About Us, Our Founders, Our Objectives

Our Objective

TeifaIQ Africa Plc. is a private consulting company registered in Western Cape, South Africa, where its Head Office is located. Our main objective is to provide cutting-edge advisory and technical support services on transformational infrastructure development to African governments, private investors and development partners. The support provided will include policy advice, strategy development, capacity building support, technical and financial advisory services. TeifaIQ works in close association with the London-based company, SYSTEMIQ.

Our Founders

Distinguished Professor

Mark Swilling

Is a Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development in the School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University and the Academic Director of the Sustainability Institute, Co-Director of the Stellenbosch Centre for Complex Systems in Transition. He is also member of International Resource Panel facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme, Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, member of the We-Africa Action Research Network and a member of the Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa. He has published widely on topics related to sustainability and sustainable development of which the most recent and prominent one is the Handbook entitled ‘Just Transitions: Explorations of Sustainability in an Unfair World’ published by United Nations Press (Tokyo) in 2012. As member of the International Resource Panel, he co-led the production of the report on City-Level Decoupling which showed the importance of looking at the dynamic link between infrastructure and resource flows in in understanding urban metabolism and promoting resource efficiency in cities.

Extraordinary Professor

Desta Mebratu

Desta Mebratu has more than 31 years of experience working for industries, government agencies, universities and international organizations. A chemical engineer by background, he has a PhD of engineering in Industrial Environmental Economics from Lund University, Sweden and an MBA in International Business from the American University of London. He worked for different United Nations Agencies including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) where he served, among others, as Head of the global Business and Industry programme (2008-11) and Deputy Regional Director for Africa (2011-2016). He has published more than 45 articles in peer-reviewed journals and Handbooks. He is currently an Extraordinary Professor at Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University and teaches at Addis Abeba University, Institute of Technology. Professor Mebratu is Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) since 2016.

Our Organization

TeifaIQ Africa Plc. is a private consulting company established by African intellectuals and is registered as a private limited company in Cape Town, South Africa, where its Head Office is located. It works in close association with the London-based company, SYSTEMIQ. The organizational structure is as follows:

Head Office

TeifaIQ Africa shall have a Head Office based in Cape Town, South Africa, which will be responsible for the execution of the company’s activities. The company may open branch offices in other African cities, as and when needed.

Associate Partners

These are individuals and institutions that have expertise and institutional objectives that align with the core services and functions of the company and who are willing to partner with TeifaIQ

Expert Teams

The founders and Associate partners are connected to extensive regional and international networks which will be at the disposal of the company. This will form the basis for mobilizing high-calibre expert teams for projects and initiatives.

Systems Thinking

All of our services and operations shall be guided by systems thinking which starts with enhanced understanding of the specific dynamics at local and national level, including progressively working across the incremental-transformational spectrum in developing solutions.

Transdisciplinary Approach

Working across disciplines and knowledge systems through a transdisciplinary approach constitutes the core of our methodological approach in developing our solutions and delivering our services.

Problem Solving

Combines high quality process facilitation and data analytics to drive strategic thinking, informed decisions and problem solving, by drawing on evidence, cutting edge expertise and local knowledge.

Sustainability Mentoring

TeifaIQ Africa shall strive to mentor young African scholars from different disciplines on sustainability leadership by creating the space for their active involvement and contribution in all services.

Impact Investment

TeifaIQ Africa will consider participation in equity contribution, but shall be limited to projects on the knowledge frontier or with high experimental value or socio economic impact in addition to fulfilling the environmental stewardship requirement.

Corporate Sustainability

TeifaIQ Africa does not associate itself with any business that is alleged to work against the core principles of corporate sustainability, environmental stewardship and social justice.

About Us