Co-founder & CEO: Development Partners International (“DPI”)
Runa Alam
Runa Alam is the co-founder and CEO of Development Partners International (“DPI”). DPI is a leading private equity firm investing throughout Africa, and manages $1.7 billion in three funds, African Development Partners I (“ADP I”), ADP II and ADP III. ADP I and ADP II are Cambridge benchmarked top quartile Africa funds. The ADP funds have won numerous awards and been commended both for delivering top returns to investors while delivering top levels of ES&G and impact work. DPI is a gender balanced firm and seeks to focus its impact work in three buckets: Gender Balance, Climate Change, and Job Creation and Enhancement. The firm has also been chosen as the first “Gender Balance Showcase fund” by the OECD country development institutions.
Runa has more than 35 years of private equity, emerging market management and investment banking experience. She has invested in Africa for 22 years. She serves on the Boards of many African companies. She has contributed to the development of private equity in Africa as a former Chair of AVCA (the African Private Equity Association), Chair of the AVCA Sustainability Committee, and a Vice Chair and Africa Council Member of EMPEA (the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association). Ms. Alam is also on the board of CARE, and on a Future Challenge Committee of the World Economic Forum on “Investing with the UN SDGs.”
Ms. Alam has contributed to efforts in education and development through her written and pro bono work. She sat on the advisory committees at Princeton and Yale Universities and was formerly an Advisory Council member of MIDA (Mobilizing Institutional Investors to Develop Africa’s Infrastructure), NASP-USAID Investment Partnership, and USAID’s Private Sector Partners Committee.
Ms. Alam started her career on Wall Street working for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. She is a development economist and is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. She is a Harry S. Truman Congressional Scholar.
Managing Director: Business Partners Limited
Ben Bierman
Ben Bierman is the Managing Director at Business Partners Limited.
Business Partners this year celebrates 40 years of supporting and developing SME entrepreneurs in South Africa and on the African continent through investment (debt, quasi-equity and equity), technical assistance and the provision of commercial premises.
Prior to assuming the responsibility of the Managing Director, he served as Chief Financial Officer of the organisation during which time he was closely involved in the establishment and expansion of Business Partners into Southern and East African countries. He serves on a number of investment (credit) committees, boards and subcommittees within the Group.
Ben earned a B Com (Honours) degree from Stellenbosch University, qualified as Chartered Global Management Accountant and earned a Higher Diploma in Taxation from the University of the Witwatersrand. In 2015 he attended the Advanced Management Program (AMP 189) at Harvard University.
CEO: TradeOn – a KFC Franchisee
Fourie Bornman
Fourie Bornman CA (SA), articles completed with Deloitte, studied through UJ (RAU) & UNISA.
Worked in several multi-nationals, including Deloitte, Bausch & Lomb and Yum Brands, locally and across the globe in New York, London and Singapore. Current role is best supported by the experience gained of 10 years at Yum Brands, the world's biggest restaurant company in terms of number of outlets, with world renowned brands like KFC, Pizza Hut & Taco Bell in their stable. During my tenure at Yum I worked in several roles, across multiple functions, and in various markets. Some of the roles fulfilled locally included Planning & Strategy Director KFC Africa, Operations Director KFC New Africa Markets and KFC Equity Director South Africa – overseeing the then nearly 100 KFC corporate owned restaurants. My last role with Yum Brands was in Asia, with 3'400 KFC's across 14 different markets, where I was the KFC Asia Operations Director, based in Singapore.
I jumped the fence from Franchisor to Franchisee 3 years ago, to partner with Sanlam Private Equity in acquiring 28 restaurants in 2 provinces. We have since grown to 34 restaurants in 3 provinces, with 3 more new restaurants in the pipeline for this year, and looking to expand further through strategic acquisitions and organic growth.
Professor: Gordon Institute of Business Science
Prof Nick Binedell
Professor Nick Binedell is a professor in the area of strategy and leadership at the Gordon Institute of Business Science of the University of Pretoria.
He was the founding Dean of GIBS (2000-2015).
After a career in business, including a period as a general manager, he began an academic path. He completed his PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle.
He was invited to establish a new business school for the University of Pretoria to be based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His mandate was to establish a world class business school that would meet the needs of the 21st century for South African business and business leaders.
Professor Binedell’s key area of interest is in the area of strategic leadership with particular focus on strategy in complex environments. He is a frequent public speaker in South Africa and abroad, is a visiting lecturer at the Rotterdam School of Management (for the past 18 years) and has been a consultant to companies in South Africa and internationally. He was recently a visiting Professor at London Business School.
In June 2015 the Academy of International Business elected him as global Business Educator of the year.
Founder of Responsible Finance Initiative: Gordon Institute of Business Science
Anne Cabot-Alletzhauser
Anne is the Practice Director and Co-Founder of the Responsible Finance Initiative at the Gordon Institute of Business Sciences. It’s a role that perfectly combines her professional skills: 40 years in asset management and finance - with her academic training and passion: Developmental Anthropology. The question she has been grappling with for the past 10 years is “How can we rethink finance and the financial services industry to create more meaningful outcomes for developing economies?” The Responsible Finance Initiative argues that there needs to be a radical shift in the structure of our capital markets and financial ecosystems if we are going to address the issues of inequality and social mobility head-on.
