Phatisa

Ryan Burns earned a Bachelor of Commerce Accounting Honours from the University of Pretoria and qualified as a South African Chartered Accountant. Before joining Phatisa in January 2017, he spent three years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their banking and capital markets division, serving private equity, banking, and asset management clients. At Phatisa, where he became Partner, he has worked on buy-side and sell-side transactions across the AAF and PFF 2 funds and contributed to portfolio management, including at director level.

Qi Wang is a consultant specializing in data science, AI, and product innovation, covering the process from raw data to product through insights extraction and AI product building. He previously served as Chief Data Officer at Qmee, a Capital D portfolio company, overseeing its ML/AI products and business analytics, and after Qmee's acquisition by Kantar he continued in data science at Kantar, working on AI product development with the Microsoft team. He holds a PhD in Digital Signal Processing and Machine Learning from the University of Newcastle.

Asif Noorani is a CFA Charterholder and ACCA member with over eight years of private equity experience. He previously served as an Investment Manager at I&P's Nairobi office, focused on East Africa, and spent seven years at Fanisi Capital, where he led the investment team and worked on deal execution, portfolio management, and exits.

Alex Raubenheimer is an Associate at Phatisa. He earned a Bachelor of Business Science in Finance & Accounting and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of Cape Town, and qualified as a CA (SA). Before joining the firm, he spent three years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in its Banking and Capital Markets division, serving clients including banks, private equity, and investment property funds.

Anja Cawood joined Phatisa's Sustainability team in 2023 and is based in Johannesburg. She holds an MPhil in Development Finance from Stellenbosch Business School. Over the prior 11 years she advised companies, governments, and international aid programmes on sustainability strategy, due diligence, monitoring and evaluation, impact assessments, governance, and reporting.

Bulelani Salakuvuwyela earned a Bachelor of Accounting with Honours from the University of Stellenbosch and completed his articles at PwC, where he later worked as an Assurance Manager. He then joined Terrain African Agri Investment, an agricultural investment firm, as an Investment Analyst involved across the investment lifecycle.

Christine Kairu joined Phatisa in November 2021 as an investment team analyst and holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of Nairobi. She has a background in investment advisory, including financial, commercial and operational due diligence, feasibility studies, financial modelling and valuations for private equity and industry clients. In her role she supports partners and team members across the full lifecycle of investments made by the Phatisa Funds.

Faith Karega is a Senior Analyst at Phatisa with a background in asset management and investment advisory. She previously spent over four years at ICEA Lion and KPMG East Africa, where her work included financial, commercial, and operational due diligence, feasibility studies, financial modelling, and valuations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from the University of Nairobi.

Fridah Kariuki is a financial professional focused on financial analysis, financial modelling, due diligence, and valuation, working across agribusiness, real estate, infrastructure, and sustainable development projects in Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Business Science and Economics from Monash University and previously worked at KPMG. Her work centers on private equity and impact across Africa.

Isabella Schmid joined Phatisa in 2023 as a Sustainability Analyst and is based in Nairobi. She holds an MA Honours in Accounting and Finance from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to Phatisa she worked in ESG and impact roles with micro-finance institutions across East and Southern Africa.

Paola Samuel is a South African attorney with over seven years of experience focused on funds and investments law, private equity fund structuring, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Phatisa, she worked as a Senior Associate at Bowmans and Webber Wentzel and spent time with the Corporate Investment Banking team at Absa Bank Limited. She holds a BCom (finance), an LLB (with distinction), and an LLM from the University of the Witwatersrand, and completed the Advanced Course for Private Equity at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Siliziwe Nkalitshana is a Chartered Accountant with experience in financial audit and the higher education sector. Her skills include research, financial valuations, financial modelling, and technical knowledge of IFRS and tax. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (CTA) and a BCom in Financial Accounting, and works to apply her financial expertise to investment decisions across Africa.

A qualified accountant who began his career at KPMG in the United Kingdom before his roles at Phatisa.

Laura Waldenstrom is a Principal at Earlybird Venture Capital. She invests in early-stage B2B software startups from pre-seed to Series A, focusing on infrastructure software—including AI, security, developer tools, and data—as well as the Future of Commerce.