Linda Mabhena-Olagunju

Why organisations work with Linda Mabhena-Olagunju

• She has actually built and operates a 244MW utility-scale wind farm in the Northern Cape, not advised on one. Her authority on the energy transition comes from owning the asset, raising the capital, and running it.
• A legal foundation in oil and gas law from Aberdeen, applied to renewable energy operations in Africa. That sequence gives her a sharper view than most operators on how regulation, project finance, and offtake contracts actually shape what gets built.
• Direct line of sight on what local ownership looks like in practice. DLO acquired the engineering services and operations capability behind its plants, making it the rare African IPP with both equity and technical control.
• Sits at the table where African energy policy is shaped: advisor to South Africa’s Minister of Energy, University of Oxford International Advisory Board, founder of the DLO Africa Power Roundtable.
• Recognised by named bodies, not bureau hype: Choiseul 100 (multi-year), Forbes Woman Africa, CNBC All Africa Business Leaders Award, Veuve Clicquot.

Biography highlights

• Founder and CEO, DLO Energy Resources Group, owner and operator of a 244MW wind farm in South Africa’s Northern Cape.
• LLB, University of Cape Town (Dean’s Merit List); LLM in International Commercial Law with oil and gas specialisation, University of Aberdeen (First Class).
• Admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
• Member of the University of Oxford International Advisory Board since 2018.
• External contributor to Institut Montaigne on African energy and infrastructure.
• Recognition: Choiseul 100 Africa Economic Leaders for Tomorrow (multi-year); Forbes Woman Africa Best Emerging Entrepreneur; CNBC All Africa Business Leaders Award; Veuve Clicquot Businesswomen Award; Oprah Power List of 20 most powerful women in Africa.

Biography

Africa’s renewable energy build-out is shaped less by technology than by who can hold a project together long enough to reach financial close. DLO Energy Resources Group, founded by Linda Mabhena-Olagunju and now the operator of a 244MW wind farm in the Northern Cape, is one of the few independent power producers on the continent that owns both the equity and the engineering capability behind its assets.

Her route into the sector is unusual. She read law at the University of Cape Town, then took an LLM in International Commercial Law at Aberdeen with a specialism in oil and gas. She is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa. That legal grounding, in the contracts and regulation that govern energy projects, is what allowed DLO to acquire an EPC and O&M operation and bring operational control in-house, a step most African IPPs never take.

The recognition has followed the work, not the other way round. The Choiseul 100 has listed her among Africa’s economic leaders of tomorrow across multiple years. Forbes Woman Africa named her Best Emerging Entrepreneur; CNBC named her Young Business Leader for Southern Africa. She sits on the University of Oxford International Advisory Board, contributes to Institut Montaigne on African energy policy, and advises the South African Minister of Energy.

For audiences working on energy transition strategy, climate-related disclosures, or capital allocation to emerging markets, she is one of the very small group who can describe the path from policy ambition to a generating asset, with the receipts to back it up.

Key speaking topics

• Africa’s energy transition
• Renewable energy project finance and ownership
• Independent power producers in emerging markets
• Local content and black ownership in energy
• Women in energy and infrastructure
• Climate policy and capital allocation in Africa

Ideal for

• Boards and investment committees with African or emerging-market energy exposure
• CFOs, treasury, and capital allocators reviewing climate transition strategy
• Energy, utilities, and infrastructure executives planning African projects
• DEI sponsors and women-in-leadership programmes in capital-intensive sectors

Audience outcomes

• A clearer picture of what it takes for an African renewable project to reach financial close, told by someone who has done it.
• A working understanding of where policy ambition on energy transition diverges from project finance reality on the continent.
• Concrete answers on how local ownership, EPC control, and offtake structures change the economics of a generation asset.
• A sharper view of where African renewable capacity is actually being built, by whom, and at what cost of capital.