Authentically passionate about learning and change
Our organisational culture and our values are vitally important to us. Empanda believes in practicing what it preaches; we see ourselves as role models for excellent people practices. We live in rapidly changing times, and to manage this, we place a strong emphasis on wellbeing, innovation, growth, and balance. We are always learning and experimenting to hone our best practices.
WE ARE LEARNERS
We combine our confidence in our space with a ‘shoshin’ beginner mindset. We love to learn about clients. Our creativity is infused by being open minded and we are unified by our passion for learning.
WE ARE CHANGE AGENTS
Change is a constant in our own world, so we know that kindness, an eye on sustainability, and a true invitation for collaboration, motivates best for the greater good in the change we want to see.
about empanda
Empanda is an agile and innovative people-consulting organisation. Formed in 2014, we have grown fast and now deliver services globally, specialising in change, learning, communication and engagement. We have deep experience working with large corporate and public sector organisations. We specialise in engagement in both our face-to-face, and our remote world of work.
We would like to work with you… Let’s engage, enable and evolve together.


Letlhogonolo Noge Tungamirai
Non-Executive Director

Christy Kirkpatrick
Founder and CEO

Troy-Ann Petzer
Business Development Director
our values
Culture is important, the beating heart and soul of who and what we are. Culture is also an outcome, the sum of our collective identity.
At Empanda, we unify around shared values, with the intention of creating an aligned space within a diverse range of talents where we can thrive together.
ENGAGE | ENABLE | EVOLVE
Engage - We learn when we are engaged in the process. We value the ability to get people involved, creating content and products that listen and attract engagement, so that the learning process can thrive.
Enable - We are empowered if we are enabled to leverage our human potential. We value tools, content and experiences that authentically enable us, so that we can perform at our best, both as individuals, teams, and communities.
Evolve - We succeed when we are set up to evolve. We value sustainable approaches that set up our learners and our clients to grow and transform over time. We believe in nurturing our infinite ability to innovate in both our personal and professional lives.
CARE | CREATE | COLLABORATE
Care - Our people are passionate about what they do. We care about our colleagues and our clients in our ways of working, operating with kindness. We also care about sustainability and what it takes to look after our wider world.
Create - Our business thrives by attracting a diverse range of creative talent, and by celebrating and innovating creative ways of working. We are a growing hub for learning industry creative and multimedia talent.
Collaborate - Our approach to delivery is highly collaborative, both within our teams, and working with our clients. We love partnering, with authors, with freelance talent, and with strategic partners as part of our operating model.
PLAY | PURPOSE | POTENTIAL
Play - We perform our best when we love the work that we are involved in. Often our joy comes from the relationships within our teams. Empanda loves to build the fun factor: for our clients, and within our projects.
Purpose - We perform our best when we find purpose in our work. We believe that education and innovation are vitally important to a thriving world, especially within our South Africa, where we are invested in thriving for future generations.
Potential - We perform our best when we know that through the work we are doing we are evolving along pathways that develop us toward our full potential. We care about creating learning environments that nurture us.
what empanda means
Empanda is the Roman goddess of asylum, charity, and hospitality. Her temple on the Capitoline Hill was famous for always being open to those in need. Translated, her name means “to open” or to stand with hands outstretched in offering. For us, she represents a spirit of transparency, trust, and a commitment to sharing. Our purpose is to share knowledge, with the mindful intention of empowering people. Empanda is our muse, inspiring us to bring people together to collaborate on this objective collectively.
Our destination?
A more sustainable, equitable, inclusive, and beautiful future world.

To operate with hands outstretched, openly and in offering
our avatars
When you work with us, we are likely to get excited about characters, personae, and avatars. These symbols and personalities can be role models, representatives of our customers, key roles, or guides that help the navigation of our journeys. We craft personal stories for our characters, making them relatable, bringing life and feeling to scenarios. We imbue characters with the values and behaviour we want to see, or to engage with.
So naturally, Empanda has avatars of her own, to guide our way:
TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE
DRAGONFLY
Our leadership avatar is based on a dragonfly. We love its shimmering and agile beauty. It is able to move quickly in any direction, hovering for strategic insight, informed by multifaceted eyes. A dragonfly is born under water, and under pressure, in murky darkness. It starts as a simple, little, unevolved grub creature that goes through transformational change, evolving into an iridescent, beautiful form.
LEARNING CONTENT
PEACOCK
Our learning avatar is the peacock, a sacred bird and symbol of wisdom and the creative arts. For us, the peacock’s ‘all-seeing’ tail represents a beautiful suite of inspirational learning interventions, each unlocking unique insight. We see the natural, yet organised, flow of the feathers as the ultimate curriculum, courses that, together, paint the bigger picture for the overall learning offering.
SUCCESS JOURNEYS
ROCKET SHIP
Our change and learning journey avatar is a rocket ship. A technologically enabled and innovative vehicle capable of great speed and intergalactic travel to future destinations. We want the people we facilitate to feel part of a valued, skilled crew, working together to break through performance frontiers, unlocking the secrets of the modern world of work. Journeys should be inspiring and fulfilling.
TALENT
UNICORN
Our talent avatar is the unicorn. A mythical creature that shows up with magical skill blends that we can achieve if we work in teams with diverse talents. This avatar speaks to our search for talent - you cannot catch a unicorn, it chooses you because it likes your meadow. The unicorn is also our avatar when we do human capital work, understanding what people need to thrive.
our global goals
our amazing partners
We like to specialise in what we do best, which is offering learning and change management solutions. We, therefore, like to partner with splendid specialists where we need services that aren’t our core focus. These are the collaborators that help us perform our best; we strongly recommend their services.
ACCOUNTING ON XERO
Our outsourced accounting function is delivered by Real Time Accounting, who are Xero specialists. We also leverage their sister company Real Time Assurance for validation and audit of our financials. Incredible service for high tech, slick, fast, accurate financials.
www.realtimeaccounting.co.zaMANAGED IT SERVICES
Our IT services are managed by the incredible Castlerock, who manage our IT platforms and provide excellent support to all our people when they face hardware or software issues. A fast, friendly and skilled service, sorely needed in our world of complex software.
www.castlerock.co.za
LEGAL ADVISORY
When we need legal advice or support, we leverage the phenomenal Gillespie and Associates. They are a law firm that is based in Cape Town, but that services the world, offering creative and bold solutions across any and every topic.
www.gillespieandassociates.co.za