OUR TEAM

Proudly Women-Owned Impact Funders

Our staff is made up of individuals from different backgrounds who use their experience in the financial, governance, private equity, and business rescue worlds to help businesses and restore companies to good health and growth.

Check out the people who make FyreFem such a great firm.

Cathy Goddard

Cathy Goddard

FyreFem CEO

Cathy is a prominent figure in venture capital and private equity and is a key advocate for gender equality and SME development. Cathy leverages her extensive background in private equity and investment to drive FyreFem’s strategy, which includes compliance, advisory, and direct investments with a focus on gender and diversity.

Cathy holds several influential positions on investment committees (ICs) and boards, highlighting her leadership and expertise in the field. She is a member and rotational chair of the $250 million ADI Fund (Australian Development Investments Fund), which focuses on development financing with a gender and climate lens. Additionally, she has served on the board of the Southern African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (SAVCA) from 2016 to 2022, where she also co-chaired the Code of Conduct Sub-Committee. Cathy’s roles in these organisations underline her commitment to ethical standards and her influence in shaping investment strategies that prioritise gender and climate considerations.

Cathy actively engages in initiatives that aim to make a catalytic impact in the African market. She participates in numerous mentoring and training programs, such as 2X Ignite Africa GP Sprint which is an accelerator programme designed to boost the fundraising journey of women/diverse-led fund managers. Her efforts in these programs and FyreFem’s own incubation programme are geared towards increasing the number of investable women-owned and women-managed fund managers in Southern Africa.

Her career in venture capital, private equity, M&A advisory and banking, at Deloitte, EY and Investec, has given Cathy exposure to various sectors including, amongst others, hardware technology, food, consumer goods, housing, manufacturing, mining, financial services, fintech, healthcare, transportation, and logistics, and she is now able to put her front-line dealmaking skills to good use on the ICs on which she sits.

Nonkululeko Komanyane

Nonkululeko Komanyane

Project Manager, FyreFem Licensing Incubation

Nonkululeko is an experienced entrepreneur who has worked with early-stage companies since 2012. She co-founded a technology accelerator in 2014, managed a portfolio of over 26 companies, and is now a General Partner of an early-stage Venture Capital firm focused on investing in technology businesses in South Africa. She supports entrepreneurs by connecting them to valuable networks and ecosystems and has experience as a consultant for startups and incubators, focusing on business systems, program design, product development, and refinement.

Nonhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube

Nonhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube

Selection Committee Chair, FyreFem Licensing Incubation

Nhlanhla’s background as economic advisory in the Presidency and her current board positions at ABSA Bank Zeder Investment Limited, and Zeder Financial Services Limited, and her previous board positions at other listed companies including Capitec Bank, WBHO Construction, Cadiz Financial Services, Tongaat Hulett and Pioneer Foods, and many unlisted boards, provide the team with invaluable expertise. Nhlanhla has global leadership skills and worked in the USA for 8 years for Washington State University. She is an entrepreneur running my her business and understands the needs of the FyreFem funds, clients and direct investments.

Nonhlanhla has won the SABC Lebone Businesswoman of the Year Award and several other awards for business leadership and social entrepreneurship. She has a BA from the University of Fort Hare and an MA in City and Regional Planning from the University of Cape Town. In addition, she has completed modules in Management at the Washington State University, a Fellowship in Urban Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Certificate in Finance at the Wharton School of Business (USA), a Senior Executive Leadership Programme at Harvard University and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Technology Management at Warwick University (UK).