Mr. François van Schalkwyk is Executive Director Investment & Sector Development at the Namibia Investment Promotion & Development Board (NIPDB), an agency in the Office of the President of the Republic of Namibia He was appointed in this role in April 2021. François previously served as CEO and partner at Holbrook Advisors, a specialist management consulting, corporate and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm in London.

With nearly 20 years’ experience in the consulting and advisory industry, he has successfully delivered numerous strategy and commercial projects. As an established innovator and corporate development specialist François has been building and working with multidisciplinary and remote teams globally since 2005.

As a consultant and C-suite advisor, François previously advised global clients on corporate and commercial strategy with significant experience in developing and executing start-up and scale Agri, Financial Services, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Medtech, Retail and Renewable Energy projects and propositions.

As part of his current role, he is responsible for the Investment Promotion, Investment Facilitation, Sector Development and Public Investment Divisions at the NIPDB. François’ multi-sector experience helps him to understand the needs of investors, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of Namibia’s business climate.