Future Leader Season 3

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I have been working with National Microfinance Bank (NMB) as Head of Foreign Exchange Trading, looking after the overall foreign exchange exposure of the bank through the prescribed Net Open Position within Treasury Department since 2014. 

Prior to that, i worked with BancABC part of Atlas Mara as Treasury Dealer before being promoted to Head of Trading. Before that, i started my career as a Graduate Trainee in Fixed Income Division at Lehman Brothers Internationa Europe in London in 2006 till its collapse in 2008. I hold a BA (Hon) Accounting, Finance and Management from Nottingham University Business School in the UK and Global MBA from Oxford Brookes University. 

Having worked locally and globally in financial services industry for over 10years primarily in Banking, I realize that capital market in Tanzania are still at infancy stage. 

Recently, I took the challenge to establish Securities Services i.e. Custodial and Agency Brokerage for NMB alongside Transaction Advisory services in a lieu to promote broader solutions for retail and institutional investors.

Alongside my daily duties on the markets, I have introduced and established Women Arise Forum; a platform that fosters gender equality, advancement, mentorship and leadership opportunities for women at NMB. I advocate inclusive culture in the workplace that promote diversity which is core to innovation and ultimately will improve the performance of the organization.

My long term goal is to see capital markets in the emerging markets develop and offer extensive product range for investments and capital raising by investors and investees respectively. In addition, is to also see the gender parity gap narrows in the banking industry which I believe will also mean more products that are gender sensitive will be offered by banks; eventually an African woman will have access to quality, affordable and relevant financial services that meets her needs.  

Listen to Gladness' 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  

LJ Grobler is Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the North-West University (NWU). He focuses his research on extrusion, advanced manufacturing and energy.

LJ Grobler is Director and Founder of CFAM Technologies Pty Ltd. He started in 1998 with the development and localization of extrusion equipment for Africa. CFAM Technologies was founded in 2007 and is today the only manufacturer of twin screw food extruders in Africa. 

He became certified as an Energy Manager (CEM) in 1998 and a Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) in 2000 by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) based in the USA. 

During the electricity crisis of 2007 in Cape Town, South Africa, he was instrumental in developing Power Alert for Eskom to indicate the strain of the power network on National TV. Power Alert was highlighted as one of the innovations that enabled Eskom to “bring the lights back” in the Western Cape. Power Alert was then expanded nationally and is still being used as an emergency response measure. Power Alert won a number of awards which include the International Project of the year award from the AEE.

During 2007/8 he was the President of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) based in Atlanta, USA and was the first non-American to become president. He founded the Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE) in 2002 and was board member of the SAEE from 2002 till 2012. In 2016 he was inducted into the AEE Hall of Fame.

During the Covid-19 pandemic his team developed the Food ATM to feed large numbers of people while adhering to Covid restrictions and regulations. This innovation was hailed by Netwerk-24 as one of the ten best innovations during 2020.

He is registered as a professional engineer (Pr Eng) with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) since 1995 and received his Ph.D. at the University of Pretoria, South Africa also in 1995. 

Prof LJ Grobler received the Lifetime Achievement Award during the eta Awards 2010 in South Africa for his extensive involvement in energy efficiency through measurement and verification.

He is a fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering and has authored and co-authored more than 40 local and international articles. He has also presented and co-presented more than 50 papers at local and international conferences and seminars.

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

Zama Khanyile is a fund manager at the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and in she is charge of the uMnotho Fund that deals with acquisitions, new ventures and expansions. 

A Chartered Accountant who studied at the University of Johannesburg and is registered with the South African Institute of Chartered Accounts, she leads a team of 15 investment professionals, carrying out the mandate to improve access to capital for black-owned entities, and she oversees the NEF’s women empowerment fund that finances businesses that are majority owned and managed by black women. 

She sits on a number of boards including that of  Qumbu Mall and the non-profit organisation African Women Chartered Accountants, of which she is the president.

“My role is to increase the number of black female chartered accountants and to implement initiatives that support them in their journey to qualifying, eventually becoming formidable and ethical leaders,” she says.

Khanyile is committed to making a difference in the lives of young, black upcoming chartered accountants and has focused her efforts on making this happen. She plans to continue her own personal growth as a responsible leader and wants to keep on converting her success into significance.

“My family has always been supportive of me and I have had a few women help me find my feet,” she says. “The women who helped me build my career are Futhi Mtoba, Lesego Sennelo, Philisiwe Mthethwa and Hlengiwe Makhathini. These women opened doors for me.”

When asked what advice she would give to young South Africans looking to pursue their goals, she says: “Opportunity often comes dressed as a challenge. You must be prepared to work and to rise to the occasion when the opportunities come to you.” 

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

Sipamandla Manqele is a 28-year-old entrepreneur breaking fresh ground in the realm of agro-processing with her business, Local Village.  She produces a variety of artisanal and organic foods and has built a compelling value proposition within a niche health market. 

Manqele’s business has been running for three years and has already proven itself a viable and valuable startup, providing employment and community growth.

