Dr Claudelle von Eck (CEO: Institute of Internal Auditors SA)

Dr. Claudelle von Eck is the CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors of South Africa (IIA SA), an organisation responsible for representing the interests of Internal Auditors as well as supporting and upholding the fundamental pillars of the profession.

Through her collaborative approach to leadership, whereby she strives to lead by example, she hopes to contribute to the empowerment of South Africa by raising the professional standards of the internal auditing community. 

Besides being a lover and advocate of Latin and Ballroom dancing, Dr. Claudelle is the possessor of many wisdoms surrounding purpose, respect, fairness, responsibility, integrity and reminds us to never take those around you for granted.  

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Bonang Mohale is currently Vice President Upstream and Chairman of Shell South Africa (Pty) Limited. Prior to Shell, Bonang served as the CEO of Drake & Scull and the Chief Executive: Shared Services at of Sanlam.  

Prior to which, he was the Executive Vice President at South African Airways (SAA) responsible for Strategic Alliances, Network Management and Global Sales.

From 1996, he was the Managing Director of OTIS (PTY) LTD – the world’s biggest and oldest elevator company where he spent five years– and in 1997, winners of the Black Management Forum’s (BMF) “Progressive Company of the Year” award.  

Awarded “The Momentum Friendship Blazer” as recognition for being the ‘first RSA Nation Building Champion’ in 2015. Winner of both the 'Country' (RSA) & 'SADC Regional “TITANS– BUILDING THE NATION" 2014 CEO Magazine Awards. 

Bonang was conferred with an Honorary Professorship in Marketing Management by the University of Pretoria, where he serves on their Advisory Council. He received the Presidential Award for his “Servanthood in South African Industry & the Economic Empowerment of Previously Disadvantaged Individuals”. 

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The Managing Director of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableways Company (TMACC), Wahida is a qualified attorney and internationally accredited mediator and coach. 

Wahida has years of corporate boardroom experience and holds non-executive and trustee positions on a number of boards. 

Her expertise also extends to brand management, public relations and marketing across traditional and digital media platforms.

Prior to her appointment at the Cableway, Parker was contracted to Grand Parade Investments and Equillore Dispute Settlement Services, having previously held the position of general manager at Sun International's Golden Valley Casino in Worcester.

A born-and-bred Capetonian, Parker’s uncompromising ethical standards and enviable business acumen, as well as her quick and wry sense of humour, are qualities admired by her colleagues. 

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Prof Shirley Zinn is the former Human Resources Director of Standard Bank South Africa and Deputy Global Head of Human Resources for the Standard Bank Group and has since registered her own company: Shirley Zinn Consulting that provides consulting and advisory services in strategic HR, Transformation, Leadership and Education. 

Prior to this she was the Group Executive HR at Nedbank. Before this, she was the General Manager for Human Resources at the South African Revenue Service (SARS). She is also currently an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, and is the Past President of the Institute for People Management South Africa. 

She started her career as a secondary school teacher of English, then moved to the University of the Western Cape where she lectured in Teacher Education. After this, she served at Southern Life as Training Manager and then moved to the Department of Public Service and Administration’s: South African Management Development Institute, in Pretoria as Director. She held the position of Executive Employment Equity at Computer Configurations Holdings. Before her appointment at SARS, she filled the role of Regional Human Resources Director for Middle East and Africa for Reckitt Benckiser, a global FMCG company listed on the London Stock Exchange. 

She is currently the Chairman of DHL Global Forwarding, and a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of AdvTech, Tuesday Consulting, and the Boston Consulting Group. She is a Trustee on the DHL Foundation, the Nedbank Eyethu Community Trust, the Orbis Africa Foundation, and the Chairman of Starfish South Africa. She also served as the Chairman of the Institute of Bankers South Africa.  

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Calvyn Gilfellan is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Castle Control Board, looking after South Africa's oldest heritage building (dating back 350 years), and the former CEO of Routes Unlimited where he was responsible for marketing and promotion of Cape Town, the world's premier tourism destination (according to the New York Times, 2015) and the Western Cape. 

Calvyn has been instrumental in transforming the Castle into a living heritage and position it as a place of education, healing,reconciliation and understanding - SA's next UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Amongst many other initiatives, the Castle of Good Hope's recent additions of a Khoisan Kraal and two sprightly goats received positive reactions from their visitors, and Gilfellan says the idea was to patch some loopholes in history, and also educate the younger generations about Khoisan people who were there long before the castle was ever built.

Calvyn's career started as a lecturer at the University of the Western Cape and he was personally involved in South Africa's liberation struggle from Apartheid where he learnt many important leadership lessons, both in politics and society at large. 

He has been mentoring aspiring leaders for most of his career and shares his experiences of what makes a mentoring relationship succeed and how to find your mentor in this interview, along with many pearls of experience from his wide and varied career. 

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Thirty eight years ago, Margaret Hirsch helped found the family’s mega appliance store, Hirsch’s. Today, Hirsch’s own 22 Hirsch branches and concept stores throughout Kwa Zulu Natal, Gauteng and Cape Town. 

As Chief Operations Executive at Hirsch’s, Margaret is integrally involved with all aspects of the business. Margaret is a champion of women’s empowerment, and someone who firmly believes in giving back to the community, especially to people in a less fortunate situation, having been there once herself. 

When she was 12 her father died leaving her mother to fend for herself and two small children. Margaret’s strong sense of survival and her positive attitude helped pull her little family through the tough times. 

Having had to battle from an early age, she found that it is possible, through share determination and a positive attitude, to get ahead and now all Hirsch’s staff members are encouraged to better themselves and are shown that by uplifting themselves they will ultimately uplift those around them.

Margaret regards herself as a “jack of all trades”. Having done the selling, invoicing, demonstrating, being a delivery person on the trucks, installing and demonstrating in customers homes and generally taking care of everything at Hirschs for the past 37 years. 

“We have built Hirsch’s from a tiny little “mom and pop’s” store to a billion rand company and I hope that I will be an inspiration to others to know that they can live their dreams as well.” she says. 

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Thabisile has a career spanning two decades in the public and private sector specialising in corporate communications, social development, media relations, curriculum development and training at organisations such as Sibanye Resources, Anglo American Platinum, United Nations, UNISA, CGE and the Centre for Public Relations and Communication. 

She holds several qualifications in Corporate Communications, Public Relations Management, Project Management, Social Development and Leadership. 

She is currently the Senior Vice President: Corporate Communication and Stakeholder Engagement at Sibanye and vision bearer for the Inspired Connect. 

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Allon Raiz is regarded both locally and globally as a pioneer and maverick in the business incubation industry. He is the founder and CEO of Raizcorp which, according to The Economist, is the only genuine incubator in Africa, and currently supports in excess of 500 businesses. 

Allon is the author of two bestselling entrepreneurial books – Lose the Business Plan and What to Do When You Want to Give Up. He hosted the first national radio show on entrepreneurship in South Africa in 2004; wrote and hosted the first South African primetime, entrepreneurship, reality TV show; and also created and published an ongoing entrepreneurial cartoon strip. 

Allon is the host of his sixth season of the popular The Big Small Business Show on BusinessDay TV; and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine and The Star newspaper Allon is the co-founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation South Africa and Rural Roots, and sits on the advisory and judging boards of numerous local and international NGOs and entrepreneurial awards. 

Allon’s passion and focus on the development of entrepreneurs attracted the attention of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which, on 11 March 2008, awarded Allon as a Young Global Leader. As an accomplished international speaker, Allon was invited to speak at the 2011 WEF Annual Meeting, held in Davos, Switzerland. In 2011, Allon was also invited to become a member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Fostering Entrepreneurship, making him one of 15 recognised global experts in this field. 

More recently, Allon became a member of the WEF’s Global Future Council. In 2013, Allon received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Oliver Transformation and Empowerment Awards. The following year, he was recognised as the country winner, regional winner and continental winner of the Titan Award for Building Nations. 

Since 2014, Allon has guest lectured every year at Oxford University, where he is recognised as the Oxford University Saïd Business School’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence. In 2015, Allon received an invitation from the White House, on behalf of President Barack Obama, to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Kenya. 

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Dr Jackie Chimhanzi is the CEO of the African Leadership Institute.  She was, previously, Senior Strategist of the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC).

Prior to that, at Deloitte Consulting, she led project teams on diverse client engagements, interrogating and informing the strategies of major entities in the power, oil and gas,

steel and brewery industries.  

She was also instrumental in setting up the Deloitte Africa Desk and advised clients on accessing opportunities on the African continent. 

She is a keen African watcher and has authored a number of Africa-focused thought leadership pieces. 

She was recognised by Forbes Africa magazine as one of the 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa in 2012 – women under 45 shaping the narrative of Africa’s rising. 

She is an independent non- executive board member of the JSE-listed ADvTECH Group and also sits on their Audit, Nomination and Risk

committees, is a member of the Africa Policy Advisory Board for ONE and an Advisory Board member of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). 

She holds a BSc (Hons), MBA

(with Distinction) and a PhD (Strategic Marketing) - all from Cardiff Business School, UK.  As an academic, she lectured and authored papers in peer reviewed leading academic journals at various international fora.  Her PhD research focused on enhancing companies’ strategy execution capabilities.

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Jayshree Naidoo is part of the Customer Experience Team at Standard Bank. She is also the Interim CEO of Feenix (Feenix.org) a crowd funding platform that was launched by the Bank. Currently she is the Standard Bank Incubator Head.

