Meet our Team
& Partners

Max is passionate about market based solutions to Africa’s problems and developing High Impact, High Growth businesses. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BCom Finance, Economics degree before moving to London. Max spent over 5 years in Corporate, Business and Investment Banking, starting his career as a Business Consultant at Lloyds TSB and ending up as an analyst at Schroders Asset Management.

In 2006, Max returned to South Africa seeking a more purpose driven career, and went on co-founding Africa’s first social enterprise incubator alongside setting up an innovation hub for small businesses. He was also responsible for establishing the South African ANDE (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs) Chapter, part of the Aspen Institute in Washington DC. ANDE is a global network of organizations that invest money and expertise to propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets.

Olusiji Aina, is a Development Economists and an Enterprise Development Expert. He is a strategist with professional competency in building high impact market relevant skills for economic development, creating employment and promoting economic growth in Africa. Prior to joining Cognity Advisory as Director, Partnership & Technical Services, Olusiji was the Technical Lead & Program Director, Income Generation and Livelihood for United States Aid for International Development (USAID) funded Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project in Nigeria. He was the Head of Operations for CBN-NESI Multi-Billion-naira power sector stabilization fund established by GoN.

Olusiji has over 20 years’ extensive professional work experience spanning financial inclusion, renewable energy, project management, agribusiness, enterprise development, human capital development, and 10 years of extensive banking experience in Institutional and Commercial Banking.

Olusiji is a graduate of Statistics and holds a Certificate in Enterprise Development through Value Chains and Market Systems from International Training Center of Turin, Italy. He obtained a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development Finance from the University of Stellenbosch Business School South Africa, and EMP from Lagos Business School. He is a Chartered Development Finance Analyst (CDFA), Chartered Global Investment Analysts (CGIA), Associate, Chartered Institute of Economist of Nigeria (ICEN).

Olusiji joins Impact Amplifier as the Country Partner/Director responsible for Business Development, Stakeholder Engagement, and Project Management for the Nigeria Office.

Tanner has been working in the field of Social Innovation for the last 20 years assisting private, public and not-for-profit organisations to build a more environmentally conscious, socially just and abundant world.

In Los Angeles, California Tanner served as Managing Partner in Phillips & Associates a management consulting practice and the Executive Director of LA Works, a volunteer action centre, which develops and implements community service projects. Upon arriving in Cape Town, in 1998, Tanner became the Director of Source Consulting, a management consulting firm whose clients included the Independent Development Trust, Paraffin Safety Association, Cape Metropolitan Council, and the Jazzart Dance Company to name a few.

In 2008, he formed Earth Capital a consulting and asset management firm focused on: assisting the private sector transition toward a more sustainable approach to business; incubating impact businesses; and managing a portfolio of impact investments. His clients and assets under management have included: Spier, Nando’s, Africa Centre, iShack, Biolytixs, African Roots, Biogreen, and Greencabs, Presently, he is both a Director in Earth Capital and a Partner in Impact Amplifier. He currently sits on several boards including: African Roots, Biolytix, GreenCabs and the Africa Centre. Tanner achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree at Vassar College in New York and a Masters of Business Administration from the Drucker School at the Claremont Graduate University, in California.

Teressa is a seasoned strategist with established professional competency and operational effectiveness in the areas of Strategy, Project Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Facilitation, Community Development, Social Investment, Compliance Reporting, Evaluation and Research. Drawing from her experience as an analyst in the non-profit sector, as a senior manager in corporate and as a consultant, she is able to balance the needs and challenges of society with the strategic drivers of organisations to build solutions that are effective, achievable and sustainable.

As a Consultant she has had the privilege of working with organisations such as Murray & Roberts, MultiChoice, SANAC CSF, Afrika Tikkun, Discovery, AVI Limited, Hivos, Chevening Uk, GIZ, Tshwane District Municipality, KFC, TFG, Sasol and Impact Amplifier on a variety of projects including employee engagement, strategy, stakeholder engagement, project design, project implementation and facilitation of strategic planning processes. She joins IA as a Country Partner responsible for Stakeholder Partnerships, Business Development, Project delivery and team leadership for the South African practice at Impact Amplifier.