Before co-founding the RFI with Deslin Naidoo, Anne headed up the Alexander Forbes Research Institute – an initiative that looks at the full spectrum of savings, investment and wellness issues that confront South Africans in particular and Africans in general. The Institute was responsible for providing thought-leadership to the Alexander Forbes Group through its research publications: Benefits Barometer, Benefits Barometer Africa, and the Alexander Forbes Digital Thought Leadership Platform: research.alexanderforbes.com
Anne also spent 32 years managing pension fund assets in North America, Japan, the UK, Europe and South Africa. Global asset allocation, risk management and quantitative modelling were her focus. In 1992, she moved to South Africa and pioneered the development of the multi-manager management approach of pension fund management that has become the hallmark of that industry today.
Anne is a member of the global professional group, the CFA Institute and serves on its Future of Finance content advisory committee. She sits on the ASISA Social Security Standing Committee, the FTSE/JSE Index Advisory Council, the CFA South Africa Advisory Committee and the INSETA Research and Learning Committee.
She has produced a number of papers on the full value chain involved in social mobility and social protections. She has been a frequent speaker, both in South Africa and internationally, on topics ranging from investing for impact, pension reform, financial well-being, risk management, portfolio structuring, and the specific requirements of pension fund management. She has also lectured for the ASISA Institute, Wits Business School, University of Johannesburg, Gordon Institute of Business Studies, and the Actuarial Department at Wits.
In 2003 Anne published, A Trustee’s Guide to Investment Management (Butterworth).
As an academic, Anne has her M. A. in Developmental Anthropology from Columbia University, New York, an M.A.T from Simmons College, Boston, a BA. From Sarah Lawrence College, New York and a certificate in Impact Investing from the Graduate School of Business Cape Town.
Investment Programme Lead: President of South Africa’s Investment Mobilisation Programme
Dr Anthony Costa
Dr Anthony Costa is the Investment Programme Lead for the President of South Africa’s Investment Mobilisation Programme, based at the Industrial Development Corporation (on secondment from Nedbank). He has served in various roles in Nedbank and the broader Old Mutual Group for over 15 years, including most recently managing the relationship between Old Mutual plc and its subsidiaries in South Africa. Anthony holds BA(Hons) and LLB degrees from Wits, an MBA from GIBS, and a PhD in History from Trinity College, Cambridge. He is an admitted advocate and former member of the Johannesburg Bar.
Chief Executive Officer: Batseta Council of Retirement Funds for South Africa
Anne-Marie D’Alton
Anne-Marie D’Alton is the Chief Executive Officer of Batseta. Batseta is a non-profit organisation and professional body that promotes the interest of pension funds, its boards of trustees and principal officers. Armed with an MBA from the University of Pretoria and 20 odd years in the Department of Labour, she aims to take the Batseta to new heights of professionalism. "We want our members to be a step ahead when it comes to good governance," she says. Her passion for Batseta stems from the fact that it is a service organisation that cares about people and people development.
Anne-Marie also holds a BA Communication from the Rand Afrikaans University and completed a Personal Development Programme (Top of the class student) at the University at the Witwatersrand.
Anne-Marie served on the Insurances SETA board. She was a toastmaster at the Pretoria East Toastmasters Club. She is currently a council member on the Financial Sector Transformation Council. She also service on various retirement fund industry committees such as CRISA and Climate Risk Forum.
Design Lead on Impact Investment Wholesale Vehicle
Dr Susan de Witt
Dr Susan de Witt is leading the design and feasibility for an Impact Investment Wholesale Vehicle. She has been working as an Innovative Finance Senior Advisor at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town. During that time, she co-lead the secretariat for the GSG-affiliated “Impact Investing South Africa” which is responsible for market building across the capital spectrum in South Africa. In addition, she works closely with all levels of government to implement outcomes-based contracts and outcomes funds across sectors and is a recent fellow of the Oxford University Go-Lab Programme.
Prior to this she worked with the Social Investment and Finance Team in the UK Cabinet Office engaging with Social Impact Bonds specifically and social investment policy more broadly. She holds an MBA from the UCT Graduate School of Business and a BVSc from the University of Pretoria.
Head of Coursework: DEFIC | Lecturer
Xolisa Dhlamini
QUALIFICATIONS:
BCom (Wits) | BCom Hons (UNISA) | MPhil (UCT)
AREAS OF INTEREST:
Development Finance, Sustainable Responsible Investment, Impact Investment, Organisation of Capital Markets
Xolisa is a lecturer and the head of coursework in the Development Finance Centre. He is a Chartered Development Finance Analyst with over 13 years of professional experience in institutional investments. He is the lead research for African Investing for Impact Barometer; a publication which analyses the spectrum of investing for impact strategies (IFI) implemented by mainstream and private equity fund managers in East, West and Southern Africa.