Her previous leadership roles included the head of Strategy Management and Innovation at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, as well as positions at Discovery, ABSA and Internet Solutions.

She was a board member of JASA (Junior Achievement South Africa), as well as the Chairperson of SAINe (The Southern African Innovation Network.) Her knowledge, understanding and experience of entrepreneurship, e-channels, marketing, innovation and strategy, spans over a period of 20 years. 

She has an MBA qualification with her dissertation focusing in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Capacity Creation. Her other qualifications include Marketing, C A I B (SA), MCSE and an Honors level qualification on e-Commerce. She is also a Certified Trainer on Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking (Edward de Bono).

She is also a professional speaker and has presented at several public and company conferences including the Innovation Summit and the Innovation Festival and has been featured in several magazines including CEO Magazine, SA Innovator, Destiny and has been published in the Innovation Journal. She often guest lectures at universities and gives motivational presentations to students and members of the public.

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Prof. David N. Abdulai holds a BA in Political Science and Journalism from Howard University and an MA in International Development from the School of International Service (SIS) at American University in Washington, D.C. His Ph.D. (Distinction) is in International Economics and Technology Analysis and Management from the Graduate School of International Studies (Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies), University of Denver in Colorado, USA. He also holds a Post-Graduate Certificate in Technology Analysis and Management from the Graduate School of International Studies. He is also a graduate of Harvard Business Schools’ Programme in Leadership Development.

Prof. Abdulai has worked for the Public Sector Management division of the World Bank, Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter, CBS News Washington Bureau, Voice of America (Africa Field Service), and Africare International. He also taught at the Centre for the Teaching of International Relations (CTIR), University of Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Faculty of Management, Multimedia University. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law at Multimedia University and Director of the Office of Internationalisation and Institutional Collaboration at Multimedia University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is also an external examiner for DBA thesis for some Australian universities. He was made a full professor of International Economics and Business at the University of South Africa’s Graduate School of Business Leadership.

He has also consulted for the Spring Institute for International Studies, Denver Arts Museum, and Mizel Museum of Judaica, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to mention a few. He has written policy papers for the Mayor of Denver during the Summit of Eight held in Denver in 1998 and for the House Sub-Committee on Africa, U.S. House of Representatives during the debate on the imposition of Sanctions on the Apartheid regime of South Africa. Prof. Abdulai has also worked as a Senior Officer at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland and is an adviser to some heads of governments in the developing world. Recently, he chaired an event of five former heads of states and governments on the theme, “Deepening Democracy in Africa,” at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.

He was the former CEO and Executive Director of Unisa’s Graduate School of Business Leadership in Midrand, South Africa and the new President and CEO, of the African Graduate School of Management and Leadership in Ghana, West Africa.

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Gavin Cowley retired from adidas South Africa, after 27 years, where he held the portfolio of Marketing Director, having joined the board in 1996. A business highlight was successfully leading the adidas brand as a global partner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa, including presenting best practice and project management to global audiences. 

He is, in addition, a rugby television commentator with Supersport having broadcasted over 900 matches including the RWC 1995 final between the Springboks and New Zealand.   Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and educated at Grey High School and the University of Port Elizabeth (now NMMU), Gavin has a degree in Psychology and a diploma in Public Relations. He is also an accredited Chartered Public Relations Professional (CPRP) and a member of the Africa Advisory Board of the global CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Council.  

Gavin has a string of sporting achievements to his name. As a rugby player he was a Springbok squad member, Junior Springbok and represented Eastern Province in 88 matches, many as captain. He also played for SA Barbarians, Gazelles, SA Universities, a SA XV and a World XV. He captained the Eastern Province cricket team, having played in 120 matches and also played cricket for SA Schools, Natal, Western Province and SA Universities. He also represented Eastern Province in field hockey.  

His home town of Port Elizabeth honoured Gavin by naming a street in the city after him.    On the business front, Gavin is currently involved with leadership training, guest lecturing at a business school in practical marketing along with various ad hoc business, marketing and mentorship projects. 

He also provides business support to Hospice in South Africa. Gavin has had vast experience in public speaking as a member of the London Speaker Bureau, the synergies in business and sport being one of his favourite topics.  Gavin is the author of three books and co-author of the business book “Raise Your Game”.  

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Olatorera Oniru Is building the Fashion Amazon Of Africa (Forbes Magazine). She  is the founder of Dressmeoutlet.com, a Lagos-based e-commerce startup that retails fashion products sourced from across the globe. 

Dressmeoutlet.com strongly promotes made in Africa goods with the goal of retailing only the best 20% African designers.   

Dressmeoutlet.com ships worldwide and currently has customers in different states across Nigeria, Uganda and the United States of America. With years of experience from top companies including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Ericsson, Central Bank of Nigeria and General Electric, 

Olatorera Oniru is successfully building Dressmeoutlet.com into a fashion e-commerce powerhouse and currently has funding offers from notable investors including Nigerian investor Tony Elumelu.

Olatorera has been recognized on various international platforms as one of the pioneers championing the revolution of the fashion industry in Africa.

These include recognition by Forbes Media as the Nigerian Woman who is Building the Fashion Amazon of Africa; and Young Achiever of the Year Award by World Leadership Congress in Mauritius. 

She has also been nominated by the African Achievers Awards for Young Entrepreneur of the Year and was nominated by the Commonwealth Africa Awards(CAFI) for Outstanding Contribution to Enterprise and Fashion (West Africa), Individual Category.

Olatorera was nominated by the Future Nigeria Awards for Best Use of Advocacy in 2007 and was a finalist for Hearst Corporation’s “Cover girl of the year” award in 2008.

She founded Nigeria’s leadership program Top 100 Our Generation, in 2007; a company that brought together and inspired many of today’s young leaders. 

She is currently a member of Lionesses of Africa, Africa’s Best and the National Scholars Honor Society United States. 

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Equally at home on the rugby field as he is in the boardroom, Joel is a successful entrepreneur with firm roots in marketing.

With over 10 years’ experience in senior management in the corporate world, he co-founded Pivotal in 2012. Joel spearheads growth strategies for the Pivotal group of companies, a sustainable group of synergistic businesses that are game changers in their respective fields.

After a successful rugby career, Joel’s business acumen and natural leadership ability led him into the corporate sports marketing world, where he became an Executive Director at Megapro, South Africa’s leading sports marketing company. 

Joel looked after the commercial affairs of the South African Rugby Union, headed up hospitality at the 2003 Cricket World Cup and consulted to the Bid Book that won the rights to the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup.

He quickly gained a strong reputation and joined Altech Netstar as Director of Sales and Marketing, which saw the company grow significantly, promoting Joel to the role of Altech Netstar Group Managing Director. This results-driven initiative piqued the interest of the Steinhoff Group, where he took up a management position and then became responsible for the turnaround strategy for Hertz Rent-a-Car group.

Joel’s entrepreneurial nature and drive prompted his departure from the corporate world. As a Director at Pivotal Capital/Group, he has played a major role in the successfully growing of the group which now includes seven companies that are leaders in their respective fields. 

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Mteto Nyati was born in the Eastern Cape town of Mthatha where he completed his first years of schooling. Upon completion of his studies, he was offered a scholarship to do a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, which he completed in 1995.

He started off his career in the gases and welding products industry where he served in various roles. He later joined an FMCG where he was instrumental in consolidating the company’s plants in one central operation. 

He left the industry and joined a JSE-listed packaging manufacturer and later left to pursue a career in ICT at IBM South Africa.He served IBM South Africa in various capacities before he joined Microsoft South Africa in 2008 as Managing Director, a position he served for six years. 

In October 2014 he joined MTN as Group Chief Enterprise Officer and in July the following year he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of MTN South Africa.In April 2017 he joined Altron as Chief Executive.

He has won a number of accolades in his illustrious career, including being named as one of Yale University’s World Fellows on Global Leadership. He was also named Male Business Personality of the Year which was conferred by the Oliver Transformation and Empowerment Awards.

He was also recognised as the 2014 IT Personality of the Year by the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa. 

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Andrew A. Darfoor is a financial services CEO with a successful 20 year plus track record bringing bold vision and all-encompassing strategic planning to international next-stage business growth, re-invention and turnaround challenges. He brings to this a strong M&A background. 

Key highlights:

• Revenue growth and profit architect: Andrew has successfully developed blueprints to build brands, competitively positioned product/service solutions and market/distribution channel expansion, while also improving cost controls, margins and operating processes/systems as divisional CEO for two Fortune 100 organizations
• International financial services expert: Andrew brings career-long success in international wealth management, life insurance and private banking businesses, particularly in emerging global markets – including cultural and regulatory navigation, distribution partnerships, service operations and cross-border investor knowledge.
  

Andrew has held various Board memberships and positions, with experience of reporting to public companies’ parent and divisional boards. He has also lived and worked in multiple international jurisdictions including London, Milan, Dubai, Copenhagen, New York and Boston.

Andrew is an economics graduate from the University of London (1995); a UK qualified chartered accountant (1998) and obtained his MBA from Cranfield School of Management, UK (2005). Andrew has also completed Advanced Management programs at Kobe University, Japan (2005); Harvard, US (2008) and Insead, France (2011). 

In 2016, he was awarded the Excellence in Achievement Award from Cranfield School of Management presented by the Dean of the School.

Andrew is active in his local community as well as in philanthropic activities. He is past Chairman (now Chairman Emeritus) of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Manhattan, US Chapter which has a unique value proposition around philanthropic endeavors. 

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Since taking up the position in 2013, Sello Hatang has spearheaded the establishment of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and convened important dialogues.