Cameron Naidoo completed an honours degree in social anthropology from Wits University in 2016 before embarking on an 18-month human resources internship at Shell. He then travelled to South Korea for a year to teach English. On return, he worked as a National Sales Compliance Manager for SG Convenience where he developed an interest in fostering digital-businesses. A skilled ethnographer keen on managing social projects driven by strong research insights, he ultimately aims to make a name for himself in the social innovation and creative impact-business space. A cultural creative and “innerpreneur” at heart, he believes the assimilation of technology and the fourth industrial revolution will attribute the greatest advances in social innovation this century.  In his spare time, he can be found mostly road-running, playing the guitar, engaged in various DIY and cyber-projects or watching movies.Cameron's Bio

My passions are in finding sustainable solutions to environmental and socio-economic issues whilst enabling economic growth, supporting societal development and improving livelihoods as a whole. I have an academic background in environmental and geographical studies from the University of Cape Town and my interests in current societal and global issues led me to further pursue a Masters degree specialising in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from the same institution.

I am interested in efforts towards transitioning to a greener, circular economy as well as establishing sustainable and ethical supply chains and networks particularly in the global South.

Ivana supports Impact Amplifier’s acceleration and ecosystem-building efforts. She is particularly interested in developing digital tools that support businesses and communities who are trying to solve Africa’s pressing challenges.

Ivana studied liberal arts subjects at university and has worked in the creative, non-profit and higher education sectors. Her focus has been on business development, programme management, content creation and storytelling. She is a keen collaborator and over the years, has worked with a range of stakeholders.

Originally from the DR of Congo, Papy studied Mechanical Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Papy worked for Lufthansa In Touch as well as MindPearl for the airline department for 3 years before joining Impact Amplifier in May 2018. At Impact Amplifier, Papy aims to shift from pure corporate work to more socially conscious work across a range of social enterprises.

Pascal specialises in the growth and the access to capital of entrepreneurial businesses on the African continent. He collaborates with impact investors, large companies, academic institutions and business accelerators to create positive social and environmental impact on the continent.

Priscilla has more than 20 years’ experience, manages various administrative duties for Impact Amplifier together with all financial and operational support processes within the company ensuring a seamless and high quality of work.

Samantha graduated with a B.Comm degree in Marketing and Industrial Psychology as well as being a qualified Image-based therapist. She has enjoyed a long career spanning marketing, talent management, qualitative research and project management. Her work experience has criss-crossed multi-national corporates, renewable start-ups and small boutique-agency environments which affords her an inside-out understanding of various business environments. She is now excited to be applying her research, project management and marketing experience to the landscape of social and environmental impact with Impact Amplifier.

Samantha’s main passion is for all things natural, and she focuses much of her time on environmental and nature re-awareness development, which she hopes to integrate into her work with Impact Amplifier. She also has a particular interest in working on-the-ground, learning about the diverse cultural stories within the context of the African continent, specifically South Africa, to better inform and inspire her approach to each project and team she works with.

Thandiwe is a Cape Town based Graphic Artist, she graduated from the Red and Yellow School in which she obtained a diploma in Art Direction & Graphic Design. Her work is bold, colorful, and conceptual. Her motto as a creative is: “Communicate don’t decorate.” It is those very same words that have made her work to be recognized by many through out Africa including the department of Arts and Culture (S.A). In 2015 she was awarded with the prestigious Mbokodo Award for South African Women in the Arts in the Creative Design category. She is a firm believer that creative design has a responsibility to change the world for the better.

Find out more on Thandiwe’s blog

Zuzana thrives on building cross-sectoral collaborations aiming to develop innovative and commercially viable solutions which advance our progression towards an environmentally and socially sustainable world.

Zuzana gained broad financial services experience at Leaf Capital, a corporate finance advisory and fund management specialist. She was instrumental in the strategy execution of its R4.5b commercial property fund and its sale in 2015. In 2016, Zuzana founded Danubia HI, focused on the conceptualization, development and hands-on support of high impact investment projects.

Zuzana led the development of the TWAMISA Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan, a first-of-its-kind nationwide strategy for the management of mining tyre waste for the Department of Environmental Affairs and the mining sector, including the application of innovative impact finance models and inclusion of the mining communities in sustainable economic activity. Zuzana has worked with a range of stakeholders in both the public and private sectors. She graduated from the University of Cape Town and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2009.