Xolisa is the former head of the African Network of the UN-Supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI); a leading global organisation in the field of SRI. Prior to PRI, he held investment consulting/advisory roles at leading firms including Alexander Forbes, Absa Consultants & Actuaries as well as Independent Actuaries & Consultants.
Xolisa is a regular content advisor and speaker at pension and investment conference. He has spoken and worked with investment communities in countries such as Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria, Mauritius, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Xolisa is completing his PhD and supervises research by students in the MCom Programme at the UCT Graduate School of Business.
Director: Netflix Documentary “ My Octopus Teacher”
Pippa Ehrlich
Pippa Ehrlich is a natural history filmmaker and environmental journalist, specialising in the field of marine science and conservation. She has worked with some of the world’s top marine researchers and underwater photographers and edited the acclaimed photographic book Sea Change: Primal Joy and the Art of Underwater Tracking.
Pippa has been an avid freediver for more than a decade and has spent her last four years exploring the underwater forests of Cape Town and directing My Octopus Teacher – South Africa’s first Netflix Original documentary. The film has garnered attention from celebrities, conservationists and scientists all over the world and won the more than 15 international awards, including the prestigious Golden Panda and Grand Teton.
Pippa is a member of the Sea Change Project – a collective of divers, storytellers and scientists who are dedicated to connecting people to nature and protecting The Great African Seaforest.
My Octopus Teacher is Pippa’s first feature documentary.
CEO: FyreFem Managers
Cathy Goddard
Cathy is the CEO and founding partner in a South African-based BEE women-owned private equity fund manager FyreFem Fund Managers which was founded in 2017, a Category 2 FSCA-registered fund manager with a Fix and Build mandate and focus on SME’s, Gender and Jobs.
Cathy is a board member of the Southern African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (“SAVCA”) since September 2016. She is an Investment Committee member of Spear Capital, a Scandinavian-backed fund which provides growth capital funding of $2-10 million in Africa. Cathy is a registered Key Individual for Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) registration purposes and KI for Firebird and Spear Capital. Cathy is incubating two SA SME Fund funded venture capital firms for FSCA Compliance purposes i.e., Savant Technology and 4DI, both based in Cape Town.
Cathy is a strong originator and very active networker who has developed strong networks over her career. She was voted 5th in the 10 Power Women Shaping Africa’s Private Equity Market by AfkInsider.com in the Fall 2015 Edition of Women in Private Equity Awards.
Cathy is a registered senior business rescue practitioner and has experience in working with distressed assets and turnarounds. She completed the University of Pretoria’s first Certified Rescue Analyst course in 2016 and Impact Measurement and Management at the University of Cape Town’s Grad School of Business short course in 2019. Cathy is very interested in how to manage impact and gender issues in business rescue. Cathy is a member of the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Pract. Assoc, the Institute of Directors and PEWIN (Private Equity Women Investor Network).
Director: Signal Risk
Ronak Gopaldas
Ronak Gopaldas is a political economist, "pracademic", writer and speaker. His work focuses on the intersection of politics, economics and business in Africa. He is currently a Director at Signal Risk, a fellow at GIBS and the co-founder of Mindflux Training. He was previously the Head of Country Risk at Rand Merchant Bank, where he worked for almost a decade.
A prominent voice in print, radio and television in both the local and international media, Ronak has made frequent appearances on the likes of CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and CNBC Africa, and publishes regular opinion and analysis pieces. In addition to advising international governments on their Africa policies and strategies, he has also spoken at several of the world's top universities and at leading Africa-focused policy and business conferences as a moderator, panellist and keynote speaker.
Ronak is a 2019 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, an alumnus of the Asian Forum on Global Governance, as well as the young African Leadership Initiative. In 2016, he delivered a powerful TEDx talk entitled Embracing Africa: Beyond the Binaries. He also serves in a number of advisory roles, most notably the Institute of Security Studies' ENACT programme, which builds knowledge and skills to enhance Africa's response to transnational organised crime.
Head: Senior Investment Principal: Mergence Investment Managers
Kasief Isaacs
Kasief joined Mergence in February 2015 to bolster the private equity capabilities of the Private markets Investments team. He has a BCom (Hons) from the University of the Western Cape. He helped develop the Mergence Infrastructure & Development | Equity Fund where, as senior investment principal his focus is on infrastructure within the region.
With over 26 years of experience, Kasief is a qualified CA with a specific focus on energy, infrastructure and impact. Before joining Mergence, Kasief led PwC’s South African Renewable Energy practice and has advised developers and investors from South Africa, Spain, Italy, Germany, China and as well as the United States on the SA renewable energy market including participation in the REIPPP programme, project acquisitions, private PPAs, and BEE structuring and funding.
