2024 to present
South West Angels
Board Member and Head of Deal Leads. Governance, deal evaluation, and coaching investors and founders in Western Australia's regional angel network.
Climate and nature · Margaret River, Western Australia
AmyCarter-James
I build and fund solutions for climate and nature, in places where neither the money nor the good news arrives easily.
Twenty-four years raising philanthropy and investment and doing the work on the ground. Thirteen of them living in remote northern Mozambique. The last six getting capital to the founders repairing the planet.
- people reached by the Nema Foundation's work in Cabo Delgado
- 60,000+
- multi-year philanthropy raised for Nema, led personally
- £6M+
- years building and running Guludo Beach Lodge
- 17
- impact ventures supported through Raaise
- 700+
- in investment those ventures have accessed
- A$100M+
- keynotes on impact capital, systems change and sustainable enterprise
- 30+
A lodge built to pay for conservation and lift the villages around it.
At 22, with a marine zoology degree just finished, I moved to Guludo, a fishing village on a twelve-kilometre arc of beach in rural northern Mozambique. There was no infrastructure and no tourism history. Neal and I set out to prove that tourism could fund conservation and help a community work its way out of poverty.
Guludo grew to more than 90 staff, recruited almost entirely from the surrounding villages. One of them started as a security guard and became Director of Operations. I led finance, HR, supply chain, safeguarding, marketing and community partnerships from the end of a dirt road.
The lodge was designed by world-renowned architects to leave no trace if it ever had to go. It came through a fire, an airline blacklisting and years of volatility, and kept going for seventeen years.
Recognised ahead of far better-capitalised peers, including Soneva, Six Senses and Virgin Limited Edition
- 2010–12Condé Nast Traveller World Savers, three years running
- 2010WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow, Community Benefit
- 2011Travel + Leisure Global Vision Award, Grassroots Outreach
- 2009Responsible Tourism Awards, Best for Poverty Reduction
- 2012The Sunday Times, 100 Best Hotels in the World
- 2009TODO! Award for Socially Responsible Tourism, ITB Berlin
The work that lasts is designed by the people closest to the problem.
Nema was the charity alongside the lodge. Guludo covered every core cost in kind, so 100% of donations went to grassroots projects, on a fraction of the budget international NGOs deploy.
Every project had a community committee, so villages shaped and governed the work. Every project was delivered in formal partnership with the Mozambican government. I set up and led the UK board of trustees under Charity Commission oversight, and kept a senior board engaged and informed from remote Mozambique.
Funding and partners
I personally led the raising of more than £6M in multi-year philanthropy, including a five-year commitment of US$500k+ from Global Angels. I secured and stewarded JoJo Maman Bébé as a corporate partner and sponsor for fifteen years.
Partners included WWF, UNICEF, the Aga Khan Foundation and USAID.
Education
- 5primary schools built
- 350secondary school scholarships
- 1,300school meals served every day
Water and health
- 48water points serving 26,000+ people
- 11,000mothers protected against malaria
- 2ambulances serving 40,000 people
Livelihoods
- 20+cooperatives supported
- 20vocational scholarships
- 3,500cashew trees planted
Ocean
- 2Marine Protected Areas, established with WWF and local communities
- 10years of whale and reef monitoring
Cyclone Kenneth took the lodge, the schools, the clinics and our staff's homes.
The eye of the storm passed through Guludo and every community we worked with. Seventeen years of building were razed. The lodge, designed to leave no trace, left none.
Nema was the only charity on the ground in Mucojo, and the first food to arrive came from us. When insurgents later took the region, we were again first to support families.
45tof food delivered before the World Food Programme arrived
10,000+people helped to evacuate during the insurgency
Those who contributed least to the climate crisis are the ones who suffer the most. That injustice is what made us look beyond the rubble and build something bigger.Amy Carter-James
Getting capital to the people fixing it, faster.
Raaise came straight out of the cyclone. It helps impact founders run their capital raise and connects them with investors matched on thesis, stage and cheque size. I led an async team across the UK, Europe and Australia.
I designed and co-built the platform: pitch builder, investor matching, CRM, smart data room and deal room, impact assessment tools, and the Raaise SAFE, a founder-first investment instrument.
We raised for Raaise ourselves. I secured A$1.3M from Australian family offices, including two lead investors, so I have sat on the founder's side of the table as well as the investor's.
- Ventures700+ impact ventures supported, accessing A$100M+ in investment. Advised Coral Maker, an Earthshot Prize nominee, on capital strategy and investor connections.
- First NationsAdviser to First Nations founder Darryl Lyons of Rainstick, one of Raaise's first and longest-standing subscribers, on tailored capital and growth plans.
- PartnershipsPlatform partnerships with Blue Earth Summit and AgriSpace, each running its own white-label version. Sponsorship from brands including Allbirds for Startups Will Save Us events.
- FundingInnovation Booster Grant and Export Market Development Grant funding. Held the Authorised Representative role while Raaise was a Corporate Authorised Representative of Avenir Capital's AFSL.
Leading from the ground, on a stage, or helping a founder see round a corner.
2026
Judge, WA Innovator of the Year
Assessing the state's most promising new ventures.
Represented by ICMI Speakers Australia
Keynote speaker and MC
30+ keynotes on impact capital, systems change and sustainable enterprise. Co-host of the Startups Will Save Us podcast (2022 to 2023, 16 episodes).
2020 to present
Mentor and adviser
Subak, Techstars, EnergyLab, CoLabs and Blue Earth.
Network
Capital and conservation, across Australia
Australian family offices, foundations, climate funds, conservation organisations, and WA angel and venture investors, including Assembly Climate Capital, Understorey Ventures, Tripple and Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
The record
Twenty-four years, in order.
Roles
- 2020 to presentRaaise, Co-Founder and CEO
- 2024 to presentSouth West Angels, Board Member and Head of Deal Leads
- 2010 to 2020Rippl Advisory, Co-Founder and CEOAdvised Soneva, Virgin Limited Edition and Luxury Lodges of Australia on aligning commercial performance with measurable impact, and donors and foundations on aligning funding with operational reality.
- 2004 to 2026Nema Foundation, Founder and Trustee
- 2002 to 2019Guludo Beach Lodge, Co-Founder and CEO
Recognition and boards
- 2026Judge, WA Innovator of the Year
- 2011Young Leader Award, International Hotel Investment Forum
- 2006UK Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year, New Statesman
- 2011 to 2015Board, TribeWanted
- 2006 to 2012Board, Global Angels
- MemberRoyal Society of Arts
Writing, media, education
- Co-authorSocial Entrepreneurship and Tourism, a published academic volume
- Featured inThe Guardian, The Observer, The Economist, Condé Nast and BA High Life
- EducationBSc (Hons) Marine Zoology, University of Wales, Bangor
- Outside workPADI Divemaster, RYA Day Skipper and gymnastics coach
Contact
Let's talk.
For roles, partnerships and board work, send me a note here and it comes straight to me. For keynotes and MC work, ICMI Speakers Australia handles bookings.
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/amycarterjames
SpeakingICMI Speakers Australia