The Future Leader Interviews Season 2

---

Professor Phakeng, a B1 rated scientist, is a recognisable name in higher education in South Africa. 

She obtained her junior degree, majoring in pure mathematics, at the then University of Bophuthatswana (now North-West University) in Mmabatho in 1987, obtaining a solid 74% for her final-year pure mathematics module. 

She completed all her postgraduate studies, which ended with a PhD in 2002, at Wits University where she also served for five years as President of Convocation (2011-2016). Her first job was in 1988 as a mathematics lecturer at Hebron College of Education. 

Over the years she served as principal, teacher, and mathematics subject advisor before venturing into the nongovernmental sector for five years, running mathematics development programmes for teachers and learners in township and farm schools in West Rand. 

She also ran empowerment programmes for women in the rural villages of Matamanyane and Lenyenye in Limpopo. 

Professor Phakeng’s academic career started at Wits, where she first served as a research assistant in 1996 and later left in December 2007 as an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education as well as Founding Director of the award-winning Marang Centre for Mathematics and Science Education. In January 2008 she took up the position of Executive Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) at the University of South Africa. 

She had a very successful tenure as Dean of CSET at UNISA and was promoted to serve as Vice-Principal of the newly established portfolio of Research and Innovation on 1 July 2011. 

When her five-year term ended in June 2016, she joined UCT as DVC for Research and Internationalisation. As a highly regarded scholar, Professor Phakeng has been invited to deliver over 40 keynote lectures at international conferences and as visiting professor at universities around the world. 

Her commitment to academia and research extends beyond her own advancement. In 2016 she was appointed by the then Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, as chairperson of the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa standing committee on Mathematics and Science. Professor Phakeng is a member of a number of boards, including the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls; the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation; and the South African Student Solidarity Foundation for Education. 

She is also a trustee of the FirstRand Foundation. She has chaired the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Research, Development and Innovation Committee (until September 2017), and served as National President of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa from 2002 to 2006. 

Her other previous roles include chairperson of the Board of the South African Mathematics Foundation from 2005 to 2006; secretary and member of the executive committee of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education from 2003 to 2007 and the CSIR from 2015 to 2017. 

Professor Phakeng is also the founder of the Adopt-a-learner Foundation, a non-profit organisation that started in 2004 and provides financial and educational support to students from township and rural areas to acquire higher education qualifications. 

Listen to Prof Phakeng's Interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo

Shaun Tomson, born in the coastal town of Durban, South Africa, is one of the world's best surfers and has won events all over the world, culminating in the surfing world's top honor, the World Pro Championship. 

Shaun competed on the pro tour for 16 years, winning 19 professional events, and at the time was both the youngest and oldest surfer to win a professional event. 

Shaun is a true surfing innovator, developing a revolutionary and radical new tube riding technique. He carried on that success as the co-founder of two multi-million dollar clothing brands, Instinct, and Solitude.

He tragically lost his 15-year old son Mathew in 2006. “The Light Shines Ahead” were words Mathew had written in an essay shortly before his death and became a driving principle for Shaun. 

He found renewed purpose and carries out his son’s legacy by inspiring audiences across the globe with keynotes and workshops about the value of commitment and positivity to improve engagement and performance. 

He’s moved audiences at large conferences, higher-ed institutions and for many major brands like General Motors, Cisco, Google, Gap, Disney, Sonos, Patagonia, Dermalogica, and PWC.

Shaun authored the bestsellers “Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life” in 2006 and “The Code: The Power of 'I Will',” in 2017. 

The Code Method, an academically validated corporate training and development program based on his books, is a model to help people from all walks of life face challenges, achieve personal goals and live and lead with purpose.
 

Shaun has shared the stage with well-known personalities, including Sir Richard Branson and Malcolm Gladwell, presented to audiences of more than 3,000. 

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

Barbara Creecy has been a member of the Provincial Executive Committee of the ANC in Gauteng, since 1994. 

This mother of two is well respected by stakeholders as a capable leader, with a good track record in public policy formulation and implementation.

Ms Creecy is one of the longest serving Members of the Provincial Legislature. She joined the legislature in 1994, and until 2004, served in different portfolios including Deputy Chief Whip as well as Chairperson of the Social Development and Education Committees.

In 2004 she was appointed MEC for Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture. 

After the General Elections in 2009, Ms Creecy moved to the Education portfolio. 

It was under her leadership that the Gauteng Department of Education pioneered a turnaround strategy to improve matric performance in 400 underperforming township schools. 

In April 2014, the programme was recognized by the United Nations and awarded first prize in the category “Improving Delivery of Public Services”.

Ms Creecy currently serves as the Member of the Executive Council responsible for Finance in the Gauteng Provincial Government.

In her capacity as the MEC of Finance, she is responsible for Gauteng Provincial Treasury, Department of e-Government and an agency called Gauteng Infrastructure Financing Agency.

Under her leadership, the Provincial Treasury implemented the Open Tender system. This innovative reform includes the public adjudication of tenders as well as an independent probity audit to ensure that procurement processes are within the prescribed regulatory framework. 

She also led Treasury to comprehensively support departments in improving financial management, with the result that in 2016/17 two out of three departments achieved clean audits and all other departments had unqualified audit status.

These and other significant achievements have led Treasury to be recognised both provincially and nationally as one of the pioneers in financial management in the public sector, winning three awards at the 2016 Batho Pele Awards and another three at the Premier’s Service Excellence Awards in 2017.

Through Ms Creecy’s guidance, e-Gov is also making progress in modernising the public service. As a result, e-Gov’s Gauteng Broadband Network project was recently awarded 1st runner up at this year’s Public Service ICT Awards.

Ms Creecy grew up in Johannesburg. Her political career started when she joined the anti-apartheid movement and later the underground structures on the ANC whilst a student at Wits in the late 1970’s. 

She worked for the Civic Desk of the United Democratic Front and later joined an NGO that offered training and organisational development support to trade unions and community structures.

She holds an Honours Degree in Political Science from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of London. When she is free, Ms Creecy likes taking long walks, swimming, practising yoga or reading a good book. 

Listen to MEC Creecy's interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo  

Zoaib Hoosen is the Microsoft South Africa Managing Director. Before joining Microsoft, Hoosen spent about 21 years at IBM, where he started as an IT graduate in 1989 and rose through the ranks to hold several leadership positions.

In his final assignment at IBM, he headed up the company’s Middle East and Africa Public Sector Business.

Hoosen joined Microsoft South Africa in 2010 as the Enterprise and Partner Group Director, before being promoted to the role of Chief Operations Officer in 2013.

Hoosen currently holds a BSc and an MBA Degree from the University of Durban-Westville and Open University in the United Kingdom.

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

Way back in 2005, Verity started her journey as the first South African musician with the tenacious foresight to get online crowd funding for an album she hadn't even recorded yet. 

Fifteen years later, and a career glittered with accolades, brings us to 2021 and Verity's latest big first - first speaker from Africa to ever be crowned the World Champion of Public Speaking and the 6th woman in history.   

Her talent for ‘acting out the box’ rather than merely ‘thinking out’ of it, has brought international success for Verity, speaking globally on innovation and thinking differently, which includes two TEDx Talks. 

As the Toastmasters 2021 World Champion, Verity captured the judges, and thousands of peoples imagination with her winning speech ‘A Great Read’ - an inspiring invitation to improve our lives by "writing a different story".  Helping people do just that, is Verity's passion.   

With a degree in Psychology and Anthropology from UCT, as an accredited De Bono Six Thinking Hats facilitator and an advocate for Positive Psychology, 

Verity believes passionately that change happens when teams have the confidence to create new ideas. She has crafted speeches and workshops to grow this ability with measurable, exponential success over the last decade.   

Verity has worked and spoken to teams in Mass Mart, Engen, Woolworths, Ackermans, Old Mutual, Transnet, Chevron, Sanlam, Vodacom and Distell amongst others to inspire their staff, solve old problems, uncover new ideas and gain the competitive edge in their industries. 

If you’re looking for someone, who has proven their innovation through their own stellar trajectory, to bring energy, positivity and creativity to your business or next event, then Verity is the first speaker you should talk to. 

Watch Verity's Future Leader Interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud 

Pippa spent much of her childhood in Johannesburg, dreaming of nature. Some of her earliest memories are of wading into the sea at Boulders Beach in Simonstown where she learned to swim. 

As an adult, Pippa set out to explore nature and our relationship with it as humans. Her role as conservation journalist for Save Our Seas Foundation brought her back to the shores of False Bay where she met Ross and Craig and experienced her first taste of Sea-Change magic. 

Her growing love for the Golden Forest draws her into these cool waters on an almost daily basis where she goes in search of stories that deepen her connection to this incredible wilderness and its weird and wonderful inhabitants. 

Pippa is currently working on on the Sea-Change film with Craig, and spearheading the Sea-Change Experiences field courses with Lisa

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

Dineo Molefe has been the Managing Director at T-Systems South Africa (Pty) Ltd since May 2018.

Dineo is a seasoned executive with experience spanning 20 years spent across a spectrum of ICT, Investment Management, Power and Development Funding entities. Her professional experience has shaped her in the areas of:

• Strategic Planning, Mergers and Acquisitions, Risk Management

• Financial Reporting and Auditing 

• Directorship, Chairman, Board and Senior management 

• Mentorship and advocacy for women’s professional development • 

In her career, Dineo has occupied a number of senior decision-making roles. In addition to having served as Group Financial Director at Thebe Investment Corporation and Finance Executive at Vodacom, Dineo serves on the Boards and Audit Committees of some listed and prominent South African companies. 

Dineo’s current role as Managing Director for T-Systems South Africa is a multi-faceted one that sees her drawing on her combined knowledge and experience to lead the award-winning local wing of this Multinational ICT provider – developing integrated, flexible solutions that enhance customers’ operations for the networked future.

Dineo is passionate about developing women leaders in Africa and has established development initiatives within the organisational environments of T-Systems and at previous organisations where she has worked. 

Dineo actively participates in this regard as a mentor and coach for aspirant young women, and most recently received the Positive Role Model accolade at the Gender Mainstreaming Awards 2018. 

Dineo holds a Master of Commerce in International Accounting, and has completed the Advanced Management Program from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania.

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

William Smith  is a South African science and mathematics teacher who is best known for his science lessons on television.

Born in Grahamstown, he is the son of Professor J. L. B. Smith, the renowned ichthyologist who identified the coelacanth.

He attended St. Andrew's Prep before matriculating at Union High School in Graaff-Reinet. He then went on to study at Rhodes University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and chemistry, followed by an honours degree (cum laude) in chemistry at the same institution. Following that, he obtained a masters degree from the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg campus) in only seven months.

He started his career in the chemical industry at African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI) and Afrox, moving into training and consulting in his twenties. Smith then left industry and moved to the education sector, where he started 'Star Schools' - the aim of these schools are to provide value for money education with top-class teachers.

