Impact Investing in Africa
Deploy your capital to intentionally create a positive social impact
Find out moreGAIN EXPERTISE IN IMPACT INVESTING
Position yourself in a rapidly growing field.
Impact Investing in Africa is a specialised short course, offered by the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the UCT GSB, designed to equip wealth managers, consultants, funders and other financial intermediaries with expertise in this rapidly growing field.
Delegates will be able to:
- develop impact investing strategies
- analyse impact investing opportunities
- engage with clients about socially responsible investments.
What our students say

LEARN PRACTICAL FINANCIAL TOOLS
The fast-emerging industry, estimated at $750 billion globally in 2020, requires new financial models, new metrics and new regulation. The Impact Investing in Africa Course is the only one of its kind on the African continent. The course is designed to give asset owners and other types of limited partners the practical financial tools and industry insight needed to allocate capital for impact.
INSPIRE POSITIVE CHANGE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
Learn how to cultivate inclusive economic growth, alleviate poverty, and uplift communities using the financial instruments at your disposal. Support entrepreneurs and infrastructure projects and inspire long-lasting and meaningful change through strategic investing.
MEET THE COURSE CONVENOR
Shiluba Mawela
Ms.Shiluba Mawela is a qualified chartered accountant and serves as Managing Partner at Tshiamo Impact Partners, an impact investment and advisory firm, which currently manages allocations from angel groupings (consisting of 50 African women) who invest using a gender lens. She consulted as the Secretariat Co-Lead for the National Taskforce for Impact Investing with the UCT Bertha Centre. Shiluba is a seasoned capital markets professional, having worked at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and a boutique Transaction Advisory firm. Shiluba also worked at Ernst & Young in their banking and capital markets division in Johannesburg and New York. She is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper Alumni and Mandela Washington 2016 Fellow. She sits on several boards and previously served on the FirstRand Foundation Board. She is a feature writer for Accountancy SA on all things impact and serves as a Steering Committee member for the Collaborative for Frontier Finance.


MEET THE COURSE CONVENOR
Daniel Steenkamp
Daniel is a Senior Project Manager within the Innovative Finance Initiative. He is a Chartered Accountant (ACA, registered with the ICAEW) with extensive business experience throughout Africa and the Middle East. Daniel is an alumnus of Deloitte LLP in the United Kingdom and DaimlerChrysler AG in Germany. He is particularly passionate about Africa and concluded his MBA studies with a focus on entrepreneurial innovation in Africa. Daniel also has experience as an audit and advisory partner in serving both for-profit and non-profit organisations.
Meet the Course Convenor
Jason Van Staden
Jason is a Project Manager for research and training in the Bertha Centre's Innovative Finance initiative located at the University of Cape Town. Jason is responsible for coordinating teaching and research support for learning programmes in impact investing and innovative finance and driving research efforts in the Centre’s Green finance, Early-stage funding, and Blended finance work. He completed his BCom Honours (Information Systems) and Doctorate (Management) degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he also did a postdoctoral research fellowship and lectured Management and Innovation courses. Jason has also founded two tech-based social enterprises in his private capacity.


Our Partners
The Impact Investing in Africa course is proud to announce SAVCA as a Network Partner. The Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) is a non-profit industry association, representing 180 members in Southern Africa, who collectively manage in excess of R205bn in assets. SAVCA promotes Southern African private equity and venture capital by engaging with regulators and legislators on a range of matters affecting the industry; providing relevant and insightful thought leadership and research on aspects that impact the industry; offering training and capacity-building opportunities to stakeholders in the ecosystem; and by creating meaningful networking opportunities for industry players, investors and capital seekers.
FAQ
You will benefit from this course if you are an asset owner that is interested in understanding how to allocate capital for impact. This includes:
- Development Finance Institutions
- Diversified Financial Institutions
- Family Offices
- Foundations
- Pension Funds
Our 300+ course alumni include delegates from the following organisations:
- Government Institutions Pension Fund
- Investec
- Nedbank
- Old Mutual
- Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Association
- Public Investment Corporation
Delegates on the Impact Investing in Africa course will gain:
- A sophisticated understanding of the impact investment ecosystem globally, with best practices on how to balance risk, return and impact
- Insight into how to develop an impact investing strategy
- An understanding of the process of building an effective impact investment portfolio through either intermediaries and/or direct investments
- Practical skills in due diligence, investment selection and valuation of impact investments
- Exposure to global and African best practices of implementing impact investment strategies from leading experts in the field
- An understanding of the opportunities in emerging technologies (AI, the Blockchain, remote sensing and Iot) and impact investing
This interactive five-day course offers a rich learning experience that blends theory and practice.
Day 1: Impact investing eco-system and relevance
Develop a sophisticated understanding of the impact investment ecosystem, globally and across the continent.
Day 2: Designing an impact investing strategy
Best practices for building a pipeline and performing due diligence with an impact lens across multiple sectors and asset classes.
Day 3: Evaluating, structuring and managing direct investments and investments through intermediaries
Create impact measurement and management strategies and understand the complexities of impact deal structuring.
Day 4: Building impact investing portfolios
How to build your strategy and manage your impact portfolio.
Day 5: Emerging technologies
Learn about what is next in the world of impact investing and technology.
The UCT Graduate School of Business takes pride in building future leaders and guiding the leaders of today toward sustainable impact in African business and society.
Our degree programmes and short courses deliver learning experiences that are personally transformative because better people make better leaders.
Our programmes are mostly offered at our vibrant Cape Town Breakwater Campus, at the heart of the city's most popular tourist attraction, the V&A Waterfront.
The campus is equipped with modern lecture theatres, a library and syndicate rooms for group study, as well as restaurants and the Protea Hotel Breakwater Lodge that offers special rates for students.
Find out more: https://www.gsb.uct.ac.za/student-experience
Ideas Exchange

The Inuagural Africa Impact Summit 13-14 July 2023
The inuagural Africa Impact Summit, hosted by the GSB Bertha Centre, took place on 13-14 July 2023 in Cape Town. Speakers included GSB Dean Dr Catherine Duggan, Richard Perez of the d-school Afrika and Director of the Bertha Centre Solange Rosa.
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