ABOUT

Tanja Hichert is an experienced professional futurist (a.k.a. a strategic foresight practitioner) who assists groups, organisations, businesses and communities to 'work' with the future in order to make better decisions today, and to make sense of the complexities they are faced with. She specialises in: 

  • scenario planning,

  • horizon scanning,

  • risk management scenarios, and

  • facilitating strategic conversations that provide clarity and direction for organisations faced with complexity and uncertainty.

Tanja has spent most of her career either in, or working with, the private sector, but her passion is expanding and building the practical application of Future Studies on the African continent. Where opportunity allows, she relishes in designing innovative, creative and experimental approaches, and working at the intersection of complex issues. In this regard she has built up extensive experience working on issues such as the Future of Agriculture in Africa, the Futures of Zambia & Malawi, designing dialogues and vision workshops for a Good Anthropocene in southern Africa, and the future of the informal sector in Nairobi and Chennai.

She has built up a solid track record in business strategy, planning and forecasting, but prefers to work collaboratively with her clients in designing interventions that build future thinking capabilities and expertise in organisations.

Tanja has a MBA specializing in Strategy and Forecasting, and a M.Phil in Futures Studies (cum laude) from Stellenbosch University. In addition to running Hichert & Associates, she is a lecturer at Stellenbosch University's Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, an associate at Vision Foresight Strategy LCC, teaches post graduate students, served for six years on the board of the Association of Professional Futurists, and is a member of the Society for Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty. She also serves as a director of the South African Node of the Millennium Project where she co-founded the Foresight for Development platform.

In collaboration with her clients and partners Tanja excels at:

  • Designing and facilitating enjoyable, insightful, inspiring workshops where participants (learn how to) ‘use the future to make better decisions today’, whilst making sense of complexity and uncertainty.

  • Delivering customised, unique scenario planning and futures workshop sessions.

  • Designing customised, organisation-specific, thus effective, horizon scanning processes.

  • Applying scenario methods, as well as other Futures tools to risk management.

Tanja is based near Cape Town, South Africa, and works all over the world. See her LinkedIn profile here https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanja-hichert-4825101 

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