Regional Managing Director for Africa: U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
Vibhuti Jain
Vibhuti Jain joined U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) as Regional Managing Director for Africa in January 2020. As part of DFC’s focus on low-income and lower middle-income countries and increasing its development impact, Ms. Jain leads the agency’s on-the-ground presence in Africa from its regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prior to joining DFC, Ms. Jain was based in Pretoria, South Africa, where she led the project finance team of Power Africa, a U.S. Government energy generation and access program coordinated by USAID. In addition to her public sector work, Ms. Jain is an experienced corporate attorney, representing Fortune 500 companies in the financial services sector, and practicing law in New York and London. She also worked for a boutique investment banking firm in New York on transportation, energy, and other infrastructure transactions.
Ms. Jain holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
CEO: Climate Fund Managers
Andrew Johnstone
Chief Executive Officer of Climate Fund Managers | CEO of Sanlam InfraWorks | Founding member and Chairman of Phoenix Infraworks |
Andrew is an infrastructure, climate and blended finance specialist with over 30 years’ experience in the development of and investment in infrastructure and climate related assets in emerging markets. With expertise that spans due diligence, capital structuring, execution of investments, refinancing, asset management, disposals and exits, and the establishment and management of fund managers and project companies, Andrew is regarded internationally as being at the top of his field.
Andrew is the co-founder and CEO of Climate Fund Managers (CFM), the creator and manager of the world’s largest climate focused blended finance facilities – Climate Investor One and Climate Investor Two. Operating across Africa, South East Asia and Latin America, CFM is the leading practitioner in blended finance and a means to mobilise institutional capital into climate focused investments. With offices in Singapore, Cape Town and the Hague CFM develops and invests commercially in solar, wind, hydro, water treatment, desalination, waste to value, and ocean co-system assets.
Andrew is also the CE of Sanlam InfraWorks, the specialist infrastructure and climate asset management unit of the Sanlam Group, Africa’s largest non-banking financial institution, listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange and with global operation managing in excess of USD80 billion. Sanlam Infraworks seeks to leverage the funding power and on the ground presence of the Sanlam Group to deliver impact and investment return across the African continent.
Head of Education Investing: Old Mutual Alternative Investments
Kelly Joshua
BBusSc: Finance (Hons); MDevF: Development Finance
Kelly Joshua was appointed Head of the Education Team within the Impact Investing capability of Old Mutual Alternative Investments in 2020 after serving as an Asset Manager in the team for just over 6 years. She is responsible for the overall strategy, Fund raising and overseeing the deal origination, assets management and implementation within the education portfolio.
Kelly joined OMAI in August 2013 as an Investment Professional and then progressed to a Senior Investment Professional within the Education Investing team in October 2017. Since joining the team, Kelly’s work has included leading the execution of some of our most successful education investments within the country’s first and largest education impact fund, the Schools and Education Investment Impact Fund of South Africa (SEIIFSA). Kelly has also been instrumental in the successful launch of SEIIFSA’s successor fund, EduFund.
Prior to joining Old Mutual Investment Group, she was an Equity Analyst at Catalyst Fund Managers for six years, focusing on the South African listed property sector.
Kelly has over thirteen years of work experience in Asset Management, across both listed and unlisted assets.
Kelly has a Business Science Finance honours degree from UCT and holds a Master’s in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch Business School. She currently serves on eleven boards within the education portfolio.
Director: ENSafrica
Sanjay Kassen
Sanjay Kassen is an Executive in ENSafrica’s Corporate Commercial department, specialising in M&A, equity capital markets (“ECM”) and broad-based black economic empowerment (“BBBEE”). He advises a diverse range of listed and unlisted companies in local and international markets. Sanjay heads the firm’s ECM practice group and its BBBEE practice group and jointly heads its India practice group.
Sanjay’s experience includes advising clients on cross-border/multi-jurisdictional M&A transactions, securities dealings, initial public offerings, Johannesburg Stock Exchange listings (primary and secondary), domestic and international capital raisings, and BBBEE structuring and advisory.
Sanjay is recognised as a leading/recommended lawyer by:
- Chambers Global Guide 2020, 2019, 2018 –Capital Markets: Equity (South Africa)
- Client Choice Awards 2019, 2017 – General Corporate (South Africa)
- Best Lawyers® 2021, 2020, 2019 – Capital Markets (South Africa)
Deputy Principal Officer: Transport Sector Retirement Fund
Tebogo Kgosi
Tebogo Kgosi is the Deputy Principal Officer of the Transport Sector Retirement Fund (TSRF).
Tebogo holds a Bachelor Degree in Social Sciences from Nelson Mandela University. Following her initial B-degree, she completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning and Advanced Post-Graduate Diploma in Employee Benefits from Free State University.
Tebogo is currently completing an MBA with Henley Business School, while doing an Executive Principal Officer qualification with Batseta.
Tebogo has over 17 years' experience in retirement funds in various fiduciary positions amongst them Principal Officer, Trustee and Principal Consultant. She currently serves as an Advisory Committee Member for the Fund's Private Equity fund.
