Selected Engagements
Advisory, representation and executive leadership.
Enerleq is engaged to advise, to represent manufacturers commercially in a market, or to take an operating role and run the business. The engagements below span manufacturers, investors, materials producers and government.
Building a European manufacturer's African business from the ground up
A European manufacturer with no African presence needed a route to market. Enerleq established and ran its sub-Saharan business under a multi-year mandate.
- Client
- A European fuel cell and energy systems manufacturer
- Technology
- Fuel cells, batteries, energy management and IoT systems
- Geography
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Role
- General Manager, sub-Saharan Africa, under a consulting mandate
- Status
- Concluded
The challenge
A European manufacturer of fuel cell and energy systems saw sub-Saharan Africa as a natural market: unreliable and absent grid power is the region's defining infrastructure problem, and telecom operators were spending heavily on diesel to fill the gap. The company had the technology but no local presence, no regional team and no route to market — and selling equipment on European commercial terms was unlikely to succeed in markets where customers were buying reliability, not hardware.
Enerleq’s contribution
Enerleq was engaged to establish and run the company's African hub, holding budget and P&L responsibility and reporting to the Group CEO as part of the global management team. The mandate covered building and running regional teams across six countries, regional sales targets, go-to-market strategy, engagement at CXO level with customers and partners, and board reporting. In practice this made Enerleq the manufacturer's commercial presence in the region, carrying its tenders, customer relationships and sales effort. Enerleq contributed to service-based commercial models designed to generate long-term annuity income rather than one-off equipment sales; one such model, under which the company would have taken over powering several hundred mobile base stations for an African telecom operator under a fixed monthly service agreement, went to that operator's board. For the region's mobile operators, Enerleq developed energy cost reduction strategies built on the total cost of ownership of their existing power provision, combining fuel cells, batteries, monitoring and management controllers with cabinet-mounted electrolysers that stored energy as hydrogen so the fuel cell could carry a site when the grid dropped. Installation was by the manufacturer, by service providers Enerleq managed, or by third parties buying the equipment outright.
The outcome
The company's African footprint expanded rapidly over the seven-year mandate. Tenders were won for battery and energy management systems; fuel cell and electrolyser systems were deployed in stationary applications. Operators adopting the cost reduction strategies saw measured savings of millions of dollars a year across their base station infrastructure.
Establishing fuel cell component manufacturing in South Africa
A venture building South Africa's fuel cell component manufacturing capability needed executive leadership. Enerleq provided its Chief Operating Officer under a multi-year mandate.
- Client
- A South African fuel cell component manufacturer
- Technology
- Fuel cell MEAs and PGM catalysts
- Geography
- South Africa
- Role
- Chief Operating Officer, under a consulting mandate
- Status
- Concluded
The challenge
South Africa holds the greater part of the world's reserves of platinum group metals, which are used as catalysts in key fuel cell technologies, yet domestic manufacturing capacity for these components was limited and they were largely imported. The company set out to close that gap by manufacturing membrane electrode assemblies and PGM catalysts domestically, and needed executive leadership capable of raising capital, specifying and building a high-technology production facility, and opening commercial conversations with global OEMs.
Enerleq’s contribution
Enerleq provided executive leadership, its principal serving as Chief Operating Officer with day-to-day responsibility for the business across all disciplines: a combined grant and equity fundraising programme; design and construction of the production facility, including equipment specification and engagement with international manufacturing equipment producers; investment-grade proposals and government liaison; board and shareholder reporting; and business strategy supported by market studies. Enerleq also led off-take discussions with global automotive manufacturers.
The outcome
Funding was secured. A high-technology facility for fuel cell and electrolyser components was established in Africa. Contract discussions were opened with global OEMs.
Shaping South Africa's first national hydrogen and fuel cell strategy
Enerleq served on the working group that co-authored South Africa's first national hydrogen and fuel cell strategy, and supported its launch.
- Client
- The South African government, through the Department of Science and Technology
- Technology
- Hydrogen and fuel cells
- Geography
- South Africa
- Role
- Member of Core Working Group
- Status
- Concluded
The challenge
South Africa holds the mineral resources, the research base and the industrial case for a hydrogen economy, but lacked a coordinated national position setting out where public investment should go and what the country was building towards.
Enerleq’s contribution
Enerleq served on the working group that co-authored the National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Research, Development and Innovation Strategy for the Department of Science and Technology, and supported its launch. Enerleq was also part of the team that prepared South Africa's successful submission to the IPHE (International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy).
The outcome
The strategy was adopted and launched by the department, and South Africa was admitted into the IPHE.
Technical due diligence for an investor in fuel cell manufacturing
A global strategy consulting firm running diligence for an investor needed the technology assessed. Enerleq tested the target's performance data and manufacturing readiness against the investment case.
- Client
- An institutional investor, via a global strategy consulting firm
- Technology
- Hydrogen fuel cell and electrolyser components
- Role
- Technical due diligence
- Status
- Concluded
The challenge
A global strategy consulting firm was conducting due diligence on a hydrogen fuel cell and electrolyser component manufacturer on behalf of an investor. Judging whether the target's technology, production processes and claimed performance would withstand scrutiny required specialist hydrogen-component knowledge.
Enerleq’s contribution
Enerleq reviewed the target's performance data and manufacturing readiness against the volumes assumed in the investment case, and reported its findings into the wider diligence exercise.
The outcome
The investor received an independent view of whether the target's claimed performance and production capacity supported the case being modelled, alongside the commercial and financial analysis.
Where a platinum producer fits in the hydrogen economy
A PGM producer supplies material used as catalysts in key fuel cell and electrolyser technologies. It commissioned Enerleq to work out what that market could become, and what it could do to build it.
- Client
- A platinum group metals producer
- Technology
- PGM catalysts for fuel cells and electrolysers
- Geography
- South Africa and global markets
- Role
- Commissioned study
- Status
- Concluded
The challenge
Platinum group metals are used as catalysts in key fuel cell and electrolyser technologies, which creates a potential market for PGM producers. The producer wanted to understand the technologies its material feeds — how PGMs are actually used in fuel cells and electrolysers, what scale of demand those applications could represent, and what it could do to develop that demand rather than wait for it, in South Africa and internationally.
Enerleq’s contribution
Enerleq assessed how platinum group metals are used across fuel cell and electrolyser technologies, sized the demand those applications could generate, and set out the options open to the producer for developing the market locally and globally. A qualified network across the sector supplied real-world data points and introductions that desk research cannot reach.
The outcome
The producer received an assessment of where demand could come from and which market-development options were worth pursuing.
Standing advisory positions
Three current advisory appointments: a hydrogen equipment manufacturer, an African battery developer and an AI venture.
- Role
- Advisory board member and advisor
- Status
- Ongoing
Enerleq holds three current advisory appointments: advisory board seats with an international hydrogen equipment manufacturer and an AI venture, and an advisor role with an African battery developer.
Each covers technology, market and commercial strategy, and each has run for years — a standing source of sector judgement as priorities and market conditions change.
Earlier public-sector advisory work has included a seat on a national fuel cell steering committee.
Discuss a similar challenge.
Most engagements begin with a conversation about a market, a technology or a decision that has to be made with incomplete information.
Engagements range from focused advisory assignments to longer-term leadership mandates, with scope and availability agreed upfront.