Susan has spent her 30 year career building businesses in global emerging markets, with the last 15 years spent primarily in Africa. After training as a lawyer, Susan’s early career included senior management roles with JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, as well as at a hedge fund.
In 2016, Susan co-founded Holistic Agricultural Investments Group Ltd specialising in developing large sustainable agricultural projects across Africa, including commercial farms. In 2020, Susan co-founded Sustainable Planet, an agri tech start up focused on addressing food security and climate change through the production and processing of plant protein. In 2023, Sustainable Planet won the global Food Tech Challenge agri-tech award; the United Nations World Food Forum Innovation Prize and the African Southern Region Start Up of the Year award, and was listed in the Top 500 Agri-Tech companies globally. Susan was invited to present the company at COP28 on behalf of the United Nations and Microsoft. Susan currently sits on the Board of the African Agricultural Council and Chairs a gender lens Fund which she founded to finance climate smart female-led SME’s across Africa. Susan has a BA Hons, MA, LLB (Law) and MBA diploma and has studied at Oxford, England; McGill, Canada; St Andrews, Scotland and London School of Economics. She is also an Executive Coach and Mentor as well as being an athlete on the Great Britain and England Masters Athletics teams, winning gold and bronze medals at the 2023 World Masters Championships and silver medal at the 2023 European Masters Championships.
Sustainable Planet Ltd. is an innovative UK-based agri-tech food production company launched in 2020 and dedicated to addressing global food security and climate change through sustainable and scalable agricultural practices. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, the company produces high-quality plant-based protein using environmentally friendly methods, involving 15 times less water than soyabeans and transforming non-arable lands, like salt flats and desert, into productive agricultural sites. The company addresses all 17 UN SDGs in producing a protein source that grows rapidly 365 days a year with more nutritional value and protein than soy beans, peas, spirulina or chlorella. The company’s Nature Based Solution to protein production avoids deforestation and engages subsistence farmers to grow a food source usable as a direct but sustainable soya replacement across various foodstuffs, from protein bars, powder, cereals, breads, pasta, and whose by-product is also usable in petfood and animal feeds. The demand is global and massive, and this protein hero also acts as a carbon sink, with valuable carbon credits developed from it.
Collaborating with leading plant protein research centers such as Wageningen University, University Jena and Khalifa University, and utilizing technology from the Swiss company Bühler, Sustainable Planet Ltd employs a patented method to extract RuBisCo protein isolate from water lentils, reinforcing its commitment to sustainability and social impact.
Recognized globally, Sustainable Planet Ltd has received several awards, including in 2023 alone: UN World Food Forum Startup Innovation Award: Better Nutrition;, African Startup Award, Southern Region; Food Tech Challenge Award and is listed in the global FoodAgriTech 500.