Partner: Actis
Natalie Kolbe
BComm, MBA, CFA
Natalie joined Actis in 2003. She was the Partner responsible for the South Africa and West African offices. In 2016 she took over as Head of Private Equity across all regions and sectors, encompassing LatAm, Africa and Asia.
Natalie started her investment management career at Investec Bank in 1999 where she was part of the team that established Investec Asset Management’s investor centre. In 2002 she joined Thebe Financial Services, a stock broker providing clients with dealing, research and portfolio management as a stock analyst.
In 2003, Natalie joined Actis and was a leading member of the deal teams who led the acquisition and portfolio management of Alexander Forbes, Paycorp, TekkieTown, Savcio, Tracker, Coricraft, MoukaFoam, Upstream and Vliscoand Sigma Pensions in Nigeria.
Type of experience:
Natalie joined Actis in 2003 as an investment associate and held several positions in the firm, including heading up the South and West Africa offices and latterly as Global Head of Private Equity. Experience includes originating and leading PE deals as well as running the global team at the fund level.
ABSIP President, Chairman: IDF Capital
Polo Leteka
Chairman and Founder - IDF Capital
Managing Partner and co-Founder – Alithea IDF Managers
Founder – I’M IN Accelerator
Polo Leteka is a highly accomplished and experienced entrepreneur and private equity investor. She is the Chairman and Founder of IDF Capital - a South African based entrepreneurial financier and advisory firm. Through IDF Capital, Polo has contributed towards channeling investments into women-owned SMEs across South Africa. In 2015, she co-founded Alitheia IDF Managers to continue investing in high growth businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa that are women owned and led. She was also part of South Africa’s version of the Dragons Den show and is co-Author of a book called “.....and for all these reasons, I’M IN.....”, which seeks to assist entrepreneurs to become investor ready.
Chairman of BlackRock Alternative Investors, EMEA
Tarek Mahmoud
Tarek Mahmoud is the Chairman of BlackRock Alternative Investors, EMEA and is a member of the BAI global leadership team and a member of the EMEA Executive Committee.
Prior to taking on his current responsibilities in September 2018, Mr Mahmoud was head of BlackRock's Trading & Liquidity Strategies Group (TLS) for the international region, comprising EMEA and APAC. He was responsible for overseeing the firm's Trading functions, as well as the Cash Management and Securities Lending businesses, in those regions. Also Mr. Mahmoud had global responsibility for the Capital Markets function within TLS.
Prior to joining BlackRock in 2014, Mr. Mahmoud ran Sovereignty Capital UK, a risk advisory and wealth management firm, which he founded in 2010. Previously, Mr. Mahmoud worked in several executive positions across capital markets, most recently at Bank of America where he was Head of EMEA Sales and EMEA Equities. Prior to joining Bank of America, Mr. Mahmoud held senior management roles at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Gen Re Financial Products, ING-Barings, and Banker's Trust.
Mr. Mahmoud earned a BA degree from Universite Aix-Marseilles in Economics in 1980 and a MBA degree from Babson College in 1983.
Chairman: Motor Industry Retirement Fund
Mantuka Maisela
Mantuka Maisela is a well-respected professional Pension Fund Trustee and Human Resources Professional, who has contributed extensively to transformation within SA businesses as well as Pension Funds. She has served as a Trustee and Specialist Adviser at the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund between 2004 and 2020, the second largest Pension Fund in Africa, with assets over R145 billion. During the years, she has served on various board committees including Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, member of the Legal and Governance Committee and member of the Strategic Investment Committee and Benefits Committee.
Since 2017 she has been the Chairman of the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund, where she’s also served as a member of the Human Resources and Remuneration Committee, as well as the Strategic Investment Committee. Mantuka serves as a Trustee of 4 Funds of the Motor Industry Retirement Fund, where she is a member of the Investment Committee as well as on the Audit Committee.
Managing Partner: Sanlam Investments - Private Equity
Paul Moeketsi
Paul joined Sanlam Investments Private Equity as Managing Partner on 1 November 2019 and is responsible for the strategic development of the Sanlam Investments Private Equity business, as well as investment execution and management. Prior to joining the private equity team, Paul was an Investment Director at Value Capital Partners (VCP), an activist investment firm on JSE-listed companies and served on the boards of Adcorp Holdings Limited, Metair Investments Limited and Sun International Limited. Prior to VCP, Paul spent 8 years at Medu Capital as a Principal, a leading mid-market private equity firm, where he led and executed on a number of private equity transactions. Prior to Medu Capital, Paul was a corporate finance consultant at Investec Corporate Finance.
Paul is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and holds a Senior Executive Programme from the London Business School. He is also qualified with a BCom, BCom (Hons), CA(SA) and SEP (London Business School).
Chairperson & Member Trustee: Consolidated Retirement Fund for Local Government (CRF)
Soyisile Mokweni
Chairperson & Member Trustee: Consolidated Retirement Fund for Local Government (CRF)
Mr Soyisile Mokweni has served on the Board of Trustees since 2008 and as Deputy Chairman from 2009 to 2014 when he was elected as Chairman of the CRF. Mr Mokweni was the Municipal Manager at Langeberg Municipality. Under his leadership, CRF has become the leading and fastest growing Local Government fund in the country.
