programs that equip young talent for success.
Mmabo is a sustainability analyst with over 7 years of experience in the field. She has a passion for social justice and guiding businesses towards a more sustainable future. Mmabo has worked within the financial services industry to promote sustainable practices. She has a degree in Industrial Psychology from The University of Johannesburg and has completed several courses in Business Sustainability Management, and international sustainability guidelines and standards. As a sustainability analyst, she has been responsible for coordinating the development of annual sustainability reports in alignment with global sustainability reporting standards and internal sustainability reports for board on a quarterly basis, identifying ESG and sustainability areas for improvement, and offering solutions. Mmabo has also developed and implemented sustainability initiatives that increase awareness of ESG and sustainable practices within the business. She is a highly motivated individual who is passionate about making a difference in the world. She is committed to promoting sustainable practices and have a deep understanding of the challenges facing the world today. Mmabo is a team player who can work collaboratively with others to achieve common goals.
Musandiwa’s current role is design to try and get efficiencies within risk, to get the mundane work out of the way so risk experts can focus on managing risk for the organisation. He is also involved in the reporting and management of climate risk. Musandiwa spent the first 12 years of his career as quantitative analyst specialising in capital and impairments modelling.
Genevieve has 20 years’ experience in the property industry and started her career at Nedbank in the graduate programme. She returned to Nedbank after honing her skills at Standard Bank CIB where she was Executive Head: Real Estate Credit Risk for South Africa and Rest of Africa. In this position, she was also responsible for the Project Management and Commercial Property Valuations divisions, building Valuation and Project Management platforms across geographies in Africa.
Her experience spans South Africa and other African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique. She has a BSc (Hons) in quantity surveying from the University of Natal and a BCom in risk management from UNISA. She also has completed an executive leadership course through INSEAD. A qualified Quantity Surveyor, she served on the market advisory SA Board of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and was SA national chairperson of the Women’s Property Network in 2015-2016, an organisation focused on developing and transforming the Property Industry in SA. In this role, her key objectives were providing bursaries for female students pursuing property related degrees as well as acknowledging outstanding women in Property through the Women in Property Awards.
Kevindran is currently employed as the Head of ERM and Assurance within Nedbank CIB with the main focus on Risk / Compliance management within the custody division of CIB. He previously looked after operational risk for the Property Finance and support areas within CIB including finance risk and compliance. He has over 15 years of risk management and both internal and external audit experience, including SOX implementation across some of the biggest companies in South Africa .
Maruping is a highly experienced Public Affairs and Regulatory Compliance Manager with a wealth of experience in regulatory matters, stakeholder relations and communications in both private sector and in the government. He recently joined the Sustainability team, leading and supporting the CCBA Markets with Economic Inclusion programmes, as well as with strong focus on strategic planning, and business development and Corporate Social Investment.
He has a B. Juris law and LLB Degree and recently upskilled himself with a short learning programme in Compliance Management (PGDIP) with the University of Johannesburg. Maruping is currently in the FMCG industry at Coca- Cola beverages Africa, serving as the group Lead Stakeholder Relations and partnerships. Prior to this role he had an opportunity to be part of the newly formed Liquor Business unit - Regulatory affairs and stakeholder relations. Former designations within SAB prove strong adaptability and a diversity of skills. His roles include Regulatory Affairs Specialist, License to Trade Specialist, Sales Manager, Corporate Affairs Specialist, and Market Development Consultant, involved deep engagement with internal and external stakeholders as well as government and legislative authorities. He also served in the Aviation space as Senior Stakeholder Relations consultant. Before joining Coca-Cola, Maruping as a specialist in Regulatory Compliance held a position of corporate affairs and communications Manager in the Tobacco industry.
Ekeh Romain is a dedicated professional with over three years of experience as a Technical Manager at the Ministry of Water and Energy in Cameroon. Alongside his role in the public sector, he serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of a Cameroonian startup specialising in the Sustainable Built Environment. With his expertise as a Green Building specialist and accreditation as an EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) expert by the World Bank, he is deeply committed to promoting sustainable practices in the construction industry. Throughout his career, Ekeh Andre Romain has demonstrated a strong passion for sustainability and environmental stewardship. His involvement in various projects and initiatives has allowed him to develop a profound understanding of green building principles and the EDGE certification system. As an accomplished professional, he combines his technical knowledge and leadership skills to drive sustainable development in Cameroon's built environment.
Lerato obtained a BSc in environmental sciences from the Wits University and thereafter spent two years in the Marketing department of an insurance company, focusing internal communications within the organisation and strategic partnerships with other organisations to drive awareness and the uptake of insurance products and awareness. She then joined the Sustainability Services Team at KPMG in 2019 and was there for 4.5 years delivering on audit and advisory projects for clients across different industries. She recently joined Old Mutual Limited as a Sustainability Group Analyst and have spent the last 7 months learning about the interpretation, ESG incorporation requirements in the Financial Services industry.
