Jennifer Boca is Managing Director – JBoca Associates Ltd, an independent sustainability advisory firm providing support to the infrastructure sector in emerging markets on value addition through ESG. Until recently (December 2023), Jennifer was the Head of Responsible Investment at Lekela Power, a pan-African renewable energy platform developing utility scale wind and solar projects. Jennifer joined Lekela in 2015 and has over 20 years’ experience in environmental and social performance management, ESG risk management and running of social impact programs with a particular focus on large scale infrastructure projects and the development financing sector in Africa. Jennifer has worked in several countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

At Lekela, Jennifer had oversight on ESG performance for a portfolio of projects in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana and Egypt working closely with contractors, asset managers and Company Management to ensure that all Lekela projects were delivered to the highest environmental, social and governance standards. Prior to joining Lekela, Jennifer was a Senior Environmental and Social Consultant for various international engineering firms in the UK including Scott Wilson and URS Corporation. Jennifer has worked on major infrastructure projects in various sectors including power, waste management, roads, railways, pipelines and the mining sector.

Jennifer holds an Executive MBA from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School and a master’s degree in Environmental Impact Assessment and Management from Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.

Libby is an experienced Sustainability specialist, who thrives on leading as part of a team and in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. She has extensive experience of working in multiple country contexts throughout Africa and stakeholders across multiple sectors. She has over 20 years of experience in ESG and in developing and implementing sustainability strategies and systems, including taking projects through each stage from initial design and development to construction and operation.

In her current role as Head of ESG for Engie (following a recent acquisition of BTE Renewables where she was Sustainability Director), she has been responsible for development and implementation of the company’s Sustainability Strategy and systems, in line with international best practice and the specific remit of value creation to the organisation.

Prior to joining BTE Renewables, Libby worked with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and as an independent consultant, conducting ESG due diligences as part of transactions, and ongoing supervision and advisory work. She also led the design and development of Environmental and Social Management Systems to IFC Performance Standards for various financial institutions. For the first 12 years of her career, Libby worked at Environmental Resources Management (ERM) as a social specialist and principal consultant, working across industries in over 16 countries in South, West, East and Central Africa. She started her working journey at HSBC Investment bank in London, in middle office trade support and liaison for institutional clients to the bank.

Thuli Dlamini is part of the SED Team at Anglo-American and is currently leading the development of the SED Plans for the various embedded sites of Project GAIA.

Previously, she was the SED Manager at the IPP Office for a period of eight years, and was part of the Team that monitors the implementation of the Socio-Economic Development (SED) and Enterprise Development (EnD) obligations of IPPs in the REIPPP and other IPP Programmes.

She has a Master's Degree in Global Management and Development from the University of Antwerp, as well as an MPhil in Energy Development Studies from the University of Cape Town. She also has some qualifications in Environmental Management from the University of Pretoria and has recently undertaken a short course on the Oil and Gas Sector of South Africa.

Phetsile is a chartered accountant CA(SA), a certified director and certified ethics officer, and passionate about ethical leadership and good governance. She has more than 15 years’ experience in the field of financial accounting and executive financial management in South Africa.

In her role as CFO in various industries including experience in NPO financial administration, she has been accounting to boards regarding financial management, supply chain, internal controls and risk management. Her knowledge and experience of GRAP/IFRS financial reporting standards and finance strategic management ensuring that that financial management; effective internal controls systems, the management of risks, compliance with applicable standards, laws, regulations and ethics are upheld.

Prior to her current role she was part of the World Vision Board. She also participated in the development of organisational strategy development and implementation, coordinating integrated annual reporting process in line with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) framework, which involved sitting in Mervin King’s chaired Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC), and subsequent post graduate diploma in integrated reporting (PGDIR) qualification.

Holle is a full-time Managing Director and co-founder of INSPIRE. Before this she was a principal consultant for Synergy Global Consulting. Holle is a Social Scientist with vast experience in multi-stakeholder projects and processes and a strong focus over the past 12 years on social performance related issues in the renewable energy sector. Her work is driven by social and economic considerations of energy transitions with a specific interest in supporting quality relationships between business, government and citizens in the phase-out of fossil-fuel based operations and implementation of large-scale renewable energy projects.

Over the past decade, Holle has been, through her research, convening and project activities, pro-actively leading a sector-wide capacity building agenda on economic development and social performance for the renewable energy sector. Holle’s current focus is the establishment of a long-term learning initiative, for the REIPPPP eco-system and aiming to foster good practice and innovation in social performance in the renewable energy sector, in South Africa and beyond.

Holle is educated in Germany and professionally trained and experienced in South Africa and internationally. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy and a holds a post-grad degree in Political Science. Her PhD research investigated the implementation of community benefit in South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Further qualifications include formal training in development and multi-stakeholder facilitation, outcome mapping for monitoring and evaluation and project management.

Holle has fieldwork and professional travel experience in various European countries and the Global South including Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Morocco, Senegal, Rwanda, Namibia, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa. Holle is fluent in English and German and comfortable in complex and challenging environments.

Previously, she held academic appointments as Senior Researcher at Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (3 years, part-time) and the Energy Research Centre at the University of Cape Town (4 years). Her most recent academic project was the ‘Tendering Sustainable Energy Transitions’ (TENTRANS) research into community engagement, local content and procurement design in the South African renewables market. Previous research of hers includes a study of socio-economic benefit practices of renewable energy projects across Sub-Saharan Africa for International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and a discussion paper together with the International Finance Corporation on benefit sharing in large-scale solar and wind projects globally.