Simiso Velempini is Founder and Managing Director of Vele Africa Advisory, an Africa-focused strategic advisory firm that provides exclusive support to corporates, development finance institutions, donors, family offices and individual investors throughout the investment lifecycle. The company’s services include market entry assessments; political and policy risk analysis; pre-transactional integrity due diligence; ESG advisory; government and public affairs advisory; stakeholder mapping and engagement; reputation and crisis management guidance; and non-litigious dispute resolution support.

Prior to starting her own firm, Simiso was CEO of Africa Matters, where she led the company’s strategic direction and advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, stakeholder engagement, reputational risk management and non-litigious dispute resolution. Previously, she led the Africa practice at K2 Integrity, where she served as Managing Director, and led the Africa team’s investigations, intelligence gathering and dispute resolution work. 

Before joining K2 Integrity, Simiso was based in Johannesburg where, as Vice President of Reputation Management at Barclays Africa, she advised the business on reputation management for specific issues related to transactions and relationships across 12 African markets. Prior to joining the bank, Simiso worked as the Southern Africa analyst at Control Risks, where she provided bespoke political and policy analysis as well as risk consultancy for a range of clients across multiple sectors in Africa.

Simiso holds a BA (Languages), a BA (International Relations) and a BA (Honors) in International Relations from the University of Pretoria. She also holds a MA in International Security from Sciences Po, Paris and an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics.