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Shortlist
Shortlist solves human-capital challenges for impact-focused organizations in Africa through executive search and workforce-innovation programs.
Shortlist
Founded by Paul Breloff and Simon Desjardins, Shortlist emerged from a conviction that the most impactful organizations in Africa are constrained not by capital but by human-capital gaps. The firm operates from a Toronto headquarters with additional offices in Cincinnati, Miami Beach, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Austin, fielding a team of more than 40 professionals who collectively speak over 10 languages. Shortlist splits its mandate between executive search and its Futures workforce-innovation programs. The search practice covers c-suite, director, and senior specialist roles for funders, social enterprises, and growth-stage companies operating in sectors such as climate, agriculture, and financial inclusion. The Futures practice runs the Africa Climate Careers Network, a talent-development pipeline targeting the continent's green economy, which Shortlist's own research projects will demand more than three million direct jobs by 2030. Geographic focus spans Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana, with additional mandates in francophone West Africa. The team of 40-plus professionals executes primarily on a retained-search model, acting as an embedded talent partner rather than a transactional recruiter. Deployment figures and client assets are not publicly disclosed. Shortlist has published proprietary labor-market analyses — including the July 2024 report "Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa" — which position the firm as one of the few talent providers generating primary data on African workforce supply and demand. The firm also explores adjacent talent models, such as remote-staffing solutions for frontier-market social enterprises, though the scale of these initiatives remains unpublished. What distinguishes Shortlist from a generalist executive-search provider is a structural commitment to impact verification. All clients undergo a proprietary assessment to confirm social or environmental mission alignment before engagement, effectively operating as a gatekeeper for the talent pipelines it builds. This screening function, combined with an in-house research capability that shapes its talent-matching algorithms, creates a feedback loop absent in most recruiting firms — one that ties candidate placement directly to the firm's view of which organizations are best positioned to generate measurable outcomes in Africa.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
Canada
City
Toronto
Corporate office
Toronto, Canada
Additional offices
Cincinnati · Miami Beach · Dallas · Los Angeles · Chicago · Austin
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Shortlist?
Shortlist is a human-capital firm, not a fund, so it does not make investment decisions in the traditional sense. The founding team — led by Paul Breloff and Simon Desjardins — oversees the firm's strategy, including which client engagements and workforce-programs it pursues, primarily in the impact sectors across Africa.
How does Shortlist screen the organizations it works with?
Shortlist applies a proprietary impact assessment to all prospective clients before accepting a mandate. The screen is designed to verify that an organization's core mission is social or environmental, not merely incidental. This gatekeeping function is central to the firm's positioning as a specialized rather than generalist talent provider.
What is the Africa Climate Careers Network, and how does it relate to Shortlist's core business?
The Africa Climate Careers Network is a workforce-development program run through Shortlist's Futures practice. It focuses on building a pipeline of professionals for the continent's green economy — a sector Shortlist's own research forecasts will require more than 3 million new roles by 2030. The network serves as both a talent source for Shortlist's executive-search mandates and a standalone impact initiative.
Does Shortlist operate only in East Africa?
No. While early client concentration was strongest in Kenya, Shortlist's mandates now cover Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and francophone West Africa. The firm's team is distributed across eight offices — Toronto, Cincinnati, Miami Beach, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Austin — with field presence in the African markets it serves.
How is Shortlist's search model different from a standard recruiting agency?
Shortlist functions as an embedded talent partner rather than a transactional recruiter. The firm maintains an in-house research capability that publishes primary labor-market reports, feeds proprietary matching algorithms, and ties candidate placement to a client's demonstrable social or environmental mission. Most generalist search firms lack both the impact screen and the data infrastructure.
Does Shortlist have a philanthropic foundation or separate nonprofit arm?
Shortlist does not publicly disclose a separate philanthropic structure. Its workforce-innovation programs, including the Africa Climate Careers Network, are housed within the for-profit Futures practice. Funding for the network comes from a mix of client fees, program grants, and partnerships, though specifics are not publicly broken out.
What is Shortlist's posture on co-investments or joint projects alongside external funders?
Shortlist does not co-invest as a principal. However, its Futures programs frequently collaborate with development-finance institutions, foundations, and impact funds that co-fund talent-development initiatives. These relationships are structured as fee-for-service or grant-based partnerships rather than equity co-investments.
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