During the next 25 years, he became famous throughout South Africa, where his schools have taught almost a million pupils of all races. Smith also won the 'Teacher of the Year' award.

In the 1970’s he pioneered SABC radio broadcast education with audio-visual backup in the Press with the highly successful Let’s Speak Afrikaans radio programmes.  William designed and constructed a purpose-built one-man TV studio which made the leap into broadcasting and producing quality educational material at a fraction of the cost.   

The Basic Mathematics video series aimed at Year 7 and 8 learners, was rated the best educational programme on video in the world in the 1984 Brighton (UK) education conference.  

By 1990, Smith began producing SABC The Learning Channel educational television programmes with the financial backing of Hylton Appelbaum, then executive director of the Liberty Life Foundation. These free to air programmes were followed by thousands of pupils and with support from the press (The Star, Sowetan, etc) written support material was an essential part of the concept.

Over the years, Mr Smith reached many young people in South Africa and beyond, for whom his televised lessons were the only quality instruction they received in Mathematics and Science. 

Vice-Chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela said: “Thanks to his exceptional teaching skills and compassion, for almost two decades, the Learning Channel became an indispensable platform for young people of our country to receive interactive TV education in Mathematics and Science. In this way, he became the teacher for the entire South African nation.”

As a result of his work on this programme, Smith was voted as one of the top three presenters on South African television in 1998.

Smith is also a renowned conservationist and owned the Featherbed Nature Reserve in Knysna, where he lived until the sale of the land and company in 2008. 

He appeared along with Jeremy Mansfield in the popular South African television quiz show, A Word or 2. Smith was also a judge for the Miss South Africa Pageant in 1998 and 1999.

Smith was voted 86th in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004. In 2019 he was awarded the Order of the Baobab (silver) in recognition of his services to teaching and the "demystification of mathematics and science"

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

The FUTURE LEADER OUTLOOK Interview: Bonang was, until his new BLSA appointment, vice president upstream and the chairman of Shell downstream South Africa (Pty) Limited; Shell South Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd; Shell South Africa Refinery (Pty) Ltd and South African Petroleum Refinery (SAPREF). 

He had country responsibilities for the Oil, Chemical, Aviation, Marine and Lubricants global businesses and was operationally accountable for Retail; Fuels & Bitumen; Supply & Distribution classes of businesses as well as Finance; Legal; HR; Safety (HSSE) and Transformation.

Until 2008, he spent six years as the chief executive officer of Drake & Scull FM SA (PTY) Ltd, an integrated facilities management company owned by the Tsebo Outsourcing Group, where Bonang was also a member of the executive committee (Exco).

Until May 2003, he was chief executive: shared services and associated companies of Sanlam; a member of the exco; alternate director of the Sanlam Limited main board; chairman of the board of TASC; a director of Innofin; GensecProperty Services and Fundamo.

Until August 2001, 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. In 1997, the company won the Black Management Forum’s (BMF) “Progressive Company of the Year” award.

Recognition

Awarded “The Momentum Friendship Blazer” in recognition of  being the first RSA Nation Building Champion in 2015. Winner of both the ‘Country’ (RSA) & ‘SADC Regional’ ”Titans – Building the Nation” in the 2014 CEO Magazine Awards. 

Bonang was conferred an honorary professorship in marketing management by the University of Pretoria, where he serves on their advisory council. 

He was named 2012 IPM CEO of the Year, SA Facilities Management Association 2007 ‘Personality of the Year’ and the BMF’s 1997 Manager of the Year. Received the Presidential Award for his “Servanthood in South African Industry & the Economic Empowerment of Previously Disadvantaged Individuals” in 2001.

Bonang has been a guest on numerous international TV, radio and magazine programmes. He travels regularly to the rest of Africa, Europe and the Americas.

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

Seasoned financial services professional with an MA in International Trade and Investment Policy. 

Highly skilled in stakeholder relations, partnership management, marketing, public policy and resource mobilization. 

Passionate about socio-economic transformation, development, public-private partnerships and Africa! PhD candidate in Management with a research focus on the role of business in society. 

My lifelong mission is to curb poverty, inequality and unemployment. 

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

Mauro Porcini joined PepsiCo in 2012 as its first ever Chief Design Officer. In this newly created position, Mauro is infusing design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is leading a new approach to innovation by design that impacts the company’s product platforms and brands, which include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Doritos, Lifewtr, bubly, Aquafina, Cheetos, Quaker, Mirinda, SunChips, amongst many others. 

His focus extends from physical to virtual expressions of the brands, including product, packaging, events, advertising, fashion and art collaborations, retail activation, architecture, and digital media. 

He leads teams based in New York City, Purchase, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, London, Dublin, Moscow, Il Cairo, New Delhi, Shanghai, Bangkok, Mexico City, Sao Paulo.

In the past several years Mauro has been recognized with a variety of honors and awards for his achievements in the fields of design and innovation.

Amongst them, in 2019 the President of the Italian Republic has recognized Mauro with the title of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia, an order of knighthood awarded for “extraordinary merits in the preservation and promotion of national prestige abroad, promoting friendly relations and co-operation with other countries and ties with Italy”. 

In the same year he received the Pentawards “Visionary Award” in London. In 2018 he was honored in New York City with the DrivenXDesign“Chairman’s Better Future Award”, given to those individuals that have led Expeditions to a Better Future, working over the last decade to make a difference in the world. 

In 2016, the Italy America Chamber of Commerceawarded him with the “Business and Culture Award”, a recognition given every year to one Italian that has performed in an extraordinary way in the United States in the fields of business and culture. 

That same year he received the “US Design Brand Leader Award”. In 2015, the newspaper Il Giornale named him “One of the 10 Italians that will change the world” while GQ Italy listed him as one of the “30 Best Dressed Men of 2015”.

In 2014, Mauro was included in Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business 1000”, an influential, diverse group of modern Renaissance men and women across the economy and around the globe. 

He was also recognized with the “PrimiDieci Under 40”, an award that celebrates the extraordinary professional and personal success of the ten most distinguished Italians in the U.S. every year.

Since 2013 Mauro has been part of the “Italian Talents in a Foreign Country” community of the Aspen Italia Institute chaired by prof. Giulio Tremonti.

In 2012 Fortune Magazine listed him in the “40 under 40” ranking – its list of “the business’s hottest rising stars” – the only designer included, Ad Age named him in their “Creativity 50” – its list of the “world’s most influential creative personalities” and the PoliMi association of the University Politecnico of Milan recognized him with the Alumni Polimi Awards 2012 for the “great merit of contributing to enrich the Italian culture in the world”. 

In 2011, Fast Company recognized him as one of the “50 Most Influential Designers in America” and “Master of Design” while the World HR Forum in Mumbai presented him with its “Award for Leadership and Innovation.” 

Since its creation PepsiCo’s Design function, led by Mauro, has been recognized with more than 1,000 design and innovation awards – in 7 years of projects – from several institutions around the world. Fortune included PepsiCo in their 2018 “Driven by Design” list, one of only two organizations in the Food and Beverage Industry.

Prior to joining PepsiCo, Mauro served as the first ever Chief Design Officer at 3M, where his mission was to build and nurture a design sensitive culture in a technology driven global corporation. 

The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Journal in 2011called him “the man putting 3M on the design map,” and under his design leadership, 3M made Fast Company’slist of 30 companies that “get” design. 

His teams, based in the U.S., Italy, China and Japan, won many of the world’s most prestigious design and innovation awards.

Mauro’s work has been featured in several books on design and innovation in multiple regions of the world. Amongst others, “Creative Confidence” (by Tom Kelley and David Kelley), Jugaad Innovation (by Simon Ahuja, Navi Radjou, Jaydeep Prabhu), “Il Minimo Sostenibile” (by Gino Finizio) and “Vincere con le idee” (by Enzo Baglieri, Gabriella Lojacono).

Mauro began his professional career at Philips Design and then created his own design firm, Wisemad Srl, in Italy with the celebrated entertainment producer and music star Claudio Cecchetto. His work on wearable technologies has been showcased at the Louvre in Paris as well as the Seoul Art Center.

In his professional career Mauro has been granted with 47 patents on his name. 

Mauro sits on the Board of Directors of the Design Management Institute, on the Board of Directors of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, on the Board of Directors of La Scuola d’Italia in New York and on the advisory council of other design and art institutions. He currently lives and resides in New York City.

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

Njabulo is passionate about leadership development and helping others to reach their potential. She has had many early wins in her career and became a Director at the age of 29.

She has a track record of 19 years in Human Resources, ten years of which have been in senior leadership roles. 

Since February 2021, she is the Executive Director HR for Vodacom South Africa. Prior to that she was on assignment based in Amsterdam as a Talent Management lead and OpCo spanbreaker in the Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe (AMEE) region at Heineken N.V.

Previously she held the role of Heineken’s Human Resources Director: Southern Africa. Other previous roles include Director: Human Resources at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Chief Director: Human Resources and Head of Talent Management at the National Treasury of South Africa. Her foundation in generalist Human Resources was laid at Unilever. 

She completed Heineken’s Global Talent Development Programme through INSEAD Business School, holds an MBA through GIBS and is a BA Industrial Psychology graduate from Rhodes University.

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

Matimba is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Vodacom Group. Prior to this role, he was Managing Executive: HR for Vodacom South Africa until April 2014. 

Matimba has worked within the Vodacom/Vodafone Group since 2003 during which he worked in various roles within HR. He subsequently spent 3 years on secondment to Vodafone as Regional Head of Organisational Effectiveness & Change, and Regional Head of Talent within the Africa, Middle East & Asia Pacific “AMAP” region. 

Prior to his assignment to the Vodafone AMAP Region, Matimba was responsible for Talent Management at Vodacom for six years where he successfully delivered the integration of our talent strategy into the Vodafone global strategy. 

His previous experience includes key HR roles in blue chip companies such as BMW South Africa and Unilever. In October 2015 Matimba was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on the Vodacom Business Nigeria Board, in May 2017 as a Non-Executive Director on the YeboYethu Board and as Non-Executive Director of Vodacom Tanzania in August 2017.

Listen to Matimba's Interview on Vimeo, YouTube and Soundcloud

Adam is the Chief Executive Officer at IQbusiness, the largest independent management consulting firm in South Africa.

Adam joined IQbusiness in September 2009 and was appointed CEO in November 2010.

He is an ardent lobbyist for government and business collaboration, though he places the emphasis on education as the key ingredient to drive an inclusive future for all South Africans.

Adam has forged strong partnerships between IQbusiness and various NGOs and social enterprises, such as SmartStart, Tomorrow Trust, Harambee and Partners for Possibility, to act as catalysts for positive trends in education. 

Some of his other major milestones in terms of encouraging shared prosperity for all include the creation of the GROWTH.co.za forum and an accompanying annual research report that identifies five key pillars for growth.

Under Adam’s leadership, IQbusiness is a founding partner of the CEO SleepOut. This, together with Adam’s “End the #NationalShutUp” campaign; his work with the Presidential CEO Initiative; and the certification of IQbusiness as a B Corporation, ensures that IQbusiness positively impacts many stakeholders, “using business as a force for good”™.

