About - Africa Wildlife Art

OUR STORY

Based between South Africa and the UK, Invicta Wildlife Fund is a registered, non-profit conservation charity founded in 2021. As visions merged and ideas were heard, a team of passionate, business-minded and green-hearted individuals came together to save and protect Africa’s wildlife. Africa Wildlife Art (AWA) is a project run independently by the charity and over 100 artists spread across the globe.

OUR MISSION

Invicta is a latin word meaning undefeated. We are determined to save wildlife and protect the natural world. We aim to work alongside well-established charities in Africa, providing funding for their conservation efforts, as well as, educating local communities.

OUR PROJECT

AWA is a project run independently by Invicta WF and over 100 artists from around the world. Launched in 2022, this online gallery showcases art by some of the best wildlife artists in the world. No less than 50 per cent of proceeds are donated to select wildlife conservations in Africa. The rest of the funds go to the artists themselves. The gallery contains over 200 original pieces of art from watercolour to charcoal, pastel, oil and colour pencil drawings of various mediums and sizes and can be shipped anywhere in the world. Prices range from £100 to £10,000.

The Founders

Richard McEnery

Richie grew up in Spain but left at the ripe age of 16 to join the British Royal Marine Commandos.

Charity is no stranger in Richie’s home. His mother had set up a number of charities in Spain before helping Richie set up his first charity shop in 2009 called Help Africa. Between the charity shop and the Help Africa music festival in Spain, Richie and his friends raised 35,000.00 euros, which helped refurbish schools in Morocco.

Richie then travelled to Africa to work as a security consultant. After having worked and visited over 15 countries in Africa, he realised conservation is something he wanted to get involved with. In 2017, he sold his consultancy company, which has allowed him and his family to dedicate a large part of their lives to conservation.

In 2022, in response to the war in the Ukraine, Richie and his wife set up another charity called Hope4U, which housed and helped over 100 Ukrainians and their pets in Spain. This also included several strategic convoyed trips to Poland and the border delivering aid to those in need.

Richie oversees the running of the charity and all it’s projects.

Lauren McEnery

Lauren was born and raised in South Africa. Coming from a small community in northern KZN, Lauren is very family-oriented and treats everyone involved with the charity and it’s projects as such. She has spent a great deal of time in the bush. Having visited most of the game reserves in South Africa from Madikwe in the west, The Kruger National Park in the north and iSimangaliso Wetland Park in the east, including some wildlife rehabilitation centres, she established a rooted love for African wildlife and conservation. With her heart in environmental law and justice, Lauren went on to study and practice law in Durban before meeting and marrying Richie.

No stranger to charity herself, Lauren was the co-founder and operations manager of Hope4U. The charity established in 2022 providing Ukrainian refugees with access to free accommodation, food, schooling, jobs, transport and social events.

Lauren leads the Africa Wildlife Art team, as well as, runs all social media and press coverage.