Previously he was a senior manager at South Africa's Human Rights Commission. He participated in the post-1994 transformation of the National Archives, including archival support for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and is a former Director of the South African History Archive (SAHA). He serves on the boards of SAHA and the Open Democracy Advice Centre. He was a member of the editorial team of Nelson Mandela's book, Conversations with Myself, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2010.

How did Madiba’s life impact your early life? "The life and legacy of Madiba deeply affected me as a young man. His legacy is so complex. It’s one that we can’t claim to have understood back then. It showed me that I need to be committed to a cause. It made me consider how I could contribute towards building the country of my dreams. I was formally introduced to Madiba at the NMF in 2004 and when I spoke to him again in 2008, he remembered our previous meeting. This touched me deeply."

What were your experiences as a young activist? "Early on in my career, I began working at the Institute for Democracy in Africa. This helped me understand the complexities of our country’s history. I began to come to grips with the journey that was and the one that still needed to be travelled."

With that understanding, I was seconded to work for the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC). My mind was opened because I understood the levels of hurt that our country had experienced. This led me to question my role as a young person in a new SA."

What did you learn during your time at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)? "During the 2008 xenophobic attacks, I visited a makeshift shelter, where I saw a young boy who had been left to fend for himself in the cold. It really hit home, because the boy looked to be about the same age as my son. It made me really grateful to be a South African in my own country and not living in fear of being attacked for my nationality. I learnt that hate brings nothing but pain. Violence doesn’t answer any of our problems – it just exacerbates them."

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After qualifying on 5 aircraft types Guy specialised in Ground Attack and Strike Operations flying the Harrier GR3 (Jump Jet).  

Having left the RAF Guy started Special Operations Services (Pty) Ltd (SOS) in 1993.  This alternative logistics business grew exponentially due to his creation of, and adherence to a mathematical Business Formula he developed in 1996 – which he rather unconventionally converted into an art gallery.  

Guy sold SOS and founded Blueprints™ in 2002 to develop the Business Formula concept into a global best seller – in the unique field of ‘Business Genetics’.  Blueprints™ is his real love and passion, as it contributes so positively to the daily lives of over 100,000 people. 

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The daughter of the Zulu King, his Majesty King Zwelithini Goodwill kaBhekuzulu, Princess Nandi was named after the famous Queen Nandi, mother of the legendary Zulu King Shaka (1816-1828). 

Taking her birth right and forging it into a path of charity, Princess Nandi has become a beacon for the Zulu nation of South Africa. Wearing the hats of a business woman, golfer, aspiring pilot and all-round champion for philanthropy, Princess Nandi is first and foremost a Royal who lives by and for her people. 

Princess Nandi earned a National Diploma in Business Communications from  Tshwane University and a Nation Certificate in Project Management from Executive Education as well as a Management Advancement Programme (MAP) Certificate from Wits Business School. 

In spite of her corporate experience, Princess Nandi eventually returned to her true passion – serving the people, as doing community work was part and parcel of growing up in the Royal Zulu household. She then formalized her community building efforts by forming the Princess Nandi Zulu Foundation and focusing on the education of teenage girls. 

Going hand in hand with the Princess’ social initiatives is her association with Thanda Group, a massive undertaking by billionaire philanthropist Dan Olofsson and his wife Christin. Beginning with the restoration of an expansive private game reserve patronized by the Zulu King, Thanda has expanded to include an award-winning safari lodge, a number of conservation and social initiatives and, most recently, the development of the luxurious Thanda Royal Residences. 

Princess Nandi is the co-founder of the King Shaka Academy, the world’s first Strategic Innovation Laboratory for the African Youth that will teach the Innovation and Ideas Management Strategies of the legendary Zulu King Shaka and assist the African Youth in creating their own job opportunities as Innovators to small and large originations across the world. 

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Featured on the cover of Forbes Africa magazine before the age of 30, selected as a Fast Company Maverick, named Entrepreneur for the World by the World Entrepreneurship Forum and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum 2017 - 

Rapelang is an internationally lauded technology entrepreneur.  She is the founder and CEO of Rekindle Learning, a dynamic learning tech company that provides educational and performance support tools to improve learning efficiency and reduce time to competency for both corporates and academia. 

Rekindle Learning was profiled in the McKinsey Lions go Digital report as a striking innovation in mobile learning. With her infectious personality and ability to critically evaluate the use of technology in a social context, 

Rapelang brings a refreshing perspective to the possibilities of educational transformation in South Africa.  With many strings to her bow, Rapelang has served on the board of pan-African asset management, private equity and advisory firm Nisela Capital for many years and, as of October 2016, was appointed executive director of this burgeoning enterprise that is geared to building more black industrialists. 

Amongst other board roles, Rapelang also serves as a Member of the Advisory Board of Project Literacy - a campaign founded and convened by Pearson to address global illiteracy levels.  It is through technology that Rapelang’s childhood curiosity in the workings of the world and sheer belief in finding more effective ways of doing things has come full circle. 

As a speaker, she passionately spreads this message of improvement through innovation and her visionary insights continue to change the mind-sets of organisations for increased adaptability and productivity in the working world of today.  

She has wide exposure to tech and business, from telecoms through her first startup, Yeigo; to fintech as a board member for Moro Group, an ICT and payment services group headquartered in Botswana; to social innovation as a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum; to green tech as a board member for Meniko Records Management Services, a digital records & document management company; to financial advisory and private equity as a director of Nisela Capital; to trend analysis as part of World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council for Software and Society.  

Rapelang regularly speaks at local and international conferences and events and has shared a stage with the likes of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Prof Mohammed Yunus of Grameen Bank.     

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Sibonile has over 15 years experience working in Corporate Communications. She has held various positions within multinational companies in diverse industries amongst them Ford Motor Company and Nokia. 

Her knowledge of the African markets was gained during her tenure at Blue Financial Services where she was in charge of the Public Relations and Communications portfolio of 14 countries for the Micro-Finance Institution.   

She has a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Sociology, a National Diploma in Journalism and a Master of Management in Strategic Marketing at Wits Business School.   

At Unilever, Sibonile is responsible for leading the company in the delivery of an effective Communications strategy in South Africa and the Central African region countries of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.    

Previous to Unilever, Sibonile worked for a German specialty chemicals company, LANXESS AG, where she was Head of Corporate Communications for South Africa. She is married with three children.  

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 Dr. Iraj Abedian, an economist by training, has extensive business and research experience in South Africa. 

Since 1994 he has been involved in macroeconomic policy making and is a respected adviser to a number of public and private sector organisations. 

Dr. Abedian served as the chief economist and EXCO member of Standard Bank Group of SA over 2000 to 2004 (may) before co-founding Pan-African Capital Holdings in 2005. Iraj was the Special Advisor to Minister of Mineral Resources, SA Government. He is also an Extraordinary Professor at Gordon Institute of Business Science(GIBS), University of Pretoria (March 2010). 

 Directorships (Past & Present)

Member of the Board of Directors of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) since 2001 to 2007, Transnet Ltd (2004 to 2009), MunichRe of Africa (2005 to date), Chairman of Board: Pangbourne Properties Ltd (2007 to 2011), Chairman of Board: Bigen Africa (2009 to date), and Serves on the Advisory Board of the Auditor General of South Africa.

Qualifications

MA (Economics) 1980 University of Cape Town, RSA and PhD (Economics) 1993 Simon Fraser University, Canada. 

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Nompumelelo Nobiva grew up in Rosettenville in Johannesburg and, at age nine, lost her mother to HIV/Aids. 

Reared in material poverty but spiritual wealth by her grandmother, she excelled at Oprah’s South African school for girls before going to the US to study at Johnson C. Smith University, where she majored in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on global outreach, public rhetoric, and strategic communications.

She graduated top of her class and has obtained a Presidential Scholarship worth $60,000 from High Point University, where she is currently earning a master’s degree in Strategic Communications (Public Relations).

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Victoria is currently the CEO of Naaviq Company Limited and United Nations Youth Ghana conferred on Victoria to become the Ambassador for clean water and sanitation at UN youth Ghana (SDG6) due to her passion to train (skill) the youth in  society. 

Naaviq Company Limited provides Community Water Project, borehole drilling, water treatment, water consultancy, customized bottled water, dispenser mineral water and water treatment training. 

Victoria has come up with her own solution for communities, homes, industries and many more that lack water.

Victoria has worked with Various Companies and Firms as Clients; In Water treatment and Borehole drilling, we have a client base of about 30 and still counting, In Water Supply, We Supply over 200 clients with water.

Victoria's interest in excellence has earned her to become a Global Speaker in entrepreneurship (International and global Conferences, Seminars, Workshops, Universities as well as technical schools all over Ghana. 

Victoria was selected alongside Prof. Stephen Adei of Ashesi University, to speak at the second transcultural leadership summit 2017 which is being held at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany and selected as one of the promising 100 young people on the continent to participate in a youth forum with the former heads of state at the conference co-hosted by the Thabo Mbeki foundation (South Africa) and the Uongozi Institute (Tazania). 

Victoria was the Guest Speaker and Chairperson at the 6th Annual GNUTS Women’s Conference, Victoria was also chosen as a contestant in the #water women competition organized by  Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), A Panelist at Chow Ghana/Essense 13 food forum, 

And a serious Advocate for drink water for health and not for thirst. Victoria has also featured on media programme and networks such as Tales from the powder room on GHONE TV, Biz trends on GHONE TV and have granted a lot of interviews on Ghanaian television stations and radio stations as well. 

