Brenda Martin has played a leading role in South Africa’s energy transition for over 15 years. Her work has included community, civil society, public and private sector participation in both distributed and utility-scale power supply and planning.
She played an instrumental role in ensuring that lobbying & advocacy efforts by civil society participating in the Integrated Planning process during 2010 and 2015 were organised and effective. Between 2016 and 2019, as the CEO of the SA Wind Energy Association (SAWEA), she led the successful Wind Industry campaign for public procurement of private power to resume. During this period, she hosted regular discussions between organised business, organised labour and civil society.
Brenda is an Independent Advisor on South Africa’s Energy Transition and serves on two Community Trusts associated with wind farms in rural Eastern Cape.
Brenda has an MPhil in Energy & Development (UCT, 2016). Her dissertation analysed the politics of electricity planning in the early years of South Africa’s energy transition.
Susan Njoroge is the Managing Director of Responsible Business Consulting. She is passionate about sustainability, and authentic communications as key drivers for sustainable, responsible and successful businesses.
Susan provides independent consulting services to create and deliver tailored sustainability and communications solutions in: strategy, programme design and implementation; capability building;
stakeholder dialogue and partnerships; and reporting/evaluation to organisations that bring tangible value and contribute to building a responsible business landscape.
She is also a Senior Associate, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, an Executive Fellow, Strathmore Business School, Kenya and a training consultant with Shared Value Africa Initiative &
Shift Impact Africa.
Prior to consulting, Susan was Head, Sustainability & Community Engagement, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya. In this role, Susan developed and led delivery of the Bank’s sustainability, community
engagement and stakeholder agenda. Before this, she worked with Unilever as Head of Corporate Affairs & Sustainable Business, East Africa leading the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan strategy and
corporate communications agenda in East Africa. Before that she was with DHL Express as Head of Marketing & Communications East Africa. She has held various management roles with DHL in corporate responsibility and communications in Europe and Asia. Susan also worked with CSR Europe, Europe’s leading business network for CSR, as Senior Programmes Manager leading CSR services delivery, project design and management for CSR Europe’s members.
Susan holds an Msc. in Sustainable Development from SOAS University of London, a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Business Management from Daystar University Kenya; and post – graduate diplomas and certifications in PR, marketing communications, and sustainability.