CRF is known for its top quartile returns, good governance, responsible investing approach, use of alternative asset classes and developing innovative solutions for members. The In-Fund Pension portfolio is a low cost and innovative solution for pensioners, which has generated excellent outcomes. As at the end of November 2020, CRF’s assets have grown to just under R31 billion.
Principal Officer: KwaZulu-Natal Municipal Pension Fund
Thomas Mketelwa
Thomas Mketelwa is a long serving employee of the eThekwini Municipality. He is currently appointed as the Deputy Head of Community Participation and Action Support Unit. He currently is the principal officer of the KwaZulu-Natal Municipal Pension Fund and the previous Chairperson and Trustee. He is an Executive Board Member of IRFA.
Executive Director: Intercontinental Trust Limited
Yan Ng
Mr. Yan Ng is an Executive Director of Intercontinental Trust Limited. He specialises in the structuring and administration of investment funds and listed companies. He is a Board member of a number of funds and listed companies in Mauritius. He was previously with Baker Tilly Mauritius and Deloitte in Luxembourg and was trained as a Chartered Accountant in London.
He is currently vice-treasurer of the Chinese Business Chamber in Mauritius. He was the treasurer of the International Fiscal Association (Mauritius branch) and of the Association of Trust and Management Companies.
He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Yan graduated from the University of Mauritius (BSc (Hons.)) with a degree in Management and achieved a Masters in Finance (MSc) from Lancaster University. He also completed the Oxford Blockchain Strategy Programme from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Co-Managing Director: AIIM
Vuyo Ntoi
B.Com (Hons), M.Sc, MBA
Vuyo was appointed Co-Managing Director in August 2020. Vuyo has two decades of investment experience and has been involved in private infrastructure investing in Africa since 2003.
Prior to moving into the Co-Managing Director role, Vuyo was the Co-Portfolio Manager of the IDEAS Managed Fund, which primarily focuses on infrastructure investment and development assets in the SADC region, where he was primarily responsible for the post-acquisition management of the fund’s more than 30 investments, in addition to overall fund management. Vuyo joined AIIM in 2003 and has been involved in the management of AIIM’s funds since joining the team, with responsibility for originating, analysing and implementing investments for the funds. Vuyo was initially involved in the build-up of the South Africa Infrastructure Fund’s (“SAIF”) holdings in South African toll roads, including additional stakes in TRAC, N3TC and Bakwena. In addition, Vuyo was involved in the early refinancing of these toll road assets.
Vuyo also played a leading role in AIIM’s pioneer investment outside South Africa, the Lekki Concession Company. More recently, Vuyo led the investment of AIIM Fund’s into Cenpower IPP power project Tema Ghana and Albatros Energy Mali power station, the first IPP in Mali.
Vuyo holds a number of directorships, including positions on the boards of some of AIIM’s portfolio companies. He is also a Trustee of the Africa Infrastructure Developers Association (AFiDA) and a board member of the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA). Vuyo is a Director on the AIIM Board and is a member of the Executive Committee, while also serving as a member of the Investment Committees of AIIF2, AIIF3 and the IDEAS Managed Fund.
Prior to joining AIIM, Vuyo was an investment analyst and strategist in the Research and Investment Management team at ipac South Africa, an investment management and consulting company that was then within the Brait Group.
Vuyo holds a B.Com Honours degree from the University of Cape Town, an M.Sc from the University of Oxford and MBA from IESE Business School.
Managing Director: U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
John Onwualu
John Onwualu is Managing Director at U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
Mr. Onwualu has a decade of private-equity experience with specific focus on investments in technology and emerging markets. As Managing Director, Mr. Onwualu leads the agency’s direct-equity investments in companies committed to creating developmental impact.
Prior to joining the DFC, Mr. Onwualu worked at SoFi, a leading fintech which recently went public via SPAC backed by Chamath Palihapitiya. During his time at SoFi, he completed SoFi’s $1.2Bn acquisition of Galileo Financial Technologies as well as other international investments. Mr. Onwualu began his career at Morgan Stanley where he left as a Vice President after working in the firm’s Investment Bank.
Mr. Onwualu is a proud first-generation immigrant, the son of a Nigerian entrepreneur. John’s passion to invest in the developing world comes after years of seeing his father build businesses in emerging markets.
CEO: Ata Capital
Chairman: SAVCA
Lelo Rantloane
Lelo is the founding CEO of Ata Capital. Prior to this he was Head of Debt Capital Markets and structured debt at Deutsche Bank AG.
He began his career with RMB as a Transactor in Debt Capital Markets and later became a Transactor in Acquisition and Leveraged Finance where he focused on Private Equity firms.
While at RMB, he was Executive Assistant to the CEOs of FirstRand and FirstRand Bank. Lelo also worked for Morgan Stanley’s Securitised Product Group in London and as a Transactor (on secondment) at the Makalani Management Company.