Previous companies and positions: Super Group (COO); Dimension Data (Group Executive); Merchants (Pty) Ltd (MD); Accenture (Associate Partner); British Gas (Market Analyst). 

Adam is a member of the Young President’s Organisation, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and the President of the IMD Alumni Club of South Africa.

Adam’s area of expertise puts him at the forefront of topical, thought-provoking and even controversial conversations around the following topics:

• Conscious Leadership
• Efficient, Effective and Agile Government
• Education
• Financial Inclusion
• Enterprise Development
• State-Owned Enterprises
• The Future of Consulting in South Africa and Africa
• Purpose-driven Organisation

More from Adam

State Capture a Golden Opportunity

Cyril’s New Deal May Be the Answer

Adam on Smile FM

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

Nolulamo (Lulu) Nobambiswano Gwagwa completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Fort Hare. She proceeded to the University of Natal’s Planning School where she completed her Masters in Town and Regional Planning. 

From there Dr Lulu Gwagwa went to the London School of Economics and Political Science where she graduated cum laude with an M.Sc. She then obtained a PhD from University College London.

The early years of Dr Gwagwa’s career focused mainly on physical planning. In 1986 she started work at the Built Environment Support Group. The NGO based at the University of Natal, supported communities in townships and squatter settlements with their housing and related struggles.

After studying abroad, Dr Gwagwa took up a position in 1992 a senior lecturer at the University of Natal’s Department of Town and Regional Planning. While there she served on a 12 member Commission for the Delineation and Demarcation of Provincial Boundaries, which decided on the country’s current provincial boundaries. 

She was then appointed a Deputy Director General in the national Department of Public Works from 1995 until 1998. Dr Gwagwa was instrumental in the development of policy for the transformation of the construction industry and managed an infrastructure led job creation programme.

In 1995 Dr Gwagwa also served as the presidential appointee on the Commission on Provincial Government and as Deputy Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Local Government Transformation. 

As CEO of the Independent Development Trust (IDT), from 1998 until 2003, Dr Gwagwa transformed the Trust from a grant making to a development management agency. 

Under her leadership the IDT was appointed to assist government in the coordination of the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme. 

Policy research also forms part of Dr Gwagwa’s extensive resume. She was appointed by the World Bank, in 2004, to co-produce a research paper on the history and status of Community Driven Development in South Africa. 

Aside from authoring policy documents, Dr Gwagwa has also published in the fields of gender, housing and development management.

Currently the Chief Executive Officer of Lereko Investments, a black-owned investment company. Dr Gwagwa also serves as non-executive director of FirstRand, Massmart and Sun International. She is also the Chairperson of Aurecon Africa. She recently served as the Deputy Chairperson of the Eastern Cape Planning Commission. 

Dr Gwagwa’s passion for spatial equity has driven her philanthropic work. Two decades ago she founded the Mhakazi Trust to empower the young people of Umzimkulu, some of whom have even graduated from tertiary institutions. 

Dr Lulu Gwagwa is a multifaceted woman: an accomplished development planner; business leader; and philanthropist. She is a keen writer and photographer who is currently studying philosophy. 

 Listen to Dr Gwagwa's Interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo 

Julie has worked in the IT industry, specifically in software for the past 29 years. Following her completion of a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a Business Information Systems major from Wits University in South Africa, she began her career in programming business systems and quickly moved into a presales capacity where she found the challenge of talking to customers about their challenges, and then presenting possible solutions, far more exciting. 

Following a long tenure at Sybase, she joined SAP after the acquisition in 2010. She has spent several years focused on the Database Management and Technology solutions of SAP, leveraging her pedigree in understanding infrastructure software. She managed the African Platform and Data Management sales team, a strategic area in the overall SAP organisation.

In 2019, Julie joined OpenText as the Regional Vice President for Africa. As the Information Management company, OpenText has many leading solutions to aid customers improve their Resiliency and the Opentext Africa team has a unique opportunity for growth through its direct sales strategy as well as a mature partner network.  

Julie is leading this strategy to assist customers embrace the challenging circumstances we face and solve critical problems with innovation solutions.

Listen to Julie's Interview on Vimeo, YouTube and Soundcloud

Pride Maunatlala is a South African marketing executive and businesswoman who currently leads the marketing strategy at TFG for the Foschini Division -

A team that houses brands championing female inclusivity and inspiring women to find their space in the economy. 

She is a one of a kind brand architect with almost 20 years of experience in multiple industries including Retail, FMCG, Financial services, Advertising and Public Sector. 

Her work is centered on the strength of brands though purpose and employee advocacy. 

Through her MBA degree from Gordon Institute of Business, she published a research paper in the Journal of Brand Management focusing on organisations’ ability to achieve competitiveness through employee endorsement. 

Pride advocates for the development of female professionals and entrepreneurs as a mentor, advisor and contributor to Future Females and SheSays Cape Town. 

She is an alumni at the Zanele Mbeki Fellowship for Female Leadership in Africa. With the future of marketing and advertising constantly evolving and expanding, 

Pride’s contribution to industry is as advisory member for Vega School CPT and CMO Council Africa Region. She is also a jury member for the Financial Mail AdFocus awards, geared for driving excellence in advertising. 

Listen to Pride's interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Taki is an experienced executive director with a demonstrated history of working in the Information Communication and Technology space. She is skilled in government, diplomacy, cyber security, management, national security, policy and legal research analysis and advisory services and law writing. 

Taki obtained an LLB degree and a Higher Diploma in Company Law from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), BJuris from the University of Venda, Master's Degree in Security Studies from the University of Pretoria, Post Graduate Certificates (Wits) in Cybersecurity (cum laude) and in Protection of Information; and Executive Education Certificates from Wits and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Taki was appointed as Chief Officer: Corporate Affairs for Vodacom Group with effect from September 2016. She was later appointed as executive director in Vodacom South Africa and Chairperson of the Vodacom Foundation. 

Taki has had a stint as a part-time lecturer in Administrative Law at the University of Venda. She then spent 20 years in government mainly as a lawyer and policy advisor in the security cluster whilst employed in the Minister for Intelligence Services. 

She developed well-honed legal writing skills as a law writer, and in public policy development, and stakeholder and relationship management. These competencies were augmented during her 4 year stint as Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa in Hungary and Croatia. 

Before taking up the diplomatic post, she operated as CEO of Electronic Communications Security (Pty) (Ltd), a state owned entity that was established under the then National Intelligence Agency. 

She received several merit awards which include the Hungarian Eotvos (ELTE) University commemorative medal and certificate for relentless efforts to promote academic and cultural collaboration between South Africa and Hungary, and deepening bilateral relations between the two countries. 

She was also awarded the Intelligence Services Woman of the Year award for meritorious contribution to the South African intelligence policy and legal dispensation. She was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa in 1996. 

Taki is currently the Read to Lead Ambassador for the Department of Basic Education encouraging children in an Early Childhood Development Centre in Kaalfontein, Midrand to read in mother tongue (African ethnic languages).

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

Sajeed Sacranie is a seasoned venture capitalist and business developer. His experience spans financial services, telecommunications, media, technology, sports, real estate and professional services. 

His diverse background uniquely positions him to “connect the dots differently”. Sajeed has a track record of launching and growing businesses in diverse sectors. He has created significant value for some of the leading brands in the world through accelerating value-creation by: 

• Challenging the Status Quo;
• Identifying areas of High Potential Growth; and
• Leading Startups and Launching Growth Strategies by designing and implementing high potential, win/win partnership strategies.  

Sajeed is currently involved in venture capital advisory and investment activities which include: 

• Partnering with large corporates in launching new ventures through a proprietary corporate venturing methodology designed to help corporates create ecosystems and launch sustainable ventures that meet ROI hurdles. Central to this is addressing the South African imperative of Enterprise Development so that it can fulfil its role as an engine for entrepreneurial growth.

• Leveraging Legaltech deployed in professional services firms and corporates to improve their service effectiveness by using AI and machine learning. This service is being used by a number of leading South African law firms and will lead to the creation of managed services businesses in the knowledge management space. 

• Establishing ecosystems of partners in the IOT space and leveraging these to provide smart services in the Real Estate, Mining and Health sectors.

• Advising on dispute resolution. Sajeed’s experience in aligning strategic and commercial interests has meant that he has been the lead advisor in the resolution of disputes where claims have exceeded R1 billion.  The majority of these have been in the telecommunications, media and technology sectors.  He has successfully navigated the parties to out of court settlements in 80% of these.

Key Milestones:

Over the last 3 years Sajeed has been the lead innovation advisor for Deloitte (South Africa) BPO service line.  In this capacity,  he conceptualised and launched Smart Real Estate as a Service and oversaw the collaboration between Deloitte and Vodacom in the IOT space. 

This innovative managed services IoT offering was a global first for both Deloitte and Vodacom in the real estate sector.  This culminated in March 2018 when he advised the BPO service line in its carve-out from Deloitte which subsequently led to the launch of Solugrowth,.

Since 2007 Sajeed has advised Kaizer Chiefs , the football club , in the corporate venturing, commercial and investment strategy. During his tenure the value of the Kaizer Chiefs brand has risen from R100m to almost  R1 billion, his strategic and commercial advice has been integral to this brand growth. More specifically he founded Kaizer Chiefs Ventures the investment vehicle mandated to take the Kaizer Chiefs brand  “beyond the 90 minutes”.  

Through this vehicle he has strategically repositioned  Kaizer Chiefs Insurance, a joint venture with Hollard and in 2013 founded Kaizer Chiefs Mobile, a fan-connectivity offering in partnership with Vodacom.  Kaizer Chiefs has today become one of the most valuable brands in South Africa, and a premier African sports brand on the back of one of the most successful commercial sports rights platforms in Africa.  (Note Sajeed is not responsible for the Clubs current form on the field  :-)

In 2003, after 22 years in England, Sajeed could no longer resist the call back to Africa. He moved to South Africa, representing the emerging interests of the Virgin Group there.  In this capacity he led the launch and became the founding CEO of Virgin Mobile South Africa (VMSA), the first and largest MVNO in Africa.

Between 1998 and 2006, he advised the Virgin Group in a number of strategic areas and was the New Ventures Advisor to Virgin Management and Richard Branson, advising on startups, key divestments and strategic business development. 

Prior to this, Sajeed was Barings, the premier merchant bank of its time. In 1995, he played a key role in the rescue of Barings which led to the 300 year old merchant bank being acquired by ING the Dutch Bank He then led the strategy for the Equity Sales and Trading division helping to create one of the most successful emerging markets equity sales franchises.  Sajeed trained as a CA with KPMG in London.

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

BONUS: The Future Leader Outlook - What Sajeed has to say about Future Leader Development: Listen on Soundcloud, Youtube and Vimeo

“Welcome to my world. I work at the edge of business, design and the futures. By bringing together my long track record in business and engineering with design thinking and futures studies I am able to help you navigate through complexity and disruption.”

