Our Team

Chief Executive Officer

Audrey Verhaeghe

30 years experience
An active Angel investor in South Africa. Leveraging three decades of global expertise in science, technology and innovation, Audrey has provided innovative consulting services to the public and private sectors. She has directed the design and implementation of ground-breaking programs and developed strategic policies and frameworks to ensure that start-up entrepreneurs move forward. She embarked on a 10-year journey to establish the SA Innovation Summit which is now recognised as the largest start-up event in Africa, integrating business, academia and government. She enjoys identifying, investing in and growing business opportunities.

Chief Operating Officer

Saskia Nysschens

Saskia is a systems thinker with over 15 years of experience across a range of industries, focusing on operations, implementing & streamlining processes and identifying inefficiencies. A successful professional with a wealth of transferable skills gained in business. Possesses a commitment to delivering operational excellence and a reputation for ensuring complete customer satisfaction. Able to reduce costs by implementing processes that are more efficient. 

Obtained two bachelor degrees – BCompt Accounting & BCom Corporate Communication (Cum Laude)
Demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry, skilled in eHealth and online and remote support, device manufacturing and distribution with a focus on operations, business development, marketing, finance, customer relations and engagement and communications.

Executive

Meriam Kekana

Associate: Portfolio Growth

Gilbert Anyetei

Gilbert is an experienced investment professional who is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs in building, growing and scaling their ventures.

Gilbert’s educational background includes a degree in  Business Science, with a specialisation in Finance and Accounting from the University of Cape Town. He furthered his studies by obtaining a  Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting from the same institution.

Throughout his career, Gilbert has worked with over 80 organisations across several sectors spanning across Sub-Saharan Africa.

TBC

Associate

CEO of a private equity Fund Manager

Cathy Goddard

20+ years experience
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 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 and the Turnaround Management Association (“TMA”) since August 2020.  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 helps to incubate venture capital funds, impact funds and first time fund managers. She works with I’M IN incubator as a board member. 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 TMA,  South African Restructuring and Insolvency Pract. Assoc, the Institute of Directors and WomenOnBoards UK. 

Ex CEO: MEST (Africa)

Ashwin Ravinchandran

15+ years experience
Ashwin joined MEST in 2015 as a Technology Teaching Fellow and has since served as the Incubator Manager for MEST Accra and Director of Portfolio Support and Country Director of Ghana. With a background in Computer Science and Engineering and previous experience working in the innovation team at Honeywell and building startups in India, Ashwin brings extensive technical knowledge to his executive management experience at MEST. In his role as Director of Portfolio Support, Ashwin has overseen the growth and development of highly successful MEST portfolio companies such as Complete Farmer, Asoriba, Leti Arts and Kudobuzz, working to maximize their growth and success in terms of business development, product management and raising further rounds of funding. Ashwin is greatly inspired to nurture and guide the African entrepreneurship Space with a talented team so that these entrepreneurs can take on new challenges. 

Chief Executive Officer

Audrey Verhaeghe

30 years experience
An active Angel investor in South Africa. Leveraging three decades of global expertise in science, technology and innovation, Audrey has provided innovative consulting services to the public and private sectors. She has directed the design and implementation of ground-breaking programs and developed strategic policies and frameworks to ensure that start-up entrepreneurs move forward. She embarked on a 10-year journey to establish the SA Innovation Summit which is now recognised as the largest start-up event in Africa, integrating business, academia and government. She enjoys identifying, investing in and growing business opportunities.

Mining Solutions & IP Commercialisation

Roby Stancel

28 years experience​
Roby advises a number of VC, corporate VC and private equity funds on technical, cultural and financial due diligence and deal flow with a diverse network on five continents including Spike Stanford Alumni Ventures, Chrysalix VC, NewLab, the EU’s EIT Raw Materials or Wayra. He is an angel investor or board member for start-ups in the US, CA, UK, EU, CH, ZA and OZ. As a partner in the global consultancy VCI, Roby has been connecting the spaces of design thinking innovation and business strategy for over a hundred clients in dozens of industries, and advises large corporates and national institutions on innovation and strategy. While at Stanford and IDEO, he was part of the small team that invented Design Thinking. He also was part of the exco at Nanosolar, with half a billion dollars the best funded start-up of its time and an early unicorn. 

Early Stage African VC

Thandeka Xaba