Our Team
FRANCIS GREY Senior Associate
Francis is a serial entrepreneur, economist, strategic thinker, renewable energy and sustainability specialist. He founded Economists@Large (www.ecolarge.com), Economists@Large & Associates has become a guru in the economics of the environment. His clients included the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, CSIRO, the Resource Assessment Commission, the World Conservation Union and IFAW.
He has keen interest in:
- sustainability assessment of top 200 listed companies
- developing solar energy systems
- strategically leverage the investment in waste to energy
- developing the waste to energy/fertiliser model- wastewater to energy systems
Francis has two degrees in Economics and Politics from the Australian National University and has extensive experience in gained at Goldman Sachs Australia.
GARETH JOHNSTON Senior Associate
Focused on sustainable outcomes, Gareth enjoys working with business, government and communities to develop positive change, improving risk management, increasing resilience and anticipatory response. Key foci are SDGs #13 Climate, #7 Sustainable Energy, #16 Peace, #6 Clean Water and Sanitation with #2 Food Security. Gareth has worked across Asia, Europe, MENA and North America on strategic projects that add value, strengthen reputation, improve risk management and increase corporate resilience. His knowledge base is primarily focused in decision making in CIAV (climate impact, adaptation, and vulnerability) through a science, technology and business lense. He enjoys risk-taking and co-developed problem solving, learning and a focus on action. With a strong science academic base coupled with entrepreneurial skills, risk management and opportunity seeking, Gareth is keen on building new opportunities and supporting those seeking change.
Gareth specialises in: Climate Security, Adaptivity, Resilience and Anticipatory Planning. Executive Coaching for change. Corporate, government + community resilience. Disruptive social + technological innovation. Green economy, policy and commercialisation. Corporate change management and C level education. Board representation and strategy. Networking and market development. Environmental, social + governance reporting. Mentoring of emergent leaders.
GUS MANATSA Principal
Gus is an innovative leader and strategic thinker with keen interest on creating climate-smart, resilient and sustainable production systems and less vulnerable communities and ecosystems. He is an expert in project management, program design, and implementation, sustainable agricultural and natural resources development design, product development and researcher. Gus has a keen eye on proposal development having initiated, justified, implemented and delivered over 100 projects, developed 12 new products and assisted thousands of land-users develop climate-smart agriculture and climate resilient business systems in the past 8 years.
Core competencies: scientist, researcher, marketer, project manager. innovator and strategist. This diversity gives Gus a unique ability to adapt and manage multi-disciplinary projects/programs and steer complex challenges. From this experience, he has learned that his professional value comes down to:
He has been at the coal face of developing and managing projects for over 15 years
He is multi-speaker of climate-smart technology driven business. He speaks perfect sustainability, marketer, salesperson, project manager, people manager, and project designer and investment manager.
He aims to minimise mistakes as mistakes cost you money
He loves to be part of a winning team and not afraid to take a leading role in finding solutions to your challenges that may include: climate-smart agriculture and food security, helping firms, cities, communities, regions and states address risk and leverage opportunities through carbon accounting and verification, energy and water management for low carbon solutions.
TARIRO SITHOLE Principal Associate
Over a 20-year period, Tariro has delivered sustainable seed, irrigation and farming systems solutions to farmers in East, Central and Southern Africa. Her competencies include fibre crops, seed production, processing and distribution, stakeholder advisory/management, and industry development in East and Southern Africa.
These exceptional achievements are supported by academic and professional qualifications that include a Masters in Strategic Management (Marketing major) and Bachelor of Science (Agriculture).
Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, Tariro has communicated at Board of Directors level, colleagues, stakeholders and the whole agriculture supply chain. She is your partner in your desire to improve farm production, viability and profitability and the adaptation of adoption of new technological innovations.
Major Projects accomplished
- Environmental Management System development and auditing
- Quality Management System development and auditing
- Market surveys Eastern & Southern Africa
- Seed testing laboratory set-up and registration as per International Seed Trade Association
- Seed Business setup including Seed processing plant installation
- Seed Quality and Agronomy & Marketing
DONALD MAVINDIDZE Senior Associate
Donald is a passionate strategic business management professional with over 18 years experience in both the large and small scale agricultural sectors. He is keen agribusinesses and the farming communities with production operations, processing, manufacturing and leadership and business management mentoring. He has extensive experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, having delivered multi-million dollar solutions for large corporations and farmers.
Currently leading agriculture development that seeks to bring the latest agriculture technologies to the smallholder farmers in developing countries, Donald is ready to help farmers, communities, governments and agribusinesses build resilient and climate-smart production systems.
Prof KAITANO DUBE Senior Associate
Prof Dube is a prolific research, academic and practitioner, with unquestionable marks of growing influence in the area of research, teaching and learning with several achievements within a short period as evidenced by the rapid citation of his work and academic citizenship engagement in the Southern Africa and beyond. In his five years of university academic engagement, Prof Dube has distinguished himself as a rising star in research and postgraduate supervision. He is one of the most to look out for tourism geographers in the areas of tourism, climate change and sustainability. He is currently lecturing Ecotourism at VUT and independent research contractor with the Institute of Corporate Citizenship at UNISA where he leads several research projects. Prof Dube is also an Adjunct Lecturer for Physical Geography at Monash University South Africa.
Whether its contract research to improve your sustainability framework, manage climate risk, environmental assessments and establishing/maintaining ecotourism, Kaitano is ready to help you. Prof Dube can be contacted at: Kaitano.dube@ecosuste.com or projects@ecosust.com
Tai brings to the team international skills acquire in Southern Africa and the Oceania.
Expertise include:
- Delivering projects funded by international development agents such as USAID, DFID, EU and CIDA
- Farm systems modelling
- Climate adaptation, mitigation & policy
- Farm management planning- with special emphasis on modelling best sustainable enterprise options
- Highly knowledgeable in intensive dairying systems
TAISEKWA CHIKAZHE Senior Associate
In Africa, he helped improve the productivity and resilience of both smallholder and highly sophisticated farmers and improving food security through
- Soil and soil moisture conservation
- Promoting drought resistant open pollinated small grain crops
- Promoting community-based seed multiplication programmes for open pollinated small grain crops.
- Sustainable small livestock rearing programmes
- Promoting drip irrigation, community gardens and positive living
Most of his work was funded through World Vision by, USAID, DFID, C-SAFE, European commission and CIDA in collaboration with local government and communities.
Following his move to New Zealand, Tai has become an expert in:
Farm systems modelling to:
- Predict GHG and nutrient losses on NZ farms.
- Model GHG and nutrient loss mitigation options and predict impact on profitability.
- Model farm system optimisation to reduce environmental footprint whilst maintaining or increasing profitability.
Tai has advanced qualifications in Natural resources Management; Agribusiness and Sustainable Nutrient Management
Talk to Tai now on: tai.chikazhe@ecosust.com or projects@ecosust.com