CEO: Sally Williams Fine Foods
Mark Sack
Born and schooled in Durban, Mark Sack graduated from Wits University.
Whilst studying for his Honours Degree, Mark started his first business venture in consumer electronics which laid the foundation for his hunger for business and passion for brands.
Having identified the power of brand ownership, he then joined the famous Sally Williams, in her fledgling nougat business, growing it from a cottage industry operation to a state-of-the-art enterprise where best practise is the order of the day. After taking full ownership of the business in year 3, Mark has relished his journey as CEO, always looking to do better, be better, in his aim of achieving recognition and success for the Sally Williams brand, the world over.
Sally Williams has amassed a cult-like following for its world class nougat and extended confectionery ranges, and this Proudly South African brand can be found throughout South African and in iconic international retailers such as Selfridges, Tesco, Trader Joe’s and Costco.
Sally Williams prides itself in uncompromising quality, best practice manufacturing and innovative packaging which combined, have resulted in the company being recognised internationally by winning numerous Great Taste Awards – the food industries equivalent of The Oscars.
Mark is a multiple finalist in the ABSA Jewish Achievers Awards, nominee for EY World Entrepreneur Award 2021. His philosophy is to aim for perfection but settle for excellence, which is the prime ethos of his team of ‘nougatiers’ based in South Africa, Australia, UK and USA.
Director: ENSafrica
Lydia Shadrach-Razzino
Lydia Shadrach-Razzino is an executive at ENSafrica in the corporate commercial department and specialises in M&A (across various industries, including private equity and mining), takeovers, the formation and initial structuring of new business entities, private equity transactions, equity capital markets and general corporate finance.
Lydia won the 2014 Corporate Finance Lawyer of the Year Award by ABSIP (the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals) and she was a finalist in 2015.
Her experience includes advising on equity capital markets, private equity acquisitions and disposals, empowerment transactions, corporate governance, the South African Companies Act, 2008, IPOs, ECM and stock exchange transactions in multiple sectors, including mining, banking and financial services, and telecoms.
Lydia has built up an impressive client list, which includes Oppenheimer Partners, PPC, Vodacom, The ARC Fund, RMB Ventures, Kleoss Capital, Ethos Private Equity, Business Connexion, Telkom, Capitalworks, Medu Capital, Actis, The Multiply Group, Village Main Reef and eXtract. Lydia’s expertise expands beyond South Africa, having advised on a number of cross border transactions.
Lydia is recognised as a leading/recommended lawyer by:
- Chambers Global Guide 2020, 2019, 2018 – Corporate/M&A; Private Equity; 2019, 2017, 2016 – Corporate/M&A (South Africa)
- Best Lawyers® 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 – Corporate (South Africa)
- The Legal 500 2019, 2018 – Commercial, Corporate and M&A (South Africa)
CEO, Global speaker, MC, Business Strategist
Zipho Sikhakhane
Zipho is currently the CEO of EMZ Advisory, which provides facilitation and consulting services to PAN African and multinational organisation primarily in the financial sector focusing on areas of change management, organisational strategy, team interventions and effective leadership.
Zipho’s professional background includes holding strategic positions in world-leading organisations locally and internationally (such as the world’s biggest fashion retail group Inditex Zara & the world’s biggest management consulting firm).
She is the first black South African to complete an MBA at the top ranked Stanford University in the USA. She also holds a Business Science Honours Degree from UCT and has completed leadership courses around the world.
She is a Board Member & Investment Committee Member of E- squared which owns 17% of Allan Grey and a Chairperson for Maneli Perdigon Commodity Trading.
Having worked in 6 continents and travelled over 30 countries her global outlook gives her a unique perspective to local and challenges.
CEO: SLAP
Stan Slap
The commitment of the company’s culture is a major asset gained by your investment or acquisition. You don’t want to put the funding in the front door and have that commitment walk out the back. Or reduce spending to do more with less, only to have less commitment from the company’s culture to help you do it.
Anyone that considers culture to be soft stuff is clinically insane. It is the stuff of hardcore business results. If the culture wants something to happen in a company, it will happen.
If the culture doesn’t want it to happen, it’s not going to happen. Stan Slap knows how culture really works and how to get yours to really work for you. He is a New York Times bestselling author, a world-renowned thought leader about business culture, and the CEO of the international consulting company called SLAP. For 24 years, in 44 countries (including 12 in Africa), SLAP has achieved billions of dollars in performance impact for many of the world’s most successful, demanding companies. The kind that don’t include Patience on their list of corporate values.
Stan Slap is provocative, proven, and profound. Buckle up, we’re going off road.
slapworld.com
CEO: SAVCA
Tanya van Lill
Tanya joined SAVCA in March 2017, after a rewarding 10-year career at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) with her last role being Director of Academic Programmes where she also served on the board of the Executive MBA Council (EMBAC), an international academic association that represents the Executive MBA industry.