Victoria was once selected as one of the rising female entrepreneur in the male dominated industry on Uncovered on Starrs Fm.

Listen to Victoria's Interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

Nkuli is Sales Executive at MicroStrategy Inc., the largest independent publicly traded Business Intelligence company globally with the leading enterprise analytics platform.

Nkuli is responsible for new business and market development of BI & Analytics solutions in Sub Sahara Africa.

He was previously Managing Executive: Revenue of XLink Communications, a wholly owned Vodacom subsidiary and tasked with sales transformation, business development and customer experience, leading the sales and marketing organizations. 

Nkuli previously led the Vodacom Business’s Mining & Manufacturing vertical as Executive Head of Department. In this role, he successfully transformed the sales team from legacy mobile to digital sales capability & competence, delivering on revenue growth.

Prior to that Nkuli was the Country Manager for EMC2 Enterprise Content Division (ECD) before the acquisition by Dell to form DellEMC. In this role, he was responsible for the end to end ECD business reporting to EMEA. 

In his earlier roles at Ericsson and Sun Microsystems, was sales manager and Global Account Manager for the MTN Group, working and travelling across the African continent and successfully delivering double digit revenue growth. 

Nkuli started his career at Cisco Systems as account manager in 1998. Throughout his career, Nkuli has been an over achiever with a number of sales awards both at a global and local stage.

Nkuli has Sales Leadership, Business Transformation and General Management competencies in the areas of Enterprise Content Management, BI & Analytics, Converged Comms, Networking Infrastructure and the broader telecommunications technologies having run sales organizations upwards of $400m in revenue.

His key differentiator is the ability to conceptualize a strategic direction, build, lead and coach diverse, high performing teams, orchestrating iterative execution to arrive at the vision. 

Nkuli holds a PMD from the Gordon Institute of Business Science and studying towards his MBA.  

Listen to Nkuli's Interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo

Aarti Takoordeen is a Chartered Accountant, CA (SA) and has been the CFO and Executive Director of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Africa’s leading Stock Exchange, since 2013. At the time, she was the youngest CFO of a JSE listed company.

In 2014, Aarti won the coveted CFO South Africa Award for Young CFO of the Year for her meteoric rise to prominence as CFO of the JSE. 

Aarti was more recently selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is excited about creating a positive impact within the Finance industry on the greater continent.

Education:

• CA(SA)
• University of South Africa - Hons CTA, Accounting & Auditing
• University of South Africa - Hons BCompt, Commerce

Listen to Aarti's interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

Sipho Pityana is the Chairman of AngloGold Ashanti  and  Izingwe Capital.  Mr Pityana has extensive business experience having served in both an executive and non-executive capacity on several JSE listed boards of companies. 

He is Chairman of the JSE listed Onelogix and of Munich Reinsurance of Africa. He also served on the boards of Bytes Technology Group, AFROX, SPESCOM and the Old Mutual Leadership Group. 

He previously worked as the Executive Director of Nedcor Investment Bank and Managing Director of Nedbank. He is also a director of a number of manufacturing companies including Scaw Metals and Aberdare Cables.

In addition to his private sector track record, Mr Pityana has extensive public sector experience and international exposure. He was the first Director General of Department of Labour in a democratic South Africa. As the Foreign Affairs Director General he represented South Africa in various international fora including the United Nations, African Union, Commonwealth and the International Labour Organisation. 

He was one of the founding members of the governing body of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and Convenor of the South African government’s delegation to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC).

Listen to Sipho's interview (Part 1) on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

Jabulile is an Associate at Genesis Analytics (Genesis), an economics-based consultancy and Founder of Hadithi Wethu, a reading mentorship programme. 

She joined Genesis as an Analyst in the Shared Value Practice in 2016 after completing her Master’s degree in Economic Development at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She holds both a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Social Science Honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from UCT. 

Jabulile’s honours dissertation looked at the failure of the OBE education system in South African public schools. Her Masters dissertation continued along the policy theme, with a dissertation that considered the impact of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-B BEE) on the South African construction sector.

Since joining Genesis, Jabulile has worked on projects that include a corporate socio-economic impact assessment for a large mining company, a shared value strategy paper for a leading property firm and the conceptualisation of a stakeholder dialogue. 

Jabulile recently assisted a large South African bank with embedding their shared value strategy and conducted a scenario analysis on South Africa’s political future for a large financial services firm.

Additionally, she has co-facilitated two Executive Education Programmes on ‘Creating Shared Value’ and 'Business-Government Relations' at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). 

Through Hadithi Wethu, Jabulile has created a platform that gives teenagers access to black written literature. 

Before joining Genesis, Jabulile interned at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington D.C and was a member of the South Africa-International Washington Program (SAWIP) team in 2015. 

With a keen interest in youth leadership development, Jabulile has also facilitated the International Youth Leadership Conference (IYLC) in Dubai, as well as represented South Africa at the IYLC in Prague

(For info on Hadithi Wethu contact: hadithiwethu@gmail.com)

Listen to Jabulile's interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

Dr Khoza is a seasoned executive, acknowledged strategist and development activist in the infrastructure development space. In 2014 she was awarded the Lifetime Achiever Awards in the Manufacturing and Engineering Sector as one of Africa's Most Influential Women. 

In 2015 awarded the Top Performing Business Leader Award in South Africa. In 2016 recognized by Women For Africa Awards for being one of the most influential women in the continent. 

During her tenure as CEO of Bigen Africa, the company won over 30 business awards [see www.bigenafrica.com]. She is respected for her passion in improving the quality of life of people through infrastructure that provides for water, sanitation, housing, roads, energy and health. She has now co-founded Women Investing in Infrastructure [WIII - www.womeninfrastructure.com] - a women-led company that invests in and empowers women to benefit from and participate in infrastructure development thus improve the quality of lives of women and their communities.

Before Bigen Africa, Dr Khoza was Group Executive at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Previously she was the founding Chair of Knowledge Management Africa. She chaired the Boards of e.g.Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA); the Water Research Commission(WRC); Centre for Social Development in Africa (University of Johannesburg); Women's Development Businesses (WDB) Trust; Sekela Xabiso (Pty) Ltd; Bihati Solutions (Pty) Ltd; and Distribution Agency of the National Lotteries Council. 

She was also a board member of the National Housing Financing Corporation (NHFC); FAMSA; Freights Dynamics (Transnet); StatsSA; and Ministerial advisory boards of the then National Housing as well as Water Affairs.

Currently Dr Khoza sits at the Water Institute Advisory Board of University of Pretoria. She is also an independent non-executive director at ANSYS and is also the president of Agape Christian Women's Network International (ACWN). 

Listen to Dr Snowy's interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

As the Director of Government Relations and CSR at SAP Africa as well as a member of the SAP Digital Government team, Sunil Geness leads all aspects of government relations, donor relations and corporate social responsibility activities for SAP stakeholders across Africa. 

He has vast experience in corporate and public organisations and has appeared on several local and international television networks as a presenter, political analyst and commentator. 

Geness has also delivered several thought leadership papers and presentations at local, African and International conferences. In his various capacities he has also represented South Africa, the South African business community and SAP at high level negotiations and meetings at the United Nations, European Union, European Commission, the World Bank, BRICS and other multilateral agencies on several occasions. He currently chairs the Deregulation Working Group of the SA BRICS Council. 

Geness has a passion for science, technology and innovation and began his career as a physical science and electronics teacher before he moved on to develop a wide range of experience in Government, Quasi-Government and Private sector organisations. 

These roles have included a policy making and implementation stint at the South African National Government, followed by a government modernization role and subsequently a political advisory role at the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), before he was head-hunted by the German global software giant-SAP.

Geness holds a Bachelor of Commerce (UNISA), Bachelor of Commerce Honours Cum Laude (UNISA), Master of Management in Public and Development Management (Witwatersrand), HED (Springfield College) and has been the recipient of scholarships for executive leadership programmes at leading global business schools in the United Kingdom (Birmingham), the United States (Harvard) and France (INSEAD). 

A keen advocate of sustainability and environmentalism, he has also received the World Wide Fund (WWF), One Planet Leaders, sustainability scholarship in 2009.

Who would ever have conceived that sharing stories about solo motorcycle journeys in Africa would have led to a career as storyteller? 

With a varied background I have always believed that human beings have an innate desire to hear stories, and more particularly stories about human beings, rather than events.

Telling stories for a living began in 2001, on the famous Anglo-Zulu War battlefields at the foot of world renowned raconteur, David Rattray. 

Researching and sharing human dramas has taken me to the Antarctic on numerous occasions, the Arctic, annually to the UK and very regularly to the Battlefields.

One may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they may do because of it, because of your words. 

That is your role, your gift as storyteller.

That privilege and responsibility drives me daily to hone my skill, research new stories, and share the fantastic lessons which emerge from these stories of Life.

I choose stories from my repertoire for clients depending on their theme or what their objective is. I modify content accordingly, drawing from a miscellany of stories. A company with diversity issues will not want the same delivery as a game lodge.

With stick and trademark shorts, I pride myself in positive, unique storytelling and do not rely on electronic or visual aids ‘when the lights trip, Rob does not’.

Listen to Rob's Interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Thandeka serves as the Corporate Executive for Strategic Projects and Institutional Co-operation at the Auditor General of South Africa and the first Vice President of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of South Africa (ABASA). Miss. Zondi was an Executive Associate to the Chief Executive of Long Term Savings Old Mutual Plc and Head of the Deloitte Johannesburg accounting weekend school "Siyakhula". 

