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Mamello Maliehe
CEO & Co-founder and Masters student (University of Cape Town) Amanzi Technologies and Solutions (Pty) Ltd t/a Amanzi X
Mamello Maliehe is the CEO and Co-Founder of Amanzi X, a Cape Town-based deep tech water startup building AI-driven platforms that detect and localise leaks in water pipelines, addressing South Africa's non-revenue water crisis, which stands at 47.3%. Under her leadership, Amanzi X was a Top 3 finalist at the Hult Prize South Africa Nationals and won Top 3 at Falling Walls Lab Cape Town, and was selected for the French Embassy's LeShiftLab Green + Digital Transformation Incubation Programme. She is also a Master's candidate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town's Catalysis Institute, researching green hydrogen production via ammonia decomposition. Her interests lie at the intersection of both water and energy, and she is drawn to the technical and investment challenges of scaling infrastructure solutions across both sectors, particularly the gap between a working pilot technology and the financing needed to deploy it at municipal scale. Mamello's dual focus, on non-revenue water losses that quietly drain utility budgets, and on the green hydrogen transition, reflects a broader conviction that South Africa's water and energy futures are tied together and need entrepreneurial, technically grounded solutions rather than incremental fixes. Through the Global Youth Water Envoys Program, she brings this deep-tech, investment-minded perspective on water infrastructure to the international conversation ahead of the 2026 UN Water Conference.