ABOUT US
About Emerald Zebra
Emerald Zebra is a specialist recruitment consultancy founded in Cyprus, focused on connecting exceptional talent with forward-thinking companies in FinTech, Tech, Finance, iGaming, RegTech and Crypto. Founded by recruitment specialist Donna Stephenson, our team connects the right talent with the right employers.
Our focus is on relationships, matching candidates and businesses based on culture, values, and long-term goals. From our base in Cyprus, we support hiring across Limassol, Nicosia, Larnaca, and Paphos, as well as international recruitment across the UK, EMEA, APAC and LATAM.
We work across all seniority levels, from emerging talent to C-suite, with a people-first approach backed by deep market insight and an active global network.
The Inspiration Behind ‘Emerald Zebra’
Donna Stephenson, the Founder of Emerald Zebra, drew inspiration for the company’s name from a transformative safari experience in the Masai Mara, Africa, during her career break. The name Emerald Zebra is layered with meaning, drawing both from symbolism and from personal journeys.

The Emerald Symbolism
Emeralds often associated with renewal, wealth, wisdom and rebirth. For me, emeralds have always held a deep personal resonance: they are a reminder of vitality, growth and the energy of the heart. They also connect to the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz, a place of discovery, vision, and the pursuit of wisdom.
An apt metaphor for building a company that helps people and organisations pursue their own journeys of growth.
The Zebra Symbolism
Zebras, their black and white stripes represent balance and the harmony of opposites, light and dark, individual and collective. Every zebra’s stripe pattern is unique, reminding us of individuality, while their instinct to thrive in herds speaks to the power of community and unity.
A zoological study often cited by Jordan Peterson: predators struggle to single out zebras in a herd because their stripes create collective protection, but once one zebra is marked, it becomes vulnerable. The zebra became a powerful metaphor for resilience, unity and the importance of teams thriving through harmony and collective strength.
Together
Together, these two symbols merge into something greater: Emerald Zebra reflecting the importance of valuing individuality while building collective strength and of balancing purpose with growth.
Of course the spin on that at a practical level is exactly what we set out to do for our clients and candidates. At Emerald Zebra, we don’t just fill vacancies, we align people with purpose, values and potential.
We help our clients to build resilient teams that can grow and prosper and bring clarity and insight to every recruitment process
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide superior recruitment services that enable our clients to achieve their desired success. We are dedicated to ensuring that each hire is truly the right fit, where talent is valued, nurtured, and empowered to reach its full potential.
Donna Stephenson, Founder, Emerald Zebra.
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Passion For What We Do!
Meet Our Team in Cyprus
Donna Stephenson
Founder
As well as leading a truly exceptional team, Donna takes a hands-on approach to recruitment and is passionate about finding the right people for the right job. She ensures that the recruitment process is fair, transparent, and ethical. Donna's extensive network of connections reaches across continents, and she specialises in the recruitment of Executive/C-level, board, and NED appointments, as well as middle management roles and their functional reports.
In addition to recruitment services, Donna also provides coaching, CV writing, and LinkedIn profile writing. She holds a BSc in European Business & Technology from a UK University and is an ENTP according to the Myers Briggs 2019 assessment.
From England and trained at one of the most successful recruiting businesses in the world, Donna achieved her first recruitment office in the UK at the age of 27. Donna moved to Cyprus in 2003, and later founded, directed and achieved successful share sale exits in several businesses within the recruiting and business outsourcing sectors in Cyprus during 2005-2018. Donna is well versed in advising boards for corporate hiring, serving on HR committees and educational development groups (Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA, HR/Training Committee), Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments, CISI, London/Cyprus). She has been a panel and keynote speaker at various industry conferences, including HR panels, iFX Cyprus, Forex Expo, and iFX Dubai.
Donna and her team at Emerald Zebra are dedicated to providing quality recruitment services for all hiring needs. The team is highly experienced, motivated, commercially astute, and committed to business ethics, quality, and innovation.
Georgia Michaelides
Senior Recruitment Consultant
If you ask her to describe what a recruiter does on a typical working day, she will tell you that no one day is the same because as a recruiter every day you interact with so many different people with so many different needs and requirements, and this is what she loves about this job! Her approach is guided by a focus on building strong relationships with both her clients and candidates and believes it is the secret to any successful cooperation. A simple approach of taking time to understand the needs and preferences of each individual candidate and client but yet so important. Her driving force is her passion for people and commitment to excellence, so whether you are a candidate looking for your next career opportunity or a client looking for top talent her goal is to make the process as smooth as possible and provide a positive experience with a promise to deliver an exceptional service and results.
Her multicultural and international mindset stems from growing up in New York City. She obtained a BA degree with honours with a major in Psychology and a minor in Communications from The City University of New York (CUNY) - Hunter College and an MBA degree with a specialization in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from The City University of New York (CUNY) - Baruch College. Upon relocating to Cyprus, she secured a position in the Shipping industry and more specifically in Commercial Operations. Later she entered the Telecommunications industry as a Team Leader of a Business Development and Planning department and worked on various projects relating to CRM functions and call centres. In addition, she was involved in the development of policy and procedure manuals for the company. Her passion for helping people led her to join a start-up recruitment company in Cyprus as a junior consultant and with her hard work ethic and dedication she became a Branch Manager and played a key role in the company’s growth and success. She continued her career with providing independent consulting services until the inception of Emerald Zebra which she happily joined in 2022. Work-life balance is important to her and in her free time she enjoys spending time with her family doing outdoor activities and she loves to travel!
Katy Savvides
Recruitment Coordinator