She is also an Executive Director at SekelaXabiso where she is responsible for strategy and business development. She has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of Jasco Electronics Holdings Limited since January 01, 2017. 

She served as Independent Non-Executive Director of Sasol Inzalo Public Limited (RF) since 2010 until November 21, 2015. She serves as an Independent Board Member of the Old Mutual Superfund Management Board and the Chairman of the administrative sub-committee of the Old Mutual Superfund Management Board. She is an international audit fellow of the Government Accountability Office and a Board and Audit Committee Member at South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA). 

She was profiled on Destiny magazine as the September 2008 "Young and Powerful" feature and awarded the Gordon Institute of Business Science Spirit of the Youth mentor from 2007 to 2009 

Listen to Thandeka's leadership journey on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

Born Pamela Nontsikelelo Mkhize on June 10 in Limpopo, Ntsiki grew up in the East Rand (Wattville township) and later moved with her family to a farm in Midvaal.

A tenacious, authentic and spirited young lady, she has her eyes fixed on her own TV and radio shows in the near future. As a writer, presenter and speaker Ntsiki offers her services as a motivational speaker, workshop trainer, MC and voice over artist.

Passionate about entrepreneurship, she aims to inspire and empower women and youth to get involved in business that initiates positive change. She is co-founder of The Princesses Foundation and Director at the Ekasi Entrepreneurs Movement. 

She serves as a Director for Pamanda Properties and volunteers her time mentoring young girls through the SONG Foundation and Phakama Women’s Academy.

Accolades

• Miss South Africa 2nd Princess 2015.
• University of Johannesburg; Centre of Social Entrepreneurship and Social Economy Ambassador 2015.
• Clothes to Good Ambassador 2015/2016 www.c2cx.co.za
• WeCan24 Ambassador 2016 www.wecan24.co.za

Experience

• Presenter & Content Producer: Basic 2017 www.mybigstartup.com Craze, Sisterhood 2013
• Podcast Host & Producer: That’s 20’s Podcast 2016/2017
• Trainer: JMB My City StartUp 2016
• Writer: Inspired4Writers Exclusive Interviews 2013/2014| Mother Tongue Column 2016
• Radio Presenter: Hope FM YB20 Breakfast 2015|Small Business Connect 2014/2015
• Model: G3 Models

Education

• B.Com Honours Logistics Management 2013 – UJ.
• B.Com Marketing Management 2012 – UJ.

Talks

• Living a Life of Purpose on Purpose talk and workshop.
• Dr Richard Maponya University of Johannesburg Annual Entrepreneurship Lecture 2016
• Momentum Take a Girl Child to Word Day 2015
• The Tax Ombud Take a Girl Child to Word Day 2015
• The Dr Richard Maponya Annual Township Entrepreneurs Conference 2015 – Panel Host
• Clothes to Good Talks 2015/2016

Listen to Ntsiki's interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

Certified Financial Planner and Director at Kainos Financial Services, obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning at the University of Free State and his MDP & AEP from UNISA.

He currently is Chairperson’s of the FIA RDR Intermediary Workgroup, Liberty Ethics Committee and Vice-Chairperson of the FPI Client Engagement Committee. He also serves on the FPI Annual Convention Committee and Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) Income Replacement Task Force.  

Kobus additionally hold membership to SAIT (Tax Practitioner), the Fiduciary Institute of Southern Africa (FISA), the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioner (STEP- with a TEP Designation), Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA), The Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) and The Institute of Ethics South Africa and Unashamedly Ethical. 

Kobus was the inaugural winner in 2015 of the FPI “It starts with Me” award and also received the award in 2016 and is a FPI and MDRT Pro-Bono Volunteer. Kobus was awarded the MDRT Leadership Award.

Kobus has a Passion for the Financial Services Profession and works purposefully with other like-minded stakeholders to help transform the financial industry into a fully fledge profession through the power of social- and print media and other means like presentations, workshops talks and other. Kobus has already published over 200 articles in and on various media platforms.

Kobus is a thought leader on the Financial Services Profession, RDR/Twin Peaks/TCF and similar regulations, Digital Media Power, Personal Branding, Futuristic Leadership, Crypto Technology, as well as other disruptive Fintech subjects.

Kobus has authored the books “Passion for the profession- Mastering the 9 P’s to Professionalism” and “RDR-Mastering Key Elements to RDR”. 

Listen to Kobus' interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

Bob Burg is a sought-after speaker at company leadership and sales conferences on topics at the core of the Go-Giver books. 

A former television personality and top-producing salesperson, Bob has shared the platform with some of today’s top business leaders, broadcast personalities, coaches, athletes, and political leaders, including a former U.S. president.

In addition to coauthoring the bestselling Go-Giver books with John David Mann, Bob has authored a number of popular books, including the critically acclaimed, Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales and Adversaries into Allies. His total book sales are well over a million copies.

The American Management Association named Bob one of the Top 30 Leaders in Business and he is one of Inc.’s 100 Great Leadership Speakers. Richtopia named him one of the Top 200 Most Influential Authors in the World.

Bob is an advocate, supporter, and defender of the free enterprise system and believes that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people one serves. He is also an unapologetic animal fanatic, and served on the board of directors of Furry Friends Adoption & Clinic in his hometown of Jupiter, Florida. For more information, articles and free resources, please visit www.burg.com

Listen to Bob's Interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

 Mr. Sipho Nkosinathi Maseko, BA, LLB., has been Group Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Telkom SA SOC Limited since April 1, 2013. 

Mr. Maseko served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of British Petroleum Southern Africa since 2008. 

He served as Managing Director of Vodacom South Africa (Pty) Limited since September 2011. He served as Group Chief Operating Officer of Vodacom. He served as Managing Director of Vodacom SA at Vodacom Group Limited since September 2011. 

He served as Executive Director of Vodacom Group Limited. He served as Managing Director of South African Operations at Vodacom Group Limited since September 2011. He held a number of senior executive positions at Vodacom. He has been the Chairman of Business Connexion Group Limited since May 10, 2017. Mr. Maseko served as Chairman of the Board of Shell and BP South African Petroleum Refineries (Pty) Ltd (SAPREF) from July 2010 to August 2011. 

He served as an Independent Non Executive Director of African Oxygen Ltd. since November 22, 2012 until May 28, 2015. He is a Non-executive Director of the Centre for Development and Enterprises. Mr. Maseko received BA and LLB from the University of Natal. 

Wendy qualified with a B.Comm in 1981 and acquired 10 years corporate experience with Vanda Cosmetics and the BMW Group in Marketing Management both in South Africa and internationally.

She left corporate life in 1991 to become a social entrepreneur and founded Bridging the Gap as her first business which she has now sold, although her ventures continue to bridge the gap.

In 1994 Wendy pioneered the founding of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings which listed in 1999 on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in the Investment Trust section (de-listed March 2003), an initiative that revolutionised the participation of women in the economic landscape of South Africa.

In 1997 she was involved in establishing the presence of Alliance Capital in South Africa, an asset / fund management business. They currently manage R5 billion and have developed a team of new skills comprising 20 professionals. Wendy recently raised R105 million for South Africa’s first Private Equity Fund for women owned enterprises with a 2 – 3 year track record.

She is the chairman of Alliance Capital, Vodacom Group, Vendome Distributors, and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). She also chairs the International Marketing Council to cultivate an infectious sense of pride about who we are as a nation and what we are capable of, to showcase our remarkable attributes.

Wendy was recognised by the World Economic Forum in Switzerland as a Global Leader for Tomorrow, the Osaka Junior Chamber in Japan as an Outstanding Young Person and by Unisa Business School in South Africa for Leadership in Practise. She was featured in a Sunday Times survey as one of South Africa’s 20 most powerful women and in 1999, honoured as one of 50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World. In January 2000 she was featured as one of the likely candidates for Presidency.

She is married to Mbhazima Shilowa, the Premier of Gauteng Province and they have two sons aged 28 and 18. Wendy has interests in writing, conversations, culture and metaphysics. She has lived overseas, has travelled extensively and recently published a book called “Defining Moments”, to reflect on the experiences of black professionals over the last three decades. The book is intended to cultivate a culture that passes on knowledge and experiences to future generations.

Listen to Wendy's interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

Accomplished and decisive executive with an 18 year track record of successful strategic and tactical leadership. 

Well-known for ability to envision & create successful outcomes in complex situations. Tenacious commitment to driving revenue and market-share growth.

Demonstrable achievements in Revenue Optimization, Change Management, Leadership, Brand Development, Mergers & Acquisitions,Mentorship and Human Capital Development.  

Listen to Kris; interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

Mpho is an accomplished business leader with diverse experiences spanning a period of more than 25 years in executive and C-Suite roles in the public and private sectors. 

He is currently Independent Non-Executive Chairman of JSE-listed ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited and also serves an Independent Non-Executive Director on the boards of JSE listed companies such as Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd (AIHLF.PK), Nedbank Group Ltd (NDBKF.PK), Nedbank Ltd and Sephaku Holdings Limited (SEPJ.J)

He further serves as Chairman of Epitome Investments (Pty) Ltd, New Nishati Investments (Pty) Ltd, Information Technology Alliance (ITNA) (Pty) Ltd and the Boardroom Alliance (Pty) Ltd - which holds the sub-Saharan trading license for Executive Search firm Heidrick & Struggles. Non-Executive Director BioTherm Energy (PTY) Ltd; one South Africa's foremost renewable energy companies.