As a sustainability management trainee, Rivoni is deeply passionate about driving positive environmental and social change within organisations. With a background in environmental science and sustainability management, he possess a strong foundation in sustainability principles, including resource conservation, waste reduction, and corporate social responsibility. Throughout his academic and professional experiences, he has honed his skills in data analysis, project management, and stakeholder engagement, equipping him to effectively support sustainability initiatives and drive continuous improvement. Eager to contribute his knowledge and enthusiasm, Rivoni is committed to learning and growing as a sustainability professional, striving to make meaningful contributions towards a more sustainable and equitable future.
Amith is a chartered accountant with a master’s degree. He heads up the Energy Finance Team responsible for transacting in all renewable energy projects in Africa. He has more than 2 decades experience in the African energy sector.
Dr Thuli Tabudi is the National Human Resources Executive for The SPAR Group, a listed and international organisation and is a member of the Executive Committee. She did a Secretarial Diploma and whilst working as a secretary, enrolled with UNISA and completed a BAdmin degree and the BAdmin (Honours) postgraduate qualification. She completed her Masters and PhD degrees at the University of Johannesburg. Her thesis was an autoethnographic one focusing on her experience and is entitled: Rose or Thorn? A black female manager’s account of working in a male-dominated environment.
She worked for various blue-chip organisations before joining The SPAR Group in 1999. She has held positions of HR Manager, Divisional HR Director before serving in her current position being promoted to her current position as the National HR Executive. She has extensive experience in the Human Resources field in areas such as Organisational Development, Training and Development, Strategy, Employee Benefits, Transformation, Change Management, and Employee Relations. She served in the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) Board representing organised business and is a qualified Integral Coach. She currently serves as a Trustee on the Durban University of Technology and the FutureMe Foundations. In 2020 she was one of the nominees for the CHRO awards, which recognise HR excellence in South Africa. She contributed a chapter in a best-selling HR book called New Age Agenda entitled “Increasing Social Capital Through Employee Engagement, Employee Experience and Belonging: The SPAR Ltd story”. In 2023 she published a book called Inspirational Leadership: Leadership Lessons from Kilimanjaro.
Isra is an international development professional with 9 years of experience in humanitarian aid and sustainable development in leading donor agencies in the GCC. She is from Sudan, and hence her passion for social impact is not stemming from vacuum but from witnessing firsthand what "left behind" signifies and what sustainable development entails.
Vandana is currently engaged as a Business Origination Advisor in the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) program, developing a pipeline of innovative water and sustainable land use projects that are bankable in Sub-Saharan Africa. She advise companies on their sustainability strategy and adoption - getting to net zero, promoting inclusivity, building a circular economy, adopting a nature positive strategy, creating sustainable supply chains etc., with a particular focus on the critical agriculture, energy, and water sectors. She is also a mentor at Katapult Africa Accelerator Program and serve on the board of Aqua Clara, a social enterprise providing clean drinking water to Kenyans. Overall, Vandana has over 20 years of development and management experience spanning multiple geographies and sectors. On a personal note, She enjoys reading and is particularly fascinated by science, technology, and psychology. Vandana considers herself a globetrotter with a passion for diverse cultures.
Leoni is a seasoned risk professional with just on 30 years financial sector experience, ranging from finance to regulatory to risk and the last 3 years ESG and climate risk. She has recently taken on a new role as the head of environmental and climate risk governance for FirstRand bank.
Alice is a seasoned finance professional with over 10 years’ experience in business management and finance. She heads finance and ESG at IX Africa. Her experience cuts across manufacturing, audit, banking, retail, and technology industries. Alice is passionate about business performance and organisational impact.
Jana van Rooijen joined Momentum Investments in February 2005. She has a broad range of experience after 18 years in the investment field. Her previous roles include performance analyst, investment analyst and portfolio management. She also served as a trustee on retirement funds. Jana is a responsible investments specialist, focusing on the overall approach to responsible investment in terms of strategy. She advocates responsible investment activities across the business and is involved in the policy development, research, reporting as well as structure of the sustainable development goals framework. She holds a BCom Investment Management degree from the University of Johannesburg.
As a Communication and Sustainability Coordinator, Judith has embarked on a journey that intertwined her passion for communication and sustainability. She has spent the past three years leveraging her expertise in communications and sustainability to drive positive change within the business. With a background in both communication and sustainability, Judith is dedicated to promoting transparency, accountability, and innovation in operations, ultimately contributing to CCBA Namibia's mission of creating a more sustainable future for all.
