Xolisa has 20 years of practical experience in African financial services, 11 of which have been in sustainable finance. He is head of sustainability operations and impact investing at Sanlam. He is a sponsor-appointed member of the Sanlam Umbrella Retirement Fund’s Investment and Transformation committees. Xolisa is also an employee-elected member of Sanlam’s staff retirement fund’s management committee.

Xolisa serves on the UCT Joint Investment Committee and has previously served as trustee and chair of the UCT Retirement Fund’s investment committee. Xolisa was head of the MCom coursework and a lecturer in Sustainable Responsible Investments at the UCT GSB’s Development Finance Centre.

Xolisa continues to contribute to research and discourse in African sustainable finance; leveraging his previous experience as the first head of Africa for the Principles for responsible investment (PRI) and researcher. As a Bertha Scholar, Xolisa led the research and expansion of the African Investing for Impact Barometer (AIFIB) publication in collaboration with the Bertha Centre’s Innovative Finance Team.

Xolisa is a member of Council of the Chartered Instituted of Development Finance (CIDEF)and is one of 19 experts globally invited to serve on the UNEP FI Academic Engagement Task force in 2026