Abbas is currently the Director for Innovation and Transformation at Aurecon Group, a global engineering and infrastructure advisory company.  He is responsible for driving Aurecon’s Innovation Programme in Africa as well as crafting Aurecon’s transformation strategy in South Africa.

He has spent his career across government and private sector as well as establishing a number of start-up businesses. He has been involved in numerous mergers and acquisitions as well as project initiation teams for major infrastructure projects in South Africa, including the Gautrain project in Gauteng and the N2 Gateway housing project in Cape Town.

Being a trained systems thinker and futurist allows him to bring a new perspective to Aurecon’s innovation and transformation portfolio.

He is a registered professional engineer and holds qualifications across the engineering, business and futures fields. His specialist areas include Business Strategy, Afrikan Innovation, Design Thinking, Transformation of corporate South Africa and Futures Thinking. 

He has conceptualized and launched the Afrikan Design Innovation dialogue with the World Design Organisation and has presented at numerous local and international conferences across Africa on this topic. Through this initiative he was nominated to the position of Community liaison Africa for the World Design Organisation.  

Prior to joining Aurecon he spent a number of years as the Portfolio Manager of Strategic Investments at Optimus Investments in Johannesburg.

He was also Managing Director of Arcus Gibb where he led a successful management buyout from Jacobs Engineering, a NYSE listed company, in 2002 and was responsible for crafting the company’s transformation programme at the time.

Abbas is passionate about youth development and is a mentor for the Alan Grey Orbis Foundation as well as an Aurecon mentor.  He also serves on the boards of Open Design Afrika and Consulting Engineers South Africa.

Listen to Abbas' interview on Soundcloud,  Youtube and Vimeo

 Passionate South African, wife, daughter, sister, mother of 2 sons (aged 19 and 23), voracious reader, collaborator, lover of challenge & change, fiercely loyal to the notion of the power of single actions enabling quantum changes, reluctant gym-goer, erstwhile boxer, speaker of some Greek, learner, teacher, mentor, mentee and deep believer in the power of brands and humans.

Heidi was previously Executive Manager, Group Marketing, Loyalty & Strategic Partnerships at Comair taking care of kulula.com, British Airways, SLOW lounges, Daddy’s Deals, kulula credit card, jetsetters and Executive Club. 

Before that she was Deputy CEO & Marketing Director at research house Ipsos Markinor, after some time in the pharmaceutical industry following a BSc degree in nursing at Wits.

Heidi is a Member of Vega Brand School National Advisory Council and Advisor and friend to Umuzi Photo Club (youth activism & upliftment). She served for 7 years as a Board member and Deputy Chairman of the Marketing Association of South Africa and as Board member of ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations). She has judged the Association for Communication & Advertising’s APEX awards, the FM AdFocus awards and the AMASA Roger Garlick Innovation in Media award. She is a partner at Halo – The Brand Led Communications Agency.

Heidi joined Hollard in May 2013 and her role at Hollard includes all group brand activities including marketing and communications, internal comms and culture, digital marketing and e-commerce and sponsorship as well as being Exco champion for the group’s Customer Centricity and Loyalty initiatives.

She believes in sprinkles and chocolate cake, and that it takes a village to raise a brand.

Listen to Heidi's interview on audio

or watch the slides as you listen here

A seasoned professional with verifiable year after year success achieving revenue, profit and business growth objectives within start-up, turnaround and rapid-change environments.

A strategic planner with expertise in setting up and managing business operations and implementing strategies towards enhancing market penetration, sales volumes and growth.

Have handled a wide array of banking products / services with deftness in designing & implementing systems / procedures to achieve organizational objectives and profitability norms.

Proficient in managing the overall functioning of various banking processes, identifying improvement areas and implementing adequate measures to maximize customer satisfaction level.

Extensive experience in financial services marketing, sales and profit centre management.

Excellent interpersonal, communication and organizational skills with proven abilities in training & development, customer relationship management and planning.

Specialties: Former member of the International Advisory Board of China Union Pay &

Former Member MasterCard APMEA Chip Sub Committee  

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

Celiwe was born and raised in Soweto and started school at St Theresa’s Convent School in Coronationville, western Johannesburg. She and her identical twin sister, Siphosethu, have been academic achievers from a very young age.

“My father was a human resources manager and my mother was a nurse. My dad only had girls and believed in the education and empowerment of women,” she says.

As a talented learner, Ross’ earliest career ambition was to be a neurosurgeon but, after a visit to the operating table with her mother, she was put off that idea for good. 

She enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand and opted for mining engineering, only to learn a lesson in her first year of study.

“I just thought it was fascinating to do and we both got scholarships. I was initially sponsored by Sasol but ended up with BHP Billiton because I failed for the first time in my life."

After graduating, BHP Billiton recruited her and posted her as a trainee mine planner to their chrome operations in the town of Steelpoort in Limpopo.

After a year at the mine, she was moved to the Ingwe coal mine in Witbank. “We were selling to industrial consumers. It was a great learning experience and I got to understand difference aspects of the commercial side of mining,"

She then decided to take time off and headed to the University of Cape Town to pursue her Master of Business Administration (MBA).

“After getting my MBA, I joined Standard Bank as a manager in the project team,” she said. In 2011, when the bank was expanding in the rest of Africa, she accepted a position to head mining and infrastructure finance in the west Africa region and was based in Accra, Ghana.

Subsequently, Celiwe was promoted to be the head of Standard Bank’s mining, energy and infrastructure finance in the east and west Africa regions, making her one of the most senior black executives in the company.

She then joined Egon Zehnder, the world’s largest privately owned executive search firm, as financial services consultant for the continent.

Within two years, she was approached by Old Mutual to take up a leadership advisory role at a time when the company was preparing for its listing.

Listen to Celiwe's interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Born and raised in Soweto, Thulani Sibeko, a Chartered Marketer, is an enthusiastic, collaborative, highly motivated and assertive business leader.

Since January 2018 Thulani has been the Chief Marketing Officer of the Standard Bank Group, leading the marketing and communication functions across 20 countries. 

He is a member of the Standard Bank Group Exco. With more than 25 years experience in different industries, he has held senior leadership roles at Gillette, Polaroid, Procter & Gamble, Vodacom, Hollard and at Nedbank, where he served as the group executive for marketing, communication and corporate affairs. 

His formal qualifications include: MBA (Henley), BSc Bus Admin (California State University, USA), Graduate Certificate (Harvard), CM(SA)

Listen to Thulani's interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Jaap completed his B-Accounting and B-Accounting Honours degrees at the University of Stellenbosch from 1989-1993. He also passed the Public Accountant and Auditors board (PAAB) qualifying exam in 1996.

He started his career in 1994 at PricewaterhouseCoopers as an Assistant Manager in the Audit Division. In 1997 he took on the position of National Audit Manager at Ackermans. He moved over into the position of Financial Controller at PEP in 1999. 

In 2006 he became PEP’s Financial Director and at the end of 2015 he moved into the role of Commercial Director. 

Towards the end of 2016, Jaap was appointed as Managing Director of PEP (now called Chief Executive Officer).

Jaap is passionate about leadership and the development of people. PEP has an exceptionally strong culture called “Sikhula KunYe” which means “We grow together”. 

Jaap and his executive team ensure that the culture grows stronger every day and that it contributes to creating an environment that makes PEP an employer of choice. PEP’s customers are remarkable people who, on a very small budget, make it possible for their families to live with dignity and pride. Jaap and his team ensure that PEP’s customers are at the centre of everything we do and that PEP lives out its cause of making people look and feel good. 

He welcomes change and makes sure that PEP remains relevant by constantly introducing new projects and ideas into the business - all in the quest to make our customers’ lives more convenient.

PEP is involved in numerous CSI drives that are strongly supported by Jaap, as this is something that is very close to his heart.

Jaap is a family man who lives in Paarl with his wife and three children. He believes in staying healthy, both physically and mentally, and is an avid runner and cyclist. He also appreciates a good bottle of wine.

He relates to the Maya Angelou quote that says: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

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

Sydney is a chartered marketer with a proven track record in building brands and markets. His experience stretches from FMCG, to Telecoms and Financial Services (Banking). 

Prior to joining Liberty as Group CMO, he worked on major brands with organisations like Brandhouse (Diageo SA), Simba, Cell C, Unilever (local & Global roles in London) and SAB Miller.

His former role as Executive Head: Group Marketing at Nedbank involved him overseeing the Brand Strategy, Advertising, Media, Cause Marketing, Digital Marketing and Integrated Marketing for the Group. 

Sydney holds an MBA from GIBS, and has completed several executive management programs including the following:

• Advanced Management Program MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Boston, US]: May – July 2016
• Executive Old Mutual Global Leadership Program London/Johannesburg/Cape Town: March – Sept 2015
• Strategic Marketing Management UNIVERSITY OF STANFORD (San Francisco) – August 2013
• MBA (Masters of Business Administration) GIBS (Univ. of Pretoria) - 2006
• Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Marketing Management UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA - 2004
• Management Advancement Programme WITS BUSINESS SCHOOL - 2003
• B. Soc. Science UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN - 1996

He is a board member of MASA (Marketing Association of South Africa) and ASASA (Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa). He is also a trustee of The Sports Trust and is  the Co-founder and chairman of the advisory board for Mentor-a-boy-child (public benefit organisation)

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

Saray is an award-winning mountaineer, a Mandela libraries ambassador, a social entrepreneur, mother of two boys and also an executive in one of the distinguished financial institutions in South Africa. 

She has over time demonstrated her commitment to making a difference in her environment through mountaineering. Through her climbing with a purpose initiative Saray has organised and been part of the following initiatives:

• Climbing Kilimanjaro with a purpose (Self-funded climb)
  
• Built an outdoor gym for Kids Haven worth R200,000 and converted a room into a library http://www.kidshaven.org.za

​

• Ubuntu Everest 2014 (Partially funded by Discovery Holdings)

• Raised funds for The Lunch Box Fund to feed over 60,000 http://thelunchboxfund.org

​

•  Ubuntu Everest 2015 (Self-funded climb)
  
• Raised funds for The Mandela Library Projects and built a library for Isiziba Primary School  in Thembisa, Johannesburg

​​

• Ubuntu Everest 2017​ (Self-funded climb)
  
• Raised funds over R800,000 for The Mandela Library Projects and built four libraries around South Africa. She continues to campaign for more libraries as she takes steps towards the 7 highest peaks on the 7 continents around the world.

​

One of her goals with Climbing for a purpose is to be an example to the next generation of leaders; to inspire them to pursue their dreams and summit their everyday peaks in education and other spheres of life, knowing that nothing is impossible if we dare to dream!

