Katja Klein-Pitsokos

MBA (IESE), LL.B (UCT), B.Bus.Sci.(Hons.)(Law) (UCT), B.A. (Chinese & Russian)

Katja obtained a Bachelor of Business Science (Honours) Law) from the University of Cape Town in 1993, followed by a postgraduate LL.B from the same University in 1995. After working as a teacher of languages in Taiwan and simultaneously learning Mandarin there, she completed her articles at PF Koep and Co attorneys in Windhoek, and was admitted to practice law in Namibia in 1998. Katja’s legal background and links to the legal fraternity have provided a consistent backbone to all her endeavours. As a member of the Law Society of Namibia, she has served as a member of its Ethics Committee, and as a co-opted Councillor of the Council of the Law Society of Namibia. She also served on the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee for a number of years.

Katja has travelled and worked internationally for many years. Leaving legal practice in 2000, Katja obtained an MBA in 2002 from IESE Business School (Universidad de Navarra) in Barcelona. IESE has been consistently ranked number 1 globally for Executive Education by the Financial Times since 2015. During and shortly after her MBA studies, Katja had investment banking and corporate finance internships with the High-Tech Engineering Team and other teams in major banking houses based in London, New York and Düsseldorf. In 2004 and whilst at IJG (Pty) Ltd, she was part of the team that founded and listed Namibia’s first BEE private equity fund, serving as a director of Stimulus Investments, its fund manager, Stimulus Private Equity and other Namibian entities.

Katja speaks three mother-tongue languages - English, German and Afrikaans - and taught herself Mandarin Chinese over many years. She speaks excellent Spanish and in addition to other qualifications, Katja obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Language and Literature, majoring in Chinese and Russian language and literature. During 2009, Katja edited a Chinese module teaching text for the Chinese Lecturer at UNISA. Throughout her degree, she was awarded multiple bursaries by private Russian sponsors, including Rustradev, and the University presented her with the College Gold Award for the best performance in a Bachelor’s Degree in its College of Human Sciences for 2009.

Following her roles at Stimulus, Katja commenced work as an international contractor, working as project manager and senior team member on a number of projects in Munich, Shanghai, Taiwan, Spain, Switzerland and Namibia. These projects spanned a number of industries, including global procurement in the laptop industry in Taiwan and Shanghai, FMCG market research in the German-speaking countries of the EU, M&A in the automobile industry (Spain, China and Germany) and pharmaceutical market research in Germany and Switzerland). In Namibia, Katja worked on projects involving logistics coordination and major infrastructure tender preparation and coordination for multidisciplinary teams of architects, engineers and quantity surveyors.

In March 2010, Katja re-entered the Namibian private equity industry with IJG African Alliance (Pty) Ltd, again forming part of a team founding a new private equity fund and manager. As Head of Private Equity and the Managing Director of IJG African Alliance’s private equity company, she was responsible for the daily management and operations of the fund and fund manager, for deal sourcing, investor relations and stakeholder liaison. From 2012, Katja served on the Executive Committee of the Development Bank of Namibia, responsible for Corporate Services and reporting to the CEO. In this role, she was responsible for supporting the CEO in the Bank’s business strategy planning and key stakeholder engagement. As Head of Department, Katja also oversaw Research and Product Development, Corporate Communications and Business Development. At the Bank, Katja served on the Assets and Liability Committee and on the Management Credit and Investment Committee. She also chaired various committees, including a project team comprising the Bank, the GIZ (German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation) and the Bank of Namibia, resulting in a study providing recommendations for the establishment of a national SME Financing Strategy for Namibia.

Since 2015, Katja has again worked as a multidisciplinary and multilingual consultant across multiple industries including project implementation, financial services, family business succession planning, construction, education, media liaison, mining and mining services. She serves as a trustee for various private and family entities and has served as a director of a number of companies.

Qualifications and Career