Executive
Urbuntu’s Directors have collectively invested in and delivered over 102,000 housing units and have planned more than 500,000 units over their professional careers, predominantly in emerging and frontier economies of Africa and Asia.
Larry English – Director – Planning
Larry is a recognized leader in the field of affordable housing and urban development. He has 32 years’ experience at levels from policy, through planning, design, institutional development, financing, to actual delivery. He has served as Owner, Director and CEO, for REALL, Habitat for Humanity International and has investment and project experience in 29 countries in Africa, the Middle East, South and South East Asia.
Rupert Dehaene-Gold – Director – Investment
Rupert is an experienced real estate development and asset management professional with over 19 years working in Asia, Africa and Europe with International Management Firms (Atkins), International Finance Institutions and Family Offices. He has a strong background in strategic planning, economics, asset development, investment, and management.
Warwick Aubin – Director – Fund Raising
Warwick has worked in the global derivatives markets for 28-years, holding director level positions with companies like HSBC and Ord Westpac. In 2010 he moved into the microfinance and development sectors: impact investment, technology, strategy and fundraising where he has developed experience in investor engagement and raising capital from both public and private sources.
In 2015, he was made a Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA’s highest award) for his contribution to the Australian financial markets and has successfully originated a $20m AUD Kangaroo Bond for VisionFund International which was the first of its kind for the microfinance sector.
Joe DeSwardt – Director – Development
Joe is an experienced senior executive with 30 years expertise in real estate investment and development in emerging and frontier economies, managing work across the entire process from capital investment through to implementation, focusing on production modelling, profitability and compounded growth for several large organisations including Places for People and REALL.
Augustine Kubara – Senior Project Manager – Development
Augustine is an experienced Project Manager and Chartered Quantity Surveyor (MRICS) with more than 15 years extensive experience in the Affordable Housing sector working with social enterprises, private and public sector organisations as well as International financial institutions in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Botswana.
Further to this, he has led several big budget projects in the Property Development, and Construction Industry, and championed project management for low income housing and WASH delivery, delivering houses under the Community Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) initiative being run in more than ten countries in Africa and Asia.