Team GAGA

The Board of Trustees

Tony Weller, Chairman

Tony Weller is the Chairman of our Board of Trustees. An Australian living & working in London, Tony spends a good deal of his life travelling for both work and pleasure.  He is passionate about GAGA and the projects we support and is always keen to participate in an innovative fundraiser!

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Charlie Homer, Vice-Chairman

Charlie is Vice-Chairman of our Board of Trustees. He's been involved in GAGA since the very early days and was, in fact, our first Director.  Charlie has lived and worked in South Africa and he knows the area we operate in very well.  He has travelled extensively through Eastern and Southern Africa on sabbatical in 2019 and currently holds the post of Head of Fundraising and Communications at a hospice in Worcestershire.

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Sarah Hodgson, Secretary

Sarah Hodgson joined the Board of Trustees following a period of nearly four years as the Director of GAGA and she now holds the office of Secretary.  A First Class honours graduate in International Relations, Sarah has travelled extensively in the southern hemisphere and worked as a monitoring and evaluating coordinator for over two years in an Early Childhood development project in Kwa Zulu Natal. We are delighted to retain Sarah's knowledge and experience in GAGA in her role as trustee.

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Claire Henley, Treasurer

Claire served as GAGA UK's Director from 2019 - 2023 having first fundraised and volunteered with GAGA for a couple of years.  She is a qualified accountant and had a career in financial services before moving to the third sector.  Having grown up in Botswana and Zimbabwe, Claire has a strong affinity with southern Africa and is delighted to put her skills and experience to good use on the Board of Trustees. 

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Richard Lucas

Richard Lucas is a management consultant specialising in organisational development and business transformation. Joining the GAGA Board of Trustees in 2019 his particular focus is to help us develop our proposal to Corporate donors.  He worked extensively on a volunteer basis with the leadership team of one of the Prince’s charities, Youth Business International, helping them to develop from a small team, to launching as an independent charity and onwards to a team of over 30 at the centre of a network of youth entrepreneurship programmes across the world.

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Nommiselo Nene

Nommiselo (Nommi) is a South African qualified accountant living in London. She works as an independent consultant in the financial services industry and loves travelling as well as going on trekking adventures. Her relationship with GAGA started in 2016 when she fundraised for GAGA in one of her adventures. Nommi grew up in rural KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and she was drawn to GAGA's mission of supporting young people from infancy to independence. Nommi is passionate about education related initiatives as a long-term tool for addressing poverty and supports other education related initiatives in Africa where possible.

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GAGA Employees

Olivia Van Rensburg, Development Manager

Olivia has worked in the charity sector for nearly a decade, during which time she has accrued extensive experience in all facets of fundraising. She has experience working in a range of organisations across the charity sector, UK-wide charities such as Crisis to smaller startup organisations. Olivia is passionate about international development and giving those in marginalised communities the tools they need to create brighter futures. 

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Debbie Young

Project Co-ordinator

Debbie Young lives in KwaZulu Natal and has been associated with GAGA since the early days.  Debbie is the eyes and ears on the ground for us, she can react quickly if needed and she provides valuable insight into new project opportunities.  She manages our Sangobeg Scholarship programme and is the first point of contact for all of our students in South Africa.