About Jolene
I'm an engineer by training and a connector by nature.
For sixteen years I've stood in the space between what a machine can do and what a business is willing to buy. Alana Ventures exists to close that gap.
I qualified as a metallurgical engineer (B.Eng), supported along the way as a Mittal scholarship recipient. Metallurgy taught me to respect the ore: every deposit behaves differently, and no brochure survives first contact with a real feed.
I spent a decade with a global engineered bearings and power transmission manufacturer, learning how large industrial organisations make decisions, allocate capital and keep equipment running under pressure. It was an education in rigour, and in how often good technical ideas stall for commercial reasons.
I then spent more than two years with a global mineral processing equipment and technology OEM, first as Business Relationship Manager for Africa & Europe and later as Strategic Partnerships & Growth Manager. Over those two years I built and managed an opportunity pipeline across 9 countries in Africa and Europe, opening doors from junior miners to global majors. That meant commissioning conversations on site in the morning and partnership negotiations in the afternoon. My hands-on equipment expertise sits in gravity separation, magnetic separation and dense-medium separation, which is to say I've spent a great deal of time beside spirals, separators and cyclones, asking awkward questions.
Along the way I completed an MBA at Henley Business School Africa, which gave a commercial framework to what the plant had already taught me: value is only real when someone can measure it, fund it and sign for it.
In 2026 I founded Alana Ventures to connect technical capability with commercial opportunity. I work with OEMs and suppliers entering African markets, with brands that want their technology seen, and with junior miners getting their projects ready for the right partners. The name means "opening opportunities", and that's the job.
In 2026 I also handled campaign content and on-site engagement for a global energy brand at Mining Indaba and Electra Mining Africa. See my full experience →
Let's talk.
Hands-on expertise
I know the equipment because I've stood next to it.
Gravity separation
Spiral concentrators, shaking tables and hydrosizers.
Magnetic separation
WHIMS, LIMS and rare-earth drum separators.
Dense-medium separation
DMS circuits for coal, chrome, iron ore and diamonds.
Women in mining
Visibility is a responsibility.
For much of my career I was the only woman in the control room, the commissioning crew or the boardroom. That's changing, but not fast enough. Women in mining in South Africa still face a visibility gap that has little to do with capability.
I mentor young metallurgists and engineers, speak openly about what the path actually looks like, and use every stage I'm given to make room for the next woman to stand on it. If you're starting out and want a frank conversation, my inbox is open.
Let's talk about what you're building.
Whether you build the equipment, own the project or run the event, the conversation starts the same way.