Meet the Team

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Briana Evigan

Briana is a storyteller, actress, and humanitarian whose creative journey has evolved from Hollywood to the heart of Africa. Best known for her role as Andie West in the Step Up franchise, she built an international career with Netflix, Lionsgate, Disney, and the Rodriguez Tarantino team before dedicating her life to social and environmental impact.

Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer

Stuart Newton

Stuart is a strategic relationship builder and growth leader with nearly 40 years of experience across industries, including technology, consulting, and executive leadership. At Abundant Village, his focus is on forging partnerships, scaling regenerative models, and expanding revenue systems that ensure long-term sustainability for projects and communities.

Executive Director USA

Damien Mander

Damien, an Australian former special operations sniper and combat veteran, is the Executive Director of Abundant Village. He brings more than twenty-five years of experience in global philanthropy, operations and community-driven initiatives. Over the past sixteen years he has lived and worked across Africa, helping to raise US$60M+ to support wildlife protection, habitat restoration, and social-impact programs.

Regional Director (Africa) and Global Impact Strategist

Albertus Louw

Albertus is a strategist, storyteller, and community development specialist whose work bridges creativity and impact across cultures and continents. His focus at Abundant Village is on listening, dialogue, and designing scalable solutions that grow directly from community priorities, ensuring that every initiative is both relevant and transformative.

Regenerative Agriculture and Enterprise Advisor

Phivo Artemides

Phivo is a regenerative agriculture strategist and social innovator focused on building sustainable value chains that link people, nature, and economies. At Abundant Village, his work centers on strengthening community-led agricultural systems and developing partnerships that drive meaningful, lasting impact across rural landscapes.

Sustainable Building and Design Specialist

Sharné Bloem

Sharné Bloem is an award-winning architect and design builder dedicated to creating sustainable, innovative spaces that positively impact both people and the planet. At Abundant Village, her focus is on designing regenerative infrastructure that strengthens community resilience while reducing environmental impact through renewable materials and energy-efficient construction.

Indigenous Knowledge and Youth Programming Lead

Bongani Baloyi

Bongani is a cultural educator, youth mentor, and systems thinker dedicated to preserving indigenous knowledge and empowering the next generation through environmental education. At Abundant Village, he leads youth and community programs that weave together traditional wisdom, ecology, and leadership development, ensuring that conservation remains rooted in local identity and intergenerational learning.

Director of Communication

Igor Potgieter

Igor is a storyteller whose work bridges filmmaking and regenerative development. With deep experience in conservation and field-based filmmaking, he captures human connection and the quiet resilience of nature through his lens. His immersive and emotional style transforms complex environmental stories into art that inspires empathy and reflection.

Culture and Creative Program Coordinator

Anelia Louw

Anelia is a creative facilitator and community builder passionate about bridging art, wellness, music and environmental awareness. At Abundant Village, her work brings together youth engagement, creative design, and experiential learning to inspire connection, expression, and sustainable growth within communities. Guided by her love for performance, nature, and human connection, she helps weave creativity and mindfulness into every initiative, nurturing spaces where people and purpose thrive together.

Field Based Finance and Human Resources Manager

Bokamoso Tshekiso

Bokamoso is the Field Based Finance and Human Resources Manager for the team in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Area of Botswana. Originally from a small village in northeastern Botswana, she joined the organisation in 2019 as a personal assistant and has grown steadily into a senior leadership role spanning financial oversight, people management and community engagement. Now in her seventh year, she works closely with local communities to make sure programmes are inclusive, well run and genuinely improving lives.

Tourism and Community Coordinator

Kethabile Modise

Kethabile is a young Musarau woman from Ubani village in the Kgalagadi region of Botswana. Since 2023 she has worked as the Tourism and Community Coordinator in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Area, linking conservation, tourism management and community engagement on the ground. She coordinates the boomgate attendants who manage tourist movement and the host scouts who patrol boundary zones, report suspicious activity and help manage livestock movement to reduce human wildlife conflict. She also monitors community development projects to make sure they deliver real benefits to villages across the landscape.

Co-Founder and Director, Mwani Zanzibar

Klara Schade

Klara is the Co-Founder and Director of Mwani Zanzibar, a women led organisation in Paje on the east coast of Zanzibar that turns sustainably farmed seaweed into high quality skincare. Through Mwani she works directly with coastal farming communities to turn a historically low-income activity into fair and dignified employment for women. She is also a Co-Founder and key backer of the ReGen programme, delivered across the Zanzibar Archipelago with Abundant Village, Mwambao Coastal Community Network, Blue Ventures and the Zanzibar Department of Forestry and Non-Renewable Natural Resources.

Community and Ecological Impact Practitioner

Sophie Tlhabadira

Sophie is a Community and Ecological Impact Practitioner with Abundant Village, working at village level in South Africa alongside communities living in and beside critical ecosystems. She focuses on the social foundations that make conservation succeed, supporting livelihoods, education, food security and local leadership so that communities can become confident custodians of the landscapes they depend on.

Co-Founder, Mucheni Community Conservancy

Elmon Mudenda

Elmon was born in Mucheni and is passionate about community development and the conservation of nature and wildlife. He began working in Chizarira National Park soon after school as a casual general worker, then moved into media at a young age. At Radio Dialogue FM in Bulawayo he worked first in a technical role and then as a production assistant, giving communities a voice, and he advocated for the creation of a community radio station.