​

• Accolades: 

• Winner of the Klipdrift Golden Endurance Award 2014

• ​Record holder for the highest altitude climber for a black African female​ 2017 and 2018

• MMI Lesedi awards 2017

• Ministerial Recognition of Excellence Award 2018

Mountaineering experience: 6 years

• Mount Kilimanjaro (5896) – summit 2012;

• Mera Peak (6476) – summit 2014;

• Lobuche East (6119) – summit 2014;

• Elbrus traverse (5642) – summit 2014;

• Aconcagua traverse (6980) – summit 2015;

Everest expedition attempts:

• 2014 Reached Everest Base camp  - Mountain closed after an avalanche that claimed 16 Sherpa lives

• 2015 Reached Everest Camp 2  - Expedition abandoned after an earthquake in Nepal

• 2017 Reached the South Summit (8749) - This is 99 meters from the Everest Summit making her the record holder of the black African women for 2017 and 2018.

• 2019 Summited Everest on the 16th of May - Saray is the first black African women to summit Everest 
• 
  

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

Watch the Success Secrets from Saray Khumalo

Admitted as Attorney of the High Court and practiced as an attorney in the law firm Rapeport Fanaroff & Partners 18 May 1976. Admitted as an Attorney in the Supreme Court Of South Africa with right of appearance 16 November 1996. 

Practicing as an attorney at

Rapeport Incorporated,

specializing in Sports Law

including anti-doping as well as

specializing in the administration

of Deceased Estates

PREVIOUS ORGANISATIONAL INVOLVEMENT IN SPORT

• Chairman of the University of University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) Soccer

Amateur League, 1968-1974

• Chairman of WITS Professional Football League, 1975 – 2006

• Elected Executive Member of National Professional Soccer League, 1978 – 1983

• Elected Vice-Chair of National Professional Soccer League, 1983-1985

• Executive Member of the National Soccer League, 1985 – 1996

• Director of SA 2006 FIFA World Cup Bid Committee

• Executive Member of SAFA 1998-2001

• Member of WADA Independent Observers Programme

• Chairperson of WADA independent Observer Programme Commonwealth Games

Manchester 2004

• Chairperson of FIFA Disciplinary Committee Beijing Olympics, 2008

• Chairperson of FIFA World Cup Under 17 Disciplinary Committee Nigeria, 2009

• Member of WADA Special Projects- Athletes’ Passports

• Chairperson of SAFA Anti- Doping Committee

• Chairperson of South African Football Association (SAFA) Legal Committee

• Member of SASCOC Medical and Anti-Doping Committee

• Director of the FIFA 2010 World Cup SA Local Organizing Committee

• Member of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for FIFA 2010 World Cup SA

• Chairperson of CAF Disciplinary Committee Angola, 2010

• Chairperson of CAF Disciplinary Committee South Africa, 2010

• Member of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee (Women’s U20) Germany 2010

• Former Chief Executive Officer of the South African Football Association

• President of the CAF Disciplinary Committee -Africa Cup of Nations Tournament

Angola 2010 to current date

• Reappointed to serve on the SASCOC Medical and Anti-Doping Committee 2011

• Appointed Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the FIFA World Beach 2011

Football Ravena Italy

• Chairperson of FIFA Disciplinary Committee Beach Soccer Italy, 2011

• Member of FIFA Disciplinary Committee (Women’s) Azerbaijan, 2012

• Chairperson of CAF Disciplinary Gabon / Equatorial Guinea, 2012

• Chairperson of FIFA Disciplinary Committee Thailand, 2012

• Legal advisor to SA 2012 London Olympics

• Legal Advisor to Rio Olympics

• Member of Athletics South Africa (ASA) Appeal board

• Founder Member of the Board of the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport

• Legal advisor to SASCOC

CURRENT APPOINTMENTS

• Current CAS Arbitrator

• Current Member of the Appeals Committee for the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport Appeal Committee

• Co-Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Premier Soccer League,

• Member of the FINA Ethics Committee

• Member of the South African National Horseracing Appeal Committee

• President of the CAF Disciplinary Committee

• Chairman of the FIFA Players Status Committee

NON- SPORTING APPOINTMENTS AND POSITIONS CURRENTLY HELD

• Director of George Elkin Charity and Residuary Trusts (2003 to date)

• Trustee of Aaron Jumima Family Trust (1997 to date)

• Trustee Miller Foundation Charity Trust (Wits University) (2004 to date)

• Trustee of the Frajenron Charity Trust (2014 to date)

AWARDS

• 1998 Received the State President’s Award for Football Contribution

• 2002 Football Presidential Award for Contribution to Sport

• 2007 SAFA Presidential Award for Contribution to Sport

• 2009 SAFA Presidential Award for Contribution to Football

• 2010 FIFA 2010 World Cup Contribution award

• 2010 Honorary Life Member of Maccabi

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

Executive Director, with 24 years in-depth technical, practical and business leadership experience in the Building and Construction, Pulp & Paper, Petrochemical, Mining and Retail consumer goods Industries. 

Having completed an MBA with proven abilities in MNC environments, strategic planning, marketing and business analysis, supported by tenacity, flexibility and business change management expertise. 

Successful implementation of M&A strategies. A transformation leader and marketing expert, specialising in driving profitable growth in competitive sectors through proactive brand management, customer engagement and business development. 

Renowned as an effective leader capable of training and developing teams to enable them to fulfil their potential and add value to the business. 

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

A visionary technology leader and astute businessman with over 20 years of senior management experience in the Information Technology and Services industry. 

Keith is the consummate ICT Executive with diverse experience in both Enterprise IT and Telco, Private and Public sectors, Tech start-up, Systems Integrator and more recently a Multinational OEM. 

Whilst relentlessly pursuing results, he functions as a people alchemist, gifted in bringing the perfect combinations of talent and helping them release the best contributions from others by knowing the special formulae to release unexpected synergies between people, teams and ideas.  

Keith excels at leadership, communication and organisational skills and “thinks on his feet” during times of crisis management and conflict mediation. 

He is also adept at analytical thinking and problem solving and is recognised for talent in Strategy Development, Management, Sales, Pre-sales, Business Development, Partner Management, Organisational Development, and Service Delivery.  

For Keith, integrity is an essential ingredient in his authentic leadership approach, and within an environment high in trust, he sets the scene for everyone to freely contribute and deliver superlative business outcomes. 

Listen to Keith' Interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Craig was born in Zimbabwe, junior-schooled in Melbourne, Australia and educated at KwaZulu Natal’s Michaelhouse. Craig’s early career started at Ernst & Young and at ABSA Bank. 

Later, through joining an offshore brokerage, he worked in the Middle East and Asia, and rose to some of the top positions in the financial world. 

More recently, he was the Regional Manager, Africa at one of the largest independent offshore financial consultancies worldwide. 

Craig successfully built the Africa Division from an undeveloped entity to a true African success story with over 200 advisors and 14 offices across the continent, thereby attracting over R12.5 billion worth in new assets and adding over 3500 new clients.  

He started the Carrick group of companies in 2014 with the belief that clients deserve better. Individuals, families and organizations require the best information in order to make sound financial decisions to create a clear road map to achieve lasting growth and financial security. Carrick is regarded as one of the fastest growing brokerages on the African continent.  

A philanthropist at heart, Craig is co-founder of Signature of Hope Trust and a generous donor to many Non-Profit Organizations (NGOs).  

Things he’s interested in: Craig and his wife Di enjoy living life to the full. At weekends you’ll often find them indulging in their love of nature, wildlife and fishing. 

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

Grace Harding has more than 30 years’ experience across a number of business disciplines and today runs South African born restaurant franchise brand - Ocean Basket. 

A 24 year old Mediterranean Seafood only Casual Dining restaurant with over 210 restaurants in 18 countries. Her track record includes over 10 years’ experience in fashion retail (Edgars group) and 15 years running her own consultancy in South Africa specialising in employee engagement, leadership development and guiding disruption (a new term for change management). 

In 2012 Grace found the love of her life - Ocean Basket: “I wake up terrified every day”. The responsibility of driving this brand that was built with guts, determination and a vision is huge. 

The Ocean Basket story is unique and wacky. Relevant and distinctive. A business where the founder remains our mentor and my coach. His 85 year old mother – our mama Liza is still baking and making us her special brew of ‘truth’ tea. Ocean Basket is Grace’s calling – not a job. It is the place where she has had the opportunity to drive great results without the traditional structures, egos or rules most are used to, and to ‘invent’ a more meaningful way of leading … with love. 0

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

Mncedisi Mayekiso recently took on an expanded role at Internet Solutions (IS), in a new capacity as executive for business development.

In his new role, which became effective on 1 February 2018, Mayekiso will be responsible for revenue growth in its enterprise business.

Mayekiso will continue to lead public sector strategy, maintaining executive sponsorship of key accounts across the private and public sectors throughout the country. He will also rebuild the VCP and enterprise development channel.

Mayekiso joined the Dimension Data unit as public sector executive in 2016.

In 2010, he was appointed as SAP Africa's marketing director. 

He previously held positions as partner sales manager at Microsoft SA, and product marketing manager at IBM SA. He also served as executive director for marketing at Faritec Holdings and was executive director for business development at Enterprise Connection.

Mayekiso holds a bachelor's degree in social science and humanities, industrial sociology and political science from the University of Cape Town, as well as an MBA in marketing from Cass Business School in the UK.

He completed the global executive development programme, a leadership and general management programme, at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

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

Robert Hersov, 60, is a South African/UK entrepreneur, senior executive and private investor currently based in Cape Town (after 30+ years in the US, Europe and mainly the UK). 

He currently serves as chairman (and founder) of Invest Africa, chairman (and founder) of African Capital Investments, chairman of Alternative Capital (and founder), chairman/CEO of the S-Group (100% owner and founder), and deputy chairman of the VistaJet advisory board.

Hersov’s grandfather, Bob Hersov, founded AngloVaal, one of Southern Africa’s largest mining and industrial companies, which his father, Basil Hersov, ran from 1973 to 2001.

Rob has been a member of many public and private boards and founded and owns companies in the aviation, resource, media/marketing, member network and finance sectors.

He has been focused in the last decade on investing in Africa, a continent close to his heart given his upbringing and family ties. 

In May 2013, Rob founded Invest Africa with the specific purpose of delivering on the demand for high quality relationships within growing African markets amongst investors and the business community. The private club has amassed over 400 high level members. 

Rob also founded African Capital Investments in 2014 to build an Africa-focused investment platform. And more recently he founded both: AltCapInvest (2017), a London-based international Family Office advisory and placement firm which is growing rapidly; and, the S-Group (2019), an exclusive international business- and community-focused private members organisation with a mantra of “pay the goodness forward”. 

In 2020, Rob bought Fisantekraal Airport (to be renamed Cape Winelands Airport) and is launching a SPAC - African Gold Acquisition Corp (expected to go public on NASDAQ Q1 2021).

Rob received a B.B.S. from the University of Cape Town and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School (class of ’89). He is married, with four children, plays golf and enjoys swimming in open seas and in cold water. His nickname is “Chief”. He is not politically correct. At all.

