2026 Speakers

Mr. Jacob Mbele was appointed as the Director General of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in July 2022. He is a qualified Electrical Engineer with a master’s in business administration (MBA). His experience spans over 20 years in energy policy development, energy planning, systems integration, and operations. Prior to this current role, he held several senior positions in the public sector (former Department of Energy) as a Deputy Director-General (DDG) for Energy Programmes and Projects, Eskom and the private sector. Mr Mbele is the Co-Chair of the DG’s Economic Sectors Investment and Infrastructure Development (ESIEID) Cluster whose mandate is to focus on strategic and multi-sectoral interventions that will have a high impact on addressing the structural impediments to growth and employment creation.