Lelemba Phiri, PhD

Dr. Lelemba is an award-winning transformational leader who combines on-the-ground entrepreneurial experience, investment expertise and academic rigour. With over 20 years of experience scaling and investing in businesses across 10+ African markets.

As an entrepreneur, she has doubled company revenues, led teams of 100+, scaled businesses across markets and built inclusive growth strategies in diverse sectors including fintech, edtech, agri and climate.

As a gender lens investor, she has deployed over $11M into innovative women-led businesses and gender-diverse teams through various funds, proving that intentional inclusion drives both commercial success and social impact.

Holding a PhD in Gender, Race and Entrepreneurial Finance, she translates rigourous research into evidence-based frameworks that guide global investors, start-ups, corporates and policymakers.

Proven Impact

Dr Lelemba has worked with private, public and government organisations with experience extending across 10+ markets in Southern, East and West Africa. Her work experience at strategic and executive levels includes having been CEO and managing director as well as heading marketing, people development and finance functions in multi-nationals. In all her roles, she has built inclusive leadership pipelines that advanced women and under-represented groups, directly linking diversity and inclusion to business growth.

Entrepreneurial Leadership

  • As Regional Managing Director at Zoona, a pioneering fintech in Southern Africa, she doubled revenues year-on-year,grew staff teams of 100+ and scaled an agent network to over 5000 across Zambia and Malawi.
  • As co-founder of Pranary, the leading AI-first business school, she played an instrumental role in scaling the business across 50+ markets and supporting over 12000+ entrepreneurs to access business education on the edtech platform
  • As Regional Head of Fixeds Assets at MI-Swaco, an environmental solutions engineering company, she managed fixedassets across eight African markets, embedding cultural intelligence into market entry and scale-up strategies.

Gender Lens Investment Expertise

  • As Co-founder and Partner at ATG Samata, a gender lens investment firm targeting a $50M fund, she is investing in innovative women-led and gender diverse teams in climate, value-added agriculture and technology sectors in acrossEastern and Southern Africa.
  • As Founder of Africa Trust Group, she oversaw $11M+ assets under management, financing 25+ women-ownedbusinesses across various sectors in six countries.
  • As Founder of the Empress Fund, a pioneering gender lens angel syndicate group, she mobilised local capital from highnet-worth individuals and designed innovative financing instruments for investing in early stage women-led businesses.

Research and Advisory

  • Author of The Intersection Advantage™, a seminal work turning academic insight from her PhD research into practicaltools that business leaders can implement for driving profitable inclusion.
  • Her strategic advisory roles have included clients such as GIZ, the World Bank, UN Women, UN University, theGovernment of Zambia, shaping global policies and instruments for gender equity and climate finance.
  • She has delivered lectures at ESADE Business School in Spain (Gender, Inclusion & Sustainability) and the University of Turin in Italy (Social Innovation), as well as the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK.

Recognition and Leadership

Dr Lelemba’s work has been recognised globally earning her various awards and leadership seats: 

  • Co-Chair, 2X Forum (Global) – shaping the international gender finance agenda.
  • Chair, Novastar Fund III Investment Committee (Pan-African) – a leading VC/PE firm in climate and inclusion
  • Chair, Zoona Zambia Board – advancing fintech-driven financial inclusion.

Awards

 
  • 2024: Best VC Investing in Female Start-ups in Zambia
  • 2021: Africa’s Inspiring Women LeadHers by Meta/Facebook
  • 2017: Named 50 Change-makers Advancing Gender Equality in South Africa
  • 2017: Awarded global top 5 most influential marketers by World Maketing Congress
  • 2016: Named Cordes Fellow for 50 most promising social entrepreneurs globally
  • 2015: Zambian Woman of the Year – Rising Star Award
  • 2014: Awarded one of Africa’s Most Influential Women in business and government by CEO Magazine.
  • 2012: Shoprite Woman of the Year Nominee
  • 2010: Rising Star Award for 2010 at the Mwape Peer Awards in Washington DC in recognition of her contribution towards financial education in the community.

Speaking and Consulting Focus

  • For Global Investors:
  • ESG and climate capital deployment in African markets. Gender lens investing frameworks that deliver superior returns.
  • De-risking frontier markets through inclusive investment strategies.

For Policy Makers and Development Finance Institutions:

  • Policy frameworks for women’s economic empowerment.
  • Innovative financing mechanisms for SME development. 
  • Climate adaptation strategies aligned with inclusion

For Multinational Corporates

  • African market entry and expansion strategies.
  • Culture transformation programs that accelerate growth.
  • Leadership development for diverse, high-performing teams. 

For Startups

  • Investment readiness and fundraising strategies
  • Market expansion playbooks for scaling across diverse African contexts.
  • Building inclusive leadership and team cultures that drive sustainable growth. 

Why Dr Lelemba Now?

As global capital seeks profitable ESG-compliant investments, Africa represents the world’s most compelling opportunity. Yet traditional approaches often fail because they overlook the economic power of inclusion. Dr. Lelemba’s unique blend of operational mastery, investment success and academic rigour makes her indispensable to organizations that want to:

  • Unlock Africa’s $15 trillion gender investment gap.
  • Design ESG strategies that go beyond compliance to deliver growth.
  • Build authentic cultural competency for African markets.
  • Drive systemic change that creates both impact and financial returns.

Available for: Strategic Advisory | Board Positions | Keynote Speaking | Executive Coaching | Research Partnerships