He also volunteers as a Member of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Fund's Fund Raising Committee and is a Trustee on the Board of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. In April 2016 he was one 14 trustees appointed by HE The President of the Republic of SA to serve as a Trustee on the Board of Trustees of BRAND SA.

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Mpho led the team that kept the lights on; firstly as Interim Chairman & CEO (3rdQ 2009) and as Chairman of Eskom Holdings Limited SOC from 10 June 2010 until his term as Director concluded on 27 June 2011, after serving on that board for nine years.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Administration (B.Admin) University of Zululand, B.Admin (University of Pretoria), EDP, Kellogg School of Management and Post. Grad Diploma, Retailing Management, University of Stirling.

Listen to Mpho's interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

She’s a qualified chef, successful restauranteur, SA national ballroom dancer, wife and mother. Mrs South Africa 2nd Princess. Jo-Ann Barnwell juggles life in the spotlight and a beautifully blended family, while pursuing her dreams.

Jo-Ann was born to be on the stage. The earliest evidence of her being ‘in the spotlight’ is a newspaper clipping her mother kept from 1982 – a black and white photograph of her winning a baby competition.

“I remember being on stage at five-years-old. I loved the stage, the lights and the camera,” says the former SA ballroom dancer. Jo-Ann travelled overseas to compete in ballroom dancing competitions internationally when she was 17-years-old.

“It was truly an amazing journey, but it had to come to an end. And, even though I would still love to put on those heels and tango, I had to set my mind on a career that would pay the bills. Juggling work and dancing was challenging and exhausting.”

So, following her deep passion for food, Jo-Ann went to study at a chef school in Cape Town. “The truth is, we all love food and I knew I could turn my love for food into a career. With absolutely no idea about running a restaurant, I bought the 250-seater Five Flies Restaurant and Bar in Cape Town.” The restaurant became a roaring success and saw many celebrities and high profile personalities visit many a time. 

When she fell pregnant with her son in 2015, Jo-Ann and her husband, Steven, decided it was time for a life change. Steven was offered a job as managing executive of Vodacom KZN and the couple moved to Durban.

Juggling her role as mom to her very busy two-year-old, Jordan, and step mother to two teenagers Jodi and Jarrod , as well as wife to a man she says makes it all worth it, Jo-Ann changed careers and followed the spotlight once again, becoming a model for clothing adverts on television and in newspapers. 

Most recently, Jo-Ann made the decision to enter the Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa pageant for which she successfully made not only the top 100 but all the way to 2nd Princess 

Mrs SA 2019 and is honoured to count herself amongst a sisterhood of powerful strong women.

“I wanted to enter so that I know that I have proven to myself that the burning sensation of walking on this path to become the Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa is what I was really meant for. I want to soak up the moments and take all I learn during the pageant and use it to uplift others.”

Listen to Jo-Ann's interview on Vimeo, Youtube and Soundcloud. 

Thula Ngonyama has been part of the Financial Services industry for a period of more than 15 years in different critical positions, whilst her experience in the corporate sector is short of 20 years. 

She has had a great exposure to the international markets, having had an opportunity to work in projects in both in the United States and Leeds (UK). She further has great experience and exposure in working with African markets, having spent part of her career in Standard Bank as part of the Rest of Africa holding different positions across different business units. 

Thula brings wealth of knowledge in the information management and business analytics industry, also having worked as a head of Standard Bank Group Data Services and currently as a Head of Information Management and Customer Insights for PBB Rest of Africa. 

Especially from her currently responsibilities amongst other things, which includes strategy definition and execution for Business Analytics, Management Information and Information Management capabilities across the African continent for Standard Bank Rest of Africa PBB.

Thula is a philanthropist at heart, with much passion for women and young girls; having established the House of Pearls Foundation, an organisation that drives Women’s rights with much emphasis on young girls.

The appropriate academic support in a form of a B com degree in Investment and Corporate Finance, Information Systems (University of Natal) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management Qualification (Wits Business School) and completion of her course work of Masters in Development Management through Wits Business School gives her a strong foundation and basis required for her to confidently contribute, support and drive business strategy as deemed necessary. 

She also completed the GIBS-Erasmus University executive development program, which gave her exposure to the strategy and operations of European and East African banks. 

Listen to Thula's interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo  

 Vodacom's former managing executive for brand marketing and communications Mzamo Masito has been appointed as Google's chief marketing officer for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Masito, who holds an MBA from the Gordon Institute of BusinessScience (Gibs) as well as a post-graduate diploma from University of Cape Town, will be leading the Sub-Saharan Africa marketing team. He has been tasked with enhancing locally-relevant products and content as well as to aid locals to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet.

"As I've just started, my immediate priorities are to learn - and where relevant, unlearn - from the Africa teams, in EMEA and around the world. If I'm going to achieve my overall goal [in growing skills in the region] I need to immerse myself in who and what Google is. 

For me, the most important element is going to be listening to and observing our users to gain insights into what we do well and where we can better meet their needs," adds Masito.

Masito says he is keen to make a difference in people's lives, particularly in Africa, "I spoke to a number of people before joining and the consistent theme was Google's humanity. The focus on teamwork, love of its people and drive to achieve goals. 

This is why I joined the company. Google aims to make products that are relevant to our users, irrespective of their context. We also strive to make the Internet accessible to everyone, no matter where they are or what device they are on. This is what drives initiatives like Digital Skills for Africa. 

We're committed to this because we think that if young people have the right skills, they'll build businesses, create jobs and boost economic growth across the continent."

Addressing some of the difficulties the continent faces with regards to digital transformation, Masito says apart from expensive data, network penetration and limited access, a lack of skills to use the Internet is still a large stumbling block. 

"We need to address this and in so doing equip young Africans to address the other big challenge we face - jobs. Addressing all of these issues will enable Africans to participate fully in the digital era and create their own opportunities - as entrepreneurs, employers, or employees - in digitally transformed economies. 

There is however no silver bullet solution - addressing these challenges involves taking a multi-pronged approach to all issues involved. Africa is not a country and what works in a given market is not necessarily relevant in another", he notes.

Masito currently lectures at the AAA School of Advertising and serves on the Gibs advisory board. He will be based in Google's Johannesburg office.

 Listen to Mzamo's interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo  

Gideon Sam was born on the 19 August 1949, Cape Town, South Africa. Gideon’s Education Background: Bachelor of Arts – History and Languages and Bachelor of Education, University of Fort Hare; Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management, University of Johannesburg. 

Sam's involvement of sports stretches over more than three decades. He was an athlete at school and college level and played rugby at school, college, university, club and district levels. He is a former Headmaster and President of Swimming South Africa. 

Sam has also served as a South African sport in various capacities, including managing the Springboks at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and South Africa’s swimmers at the World Cup. He has also managed the South African Olympic squad and been the Chef de Mission at the Commonwealth Games. Sam also serves on the National Lotteries Distribution Fund.

Sam's administration of sport includes; President/General Secretary/Committee member at club/provincial and national level; Victoria East Rugby Union; Victoria East Council of Sport; Amateur Swimming Association of Border; Golden Lions Rugby Union; South African Rugby Union; National Sports Council; South African Sports Commission; Swimming South Africa; National Lotteries Distribution Fund; Vice President of the Commonwealth Games Federation and IOC Commission member of Sport and Environment.

Listen to Gideon's Interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

Jennifer Jordan is a social psychologist and is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at IMD.

Professor Jordan's teaching, research, and consulting focus on the areas of digital leadership, ethics, influence, and power. Professor Jordan has received specialized training and certifications in lie- and truthfulness-detection, as well as in conflict resolution within organizations.

Her work in these areas has appeared in several scientific journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Management, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Psychological Science, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. She was also a contributor to the books, Leadership at the Crossroads: Psychology and Leadership and The Handbook of Organizational and Managerial Wisdom, as well as an editor of one of the seminal scientific books on wisdom, Handbook of Wisdom: Psychological Perspectives. Her work has been mentioned in mainstream publications from The New York Times to De Volkskrant (Netherlands).

Prior to joining IMD, Professor Jordan was an Associate Professor and Rosalind Franklin Fellow at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands and a post-doctoral fellow at the Kellogg School of Management and Tuck School of Business in the United States.

Professor Jordan also served as a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany. Professor Jordan received her doctoral degree and two masters degrees (Masters of Philosophy and Masters of Science in Psychology) from Yale University (United States). She is a member of the editorial board of the journals Leadership Quarterly and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

Follow Jennifer on LinkedIn 

 Listen to Jennifer's interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

Reekrit Serai is an Educationalist, Publisher, Entrepreneur, Author and Investor.

He is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Rumour Books India, one of India's largest and reputed English-language trade publishing houses, and the official publisher of PM Narendra Modi's Mann Ki Baat.

 In 2013, he co-founded the Panchkula Art and Literary Festival (PALF), one of upper north India's largest and most recognised literary and art festivals, and is the Founding Director.

Currently, he is Co-Chair for Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Young Indians (Yi), Chandigarh region.

He is also the Director & Dean of Satluj Group of Schools, Panchkula, the Chandigarh (Punjab, India) region's oldest and largest private group of schools, founded in 1976.

Under his leadership, Satluj has been catapulted to No. 5 in India (ranked by EducationToday), rated by Fortune Magazine and Udacity as a ‘Future50 School of India’, awarded for ‘Innovations in Educational Pedagogy’ by Digital Learning at the World Education Summit and voted as a ‘Top50 Centre for Academic Excellence in Asia’ by Cambridge International Examinations.

Serai, who specialises in investing in and advising early stage and growth-stage startups, also serves on the boards of successful Non-for-Profits, EdTech, PubTech (Publishing Technology), HRTech and FinTech companies as an Advisor.

