Kensani Capital was founded in 1997 by Ms Kelley Starke Dow and Ms Zanele Gama to broaden opportunities for women in business and create financially independent female entrepreneurs from the prospects emanating from black economic empowerment.
ABOUT
Kensani Capital has since become a leading empowerment investor in a range of long-term investment assets including Public Private Partnerships in both the Correctional Services Prisons and Independent Power Producers sector.
Kensani has participated in the Public Private Partnership sector
partnering in numerous government initiated bids in toll roads, prisons, awaiting trial prison facilities, wind and solar photovoltaic projects in the renewable energy sector.
Kensani Capital focuses on the project value chain from green field venture development through to project finance, capital raising, and long term operations and management.
Kensani Capital is committed to large scale employment, skills development and economic regional upliftment.
The Team
Kensani directors have a wealth of board and corporate governance experience and are also committed to entrepreneurship and mentorship programmes in various sectors to assist the growth of new businesses.
Kelley Starke Dow | Chief Executive Officer
Kelley co-founded Kensani Capital and since 1999 in her tenure as the Chief Executive Officer, has driven the company’s market share and value in the South African infrastructure sector in correctional services and renewable energy public private partnerships.
Kensani has been an active participant in South Africa’s REIPPPP program and has been successful in three rounds of the solar project awards, totalling 220MW an over R6bn of infrastructure investment.
Kelley has gained extensive experience across the value chain, from project development, investment structuring, bid submissions through debt and equity structuring and capital raising, EPC and O&M deal structures and negotiations. Kensani Capital, Kensani won the Middle East and African Renewables deal of the year 2012.
Kelley is a passionate advocate for the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model as the engine of growth for the South African economy, small business development and large scale employment and upliftment opportunities resulting from PPP infrastructure roll outs.
Kelley holds a B. Journ (Rhodes University), PDM Bus. Ad (Wits Business School) and an MBA (UCT Graduate School of Business) .
Kelley won Entrepreneur of the Year in London in 1996 and was awarded a London Business School Executive short course.
Greg Starke | Chief Operating Officer
Greg, Kelley’s brother, joined Kensani Capital in 2013 and has been involved in all aspects of the operational and financial side of the group as well as the bidding, development, construction and operation of large-scale Photo Voltaic (PV) power plants.
He also manages various aspects of the group’s large private prison facility and is the Managing Director of Kensani Corrections Management (KCM). Greg has played a central role in concluding complex financial transactions for the Kensani group.
Prior to joining Kensani, Greg spent 13 years building a highly specialized medical device company focused on the development of sophisticated heart implants, which were used by all cardiac hospitals in South Africa and around the world.
Greg was a finalist in the Emerging Entrepreneur category of the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Awards in 2010.
Greg holds a BSc (Mech) Eng degree and a PhD in computational mechanics.
Khutso Mampeule | Director
Khutso is the Executive Chairman of Lefa Group Holdings, an investment and advisory company he established in 2003. He is also non-executive director of JSE-Listed Niveus Investments Limited and Comair Limited.
Until May 2007, Khutso was the Group CEO of the South African Post Office. His previous positions include CEO of Old Mutual Employee Benefits, and CEO South African Express Airways.
Khutso has significant experience in acquiring stakes and/or forming joint ventures with target companies and has been involved in numerous capital raisings and BEE transactions.
Khutso holds a BA (Lawrence University), a MSc (Carnegie Mellon University) and a MBA (University of Phoenix).