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Staff profiles

In the Trade Council, sectors and expertise are delegated between our Trade Officers. Read the staff profiles below to gain more insight.

Freya Katrine Petersen

Head of Trade Department and Regional Coordinator of Sub-Saharan Region

Mobile phone: +27 (12) 430 9356

Email:[email protected]

Freya joined the Embassy of Denmark in South Africa in August 2018 and has more than 20 years of professional experience from sales and export. Her background in businesses and several occupations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given her a strong inside into building relations. Her focus will therefore be on building relations between Danish and South African stakeholders and supporting Danish companies. Freya has a special interest in the health sector, and putting the health sector on the agenda is part of her portfolio. Freya has an AP-degree in Economy and Exports from Eksportakademiet in Roskilde, Denmark.

 

Jabulane Walter Hadebe - Water

Senior Trade Officer, Head of Sector

Mobile phone: +27 (66) 435 3024

Email:[email protected]

Jabulane’s educational background is a M.Sc. in Masters in International Politics and Economics from KU Leuven in Belgium. Furthermore Jabulane holds an Honours Degree in International Politics from University of East London, London, United Kingdom. He also holds a diploma in Business Management from South Africa.  Jabulane joined the Embassy in 2015.  Jabulane has more than 9 years of professional experience working for different multinational companies, his areas of expertise, includes sales, project management, business development, product development, innovation, client relations and business analysis. After moving back to South Africa, he joined one of the banking institutions Barclays Africa in the Retail Banking sector working within business development, project management.

His position at the Embassy is two-fold. As a Senior Trade Officer, his focus is on facilitating trade between Denmark and Southern Africa, assisting companies on export promotion, whether it is market analysis, export, import, partner search, etc. As a Commercial and Financial Advisor, his role is to further Danish economic interest by providing information and facilitation of financial possibilities, such as investment and funding, for Danish exports to Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

J. D. Senekal - Food and Agriculture

Senior Trade Officer, Head og Sector

J.D. Senekal has been Senior Trade officer for food, agriculture and fisheries in South Africa since May 2016. As part of the portfolio he is responsible for advising Danish companies in the food, agriculture and fisheries sector on how to grow their exports and investments into Southern Africa. J.D. was born and raised on a farm, and has three years professional experience with the Agricultural Sector (mostly with DOW Agroscience).

Mobile phone: +27 (12) 430 9340

Email: [email protected]

 

Leo Arthur Crisp – Energy

Senior Trade Officer, Head of Sector

Leo Arthur Crisp has been a Senior Trade Officer with two decades of experience in South Africa’s public and private sector in South Africa with over 11 years in the clean energy and technical advisory space for various local and international organisations.  He’s focus is on facilitating trade between Denmark and Southern Africa, assisting companies in investing large pools of capital in the clean energy infrastructure space. As an Energy and Investment Advisor, he’s role is to further Danish economic interests by providing information and facilitation of financial possibilities, such as investment funding for Danish exports to Sub-Sahara Africa. He’s key focus areas are preparing Danish companies for the deployment of Renewable Energy (Onshore Wind, Onshore Solar PV), Bioenergy (Biogas, Biomass) and Energy Efficiency into the market. Leo holds a National Diploma in Journalism from Cape University of Technology and completed various short courses at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, University of the North West and the University of Stellenbosch.


Mobile phone: +27 (72) 427 9689

Email: [email protected]

 

The trade officers are also supported by two dedicated master-level students from a Danish or foreign university, studying the fields of business, economics, political science or law.