Garreth Bloor

Garreth Bloor is President of the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business in Toronto and a South African founder of a venture capital firm. Previously he was elected to the Cape Town City Council in 2011 and subsequently appointed to the Mayoral Committee in February 2013. He served a second Mayoral executive role heading Tourism, Events and Economic Development until the end of his term, having previously served as Mayoral head of Economic, Environment and Spatial Planning.

Education Bloor studied at the undergraduate and graduate level at the University of Cape Town.

Career

Prior to taking up an elective office Bloor worked as a journalist with BSkyB and Avusa (currently Times Media Group), with assignments in Washington, D.C.

Politician Bloor was first elected to the Cape Town City Council in 2011. He was appointed chair of the directorate portfolio committee for Economic, Environment and Spatial Planning in July 2011,

Private Sector Bloor set up Glenheim (Pty) Ltd in 2016, a financial advisory firm focused on venture capital and deal making. In 2017, as MD of Glenheim, he was named an Ideas Scholar by the Aspen Institute ahead of the annual Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

Memberships Bloor is an associate at the Parliamentary Institute of South Africa and as a member of the advisory board to the Sable Accelerator.

Recognition

In 2008 he received a Culture of Enterprise Award from former US Attorney General Edwin Meese III for his research into "enterprise and a humane economy"

He was ranked 16th on the Democratic Alliance's 2014 Western Cape Parliamentary list for the National Assembly, a seat the party won as the Official Opposition in the South African Parliament. He however remained in the city government's executive to head Tourism, Events and Economic Development in a second Mayoral executive post which concluded in 2016.

St Gallen University in Switzerland named him one of the Top 100 global Leaders of Tomorrow at their annual symposium in May 2014.