Kalnisha Singh is a Development Economist and Strategic Industrial and Economic Transformation Specialist. She has experience in developing and implementing transformative strategies at all levels of the economy.
Kalnisha started her career in the fields of industrial and economic efficiency – advising on the design of policy and incentives; as well leading teams that implemented industrial cluster models in South Africa, and abroad.
Her career currently spans the impact, transformation and sustainability segments – consulting to and implementing projects on behalf of the Financial, Mining and Renewable Energy Sectors.
Kalnisha is passionate about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – with a particular interest in discussing concepts of (African) identity, intrinsic bias and gender mainstreaming. She is also vocal about her position on rethinking economic models that serve Africa, as well as the benefits of transformative thought to drive development outcomes.
Experience and skills
Kalnisha has been an independent consultant in Local Economic Development, Transformation and Sustainability, for the bulk of her career (20 years).
Kalnisha’s Local Economic Development work has involved the design and implementation of Economic/Community Development projects that support the renewable energy space (as part of the REIPPP initiative), the mining sector and other infrastructure projects. She has served in an advisory role, and as an implementation partner for numerous organisations in these sectors.
Her Transformation work has been specifically focused on assisting corporate companies address their B-BBEE compliance requirements – while ensuring cost-efficiencies through the optimisation of incentives that may exist in the market.
Kalnisha’s Sustainability work has been focused on assisting not-for-profit and community-based organisations work towards financial sustainability, develop monitoring and evaluation processes and impact monitoring and measurement.
Kalnisha serves on a number of Boards and Committees in industry.
She is committed to the development of Transformative Processes for South African Businesses – and the notion of building a generative future-fit continental economy that will serve its people first and contribute meaningfully to the global just economic transition.
Project Focus Areas
- Design and Delivery of Integrated Local Economic Development Strategies that Catalyse Human Capital and Optimise Local Assets to lead to Sustainable Outcomes.
- DEI advisory, programme design, policy integration
- Development of impact investing strategies; methodologies; modelling and advisory for Fund Managers
- Multiple-stakeholder value fund-raising strategies for Developmental Credit Providers
- Bid Preparation and Project Modelling for Utility Scale Energy Projects
- Strategies to enhance Sustainability and Sustainability Reporting for Multi-National Organisations
- Corporate Governance and Integrated Reporting Frameworks and guidelines for various organisations in the private sector
- Economic Development Due Diligence; Social Labour Plan Audit and Transaction Advisory for Mining Entities
- Organisational Transformation Interventions, Human Capital Development Programmes and Supply Chain Enhancement Programmes for Corporates
- Supplier and Enterprise Development Fund Management and Project Execution.
- Advocacy on African Economics, Models for Economic Development in Africa, Social Entrepreneurship as “the African Way”; Impact Investing in Africa; Modelling and Measuring Impact in the African context.
- Entrepreneur and Leadership Coaching and Mentorship
Supplementary information
Kalnisha is the founder and director of KD Strategies – a boutique advisory firm.
She is Director of WE Connect – a networking platform for Women in the Renewable Energy Industry in Africa.
Kalnisha was a recipient of the Nelson Mandela Economic Scholarship 2003. She was nominated for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for 2016; and is one of the Young Independents Top 100 Influencers of 2016.
Kalnisha has been recognised as one of the top 12 leaders in CSI for 2022/2023; and was awarded the Inclusive Leader and Positive Role Model Awards at the 2022 Accenture Gender Mainstreaming Awards in Gauteng.
Current Position
Development Economist Transformation Specialist Change Catalyst
Language
- English (first-language)
- Afrikaans (intermediate)
- Japanese (beginner)
Qualifications
- Master of Commerce (Applied Economics) – incomplete
- Certificate in Sustainable Investing (Harvard Business School)
- Certificate in Sustainable Business Strategy (Harvard Business School)
- Certificate in Project Management
- Bachelor of Business Science (Honours)
– Development Economics
– Sustainable Development
– Industrial Organisations
– Economics of the Public Sector
– Strategic Management
Key Focus Areas
- Development Economics
- Just Economic Transition
- Renewable Energy
- African Economics
- Entrepreneurship in Africa
- Impact Investment
- Lean Efficiencies
- Organisational Transformation
- Enterprise Development
- Sustainability Reporting
- Integrated Reporting
- Corporate Governance
- UNPRI and ESG Adoption