Tamzin has been instrumental in enhancing community-capital connections for nearly 30 years. As the founder director of the Impact Trust, her expertise in venture capital and asset management, rooted in a financial services career in South Africa and the UK, set the stage for her impactful work in philanthropic and social investment. Transitioning to social finance in post-apartheid South Africa, Tamzin bridged public, private, and civil sectors, unlocking funds for transformative purposes.
In 1998, she established the GreaterGood/GreaterCapital group, leading it for 12 years. Under her leadership, the group launched the South African Social Investment Exchange (SASIX) and the South African Impact Investing Network (SAIIN), promoting results-driven philanthropy and responsible investment in South Africa. GreaterCapital visionary joint venture with an asset management firm in 2007 catalysed the impact investment sector in the country. Her global contributions include contributing to the development of similar platforms in Kenya, Canada, Colombia and Europe including the UNDP’s South South Cooperation platform and the world’s first regulated social stock exchange board, Impact Exchange (iX), with the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. In 2011, Tamzin founded the Impact Trust and in 2014, created the Routes to Resilience programmes in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Tamzin studied towards a Bachelor of Commerce before completing a Bachelor of Social Science with majors in Anthropology and Psychology, an Honours Degree in Applied Psychology at the University of Witwatersrand and her Masters in Climate Change and Development with the African Climate Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. Her Honours Degree focused on social identity theory and resilience, working with ex-political prisoners in South Africa during the release phase in the early 1990s. Her Masters extended the exploration of social identity to focus on the enactment of environmental citizenship. She is currently completing her PhD at the Centre for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Surrey with a focus on resilience building strategies. Tamzin’s accolades include the GIBS Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2007), Ashoka Fellowship (2008), Thomson Reuters TrustLaw Innovation Award (2012), and being a Buckminster Fuller Award finalist (2009, 2010) for innovative 21st-century solutions.