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

Kumeshnee West is the Director of Executive Education at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) where she leads a passionate team to deliver excellence to clients attending short courses and customised courses. 

She works closely with clients, alumni, faculty, and the Business Development team, to develop relevant management and leadership courses that respond to the emerging needs of today's leaders, both locally and internationally. 

Her excellent relationship management skills have helped the school to secure 75% of return business year-on-year for the past six years.

Kumeshnee holds an MBA from the UCT GSB and is passionate about playing a role in ensuring that the school continues to deliver excellence to all its stakeholders. 

She is involved in several projects at the school and is a key spokesperson in the media on issues around women in leadership, leadership development and the future of work. She also plays a mentorship role to the student-led Women in Business Committee.

It is under her leadership that, in 2019, the UCT GSB was awarded a Gold Award by the European Foundation for Management Development, for a customised programme that was developed in partnership with Standard Bank. This is a first for an African Business School. 

 Also on her watch, the UCT GSB continues to be ranked in the Top FT100 Executive Education Custom Rankings (#1 in South Africa in 2020).

Prior to joining the UCT GSB, Kumeshnee worked in the Healthcare industry in a clinical and management capacity. 

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

Lee is the CEO of TransUnion Africa where he leads a portfolio of businesses that help organisations make more informed decisions and consumers manage their personal information to lead to a higher quality of life.

He is recognised as one of South Africa’s leading digital and technology transformation experts and was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology.

Prior to his current role, Lee was the Managing Director of Accenture Digital in Africa.

Listen to Lee's Interview on Vimeo, Youtube and SoundCloud 

ACG Group CEO and Co-Founder, Mimi Kalinda, is a visionary and leader in the field of PR and communications – both in Africa and globally. 

A New York University graduate, Mimi has accumulated a wealth of strategic media experience across different industries, specialties and continents. 

This includes her work in film (working alongside greats such as acclaimed director Spike Lee), television (notably being the first African woman to host a show on MTV Europe), traditional and digital media. 

Her resume includes: being a FleishmanHillard’s Africa Lead, being part of the team that won a PRISM Award (for the Barclays Africa “Prosper” campaign), part of the African Unions campaign against Ebola, work for Weber Shandwick on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Innovation Prize for Africa. 

Mimi has worked on numerous brands, some being MTN, Barloworld, Accenture, the World Bank/IFC, the Rockefeller Foundation, AFIG Funds. Nesta, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Dalberg Group, to name a few. 

Mimi has been nominated for numerous awards (such as International African Woman of the Year at the Women4Africa Awards 2016 and the Standard Bank Top Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2019), and is the recipient of Rebranding Africa Champion for Africa 2.0 accolade and the One World Media Award for television programme Rien Que La Verite (which advocates the prevention of HIV/AIDS and an end to violence against women in the DRC). 

Additionally, Mimi is an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Programme Fellow. It’s no wonder that she was featured as one of Forbes Africa’s Top 40 Under 40 Leaders in the communication industry. 

Mimi a well-recognised public speaker and facilitator (both in terms of her own workshops as well as part of projects such as Obama Foundation Leaders Africa programme, the UCT Graduate School of Business Conference and the African Trade and Investment Global Summit 2018 held in Washington, DC), as well as a valuable contributor to a number of organisations. 

These include being on the boards of Catalyst for Growth or C4G (a solution launched by JP Morgan and Dalberg to support entrepreneurs across Africa) and the African Brand Counsel (where she advises policy makers and private sector leaders about Africa’s reputation and how the continent’s brand equity can be leveraged for its economic development). 

Changing the Africa narrative and promoting women in African leadership roles are causes close to her heart. She avidly supports these issues through her work as part of ACG, as well as by being a reputable thought leader championing pan-Africanism and female empowerment. 

Keen to share her insight and knowledge with the African continent and broader global community, Mimi published  her first book, titled: Talking To Africa: Considering Culture in Communication for a Complex Continent in 2017. 

Less known facts about Mimi is that, in addition to English, she is fluent in French, Swahili, Lingala and Kinyarwanda.  

Listen tro Mimi's Inmterview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Margaret was previously the Chief Executive of Wealth, which encompassed the Group’s Advisory, Investment and Insurance businesses across the African continent with an International presence in Jersey, Isle of Man and London. 

In 2020 Standard Bank Wealth was recognised as Africa’s Best Bank for Wealth Management by Euromoney, won the award for the Top Stockbroker in South Africa, and was recognised as Africa’s Best Private Bank by Global Finance. 

Through Standard Bank’s extensive presence in Nigeria, it is also that country’s largest Pension Fund administrator and Asset Manager. Prior to joining Standard Bank she served on the Santam Executive team, where she also managed their South East Asia expansion. 

Prior to that she was Chief Financial Officer for Hannover Reinsurance Africa, and Managing Director of Compass Insurance, a subsidiary of the Hannover Reinsurance Group. 

She was recognised as the 2013 Most Influential Woman in Business and Government (Financial Sector), and during her years in the Insurance industry was a board member of the South African Insurance Association and President of the Insurance Institute of South Africa. 

She holds BCompt and BCompt (Hons) degrees and became a CA (SA) in 1997. Margaret Nienaber is the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Bank’s Client Solutions business. 

This new business is responsible for the seamless delivery of banking, insurance, investments and non-financial services and solutions. These services and solutions will also be sold to third parties, creating new opportunities and new revenue streams. 

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

Hloniphizwe J. Mtolo is the chairman of the boards of the Shell Companies in South Africa. These include Shell South Africa Holdings, Shell Downstream South Africa and Shell South Africa Energy. 

He is a board member and alternate chairman of SAPREF, South Africa’s largest refiner of oil products. 

Hloniphizwe  serves on the Board of Governors for the petroleum products industry body SAPIA and is also a board member of the Netherlands and South Africa Chamber of Commerce and a council member of Business Leadership South Africa, amongst other roles.
 

He is a Retail Executive with almost 30 years of leadership experience with a diverse background that spans industries such as premium fashion retailing, branded fashion wholesaling, convenience retailing and petroleum products retailing. He still serves as Retail General Manager for Shell.
 

Hloniphizwe has highly developed skills in Business Unit Leadership, Business Development, Retail Operations Management, Key Account Management, Business Planning, Business strategy Development and Management and Relationship Management.

He has been very successful in the development of high performing teams, developing and leading retail business unit strategies and has worked with startup organizations as well as expanding businesses into new markets. 

He has further developed his leadership skills through a number of programs including, amongst others, Management Advancement Program and Executive Leadership Program with The Mendoza College of Business through the University Of Notre Dame, University of Stellenbosch and GIBS. He has also completed the Board Leadership Program with GIBS.

He originally trained and qualified in the Medical Laboratory Technology Field before branching into retail leadership.

He is passionate about people development, enterprise development, as well as Ethical Leadership at Executive and Board level.

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

Bashni, an experienced Chief Strategy Officer, Executive Market Analyst and Commercial Director, has over two decades of sector-specific expertise gathered at senior leadership level, both locally and abroad. 

Proudly South African and a National Travel / Tourism Industry expert, Bashni has crafted a celebrated career in strategic research and advanced analytics. 

Over the course of her 16 years in long service with South African Tourism (SAT), across South Africa and the European Region, Bashni has delivered multiple profitable Marketing Strategies. In her current role as Executive Committee Member, she spearheads key strategy formulation for Tourism promotion.

Prior to this, Bashni led SAT’s Strategic Research Unit for over 14 years, as well as being Regional Director for Europe Tourism. In 2016, Bashni was seconded by the organisation to France, where she set up its Southern Europe hub, established a viable operating model, and successfully served the French, Spanish and Italian markets.

Bashni holds a BCom (Hons) degree in Marketing from the University of Pretoria, specializing in Tourism Management.

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

Simon Carpenter has 36 years of wide-ranging experience in the IT sector. The last 24 years have been with market-leader SAP’s African business where he has held several leadership positions. 

During his career with SAP Simon is proud to have worked with many of Africa's best organisations helping them to understand how SAP solutions can contribute to their growth and ongoing success. He is a passionate advocate for leveraging information to create a better Africa for all and conscious of the fact that Africa poses some unique challenges that require a nuanced approach to technology adoption.

For over 2 decades Simon has contributed to SAP’s positive impact on Africa’s economies and the company’s growth across Africa to over 1,800 customers by, inter alia:

• Leading SAP Africa’s Presales and Industry specialist teams and their essential role in showcasing to customers how SAP solutions create value.

• Leading SAP Africa’s Marketing team (including at that time Customer Care, Partner Management and the Africa SAP User Group)

• Launching new SAP solutions into the African Market (SAP BW, SAP CRM, SAP APO, SAP SCM, NetWeaver and SAP Financial Services Network)

• Founding and incubating services and concepts such as Customer Engagement Lifecycle, Value Engineering, Business Transformation Services and the SAP Reseller Channel.

• Leading the Business Analytics Sales team where revenues grew by >25 % over 2 years.

• Leading the SAP Premier Customer Network where revenues grew by 298% over 2 years

Simon is currently Chief Technology Advisor SAP Africa, responsible for:

• Leading SAP Africa’s Digital Transformation initiatives with a focus on Business Innovation and Thought leadership; providing direction to SAP’s customers and partners on emerging business and technology issues such as OT/IT Convergence, Big Data, Business Network Transformation, Mobility, Cloud Computing, Business Process Management and how these are encompassed in SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Framework

• Africa-wide evangelism of SAP’s strategy for helping the World to Run Simpler by Digitally Transforming.

Prior to SAP, Simon worked predominantly in operations and logistics solutions ranging from on-board computing in transport to large-scale enterprise systems. He has broad experience having worked in sales, marketing, support management, project management, and consulting and systems development. He thus has good insight into the soft issues (such as change management) that must be addressed for any technological initiative to be successful. 

Simon speaks at a numerous local and international conferences and Universities / Business Schools on a wide range of topics and is a previous award winner at the SAPICS conference.

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

Herman commenced his Career in the early 80’s in the manufacturing sector in Johannesburg and moved to Consulting and Advisory work in 1994 at Monitor Consulting before taking a senior leadership role as Managing Director in the Siemens Company in 1996 to lead a large scale turn-around of the Industry Division responsible for Sub-Saharan Africa (13 countries) between 1996 and 2000. 

During this time he was pivotal in restructuring divisions of over 1000 technical staff involved in product sales and distribution, large project execution and after sales services and thereby delivering double digit growth in revenues and profits and rescuing the business from closure. The business continues to operate successfully over 15 years after his departure.

He then pivoted to the emerging world of e-commerce and joined Standard Bank in 2000 as the Director of Online Services and e-commerce. He lead the banks foray into Internet Banking deploying one of the first platforms in the world, one of the world’s first national rollouts of smart cards and continued to pioneer Fintech innovations with mobile banking JV’s in 2003 (one of the first globally) and operated one of the first African Fintech business incubators for the Group for 5 years from 2007 until 2012. 