Tanya is passionate about human and organisational development. During her time as a learning and development specialist focusing on management and leadership development, Tanya gained valuable experience working with various companies across a wide range of sectors. She holds an MBA and Post-Graduate Diploma from GIBS where her MBA research focused on methods to develop a global mindset. Tanya also holds a BCom Informatics and Honours in Business Management from UNISA.
Tanya is the mother of a teenage son and a South African PowerLifter.
Founder & CEO: The Strategists
Abdullah Verachia
Having presented and consulted in over 60 cities globally, Abdullah has been recognised as a leading speaker, disruptor, strategist and thought leader on competitiveness and the interplay between strategy and innovation. He speaks and consults globally in this area.
Abdullah Verachia currently serves as the founder and CEO of The Strategists (www.thestrategists.co.za), a leading strategy and advisory firm, which helps organisations around the world craft competitive future strategies. He also serves as faculty at the Gordon Institute of Business Science as well as programme director for the Harvard Senior Executive Programme for Africa. Abdullah also serves on a number of boards as a non executive.
He holds a Bachelors in Law and a Masters in Management (cum laude). He has also completed executive programmes on strategy and shared value, with Professor Michael Porter’s Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness, at Harvard Business School. He also completed an executive programme at University of Oxford’s Said Business School as well as an executive programme on broadcast technology at Columbia Business School.
Abdullah Verachia is a highly sought-after and accomplished speaker, strategist, writer and businessman whose career boasts compelling corporate experience at executive level.
As an academic, and strategist, Abdullah has crafted a reputation for engagement, deep understanding of the trends impacting the business world and an ability to grasp the potential impact of complex disruptors.
He has presented to leading listed firms, international organisations and governments around the world. Abdullah works globally with boards and executive teams to craft competitive future strategies.
He is renowned for his ability to guide organisations through a complex and rapidly evolving external environment.
In December 2017 Abdullah received a standing ovation at the acclaimed TEDx Euston in London. Abdullah was also asked to be the keynote speaker at the 2018 World Speech Day.
Abdullah has built a number of disruptive and truly innovative companies. He is thus able to fuse experience, insight, strategy and expertise into a beautiful tapestry that has relevance and application to companies and organisations around the world.
Joint Chief Executive Officer: Sygnia Limited
Magda Wierzycka
Qualifications
BBusSc (Actuarial), PhDip (Actuarial), FFA, FASSA,
CFPExperience
Magda qualified as a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries (Edinburgh) in 1994. She has over 20 years’ experience in the South African asset management industry and has published widely in the field. She has also served as a board member of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.
She started her career as a product development and investments actuary at Southern Life in 1993, where she designed and managed index-tracking funds, followed by two years at Alexander Forbes as an investment consultant. In 1997 she joined Coronation Fund Managers as Head of Institutional Business and a director. While at Coronation she was responsible for growing the institutional assets under management of the company fivefold. Magda left Coronation in 2003 to start IQvest, a fund of hedge funds company. Later that year, after selling IQvest to the African Harvest group, she was appointed to the position of CEO of African Harvest. Under her stewardship the assets under management of the company grew from R10 billion in 2003 to R35 billion in 2006. After negotiating the sale of African Harvest Fund Managersto Cadiz Financial Services in 2006, she led the management buy-out of the remainder of the African Harvest group which resulted in the formation of Sygnia.
She grew Sygnia’s assets from R2 billion to R238billion in September 2019, leading Sygnia to become the second largest multi-management company in South Africa. Sygnia listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 14 October 2015 (the share offer was 20x oversubscribed).
CEO: Zheng Partners, LLC
David Wilton
David is an experienced investor with an exceptional track record in investing with a double-bottom-line. He has successfully pioneered investment programs in Sustainable Investing (incorporating SRI, ESG, Thematic and Impact) and Emerging Market Private Equity.
Zheng Partners consults on Sustainable Investing to a range of Funds, investors and International Organizations. A number of original thought pieces on sustainable investing are available on the Zheng Partners website: https://zhengpartners.co
Prior to forming Zheng Partners David was Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Investing at Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners where he created the Integro Impact Fund. As of June 2020 the Integro Fund had a net IRR of 12.8% and DPI of 0.2 since its first close in late 2015, a strong portfolio of impact outcomes and good ESG compliance.
Before joining Morgan Stanley David was Chief Investment Officer and Manager, Global Private Equity for the International Finance Corporation. David was the initial Manager of the Funds Group at its inception in 2000. At the time he left IFC in 2014 the funds’ portfolio was generating a net IRR of 19.3% since 2000 with two thirds of the volatility of the index and job growth in the portfolio was running at over 15% CAGR.
While at IFC David was also Acting CEO of the IFC Asset Management Company during its establishment phase and a member of the Pension Finance Committee of the World Bank Group, with oversight of the management of the World Bank Pension Fund.
David has previously been a member of the G8 Working Group on Impact Investing and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Emerging Market Private Equity Association.
https://zhengpartners.co
david.wilton@zhengpartners.co
ph: (m) +1 202 468 7801