Directors
Vuyo Ntoi (Chairman)
Vuyo Ntoi, AIIM
Vuyo was appointed Co-Managing Director of AIIM in August 2020.
Prior to moving into this role, Vuyo was the Co-Portfolio Manager of the R15-billion IDEAS Managed Fund, which primarily focuses on infrastructure investment and development assets in the SADC region.
Vuyo holds several 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).
Vuyo holds degrees from UCT, Oxford University and IESE Business School. He has also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and is and part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Darshan Daya
Darshan Daya, Co-Founder: Capitalworks Group
Darshan brings more than 2 decades of private equity industry experience across many economic cycles to bear, having worked in large cap buyout funds prior to co-founding Capitalworks in 2006. Through directly sourcing and executing multiple transactions as well as numerous engagements with both the local and international institutional investor community, Darshan has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities available to the venture and private equity industry in South Africa, which experience can be leveraged for the benefit of the greater industry through his participation on SAVCA board.
Edmund Higenbottam
Edmund Higenbottam, Managing Director: Verdant Capital
Edmund is a veteran investment banker and private capital fund manager, with extensive experience across London, Johannesburg, Lagos and Dubai. Edmund’s banking career started in 2001, having worked at global investment banks and, from 2008 has worked in the Africa market. He designed the strategy for, raised and is responsible for the deployment of Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund, a USD 100 million fund investing in digitally enabled MSE-lenders and other inclusive financial institutions on a pan-African basis. He will share his unique experience coupled with his entrepreneurial mindset as well as an investor mindset as he is a founder of Verdant Capital.
Edward Pitsi
Darshan Daya, Co-Founder: Capitalworks Group
Darshan brings more than 2 decades of private equity industry experience across many economic cycles to bear, having worked in large cap buyout funds prior to co-founding Capitalworks in 2006. Through directly sourcing and executing multiple transactions as well as numerous engagements with both the local and international institutional investor community, Darshan has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities available to the venture and private equity industry in South Africa, which experience can be leveraged for the benefit of the greater industry through his participation on SAVCA board.
Janice Johnston
Janice Johnston, CEO, Edge Growth Ventures
B.Bus.Sci, H.DipTax, CFA
Janice has a deep and diverse investment background, spanning over 25 years with highly regarded financial institutions in South Africa (SA) and the UK. She has significant debt, venture capital and private equity experience across multiple sectors and business stages and is a CFA Charterholder.
Janice spent 10 years with Prudential Capital plc in London as a senior member of its Principal Finance team prior to joining Edge Growth, a leading SA SME impact investor for five years. Thereafter, Janice joined the Identity Partners Group, a majority black women led investment group.
Janice worked in the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team which led the negotiation of South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) before re-joining Edge Growth Ventures in July 2023 as Chief Executive.
Jesmane Boggenpoel
Jesmane Boggenpoel, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer, AIH Capital
Jesmane Boggenpoel is a senior business executive with over 15 years of expertise in investments. She co-founded and is the Chief Investment Officer of AIH Capital, a wholly women-owned private equity fund in South Africa operating in the mid-market. With over 16 years on corporate boards, Jesmane is well versed in finance, corporate risk, and governance. She was formerly the Chairperson of ETGIH, a subsidiary of ETG and the largest African fertiliser distributor based out of Dubai.
Jesmane’s career began at KPMG, followed by roles in corporate finance at Anglo American, then private equity and subsequently as Head of Business Engagement for Africa at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. She holds degrees in Commerce and Accounting from the University of Witwatersrand, a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard, and is a Chartered Accountant. While pursuing her MPA at Harvard, she cross-registered at Harvard Business School and completed the Venture Capital and Private Equity course.
Recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2013 and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader in 2022, Jesmane is also an author of My Blood Divides and Unites on identity, belonging and inclusion and public speaker on investment, leadership, ESG, and DEI.
Kabelo Moja
Kabelo Moja, Independent
Kabelo is a qualified and admitted attorney of the High Court of the Republic of South Africa. His qualifications include an LLB and Postgraduate Diploma in Tax from the University of the Witwatersrand and a LLM from the University of Pretoria.
Kabelo worked at the Public Investment Corporation SOC Limited as a senior legal advisor and periodically held an acting executive head of legal role, National Treasury of South Africa as a legal commercial director, Absa Capital and at Hogan Lovells South Africa.
He is currently the managing director with Ascension Capital Partners (Pty) Ltd, a boutique fund management and advisory business that also specializes in structuring and capital raising for various unlisted investments. He has extensive experience in corporate restructuring, mergers, corporate finance, litigation, a host of debt, equity and mezzanine funding and private equity across a diverse range of industries.
Recent projects that Kabelo has been involved in include an equity investment into various assets including a diversified agri business that exports wool and mohair products, a leading global ICT technology company, a security equipment manufacturing and communications company and a property development and management company that develops and manages mixed use developments in CBD’s.
Kabelo also forms part of the Ascension Investment Committee.
Liz Kolobe
Liz Kolobe, Principal: Agile Capital
Liz has over 13 years’ experience in private equity, advising and executing transactions. She is a principal at Agile Capital, representing the firm on various boards across various sectors including water, mining services,media, financial services, environmental management, medical, property, soft services and energy. Liz has worked in both traditional private equity funds funded by pension funds, as well as the captive fund space, which will add invaluable insights to the team. She is passionate about transformation and would like to make a personal and professional contribution to meaningful transformation of the industry.
Mbongeni Madonsela
Mbongeni Madonsela CA (SA), Partner: Resolve Fund Manager (Pty) Ltd
Mbongeni is a founding Partner at Resolve SA. Mbongeni has over 16 years of private equity experience which. Successful tenures at Brait and RMB Ventures. He has worked on and concluded transactions across various sectors including but Not limited to food, packaging, technology, retail and media.
Mbongeni is a CA(SA) and a member of South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Nicola Gubb
Nicola Gubb, Representative: Horizon Equity Partners
Nicola has over 25 years of investment and corporate finance experience with a particular niche in BBBEE and gender lens investing coupled with 17 years of board experience in Financial Services, Media, Wholesale Fuel Supply and Private Education. In her previous role as CIO of WDB Investment Holdings, Nicola was responsible for investee strategic value-add and post deal maintenance of a portfolio with a NAV of ZAR 5 billion, where she built and managed a team of (all women) investment professionals. She is passionate about the Private Equity sector and its transformative potential and would like to add value at a strategic level on the SAVCA board.
Paula Mokwena
Paula Mokwena, CEO, Fireball Capital
Paula Mokwena brings deep expertise across development finance, private equity, and venture capital. At the Industrial Development Corporation, she was instrumental in establishing the Technology Venture Capital Fund, a pioneering vehicle that provided capital to commercialise many South African innovations. She then spent more than six years in private equity before transitioning to venture capital as a founding member of Fireball Capital, where she now serves as CEO. Passionate about harnessing bold innovation to spur economic growth, she is dedicated to backing ventures that create great commercial return and lasting impact.
Ria Papier
Ria Papier, Client Director: Old Mutual Alternative Investments
Ria is the Client Director at Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE), responsible for leading fund raising and investor relations functions. Prior to this, Ria was in the Client Solutions team at Standard Bank Investment Banking. Her investment banking career spans 19 years, where she has worked across diverse sectors, including Industrial and Consumer, in the origination and execution of equity and debt transactions, mergers and acquisitions and IPOs. Armed with a very good understanding of investors’ views, Ria is passionate about educating the broader financial services industry on this valuable asset class that not only has the ability to generate solid returns but also the impact to improve the lives of many South Africans.