This entity developed a number of very successful businesses in the space of money transfer, value added mobile services and digitalisation of legacy processes. One business went on to record business volumes of 2 Billion Dollars in transactional flow and is the number two player in its field in Africa. He also joined the board of Eccentric Switch, a payments processor that he was instrumental in investing in for the bank. 

In 2012 Herman moved into the telecommunications space in a more dedicated manner firstly with a role at Vodafone as Managing Executive of mobile Commerce at the sub Saharan subsidiary where he successfully launched and managed both a short term insurance business and a life assurance business reaching a Billion Rands in revenue within 4 years of start-up. 

He also set up a subsidiary to launch the largest mobile vouchering app in the region which resulted in two million downloads in a year and was the fastest growing app for that year. He then moved to MTN in 2015 where he served in the role of Group Chief Digital Officer. This role carried a Profit and Loss responsibility of over a Billion Dollars and thanks to new innovation and change programmes is growing at close to 2X per annum in Local Currency. 

The role includes four pillars in e-commerce / mobile advertising, mobile financial services, media and digital lifestyle products and services. He currently serves as the Group Executive for Innovation Strategy leading the Groups Digital approach into new business areas by focusing on Ideation, Incubation, acceleration and M and A. 

This broad portfolio of adjacent businesses has necessitated extensive travel and serving on 7 boards as well as serving in advisory capacities in multiple industry level initiatives. 

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

Caroline is the author of Master Your Finances – the art of building wealth, a chartered accountant and a member of SAICA. 

Caroline is the Head of Leadership and Learning at Absa Retail and Business Bank and has managed operations for a number of large retail financial services businesses and is a published financial education thought leader. 

Expertise within people and operations management, process management, vendor management, asset management, LISPs, administration, regulatory change and impact, client servicing, asset management & banking. §Caroline has spoken at events as the keynote speaker as well as host at business conferences, workshops, church events, fundraisers,  and other events. 

Listen to Caroline's Future Leader Interview on Vimeo, Youtube and SoundCloud

 Dr Mabunda is a medical and business professional with a multinational career spanning the United Kingdom, Kenya and South Africa.

A medical doctor holding a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from Oxford University, her background is an asset to organisations in the business of healthcare. She currently holds the position of Head of Vitality Wellness at Discovery.

Her current role affords her opportunities to develop innovative products and apply the principles of behavioural science to drive the adoption of protective health behaviours among members of Discovery Vitality.

Prior to joining Vitality, she was the Head for Accenture’s public health division in South Africa. She has worked for leading global consultancy firms and pharmaceutical companies.

Outside of Vitality, Dr Mabunda spends time cycling and running. 

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

Enver started out his career working in the Information Technology departments of companies like IBM, Eskom and Nedbank and has worked as the Head of Operations at Integer Financial Services. 

In January 2010, a passion-driven career change saw Duminy join Cape Town Tourism as the Executive Manager of Tourism Services whereafter he was appointed as CEO in August 2013.

To date Duminy has been involved in various ground-breaking tourism projects which include: Leading the Tourism Services team to provide successful visitor and industry services for the 2010 FIFA World Cup; 

Pioneering the first ever Responsible Pricing policy for the tourism industry in Cape Town, ensuring that the industry remains competitive and offers value for money; 

Initiating Cape Town Tourism’s partnership of the global movement The Code - in order to address child exploitation in the tourism industry; Implementing the first ever integrated management system in a tourism organisation; 

Participating in Safety Forums to pro-actively collaborate with industry role-players to address and find solutions to security challenges in Cape Town; 

Conceptualising the first Mobile Visitor Information Vehicle in Africa, where visitors can make bookings, buy tickets and get information, powered by solar panels.

He was appointed to the Board of Tourism Grading Council of South Africa and to the Board of South African Tourism. Duminy’s current focus as CEO of Cape Town Tourism is to work alongside his team and the stakeholders of Cape Town Tourism (including more than a thousand signed-up members), to find ways to address seasonality in Cape Town by combining innovation and agility. 

He is passionate about Cape Town, not only because it is his home town, but because of its blend of natural beauty, interesting history and diverse cultures. His vision is to peel back the layers that make Cape Town what it is today - a thriving metropolis at the tipping point of the African continent , recognised as a global challenger through tourism. 

Enver Duminy acquired his B.Sc. Degree in Computer Science and Mathematical Statistics from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and is a qualified Microsoft Certified Professional and IBM Solutions Provider. 

Duminy continues to study and is currently busy with his MBA through the Management College of South Africa.

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

Heather Monahan is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, entrepreneur and founder of Boss In Heels. 

Having successfully climbed the corporate ladder for nearly 20 years, Heather Monahan is one of the few women to break the glass ceiling and claim her spot in the C-suite.

As a Chief Revenue Officer in Media, Heather Monahan is a Glass Ceiling Award winner, named one of the most Influential Women in Radio in 2017 and Thrive Global named her a Limit Breaking Female Founder in 2018.

Heather’s new book Confidence Creator shot to #1 on Amazon’s Business Biographies and Business Motivation lists the first week it debuted on Amazon.
Heather is a confidence expert and is currently working with Fortune 500 companies and professional sports to develop confidence in the workplace and on the court. 

She’s also a member of Florida International University’s Advisory Council to further serve as a mentor and leader in the South Florida Community. Heather’s new show, CreatinConfidence, debuted on the Top 200 shows on Apple podcast.

Heather’s work has been featured in USA Today, CNN, Forbes, Fast Company and Business News Daily. Most recently adding Guest Professor at Harvard to her list of accomplishments. Heather and her son Dylan reside in Miami.

To Book Heather for a speaking engagement please visit www.heathermonahan.com  

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

Dirk Van Der Walt (BComm) is Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Webuycars.co.za, with brother Faan Van Der Walt (CEO), Dirk takes on the role as Chief Strategy Officer.

The brothers built the business over the last 20 years from virtually nothing to a household name that buys more than 4500 vehicles monthly all across South Africa.

Dirk contributes to innovation, out-of-the-box thinking, and builds on strong philosophical underpinnings that contribute to a vibrant spirit, a strong ethos, and a unique company culture. 

Quoting Mark Shaefer, he strongly believes that the most human company will win in today's world, he supports a Servant Leadership approach and subscribes to a management philosophy that nurtures family values and sustainability.

Dirk and Faan were nominees to the 2018 EY World Entrepreneur Award, and Webuycars is currently the target of a Naspers Aquisition.

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

Hwalani is recognized as a strategic adaptable and revenue driven leader who is known for turning around underperforming businesses in the financial services sector in a way that builds impactful and innovative ways of building new revenue streams while creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem that focuses on financial inclusion. 

She is a Head of Wealth an investment at Standard Bank South Africa working closely with individual clients, business owners, investment companies, and broader clients of the bank to mitigate loss, financial stability and promote trade and commercial activities that results in economic growth and development. 

Her edge lies on strong strategic sales capability and aligning the organisation to achieve the required results She is a Senator representing South Africa at the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) an organisation committed to collaborating globally to empower the economic development of the world by fostering innovative financial instruments for start-ups, scaleups, innovators, entrepreneurs, SMEs and to promote gender equality and women’s participation in all sectors of the world economy. 

Hwalani is also a Board Member of Women in Tech® an international organization with a double mission: to close the gender gap and to help women embrace technology. 

The organization focuses on 4 primary areas that are a call for action: Education, Entrepreneurialism, Social Inclusion, and Science & Innovation. As an advocate for women empowerment WBAF and the Women in Tech platform aligns quite well with Hwalani‘s goals of women inclusion, empowerment and creation of sustainable/ profitable women owned businesses. A finalist in the Standard Bank 40 under 40 young achievers, Hwalani was listed in Mail & Guardian Women Changing South Africa. 

An advocate for women empowerment, Hwalani holds a Master’s Degree and is currently pursuing Doctoral Studies at the University of Pretoria with a focus on Turnaround Strategy. 

Listen to Hwalani's Interview on Vimeo, Soundcloud and YouTube

Dr.Judy Dlamini, has had a rich career starting with medicine, followed by owning and running businesses in various sectors from health operations, surgical equipment, luxury fashion retail, commercial property, facilities management, to name but a few. 

She received her medical degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, her MBA from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and her diploma in occupational health from the University of the Free State. 

She obtained her Doctorate in Business Leadership from UNISA. Her thesis investigated the intersection of race, gender and social class and its impact on women leaders’ career progression. 

She used life stories to come up with strategies for gender transformation at leadership. She has since turned her thesis into a book, titled Équal but Different: Women Leaders’ life journeys. She was selected to the 2017 Exclusive Books’ Homebru list in the business category, after the launch of the book in March 2017.

Judy worked as a medical doctor for thirteen years and as an occupational health practitioner for four years before deciding to build her business career. 

After spending two years at HSBC, specialising in transport and energy corporate finance, she began to develop her entrepreneurial interests. In 1996, she founded Mbekani Group, a company which houses operational and investment companies, including the luxury multi-brand chain of stores, Luminance and Jimmy Choo.

She has extensive experience in serving on numerous boards; she is currently the Chairman of Mbekani Investment Holdings Ltd, previously Chairman of the Board of Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited, Independent Non Executive Director of Northam Platinum Ltd, Imithi Investments (Pty) Ltd, GijimaAst Ltd, Anglo American plc, Woolworths Holdings Ltd, Discovery Holdings Ltd. 

She is a recipient of various awards, including Woman The Brand (2009), The African Economy Builder Lifetime Achiever Award for 2016 from African Economy Builder Forum; The Global CEO’s 2016 Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government SADC South award for the Business and Professional Services sector at regional and national level, and Fabulous Woman Award 2016.

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

Lincoln Mali is an experienced banker with over 20 years in the industry. Lincoln has been with the Standard Bank Group for the last 18 years and is currently the Head of Group Card and Emerging Payments. 

The role is geographically spread across 17 countries on the continent as well as being responsible for facilitating payments between Africa and China. 

Lincoln has vast experience working on the continent as in his former role he was the Regional Head for the Western Region in Africa; managing the Standard Bank Group Personal and Business Banking franchises in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Namibia.

Lincoln's academic qualifications include; BA LLB (Rhodes university); MBA (Henley Management College - UK) and an AMP (Harvard Business School). Lincoln has attended various executive programs at universities in South Africa and abroad including Duke University, Thunderbird University, and Insead University.

Lincoln is currently the chairman of Diners Club South Africa and has previously held board membership in Stanbic Malawi, Stanbic Zambia, Stanbic Zimbabwe, Eduloan, Technikon South Africa and the Institute of Bankers. 

Lincoln is an international CEMEA Business Council member for Visa and has been appointed the Regional Member Council for Union Pay International.

Lincoln's core expertise are in the areas of leadership, people management, customer service, sales management and business performance. 

He has led and managed large and diverse teams across different geographies and business units while also growing and developing many individuals into leadership positions. 

Lincoln is a highly regarded speaker who has addressed various local and international conferences. Lincoln was the class speaker at his graduation at Harvard Business School in 2013. 

