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Pillay is one of the leaders in the environmental sector in South Africa. He obtained his PhD at the Pollution Research Group of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, one of the leading water research centres in the world. He also worked as a consultant for the group carrying out projects for the Water Research Commission and the private sector. He was part of the team that advised the eThekwini Municipality on the provision of free basic water in eThekwini. His work on this subject has been presented at many international conferences including the World Summit on Sustainable Development. He was a pioneer in the use of life cycle assessments in the water industry and was responsible for the development of an environmental performance indicator for water providers. Pillay was a co-author for the 2002 United Nations Environment Programme report on sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Pillay has worked as a consultant in the mining and metals sector before joining Sasol. In his role as the coal and environmental technology manager at Sasol, he is responsible for the development and introduction of new technologies in this area. He has led the teams responsible for the new water and waste handling systems for new gas-to-liquid, coal-to-liquid and chemicals projects and driven the focus on improving the environmental performance of the current asset base. With the changing environmental landscape, there is a need for greater innovation in this space and Sasol is positioning to respond to these challenges.

Dr Rob Davies is serving his second term as the Minister of Trade and Industry, having been appointed to this portfolio in May 2014.

During his first term, which was from 2009 – 2014, he oversaw the development and implementation of three-year rolling industrial policy action plans, as well as steering South Africa's participation in important trade relations, including the Tripartite SADC-COMESA-EAC Free Trade Area, BRICS, Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU, the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and the World trade Organisation Bali package. Between 2005 and 2008, he was the Deputy Minister in the same Department. Davies has been an ANC MP since 1994 and has served as the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committees of Finance and Trade and Industry, as well as the Constitutional Assembly Sub-Committee, which is responsible for drafting Charter 13 (Finance).

Before entering Parliament, Davies was a professor and co-director of the Centre of Southern African Studies at the University of the Western Cape and before that, he was a Professor Auxiliar at the Centro de Estudos Africanos at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. An anti-apartheid activist for many years, Davies joined the ANC and the SACP while in exile in Mozambique. He is currently a member of the Central Committee of the SACP and of the National Executive Committee of the ANC. Academically, he holds an Honours degree in economics from Rhodes University, a Masters in international relations from the University of Southampton in the UK and a Doctorate in political studies from the University of Sussex, also in the UK.

Philip Goyns is a Senior Climate Change Advisor at Promethium Carbon - an energy and environment consultancy. Before this he worked as a Modelling Specialist at the Department of Energy, where he was responsible for the development of the energy system optimisation model used for the Integrated Energy Plan. Prior to joining the Department of Energy, he was the Programme Manager for EnerKey, a German-South African research partnership aimed at integrated energy planning and implementation in the Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane Megacity Region.

Dr Goyns gained international experience while working in London as the Information Technology Project Manager at Global Coal Limited and the Data Manager at Company Watch Limited. He is a Wits University graduate, with a BSc and MSc in mechanical engineering and he also holds a DPhil in energy studies from the University of Johannesburg. He is a member of the Engineering Council of South Africa and the Institution for Mechanical Engineers (UK).