Richie Laburn

Ancient wisdom. Modern technology. Nature.

Three forces most people keep apart. My work lives in the tension between them.

Technology accelerates. Wisdom grounds. Nature regenerates. Each reaches its limits on its own. Held together, they correct one another, and that’s where work that lasts gets made.

I grew up professionally on the land at Londolozi, telling its stories to the world through technology. Since then my work has spread across conservation finance, venture investing and human development. It all comes back to one question: how do ancient wisdom, modern technology and nature make each other better?

Today my work sits across a deliberate spectrum of executive, advisory and board seats spanning tourism, technology, media, conservation, human development and experience design. An MBA from IE University and Oxford Saïd’s Impact Finance Programme have helped to sharpen my lens.

Since 2015 I’ve studied yoga and breathwork as a practitioner and teacher, treating the physical and energetic body as the ultimate laboratory for resilience. Along the way, that instinct for human transformation and immersive experience led me to co-found Track Your Life with Boyd Varty, where we serve as advisors on the fundamentals of human transformation, storytelling and shaping organisational culture. We also run small retreats in the playground of Southern Africa.

I continue to build at the edges of conservation, ecological restoration and human development. I move between generalist range and specialist depth. I advise, and I build. I like to work with investors, founders and builders who see the same contrast and want to build things that endure.

Working on

• Save the SandRestoring a river catchment in the Sabi Sand.
• LondoloziSteward of a hundred years of conservation.
• Silicon KrugerA blended finance facility for conservation and community.
• Track Your LifeWilderness and transformation work.
• AdvisingFounders and investors in tech and sustainable systems.

How I think

• Nature is the oldest and most advanced technology we have. It regenerates. Most of what we build doesn’t.
• Wisdom is a first principle. Innovation without it runs into its own limits.
• AntifragilitySystems last when they get stronger under stress, not just when they survive it.
• RelationalityUbuntu: I am because we are. Value that excludes the community around it doesn’t hold.
• Regulating nervous systemsA regulated nervous system makes better decisions than a clever one.

Questions I’m thinking about

• Can a river catchment be run like a platform?
• What would capital markets look like if they priced regeneration?
• Why do ancient practices outlast almost every institution we build?
• Can technology make us more present rather than less?
• What does Ubuntu have to teach modern economics?

Contact

If you think I can help you in some way, please DM me on X @richlaburn or LinkedIn.