Director & Co-Founder, Mahlako A Phahla Group
Meta is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of professional experience. She is the co-founder and director of Mahlako A Phahla Group, an investment holding company focused on investments, asset management and advisory services within the financial services, energy, infrastructure, social infrastructure and telecommunications sectors. Since 2008 Mahlako has successfully invested in projects in excess of R5 billion and advised on mandates in excess of R500 billion. Meta is Fund Principal of the recently launched R1.75 billion Mahlako Energy Fund, which seeks to invest in businesses and energy projects with great growth potential along the entire value chain.
Meta is also the co-founder and current chairperson of the Black Energy Professionals Association (BEPA), an organisation that exists to represent and champion the specific interests of black people with the aim to achieve radical economic transformation of the Energy sector in South Africa.
She has extensive energy and infrastructure investment experience. Most recently, Meta and her business partner led the Mahlako team in successfully executing a first of its kind, flagship energy wheeling project with Amazon Web Services.
Meta is part of the team developing, a green hydrogen and ammonia project that aims to produce green hydrogen and ammonia through a combination of high yielding renewable solar and wind energy resources, along with other natural resources of water and air. She has recently been appointed on the Green Hydrogen Panel by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.
She was part of the team that executed two investment transactions, and the development of four projects in the DMRE’s REIPPP Programme, totalling 322.5 MW of Solar PV and Wind. This included sourcing the deals, acquiring funding, executing the transactions and managing the assets. She was part of the team that refinanced Solar Capital De Aar 1, the first successful refinance in the renewable energy market in South Africa.
Her advisory experience includes advising the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure on their Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency Programme, and Department of Minerals Resources and Energy on the Load Reduction component of the Solar Water Heating Programme for the National Treasury’s Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC). Both Programmes have been Gazetted by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission Council as Strategic Integrated Projects. She also led the Feasibility Study for localization and industrialisation of the nuclear fuel cycle for NECSA, and Readiness assessment for issuance of the Nuclear New Build Programme RFP and its development for the DMRE.
Meta has extensive governance and management experience and has served and chaired numerous boards and audit committees. She currently serves on the board of AON South Africa and Nehawu Investments. She commenced her career at Deloitte within the Entrepreneurial Services and Accounting and Auditing Technical divisions. She subsequently joined Investec Bank in their Corporate Finance division before she started her entrepreneurial journey.
In recognition of her entrepreneurial journey, Meta was awarded the Entrepreneur of the year award by the African Women Chartered Accountants. She was a panellist at the inaugural South Africa Investment Conference. Meta was selected as a Woman of Fortitude to continue the legacy of Mama Albertina Sisulu.
She has successfully completed the Nuclear Fuel Training Seminar hosted by the internationally acclaimed Ux Consulting Company in Atlanta USA and holds an Existing Building Performance Certificate. She has also completed the Seed Transformation Programme through Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Meta is also a member of Energy, Sustainability, and Climate Task Force B20 Indonesia 2022 which upholds the theme "Advancing, innovative, Inclusive and Collaborative Growth." B20 Indonesia is committed to a highly inclusive, diverse, engaging and transparent process by 2022.