Mr. Gqi Raoleka

As a driving force behind Pele Green Energy through serving as the Managing Director over the past 15 years, Gqi Raoleka has played a pivotal role in shaping and executing the company’s strategic initiatives. His foresight and ability to align corporate objectives with industry trends have positioned Pele Green Energy as the African leader in renewable energy.

Prior to his fifteen years in the energy sector establishing Pele Green Energy, Gqi pursued a seven-year career in finance, first as an investment banker in Corporate Finance at JPMorgan Chase and then joining the Leverage and Acquisition Finance team at Standard Bank.

Gqi’ current responsibilities include leading and overseeing Pele Energy Group, which includes oversight over the activities of subsidiaries Knowledge Pele and Pele Green Energy.

He is also fundamental in all capital and project fundraising activities, and plays a pivotal role in managing and supporting Pele Green Energy’s major stakeholder relationships and numerous partnerships. With a keen focus on managing risk and exposure, Gqi is leading the drive towards Pele’s geographical diversification, growth in market share and increase in operational excellence. Gqi currently serves on the boards of Pele Green Energy’s operating power plants including the: 36 MW Solar CPV 1 Board, 101MW Redstone Solar CSP Board and the 520MW Kurusong 2 Board.

During his period as the Managing Director of Pele Green Energy, Gqi has been instrumental in Pele Green Energy raising over R32bn in project debt and R5,1bn in project equity, as well as raising over ZAR2.7bn in preference share funding over the last four years. Gqi has also played a key role in securing PGE’s current c2.5 GW and in Pele Green Energy becoming one of the only South African IPPs to control an operating utility power plant.

Gqi holds an undergraduate degree in Bcom Economics and Econometrics as well as an honours in International Finance and Monetary Theory. Gqi also accepted the inaugural Presidential Sustainability award in 2022 from President Cyril Ramaphosa and was recently awarded with this honour for the second time in March 2024.