The companies he has invested in and advises have earned tens of millions of dollars in revenue over the past few years.

Listen to his interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo

Mpho Maseko has more than 10 years’ experience in the Integrated Marketing Communications field with experience in both the public and private sectors. 

Mpho’s career began in Public Relations as an intern for a Sandton based PR firm. She then moved on to cut her teeth in the advertising industry, starting as an account executive and then being promoted to strategic planner at Inroads. 

Events management and media planning were the core skills that Mpho developed when she joined the Gauteng Provincial Legislature as the Public Relations Officer. 

She honed in her management expertise after graduating in a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Wits Business School. 

She joined the SABC in 2005 where she has held several management positions within marketing & communications. Her responsibilities in these roles extended to the strategic communications management for various SABC brands.

In November 2011 Mpho was appointment as Senior Manager: Brand Marketing. One of her major contributions in her current role include consolidating the marketing function to fit into the SABC’s three year business plans and position brand SABC favorably by improving its brand reputation.

In 2014 she was appointed committee member for the Advertising and Media Association of South Africa (AMASA) a committee that she still currently serves on. She is responsible for the Communication and hosting of monthly thought leadership forums for media professionals who are members of AMASA. 

Mpho has recently been appointed to serve as Head of the Brand Council of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), she is also member of the inaugural Marketing Awards Council.

Listen to Mpho's interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo (first recorded for the Personal Brand Leadership Show)

Colleen is one of the leading voices for the sustainable advancement of women in the corporate and entrepreneurial space in South Africa today.

She was the first chairperson of the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network Ltd., an initiative of the Department of Trade & Industry to support women owned SMMEs and was instrumental in the establishment of the SAWEN national strategy, organisation and the constitution.

She is, through Business Engage, the founder of the Gender Mainstreaming Awards . The awards seek to encourage the private sector to buy-in to achieving more meaningful representation of women in the mainstream of business.

In addition she is the President of the 30% Club Southern Africa, a global organisation of chairmen and other senior business leaders publicly committed to achieving 30% women on boards together with the associated pipeline within a default period of five years. 

The 30% Club includes high profile companies like Anglo American, Old Mutual, Bloomburg, PwC and Goldman Sachs to name but a few.  

Listen to Colleen's interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo (first recorded for the Personal Brand Leadership Show)

Trends and strategy don’t come in a box - they need to work for your consumer, your industry, technology and your employees. 

As a Trend Specialist & Business Innovation Strategist, I show business leaders how to contextualise trends and innovate with purpose.

My Trend Insight workshops engage executive decision-makers and business owners; igniting ideas, opportunities and solutions.

For extended consulting engagements, I become immersed in a client’s organisation and guide them through my ‘Forever Profitable’ methodology.

I speak about the future so that leaders and companies can ask the right questions about what it takes to be Forever Profitable. I have built my repertoire by speaking to audiences across the globe, and by shifting mindset in smaller groups or one-on-one coaching sessions.

In partnership with Media24, I am also involved in an initiative called “Rise of the Nation”, a South African platform that will host a series of events featuring acclaimed local and international speakers. 

As a strategist, I need to walk the talk. I have owned and sold a smorgasbord of businesses. Currently, I’m involved in an array of projects and ventures that keep me ticking.

Co-owner of Tasha’s restaurant in Canal Walk;

Co-founder of Brollidip, a unique umbrella sleeving and branding solution;

Co-founder of Airbrn, an organisational gamification platform;

Co-founder of Grooma, a beauty and grooming services App that will be launched in 2017;

Co-founder in Rise of the Nation, a South African Platform for local and international speakers’  

Listen to John's interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

BACK FROM THE FUTURE:  Listen to John's Follow-up Interview on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo   

Jonathan Naidoo is passionate about the work that the SmartXchange is doing to promote the development of entrepreneurs in the MICTe sector. 

He says that he is extremely focused on what he wishes the organisation to achieve and has always maintained a visionary outlook. ­is approach is very necessary in order to remain relevant in the innovation space.  

Naidoo said, "th­e ongoing exposure to the vibey and fantastic ideas of these young entrepreneurs is very exciting and provides momentum to the management of the day to day business."

While he enjoys operating a not for profit organisation, he says that sustainability is always top of mind. Careful attention need to be paid to the budget. We don't take equity forward into new projects and always have to put our best foot forward. 

Th­e introduction of Kings IV has been invaluable as it has helped to develop realistic strategies to counter potential hurdles that could come at the expense of sustainability. 

Said Naidoo, "You make sure that you have plans of actions in place to address issues that could arise − to guarantee your board that you will be sustainable." He added, "We are also excited that this model for best practice comes from South Africa."

Naidoo says that SmartXchange's success has been made possible through three key elements. Firstly, he has the backing of motivated staff and a highly supportive board and patrons. Secondly, SmartXchange has developed powerful strategic partnerships with government and the private sector. ­Thirdly, the commitment and dedication of the SMMEs is essential. "If they don't give us good results then we don't look good", commented Naidoo. 

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Alan Gross has only had one job throughout his life, and as an entrepreneur has spent the past 40 years helping to build a very successful now worldwide family business who’s products are  sold on 6 continents, in 80 countries ,34 franchises and now manufacture’s it products in 10 countries.

"Chef Works” brand which he founded in the USA in 1993, has become the largest and most recognised professional hospitality clothing brand in the world, supplying restaurants,hotels,food service ,chefs,bar and wait staff. 

In 2015, Chef Works  opened its first sales office in Shanghai China and last year an office in Tokyo Japan. 

It has contracts which include major Casinos in both Las Vegas and Macau, the largest food service groups such Sodexo, Compass and supplies corporations such as  Marriotts, Disney to name a few. 

His dream is to open a 1000 franchise/licensing "Chef Works" stores in China and India.  It  supplies and continue’s to network and work with some of the top celebrity Chefs in the world and two years ago successfully signed its first  Licensing deal with the largest Garment Laundry Group in the World. 

He is now based in London working at Chef Works International strategic matters, continually traveling   the world, working at opening markets, sourcing production and trading its products and services. He  has also funded  2 start up medical businesses and he is currently invested in a number of start up Tech App's and he mentors a few exciting young entrepreneurs. 

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Russell has for 18 years been in charge of the Durban Investment Promotion Authority, known as Invest Durban within the Ethekwini Metro. 

He is a Board Member of the Durban Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and past Chairman of the Institute of Directors for KZN. He was also one of the Founding Members, KZN Sustainable Energy Forum (KSEF). 

Previously he served on The Mercury Highroad Editorial Board, Independent Newspapers Group, plus on the Boards of Commercial Co's & NPC's (Non-Profit Co's). 

Internationally, he was invited by the UN to sit at the Investment Advisory Council 2008/9, & again 2016/17. Russell has also served on the MCI/World Bank Expert Advisory Group on City Investment Promotion & has jointly authored publications. He has been a UN World Investment Forum Panelist in 2010, 2014, 2016, & 2018.

He holds the degree of Chartered Associate, Institute of Bankers SA, with 15 years in the Corporate Banking & Financial Services industry (First Investors Corp., USA, FNB Corp. & Nedbank Corp.). During this period, Russell was elected as Chairman of The Institute of Bankers in KZN for 3 consecutive years. Business & industrial engagements also extend into the Exco of the Durban Automotive Cluster, & previously, the Advisory Board of University of KZN, Graduate School of Business. 

During 2006-9, he was also a Member of The City of Durban’s Strategic Management Exco., plus a Work Stream Leader in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Host City Team.

Russell holds several post-graduate Diplomas in Financial Management, Project Management, Corporate Finance, and Securities Brokerage (US SEC), plus Executive Certificates in Strategic Investment Promotion, Advanced Financial Modelling and others. 

He also holds a post graduate Degree in Business Administration from the University of Wales, UK, & an MBA (Essentials) from the London School of Economics.  

Listen to Russell's Interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo

Jackie has worked at operational, executive and board levels in the public and private sectors, including companies such as Edcon Limited, Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited and Gensec Bank. 

Through his work at the Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) Enactus, he spent some nine years mentoring and capacitating start-ups.

Jackie is highly regarded for his ground-breaking strategic work in the mining sector where he aligned stakeholder interests by incorporating Integrated Development Plans (IDP) with Social Labour Plan (SLPs) across multiple municipalities. 

He was also a key player in the drafting of the Mining Services Sector Charter. As a non-executive director at BuildMax he is responsible for the organisation’s performance across the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) scorecard.

As a co-founder of Aurik Enterprise Development, Jackie brings a rich set of experiences in business, government, B-BBEE, business mentoring and strategy.

He completed his Bachelor of Administration degree at the University of Limpopo and has a host of business and leadership qualifications behind him, including an MBA from the University of Pretoria.

Jackie remains actively involved in the development of society through his involvement in several Non-Profit Organisations.

Listen to Jackie's Interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo

Ian Russell is the CEO and Founder of Disrupting Consultancy Pty, a boutique advisory company focused on the pow

er of positive disruption and digital tools to create a whole new clockspeed and performance trajectory for your business.

Ian’s first book, The Other End of the Telescope, was published by Jonathan Ball in April, and has been endorsed by the likes of Adam Habib (Vice Chancellor, Wits), Steve Ross (Philanthropist and ex CEO/Chair of EdCon) and Michael Jordaan (Venture Capitalist and ex CEO of FNB).  

It promises to be a book which shakes up conventional thinking about getting things done in large organisations.

