Our team consists of some of the most qualified experts in their field; together we hold over 40 years of experience in the African energy sector.
Victor Mallet
Founder and Lead Principal
With over a decade worth of experience in the power sector, Victor has developed a pipeline of over 500 MW of projects in Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. Most recently he was Sub-Saharan Sales Director for APR Energy and before that the Southern Africa Projects Manager for Aggreko. In the course of these engagements, Victor closed projects including an emergency 18MW thermal power installed in Nacala (Mozambique) in 2015 and the 40MW gas power installed in Beluluane (Mozambique) which exported power through SAPP to South Africa and Zambia from 2014 – 2016. Victor currently lead’s Catalyst Energy development work. Victor holds a B.Sc in chemical engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Jerome Niessen
Director of Finance & Legal
Jerome Niessen is a highly experienced developer who has held CEO roles in his last two engagements. Trained as a lawyer, Jerome spent over 10 years with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as an Investment Officer before turning entrepreneur developing a 20 MW wind farm in India and 264 MW wind farm in West Virgina (WV), for years the largest wind farm in the Eastern US. After successfully exiting the WV project having sold it shovel-ready to Shell and doubling or tripling his investors capital, Jerome has since 2015 been engaged in Sub Saharan Africa particularly, Eastern and Southern Africa. He was the CEO of what is now known as Serengeti Energy, owned by KfW, Norfund, STOA and other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). where he raised over $100M in equity financing, built a portfolio of utility scale hydro, solar and wind projects of 42 MW in operations, 22 MW in construction and circa 640 MW in development across Sub Saharan Africa. After multiple years with Serengeti, Jerome then joined JCM (also owned by a number of DFIs) as its CEO for Africa . Under his leadership JCM commissioned 80 MW of solar power (including battery storage) in Malawi. Jerome lives and works out of Nairobi, Kenya.
Gabriel Fossati-Bellani
Director of US Investor Relations
Gabriel is a Mozambican, Italian and American national and has lived in Mozambique for almost two decades. He has worked in both the consulting and philanthropic sectors, working for a Mozambican Management Consulting firm, EUROSIS, and as a Director at the Maria de Lurdes Mutola Foundation in Maputo. Gabriel, via the company Pembaland, has been involved in sustainable sourcing of land use rights (DUAT) in almost every province of Mozambique, including Maputo, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambezia. Gabriel holds a BA in economics from Princeton University and a MBA from the University of Cape Town GSB. He currently splits his time between Maputo and California.
Chipepo Chibesakunda
Director, Zambia Relations
A graduate of Humboldt University in Germany, Chipepo’s experience has extended into airline, hospitality and the telecommunications space. Chipepo has a demonstrated history of working successfully in the mining, metals and renewable energy industry. Chipepo splits his time between Maputo and Zambia.
Marta Chiama
Executive Assistant
Marta has spent 7 years working in the customer service area. She graduated from the Executive Secretariat course of Tecnicol, Mozambique, where she received a mark of distinction in the Customer Service and Relationship Management courses. Since then she has been assisting many different size and type of companies through her work with CoWork Lab Mozambique and now Catalyst Energy.
Paulo Massinga
Senior Environmental Affairs Consultant
Paulo’s career began as a project coordinator at the Universidade Politécnica. In addition, he coordinated a renewable energy project aimed at promoting the use of Pico Solar systems in disadvantaged communities in Mozambique. He has worked as a logistics and environmental manager in the mining industry of Mozambique. Paulo has also been heavily involved in coordinating the establishment of IPPs in Mozambique, ranging between 18 MW – 125 MW. As a consultant, he has managed the environmental licensing process, environmental management plans and environmental audits for various projects. Paulo holds a degree in Botany from the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.