Zanele Mavuso Mbatha

Zanele Mavuso Mbatha is an award winning South African entrepreneur with over 28 years of experience in the renewable energy, mining and financial markets. She is the CEO of Bambili Energy, a hydrogen mini grid provider and manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell systems, as well as its subsidiary HyPlat, a technology company focused on the development and manufacturing of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for electrolysers, fuel cells and flow batteries. During her time at Bambili, Zanele has played a leading role in the development of a number of South Africa’s lighthouse market development initiatives for hydrogen and fuel cells. These include the development of the country’s first Hydrogen Corridor for the roll-out of hydrogen fuel cell trucks and buses, its first Hydrogen Valley to create hydrogen economic hubs in partnership with the South African Government and various local and international corporations and its first hydrogen fuel cell training programme in Africa, graduating 35 engineers and technicians. Prior to her role at Bambili, Zanele was the CEO of Incwala Resources, a platinum mining company in South Africa, Executive Director at Abt. Associates Inc. where she co-founded the company’s regional office for Southern Africa and the Head of Financial Markets at the South African Reserve Bank, the unit that manages the country’s foreign reserves and implements South Africa’s monetary policy. Zanele sits on the EECE Advisory and EBIT Faculty Advisory Board at the University of Pretoria, as well as the JET SEP CEO Champions Board, along with 29 fellow CEOs, which coordinates private sector efforts to accelerate the preparation of the workforce in support of the government JET Skilling Implementation Plan. She is based in Johannesburg where she resides with her family.