WiPSA Steering Committee Members

Carolin Gomulia

Steering Committee Chairperson

Carolin Gomulia is a seasoned strategist who has honed her skills in the government- and non-profit sectors. She launched the Workroom (www.theworkroom.biz ), a transformation and development agency, in 2018. She challenges conventional thinking and helps organisations to gain new insights and fresh perspectives. She has an in-depth understanding of resource mobilisation and fundraising. Her 15+ years of experience includes work with non-profits in South Africa, Namibia, Kenia, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Iraq, Jordan, Nepal, Germany, the UK and the US.

Carolin, who speaks fluent English, German and Spanish, holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies, and a second one in Development Management. She has also completed a Certificate Course in Business Analysis. She is deeply committed and passionate about social justice and transformation. Carolin is a German national with organic family links to Indonesia and resides for the past 16 years in South Africa.

Moya Wolff

Steering Committee Member & Co-founder

After a varied teaching and business career in SA, UK and Japan, Moya discovered her real passion in 2007 when she stumbled across the Social Sector. The realisation that her contribution at work could be so much more meaningful spurred her on to use her skills to assist non-profit organisations to thrive. When Kate Clayton asked Moya to assist in starting Women in Philanthropy SA, she was delighted to collaborate with so many like-minded, passionate women. As a qualified professional fundraiser/marketer she has had the privilege of working with many varied organisations on their long-term financial sustainability in order to further their social impact – most recently, Habitat for Humanity SA and Ikamva Labantu in the capacity as Fundraising Manager.

Anna Vayanos

Steering Committee Member 

Anna Vayanos is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa as well as a solicitor for England and Wales. Anna practised trust, tax and charity law both in Cape Town and London for a period of ten years. Passionate about making a difference in South Africa, she left legal practice to join BoE Private Clients (now Nedbank Private Wealth) where she headed up the Philanthropy Office. The business was recognised as the industry leader in South Africa in the provision of philanthropy services (Business Day, Top Private Banking Survey, August 2012) and remains the largest and most established philanthropy offering with repeated international recognition.

Since 2013, Anna has been consulting independently through her own business, Anna Vayanos Philanthropy Consulting. She remains very active within the donor and NPO sector, holds a number of board positions and is a Steering Committee member of Women in Philanthropy (SA).. She has spoken at many conferences, is a regular contributor of articles on industry-related topics, and co-wrote Advancing Philanthropy in South Africa with Shelagh Gastrow. She also recently wrote Good Governance and Foundations: a practical guide, for the Independent Philanthropy Association of South Africa. Anna advises donors and NPOs on tax exemption and structuring, good governance and responsible and effective giving.

Nyasha Njela

Steering Committee Member

After spending 6 years working in retail banking in her native country Zimbabwe, Nyasha moved to South Africa with her family. Having worked as a personal banker to priority clients during her time in retail banking, customer relations has been at the core of her work life, which transitioned to non-profit humanitarian work when she started working for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) South Africa in the fundraising department. Nyasha strongly believes in the power of individual fundraising. With almost a decade experience in fundraising, Nyasha is now the Resource Mobilisation Manager at Feenix.

Nicole Cupido

Steering Committee Member 

Nicole Cupido is an accomplished professional in digital marketing, specializing in social media marketing. With a strong business acumen developed through her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, she has held notable positions at Uprise Africa and the Pomegranite agency. Currently, as the Senior Social Media Manager at Crowd, Nicole utilizes her expertise in market trends and consumer behavior to optimize brand visibility and drive business growth. Committed to giving back, she actively advocates for community initiatives, emphasizing mentorship and volunteering, and believes in empowering others to reach their full potential.

Sinenhlanhla Nene

Steering Committee Member 

Sinenhlanhla Nene is an experienced social impact professional, who takes a great deal of pride in connecting people to opportunities that will enable them to uplift themselves and their communities. She holds a Master of Social Science degree in Industrial and Economic Sociology that she obtained from Rhodes University. Her passion for and exposure to the social impact and innovation space began at Reel Gardening in 2015, as a Projects Officer for, but not limited to their Securing Water for Food projects, founded by USAID, the Swedish Government, the Government of the Netherlands and the Department of Science and Technology South Africa. She then transitioned to the CSI Projects Development and Delivery Manager designation in 2018-2020, where she was responsible for the implementation of food security and nutrition education projects around South African schools and communities, through various CSI and retail partnerships.

