• ABOUT US

OUR PURPOSE

Catalyst for Change

Africa is undoubtedly the next frontier for economic growth and development, as a result of its untapped natural resources, a growing middle class and a young population. This presents Africa with an opportunity to build inclusive economies and lead to poverty reduction. Most importantly, Africa needs to ensure that its natural capital is secured in the quest for economic development.

Our purpose at the African Centre for a Green Economy (AfriCGE), is to be a catalyst for change. We harness the potential of Africa’s talent through our wide network of talent across the continent, to play a leading role in supporting the transition on the continent. We work with policymakers, business leaders and entrepreneurs to harness the opportunities provided by the green economy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for some of Africa’s most vulnerable communities.

Who we are

AfriCGE is a non-profit multi-disciplinary advisory think tank working towards accelerating green and inclusive economy in Africa

What we do

AfriCGE provides research and advisory, green enterprise development and investments services to government,  business and civil society

Our Mission

AfriCGE aims to provide thought leadership, raise awareness and build capacity to support the transition towards a green economy

Our Vision

Our vision is to inspire a generation of change makers to help Africa transition to a new and inclusive economy that promotes human wellbeing and environmental sustainability

OUR TEAM

Dr Mao A. Amis

Dr Mao A. Amis

Founding Director

Dr Amis is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for a Green Economy (AfriCGE) and Adjunct Associate Professor, at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. AfriCGE is a non-profit think thank and capacity building organisation based in South Africa.

Prior to founding Africege, Dr. Amis worked as programme Manager for a leading global environmental firm and for a management consultancy frim, both in South Africa. He quit to set up the African Centre for a Green Economy in 2012.

Dr Amis has extensive experience on green growth and wellbeing issues in Africa and regularly consults on the same for development agencies, government and the private sector across Africa and globally.

Dr Amis holds a MSc and PhD in Natural Resource Management from the University of Cape Town.

Dr Sepo Hachigonta

Dr Sepo Hachigonta

Director

Sepo is a co-founder of Africege and Director of Strategic Partnerships at the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. Sepo’s research interests is in trans-disciplinary fields as well as Africa’s science, technology and innovation policy landscape. Prior to joining the NRF, he was a programme manager at FANRPAN, a regional policy analysis network on food security and agricultural based in Pretoria. Sepo has played a significant role in developing systems analysis expertise aimed at addressing current global challenges through various programmes including the Southern African Systems Analysis Centre (SASAC), a multi-year initiative that takes cognisance multi-level systems analysis capacity interventions, and a comprehensive approach to policy-related activities in southern Africa.

Tracey Gilmore

Tracey Gilmore

Director

Tracey Gilmore is a Board Member at Africege, and Co Founder of The Clothing Bank, her life’s passion has been to participate fully, be present and available to help South Africa build an inclusive society that encourages equal access to opportunities and financial freedom for all. She is an ideas person and have started various small businesses with varied success. The Clothing Bank was conceptualised after Tracey and her had a conversation about how much excess “waste”stock there is to be found within the retail supply chain and how they could use this stock as the tool to teach unemployed women how to run small trading businesses. Since inception they have replicated the model in five cities across South Africa.

Tracey brings very strong business operations and women empowerment capability to Africege, we are very delighted to have her on our board.

Nikiwe Solomon

Nikiwe Solomon

Environmental Anthropology

Nikiwe is a Research Associate at the African Centre. Her work focuses on civil society and community engagement platforms that are focused on human and environmental well-being. She is a deeply committed researcher with the capacity to integrate theoretical knowledge with experiences in the everyday. Her academic background is in development studies and social anthropology

Martin Müller

Martin Müller

Business Development Europe

Mr. Müller wants to enable entrepreneurship in Africa. He thinks that sustainable leadership and bold entrepreneurship will tackle global issues, such as poverty, climate change or migration flows.
He is team leader at a regional development bank in Germany, Potsdam and managed projects with the European Commission, Research Institutes and Companies. He has excellent experiences in finance and communication and is our gatekeeper to Europe.
Martin gained a MBA in general management at the German University for Professional Studies (Berlin) with trainings in Los Angeles and at the European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxemburg.

Sonwabile Lugogo

Sonwabile Lugogo

Researcher: Rural Development

Sonwabile Lugogo is a research fellow with AfriCGE. He is currently pursuing his Masters Degree in Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of the Western Cape. His research interest is in Rural Development with a specific focus on Agricultural Development. His current Masters research is on investigating the practice and politics of state-funded rural development programmes in the former homeland of Transkei, Eastern Cape

Imran Ejotre

Imran Ejotre

Lead: Natural Capital Research

Imran Ejotre is AfriCGE’s Lead for natural capital and biodiversity, with a focus on East Africa. Imran is also the co-founder of USA based 501(c) charity Nested Savings www.nestedsavings.org and doubles as the organization’s Country Director for its operations in Uganda. Imran holds double master degrees in zoology and infectious disease ecology from Islamic University in Uganda (Uganda) and Bucknell University (USA) respectively. He is now a PhD research fellow in molecular parasitology at Max Plank Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin (Germany). Imran is a social entrepreneur and an academic with experience in sustainable environment, and in climate change and emerging diseases.

Damalie Tebajjukira

Damalie Tebajjukira

Marketing | Communications Associate

Damalie Tebajjukira is a marketing /communications Associate at AfriCGE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from Monash University South Africa (Present IIE MSA). She is passionate about human development, community growth and development sustainability in general. She is a dedicated hard-working woman who has volunteered and played an instrumental role in marketing a number of charity drives geared towards giving back to society.

Eng. Grace Murungi

Eng. Grace Murungi

Sustainable energy

Grace Murungi is a senior electrical engineer with expertise leading power development projects in both renewable energy and oil & gas sectors. Her unique career spans over seven years with hands-on operations management and strategic project management experience in five Sub Saharan African countries.

She holds a Master’s degree in Reservoir Eng. from Institut Français du Pétrole
in France and BSc. Hon. Electrical Eng. from the University of Cape Town . Her interests include sustainable power generation and performance optimization.