He was honoured for his leadership role and achievements by his alma mater, Rhodes University, with the Distinguished Old Rhodian Award in 2015.

He is also a prolific writer and maintains a blog; www.leadershipconversations.co.za in which he writes about topics he is passionate about. Some of these include: Leadership, Ethics and Integrity, Transformation and Societal Change. 

Lincoln is passionate about leadership, and spends his spare time coaching and guiding young leaders both within and outside Standard Bank. 

Lincoln is married to Sva, they have 3 children, Lihle, Amara and Liam.

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

Thokozile is a People and Business Performance leader with business turnaround, performance transformation, leadership development, talent management and large-scale capability building expertise who works with individuals, teams and organisations to achieve and sustain growth and high performance.

 She currently heads up Talent, Leadership and Learning for Absa Group Limited

Specialties: Business Strategy; Operational Turnaround; Performance Transformation; Leadership Development; Large-scale Capability building; Organisational Development; Talent Management  

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

“In life, everybody must have dreams. Mine is to go to the Ironman championships in Hawaii. It’s an increasingly difficult dream as you need to do at least 12 Ironman challenges before you can pre-qualify. So far, I’ve completed 10, and for the past three years, I’ve done half Ironman competitions overseas to get some exposure to different environments.” 

Willie  originally trained as an electronics engineer and started work for Altron on engineering projects that covered both software and hardware.

“In 1995, I joined Absa, and during my time there, I eventually became part of the IT leadership team.

“Back then, IT was seen as a black box. Nobody really understood what we were doing. We were trusted implicitly, and business was very hands-off. The relationship was very transactional as there wasn’t really any form of partnership with business.” 

 In 2000, Absa undertook a significant desktop outsourcing project with Gijima AST, as it was then, and the two companies formed a joint venture, AST Distributed Technology Services. Stegmann was appointed its CEO 

After holding the position for five years, Stegmann returned to the world of financial services when he joined Standard Bank, where h e w ould s pend 13 years i n d fferent roles. 

One of the most significant was heading up the SAP core banking transformation programme, moving from a 40-year-old legacy platform onto a more modern, agile platform. 

In 2014, he was appointed CIO of Standard Bank’s personal and business bank. “That was my first formal role as a CIO and everything I’d learnt to that stage helped me in that role,” he says.

Then, in 2017, Stegmann received an unexpected call, asking him to consider the opportunity of becoming Vodacom’s CIO. “I was initially a little sceptical about moving from a financial services background to a telco. However, after discussions with the Vodacom team, it was clear that my experience, not only from a digital transformation point of view, but also in Agile was what Vodacom was looking for.”

Listen to Willie's interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Colin Singarum (born 08 February 1970) in Durban always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father and become teacher. He studied Fine Art and passed with distinctions in sculpture, drawing and painting without using a drop of paint, stone or pencil.  This pushing of boundaries and passion for innovative solutions set the tone for his career growth.

He never got to teach but is now a Business Development & Marketing Executive with 20 years of experience in the Aerospace & Defence industry, focusing on corporate strategy, marketing, branding, innovation and communications

He is best known for being a creative thinker who can create  campaigns with innovative avenues to market and drive business. 

Colin began his career at South African Airways as a Flight attendant Trainer, to Marketing & Communications Manager in 1995. He won the CEO Innovation prize three times and received to bursaries including one to attend the Disney University in Orlando. He held several positions at SAA until moving to Denel Aviation as Marketing Manager in 2007. 

He eventually moved up to the Denel Group as Senior Executive Business Development in 2012. Being involved with the Airbus A400M programme to the marketing campaign of the Rooivalk Attack helicopter give Colin massive exposure to global brands and high profile leaders. Denel also awarded Colin with a bursary to study an MBA at Cumbria University in the UK.

From 2012 to 2016, Colin launched numerous innovative campaigns from getting Denel in a Hollywood blockbuster for marketing exposure to creating the first STEM park using real Defence equipment from helicopters, fighter jets and tanks. This was to create awareness amongst the youth towards careers in the aerospace and defence sector. 

In 2017, Colin moved to the Paramount Group as Business Development Executive focusing on Airborne Systems effectively reinforcing brand, developing networks and capturing the market. 

Colin considers Business development a growing challenge especially in the defence sector and therefore he always echoes that innovative thinking, extreme networking and collaborative partnerships are going to be the differentiating factors to success. 

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

Mapule Mzimba is a scientist, management consultant, and now a banking executive. She has recently been appointed Chief Operating Officer of Discovery Bank. 

Prior to joining Discovery, Mapule held various strategic roles at Absa, including Director in Corporate & Investment Banking for Transactional Products, a business serving Corporate and Business Banking clients. 

She was a COO of Transactional Banking prior to running the business. She joined Absa in 2010 as the General Manager: Services Cluster Integration Programme and led the implementation of “Simple, Streamlined Group Processes” to sustainably take costs out of the business and improve customer experience. 

In less than a year she was promoted to lead a Business Unit of about 120 professionals that drive the "change the Bank" agenda (Group Projects). 

Prior to joining Absa, Mapule was a Senior Manager in Accenture responsible for business development and account management as well as delivery of large scale complex programmes. 

While at Accenture, Mapule conceptualized and implemented a Future Leaders Programme which today is a flagship programme at the heart of their attraction and retention strategy. 

She was also selected from 48 countries to serve on the Accenture Global Executive Development of Women Leaders Faculty. 

Prior to joining Accenture, Mapule was a researcher and Project Manager at CSIR.

Mapule has a Masters and Honours degree in Science and a Post Graduate qualification in Business Management, all attained in Cum Laude. 

In 2009, Mapule was a recipient of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu African Leadership Award and underwent leadership training at the Oxford University Said Business School. In 2016, PASA awarded her the top student of the year across Africa, for a Foundational Payments qualification.

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

Pepe Marais is the founding partner and Group Chief Creative Officer of brand and communication group Joe Public United. He lives to bring out the best in those around him.

His definition of success is to create an environment of harmony and joy, where the focus is on the well-being of people – growing them to achieve the highest levels of selfworth, honesty and excellence by nurturing ideas, dreams and trust.

\Moved by the obvious gap in our system and a driving need to give back as well as actively grow our country, Pepe established Joe Public’s CSR programme, One School at a Time in 2004, of which he currently is the chairperson. OSAAT  is an organisation with the single-minded vision of creating an educational system that is a shining example to the world.

Pepe also sits on the board of SA Day, an initiative that exists to inspire South Africans towards greatness in unity.

Although Pepe has been the recipient of numerous local and international industry awards, he believes that accolades are merely the building blocks toward a vision of creating an environment that inspires greatness.

Joe Public United is currently ranked as one of the top independent and fastest growing South African advertising groups, which includes a digitally integrated above-the-line agency (Joe Public) a strategic brand design agency (Joe Public Shift), a digital agency (Joe Public Connect), a beyond-the-line agency (Joe Public Ignite) and a PR agency (Joe Public Engage) in Johannesburg.

The Joe Public brand is also represented in Amsterdam through its revolutionary Joe Public Take-Away advertising model.

In 2014 The Annual AdFocus Awards ranked the agency as Agency of the Year and in 2015, for the second consecutive year, awarded Joe Public Agencies’ Agency of the Year, as voted for by industry peers. 

In 2016 and 2017 Joe Public was the most awarded agency at the Apex Awards, which focuses on campaigns that are effective and drive business results for their clients, in line with the agency’s purpose of Growth. In 2018 Joe Public was a runner-up in the Conscious Company Awards and also ranked number one creative agency in Africa and the Middle East at the Loeries Awards.

Pepe is a published author, and recipient of the 2018 Sanlam Entrepreneur of the Year Award for medium businesses, together with his business partner Gareth Leck.
 

He believes that Joe Public is at the beginning of what they set out to do in terms of the calibre of work they aspire to create. He also knows that it’s all about nurturing the creativity within people and that all of Joe Public’s past and future successes were and will continue to be because of its people. 

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

After receiving his BProc degree from the University of the Western Cape and completing a Post Graduate Certificate in Legal Practice from the University of Cape Town, Rurik was admitted as an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

Rurik’s passion and expertise in the legal field lies predominantly in business – and commercial law with a specialisation in local and international corporate and company law as well as being a thought leader in the area of Organisational GRC. In this regard he has graduated cum laude in Legal Masters in Transnational Commercial Practice (LL.M.) through the Lazarski University (ranked the best private University in Poland) in conjunction with the Eötvös Loránd University (one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Hungary), the Boston University (a top Law School in the United States of America), and the Centre for International Legal Studies (based in Austria).

Rurik is internationally certified as a Korn Ferry International – Lominger Choices™ feedback expert, which allows him to offer in-depth developmental feedback and guidance to business leaders as well as

boards of directors.

Rurik had the pleasure of serving on the Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors’ (IRBA) Investigating Committee (INVESCO) Board from 2015 to 2018

In addition to this, Rurik has been internationally certified as a Co-Leader of The ManKind Project®, through which he has travelled all over the world offering talks, trainings, and mentorships in personal and leadership development

Being a certified Alt-X Director of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) allows Rurik to take on Directorships at companies, where his main goal is always to facilitate greater organisational alignment and growth. View Rurik's full profile here

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

Something momentous happened in my career when the company I worked for retrenched an entire division and my perception of a safe job as a permanent employee was shattered in a single moment. 

After this I wanted to be part of something to help steer the ship but promises that didn’t materialise shattered my perception of the world even further.

This is when I knew I had to create a place where people felt valued, included, a place where both employees and clients truly became part of a thriving community.

Shortly thereafter, a former employer of mine approached me to assist them, and I realised that this was the opportunity I had been looking for all along – to solve pressing challenges quicker and better than anyone else.

This is when I discovered the Power of Transparent Collaboration – and how working together with my clients in the spirit of a true partnership enabled us to build a product 5-times faster than traditional software development.

And leveraging low-code, a new concept that I had been researching for years that was key to delivering their solution in just 16 weeks, instead of 12 months, and within budget.

This revelation changed my outlook to problem solving and software development. My new mantra was to write the least amount of code to solve the problem at hand, and this is how JustSolve was born.

I realized that working smarter, not harder, can assist companies in developing software faster and allow the ever-growing product backlogs to be addressed in a way that traditional development cannot - especially with the global shortage in information technology skills and increased drive for businesses to become more agile.

Through the Power of Transparent Collaboration, we have helped Global Brands in multiple industries establish their Centres of Excellence through mentoring and coaching while co-operating on projects – as a result, our clients managed to deliver their development projects in up to half the time and within budget.

Helped a Global Fleet Management Brand transform 3 key business processes and delivered an integrated solution in 12 weeks instead of 9 months at a major cost saving (160k instead of 3.6 million for in-house development).

To find out how you can cut your software development cycle in half without compromising your requirements, book an obligation free chat with me here https://calendly.com/botha 

Watch Botha's Interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud