Katja Klein

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

After working as a language teacher and simultaneously learning Mandarin in Taiwan, Katja completed her articles at PF Koep and Co attorneys in Windhoek, and was admitted to practice in the High Court of Namibia in 1998.  She previously served as a member of  the Law Society of Namibia’s Ethics Committee, as a co-opted Councillor on its Council, and on the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee.  Katja speaks English, German and Afrikaans as mother tongues.  She taught herself Mandarin Chinese over many years and speaks excellent Spanish.

Katja has worked internationally for many years.  In 2002 Katja obtained an MBA from IESE Business School (Universidad de Navarra) in Barcelona, followed by investment banking/corporate finance internships with the High-Tech Engineering and other teams in major banking houses in London, New York and Düsseldorf.  In 2004 whilst at IJG (Pty) Ltd in Windhoek, she was part of the team that listed Namibia’s first BEE private equity fund, serving as a director of Stimulus Investments, its fund manager, Stimulus Private Equity, and of other Namibian entities.

After her roles at Stimulus, Katja worked as project manager and senior team member on various projects in Munich, Shanghai, Taiwan, Spain, Switzerland and Namibia.  These projects included 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 and Germany) and pharmaceutical market research in Germany and Switzerland).  In Namibia, Katja worked on projects involving due diligence, logistics coordination and major infrastructure tender preparation/coordination for multidisciplinary teams of professionals.

During 2010, Katja formed part of the IJG African Alliance (Pty) Ltd team as Managing Director of IJG African Alliance’s private equity company.  From 2012, Katja served on the Executive Committee of the Development Bank of Namibia, 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, she served on the Assets and Liability Committee and on the Management Credit and Investment Committee.  As of 2015 Katja focused on multidisciplinary projects including project implementation, financial services, construction, education and mining services. 

Qualifications and Career