Professional History: Paul Kapelus is the director of Synergy Global Consulting, where his work for more than two decades has been at that interesting intersection of business and society. His focus has been in the natural resources sectors, working with mining, oil, gas, agriculture, and forestry. He worked to solve complex problems through collaboration, diving into difficult situations, and applying strategy and design thinking approaches for effective outcomes. He is equally comfortable engaging with Boards of Governors, C-Suite executives, and Government Ministers as he is in a village with leaders and disrupters.

Paul’s work has focused on how companies intersect with development and the strategies that need to be considered, designed, and implemented. His extensive experience includes partnership design and the practical implementation, conflict resolution, bankable feasibility studies, social and human rights assessments, sustainability reporting and assurance, design of management systems, stakeholder engagement strategies and plans, design, and management of trusts and foundations, training, coaching, and recruitment.

He has worked with business, civil society, and government sectors and is often placed in socially complex situations with the mandate to diagnose situations that might become a risk for companies and provide value-adding mitigation strategies.

As a mediator qualified by the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement, he has helped companies in strong and weak governance environments, conflict, and post-conflict situations.

He has published papers in various leading journals and is based in Synergy Global Consulting's Johannesburg office.

Paul passed away in February 2025.

Academic and professional credentials: MA in Social Anthropology from Sussex University (UK)
BA (Hons) from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg
Mediator accreditation, Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement

Programs: The World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, 2006