Leadership Teams

Hein assumed the position of General Manager in 2016. He has direct responsibility for projects in development, construction and operations including taking the lead on Mainstream’s Africa initiatives late in 2016.

Since Hein joined Mainstream, his roles have included project and business development through to construction. Having worked in renewable energy since 2008, Hein has vast knowledge and experience in the industry.

Hein trained as a mechanical engineer and built a successful career in delivering complex projects and new business initiatives leading multi-disciplinary teams of professionals. His experience covers rewarding enterprises in the automotive, rail, marine and energy industries. He has been one of the pioneers of the South African renewable energy industry and a board member of the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) from 2014 to 2018.

Candice joined Mainstream in April 2014 as Financial Accountant responsible for managing the finances of the Round 3 projects through the construction phase from financial close into operations.

She was promoted to Finance Manager in April 2020 during which time she looked after the full finance function of the Round 4 projects, assisting with the financial close process and taking them through construction to commercial operation in late 2020. 

She started her career in London working for a Music Publishing Company followed by an internal finance role at PricewaterhouseCoopers before relocating back to South Africa and joining Mainstream. 

Candice studied a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Financial Accounting at the University of Stellenbosch and gained her CIMA qualification in 2011.

Titania was appointed as Chief Operating Officer, South Africa, in January 2024 and holds the responsibility for Mainstream’s health and safety, construction, engineering and operational activities in the country. 

Titania’s appointment followed her role as Mainstream Asset Management South Africa General Manager, where she led MAMSA in successfully operating 610MW of wind farm projects.  Titania joined Mainstream in April 2019, when she led the Economic Development and Socio-Economic Development function for South Africa. 

Prior to joining Mainstream, she worked 19 years for the largest JSE– listed fishing company in Africa in a variety of roles, such as Group Sustainability Manager, Environmental & Social Risk Director, Human Resource Manager, SHER Manager and Fishmeal & Oil Plant Manager.  Before this, Titana worked as Process and Plant engineer in the fertiliser industry. 

She holds an MTech degree in Business Administration and a BTech degree in Chemical Engineering. She is Certified Director and a member of the Institute of Directors in South Africa. 

Matthew joined Mainstream in 2021 as Head of Commercial, Africa. In this role, Matthew led the commercial function to secure PPA’s for wind and solar PV projects, involving tendering, structuring, negotiation, due diligence and ultimately close. In 2023, Matt was promoted to Head of Growth, Africa, continuing to lead the Commercial team into the next phase of Mainstream’s strategy of growing our presence in the private market, and energy trading.

Before Mainstream, Matthew worked at Eaglestone Capital Advisory, a project finance advisory boutique. During this period, Matthew advised several power and infrastructure clients on several corporate and project finance transactions across Africa. Previously, he was employed by Macquarie Capital Johannesburg, as part of the infrastructure sector team specialising in financial modelling, transaction and debt and equity procurement advisory.

Matthew is a Chartered Accountant, and a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants; having completed his articles at KPMG Johannesburg in the financial services sector, bank audit.

Gesie heads up the development function for South Africa. She manages the project portfolio and is responsible for the complete project development lifecycle from pre-feasibility to start of construction.

Gesie joined Mainstream in 2019 as a Development Executive. She has extensive experience with roles relating to planning, environmental and project management in the private and public sector, initially as a Town Planner in the spatial planning department for the City of Cape Town and then join the private sector and become involved in renewables.

Christo joined Mainstream as Construction Programme Manager in 2018, his current role being Head of Construction, South Africa.

Having previously worked with SMEC, Christo had consulted to Mainstream as Site Manager on the Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm (138MW) and Noupoort Wind Farm (80MW) construction projects from 2012 to 2016. After this, he acted as Project Manager on the Loeriesfontein 2 Wind Farm (138MW) construction project. As Programme Manager Christo lead the Construction team during the construction pahases of the Kangnas Wind Farm (140MW) and Perdekraal East Wind Farm (110MW) projects.

Christo holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from University of Stellenbosch and is also a registered Project Management Professional with PMI.

Melvin Naina holds a graduate Diploma in Manufacturing Management and an MBA Degree. 

He was a Product Development and Validation Manager (Quality Engineering) at Johnson & Johnson Consumer, South Africa, for a number of years before moving to Eskom, where he held the role of Project Portfolio Manager for 14 years.  

Melvin joined Mainstream in 2022 and was appointed as Head of Engineering and Analytics in 2023, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge in construction and project management, having successfully commissioned a number of substations, sub-transmission lines and MV/LV networks throughout the Eastern Cape.  

He led a team that successfully delivered a number of IPP WEF and upstream strengthening projects relating to IPPs.