She currently looks after the Mutual and Federal Community and Development Trusts, as well as the Financial Sector Code portfolio for Old Mutual Insure- under Responsible Business and Transformation. On behalf of the Mutual and Federal Trusts, she oversees various initiatives that support skills and social development, food security, climate change, small business support and disaster relief.

Louise Driver

Steering Committee

Louise is a fundraising and social investment strategy specialist with 25 years of development and corporate experience. She held the position of CEO of the Children’s Hospital Trust, fundraiser for the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and Paediatric Healthcare in the Western Cape, for the past 9 years. She recently took on a new role as Executive Co-ordinator of the Independent Philanthropy Association of South Africa.

Louise has a Business Science Honours degree in Social Marketing from the University of Cape Town. She has worked in the corporate sector for Old Mutual and MTN’s Corporate Social Investment projects, and has worked in the development field for the Catholic Welfare and Development, fundraising and marketing for the 22 development projects under their umbrella. She was MD of GreaterCapital, a Corporate Social Investment consultancy, part of the GreaterGood SA group, where she worked with over 60 corporate clients assisting them in developing and implementing effective corporate social investment strategies.  Louise has initiated and run various community welfare and development initiatives in Cape Town and Durban. She is also the researcher and author of the book: How to Help: A Guide to Worthy Causes in Durban, which provides a beneficiary resource for private and corporate funders.

Vanessa Ramanjam

Steering Committee Member

Vanessa Ramanjam joined the Social Enterprise Academy as Hub Manager South Africa in March 2018. After spending 20 years working in the advertising industry in South Africa she elected to leave advertising to pursue new opportunities in 2013. This was the start of a new journey. While in the advertising industry she served on the boards of TBSP as well as Ogilvy SA and her experience included managing accounts for a broad cross-section of Government as well as Corporate Clients such as Volkswagen, SAB and BATSA. She also completed an Executive MBA at the UCT GSB in 2003.

Since leaving the advertising industry she became a business owner and consultant and has been applying her management and marketing experience in the small business development sector. In addition to supporting small businesses, she has been providing marketing and strategic support to non- profits and social enterprises. This resulted in her starting her own social enterprise in the film industry, together with a local South African filmmaker and other advertising agency colleagues. She enjoys learning from and sharing her experience with like-minded people committed to improving the social enterprise and small business landscape in South Africa and developing a better, more productive society.

Catherine Du Plooy

Steering Committee Member

Catherine commenced working voluntarily in the NGO space while at high school with abandoned children at Abba house and Home of Hope. She worked on MSC cruise ships for 3 years in Marketing and Public Relations with people of all nationalities.

Catherine’s significant experience in the NPO sector, in marketing and fundraising, as part of an organisation or as a consultant, with over 25 different non-profit organisations (including Afrika Tikkun, St Joseph’s Care and Support Trust, Mamelani Projects). She was asked 4 years ago to join the BackaBuddy team as COO and Director, and has been instrumental in growing it from an organisation that generates R100 000 a month, to one that raises well over R5 million a month.

Catherine graduated from the University of Pretoria with a degree in communication and an honours in marketing management. Catherine recently attended a course at the Harvard Kennedy School on Leadership for systems change: Delivering social impact at scale.  She is a crowdfunding advocate with interests in social enterprise, management, strategy, business development and leadership.

Suna Hall

Steering Committee Member

Suna Hall is a Fundraising and Communications consultant based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Over the past 20 years she has worked for NPOs and Corporates in Poverty Alleviation, Public Health, Education & Entrepreneurship, Conservation & Environmentalism, Mental Health & Wellbeing and GBV to hone her skills and deliver targeted results.

She offers a wealth of knowledge and best practices to her clients, be they non-profit organisations or SME CSI departments.

Her strengths are developing processes and systems to support NPOs to be efficient, transparent and fiscally responsible..

Barbara Rita Sematimba

Chief Steward, CivSource South Africa
Steering Committee Member 

Barbara Rita Sematimba is a development practitioner with over 18 years of experience in the areas of Human rights and social justice within the South African context.

She has previously worked with ActionAid International, South African Clinical Research Association and Universal Health Development Fund.

Her experience includes women’s rights, equitable access to health, policy and impactful governance, food security and Youth inclusion. She has skills in administration, programs and grant management, partner engagements and managing country-wide networking platforms.

She is a strong advocate for both early childhood and a next-generation development of young people. She strongly believes in the empowerment and uplifting of relevant community-owned programs that work.

Barbara holds a Bachelors of Education from Makerere University and training in Public Administration and Public Health from Wits University Johannesburg. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Health and Public Management, and currently studying for a Master’s degree in Public Health in Johannesburg, South Africa.