Paul Kapelus

Director

South Africa

Masters in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation

BA (Hons) University of Witwatesrand

MA Sussex University

Paul is a Director in the South African office with 30 years working at the intersection of business and society with a focus on the mining, energy, forestry, agriculture, and large-scale infrastructure sectors. He is passionate about solving complex problems through collaboration, diving into difficult situations, and applying strategy and design thinking approaches for effective and impactful outcomes. He is equally comfortable engaging with Boards of Governors, C-Suite executives, and Government Ministers as he is in a village with leaders and disrupters. As company community mediator qualified by the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement, Paul has helped Synergy clients in strong and weak governance environments, conflict and post-conflict situations, to start and close mines, construct dams and pipelines, invest in agriculture, create benefit sharing initiatives relocate communities and evaluate impact. Paul is passionate about strengthening social capital and working with parties to align on mutually beneficial outcomes.

Awards, Memberships and Accreditations

Mediator accreditation, Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement

Elected as Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum and Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship.