Koni is a scientist turned technocrat. As a technocrat, Koni is responsible, amongst other tasks, for implementing various early-stage business innovation support instruments. One of those instruments is the Innovation Fund, an early-stage equity investment instrument focusing on de-risking early-stage SME creation to generate sustainable pipeline opportunities of viable investable high-tech enterprises for later-stage investments by the private equity sector. As a scientist, Koni was a Principal researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for almost ten (10) years, where he was involved in technology development and translation in disparate areas of Industrial Bio-innovation.