Ian has worked in big business all around the world, with significant experience in automotive manufacturing, financial services, FMCG and technology sectors, in multiple senior leadership roles.

Ian’s last corporate role was as CEO of BCX, Africa’s largest technology company, with a turnover of around $2bn and a workforce numbering 10,000 employees. During his time at BCX, Ian embarked on an ambitious programme to re-invent the business as a major digital, cloud and software services provider. 

Ian is perhaps best known for joining the troubled, virtually bankrupt South African telecommunications company, Telkom, in 2014 and being a key part of its inspirational turnaround, leading change in all areas of its operations and overseeing radical overhauls to its business, people and culture. 

Prior to Telkom, Ian worked locally and globally for SABMiller on its drive towards globalisation, and a new long term operating model for the business.

Ian arrived originally in South Africa in 2005, as a member of the Barclays Bank Mergers & Acquisition team that led the acquisition of Absa, and he stayed on at Absa to ensure the success of the post-acquisition integration activities.

Prior to joining Barclays, Ian kicked off his career with Ford Motor Company as a graduate trainee back in the early 1990s, when Ford was one of the largest companies in the world. 

Ian now divides his time between speaking, writing, and advising large corporates on change and strategic responses to market place disruption. 

Ian remains firmly focused on sustainable and responsible development of the economy, and sits on a number of not-for-profit Boards and advisory groups, focused on leveraging technology and education for the benefit of the youth of South Africa.

Ian lives in South Africa with his wife, two boys and their menagerie, and has finally discovered his analogue moat in the Western Cape!

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Currently Senior Advisor and Special Representative for Bowmans, the Africa wide legal practice with its head office in Johannesburg, Mr. Millard Arnold has been actively engaged in African affairs for nearly a half century providing commercial and strategic guidance to the public and private sectors as well as to academia and the philanthropic community.  

His considerable network throughout the African continent provides unparalleled access to decision makers at all levels enabling the delivery of political and strategic risk assessment with a focus on project development and corporate representation.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School, Mr. Arnold began his legal practice with Sherman & Sterling in New York before becoming the Executive Director of the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.  

Having testified on behalf of the United States before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr. Arnold was subsequently appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and led the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Madrid, Spain.  

During his tenure as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Mr. Arnold’s advocacy and negotiating skills led to the release of 27 political prisoners from prisons in Liberia. Mr. Arnold later became the Executive Director of the U.S. - Nigeria Business Council, served as an international election observer to the Zimbabwe General Elections of 1985, founded the law practice of Arnold Lemle and served as legal counsel to the Embassy of Nigeria.  

Mr. Arnold was subsequently invited to serve as a Senior Fellow for African Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he advised the Government of Mozambique on the effectiveness of various human rights provisions in the country’s constitution.  

As an associate professor of law, Mr. Arnold taught Jurisprudence and Comparative Constitutional Law at Touro Law School and Georgetown School of Law, and his article, "Engaging South Africa After Apartheid” published in Foreign Policy magazine one of the leading American journals on foreign affairs, was one of the foundations of the Clinton Administration’s policy towards Southern Africa.  

Following his service as policy advisor to the Botswana Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Manpower,  President Clinton appointed Mr. Arnold as the first ever Minister Counsellor for Commercial Affairs to the African continent where his major programme and policy initiatives helped American businesses conclude transactions worth more than $2 billion, created more than 100,000 jobs, manage over 60 billion rands of assets and saw the number of American companies doing business in South Africa increased to more than 800.  

For his efforts, Mr. Arnold was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce’s highest honour, the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Federal Service. Mr. Arnold elected to remain in Africa following his service for the U.S. government, and became the Executive Chairman of Black & Veatch Africa.  

He later joined Murray & Roberts as Executive Director and Group Legal Counsel, and served as a director for listed companies, Bell Equipment, and Petmin and non-listed companies, Generator Plant Hire, the Tactic Group and Global Village, and on the advisory board of Senatla Capital.  

In addition, Mr. Arnold serves as Chairman of Project UBU and as the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Business Schools Association and has previously served as Honorary Business Representative to the Government of Singapore, member of Council of the University of South Africa, Co-chairman of the University of South Africa Foundation and member of the University of South Africa School of Business Leadership.

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Don is head of global change and project consulting firm VisionScape Management Solutions, which is based in Calgary, Alberta formerly Toronto, Ontario in Canada. 

Don is a leading Change Management and Leadership Specialist, a Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner, as well as a Certified Strategic Organizational Benchmarking Consultant, also with an extensive Project Management background.

Under Don’s leadership, VisionScape has also successfully engaged in global Management Consulting Projects and Initiatives and other projects in conjunction with worldwide strategic partners. The most exciting and engaging of these initiatives was a successful strategic real estate, banking and investment project in Mainland China years ago.

Don was also a well-received speaker in his presentation on the subject of Business and Leadership Preparedness and Change, ahead of the CSME initiative at the OECS Employers Federation Symposium in St. Lucia years before. The CSME endeavour could be somewhat compared to the EU of the Caribbean.

Since his beginnings in the Information Technology industry Don has traveled the world for business and crossed many industries and disciplines throughout his career including; Government, Professional Services, Insurance, Oil & Gas, Banking, Foreign Exchange, Travel, Technology Distribution, Education, Utility Software, Real Estate, Energy, Manufacturing, Corporate Training and Start-ups businesses. 

Over his career he has worked mostly in the capacity of senior management roles for leading global companies, as well as his own companies VisionScape Communications Ltd and VisionScape Management Solutions. 

Through this journey he has gained expertise in managing, leading, coaching executives, strategic planning, as well as in helping leaders, businesses and governments to gain a competitive advantage in strategic growth through improved efficiencies combined with available infrastructure and logistics resources.

While at Canada’s leading Realty Advisor at the time, Don led and helped formulate a new project to reevaluate and revitalize the model and strategy for garnering Telecommunications revenues for Real Estate Owners and Realty Advisors in Canada. 

This involved a project management and change management plan and roadmap, which led to the negotiation and signing of Canada’s first master telecommunications licensing agreement and is the template for current telecommunications agreements today.

Don has also planned and managed project, change and disaster recovery plans for a leading global travel firm.

Don is now helping companies and leaders to achieve transformational growth through change management and strategic organizational benchmarking by quickly identifying their high-importance but low-performing focus areas, blind spots and pain paints, that need to be addressed in order to make their next best strategic moves towards success, increased ROI and more profitability. 

This process is initiated by way of a process known as an Organizational MRI, which thoroughly assesses an organization, business or municipality’s strategy, structure and culture by comparing them to a global best-of-bred database consisting of over 4,000 of the world’s best-run companies. This process has been researched and applied globally for more than twenty (20) years.

Over 3 decades of progressive business experience with industry leading organizations, in change, projects, management consulting and as an entrepreneur, have been parlayed into Don’s current endeavours of providing project, infrastructure and disaster preparedness solutions for the Caribbean in an effort to allow better preparedness for inevitable and unprecedented hurricanes, with special focus towards planning and action following such disasters. 

The anticipation is that these projects will also lead to proactive strategic benchmarking, change management and scenario planning initiatives in the Caribbean, Africa and globally.

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Philip Marsh is the founder and CEO of the Knowledge Management Institute (Pty) Ltd Group of Companies, which have collectively been providing Critical Knowledge Transfer solutions and large group Knowledge Mentoring™ programmes, to major corporations and government institutions in Africa, since 1997.

Philip Marsh is one of the foremost experts on Knowledge Management and Structured Mentoring in Southern Africa and has established a high public and corporate profile as a respected thought leader and sought after corporate consultant and executive advisor, on a variety of knowledge-based, “strategic sustainability” business solutions.

Philip has appeared on the South African DSTV SUMMIT Executive Edge television program, discussing “Strategic Knowledge Management” for South African businesses, as well as the Mentoring 4 Success™ suite of Critical Knowledge Transfer programmes.

Philip is the author of a book entitled “Knowledge Mentoring™ – a framework for bridging the global scarce and critical skills and knowledge crisis” and is also a regular contributor to the Civil Engineer and Engineering Week magazines in South Africa, writing a series of articles on effective Knowledge Sharing and Structured Knowledge Mentoring™ practices for engineers and the construction industry.

Philip was honoured with the 2015 Global Knowledge Management Leadership award, at the Global KM Congress in Mumbai, India, in July 2015, for his paper and presentation “Knowledge Swarms and Experiential Hives – the critical and emergent role of the ageing knowledge experts in the engineering and construction sectors of developing countries”.

 Philip sits on the Education and Training Panel of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers and has worked closely with the Department of Higher Education (DHET) and other government and stakeholder organisations, to prepare the South African engineering sector for the skills and knowledge challenges that the South African National Infrastructural Development Plan will present. 

Philip has also been a guest lecturer on Knowledge Management on the University of Stellenbosch, Construction Management Programme (CMP) and has collaborated and worked with the IKM Department at the University of Johannesburg, as well as the University of Pretoria. 

Prior to establishing the KMI Group, Philip spent 15 years in the local and international engineering and construction sector, as both a consultant and a contractor, and held positions as Managing Director of a civil engineering company, as well as CEO of an international structural engineering software and component development business. 

During the late 80’s Philip was the Director of Structural Engineering with one of the main contractors on the Canary Wharf project in London, which was at the time, the world’s largest commercial development and led a team of nearly 100 engineers and technicians, He also led the R & D team who developed and launched two award winning technical innovations in structural engineering for high rise, composite floor construction and also served as a board member of an international, UK based corporation, during this period.

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