Kwanele joined Just Share in August 2022. Prior to this, he was a Sustainability Research & Measurement Analyst at Woolworths Holdings Limited where he was part of the Woolworths Good Business Journey team, responsible for embedding sustainability into the overall business strategy and operations. He was responsible for the strategic monitoring and evaluation to track and validate progress across the programme’s focus areas — ethical sourcing, social development, sustainable farming, transformation (diversity and inclusivity), health & wellness, energy & climate change, water, packaging and waste). He was also part of Woolworths’ central steering committee for strategising, synergising, and coordinating sustainability related innovation and projects across the business units.
Before joining Woolworths, Kwanele was a Data Management and Integration Assistant at the City of Cape Town, under the Sustainable Energy Markets. This division facilitates energy security and diversification including driving uptake of innovative distributed energy solutions across the City. He was part of the team responsible for co-ordinating and driving the City’s climate change, mitigation, and transversal work towards adopting ambitious, evidence-based climate action plans.
He was responsible for climate and energy data for the monitoring and evaluation of Cape Town Energy 2040 Vision and Energy and Climate Action plan process for the transport, commercial, industrial, and residential sectors. During this time, he worked closely with the Low-Income Energy Services unit responsible for facilitating the provision of the best possible and sustainable energy services to low-income communities.
Kwanele is an activist who is deeply committed to the course of addressing racial, gender, and economic injustice in South Africa. He is an avid advocate of responsible investment to forge a fairer and more inclusive economic system that is both regenerative and distributive.
He holds a BSc in Applied Geology, and a BSc (Hons) in Environmental & Water Science from the University of the Western Cape. He also graduated with PGDip in Sustainable Development at Stellenbosch University where he majored in Applied Economics; Corporate Governance & Sustainable Enterprise and Transdisciplinary Design for Transformation. Kwanele is a certified Carbon Footprint Analyst by the UK-based Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.