“I am inspired by our continent, Africa, its diverse cultures and its quest for social and economic unity,” says Manqele. “My startup was founded on a vision to create a network of vibrant and local agri-preneurs across Africa, all supplying equitably sourced and sustainably grown indigenous African ingredients to the global village. My goal is to connect ethical producers with conscious consumers, as this is the key to cultivating a better world.”

Manqele’s immediate plans are to scale up the business and take it to bigger retailers in South Africa and beyond the borders. She wants to play a role in the implementation of free and fair trade across Africa. 

When asked who helped her to bring her dreams to life and focus on her vision for the future, she says: “My husband has been a fervent supporter throughout this journey, and my mother and older sister have shown me how to work hard and choose my own path.”

Manqele advises any young South African looking to build their own story of success to look to who benefits from what they do.

“It is not success if you are the only one benefitting,” she concludes. “Work is a gift we should receive with open arms; there are no shortcuts, and instant gratification should not be something we pursue. We need to focus on rebuilding South Africa — politics is just one part of our society and we should not allow it to dictate how we treat each other and the contribution we make.” 

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

Chose has firmly established himself as one of South Africa’s finest Corporate Affairs Directors with a dedicated and extensive career served in world-class corporations. 

The broad remit of his function has seen him lead highly skilled teams: Academic, Stakeholder Relations, Media Relations, Investor Relations, Government Relations, Public Affairs, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Development, Community Affairs, Legal and Regulatory, Corporate Governance and Reputation Management. 

With a seat at the top table throughout his illustrious career, Chose has shaped thinking and articulated it. His successful practice in both the public and private, and his clear understanding of policy and politics have distinguished him as a practitioner par excellence, managing complex bilateral and multilateral roles among business, community, and government. 

Chose’s strategic ability, commercial insight, empathy for stakeholder perspectives, financial prowess, sensitivity to the workings of large organisations, and an understanding of the political dimensions are all the cornerstones of his success. 

Chose’s conception and nurturing of proactive and meaningful cross-functional formal and informal networks within the community, government, media, employees, and investors are second to none.

He is a Fulbright Scholar which is one of the most prestigious awards programmes in the world. In 1996 he won the prestigious British Council Chevening Leadership Award. The award is a highly sought-after programme aimed at extremely capable individuals, future leaders, high achievers, opinion formers, and decision-makers.

Chose is the quintessential director, duly certified by the Institute of Directors. He currently serves the South African public in various positions of influence and responsibility. His wealth of expertise and experience are in constant demand across important boardrooms and committee tables. 

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

Terry Mhungu, is the CEO of Bahati Brands, a commodities trading firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

The future is natural, healthy & non GMO food, grain and beverages, that the focus of Bahati Commodities. He is a former executive director for Stanlib Asset Management, responsible for Stanlib Wholesale Distribution, Treasury and Group Risk at the holding company. 

All his life, in SA, he was in fund management, mostly in the distribution and product end of the portfolio management game.

He is passionate about long-term investing, health & fitness, and sustainable growth models. He is  a dad to 3 sons, a karateka, and a director of 5 companies. 

His mantra is 'grit, innovation and love will bring the best solutions in all challenges.'
 

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

Ashraf Garda is a multiple award winning broadcaster and his strategic position in the media landscape puts him at the very centre of South Africa’s dialogue and debate. 

Ashraf is well known for presenting the Afternoon Talk on SAfm, the Sunday Media Show on SAfm and Special Assignment on SABC 3. 

Ashraf Garda is the chief driver of Champion South Africa , a nation building movement   with the  vision to move South Africa from a mid-table nation to  a Champion Nation that he calls #ChampionSouthAfrica . 

Champion South Africa identifies champions, amplifies  champions and makes champion connections to build more champions , it is a movement that embraces the champion mind as the first significant step to a winning person and a winning nation 

He speaks about the champion mentality  with his keynote talk titled "Champion People Build Champion Nations " - this is ideal for team building events , year end or year beginning events and for companies and organisations that need to be switched in to a champion mindset He is an  accomplished , most engaging Programme Director  and MC  and is also highly skilled as a conference  facilitator and moderator 

 He  has hosted a number of high profile events including :

• Programme Director at the BRICS Summit  Business  Forum attended by the Presidents of both South Africa and China 
• Programme Director at the 2019 Productivity SA Awards 
• MC at Premier David Makhura's Gauteng MidTerm review 
• MC at the Proudly South African Buy Local Summit -  the then Deputy President Ramaphosa was the keynote speaker 
• Facilitator at the launch of Prof Madonsela’s Social Justice Project  
• MC at the National Institute for Humanities & Social Sciences Awards
• MC at the Hack Jozi awards on behalf of Wits University and the City of Joburg 
• MC at the Ubuntu Awards the keynote address was delivered by Archbishop Desmond Tutu 
• MC at the   International Public Relations - IPRA Golden World  Awards  
• MC at the PR Industry's Oscars - The Prism awards 

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

My entrepreneurial Journey started from an early age of 12 years old in Soweto, Johannesburg, where my late father ran a small informal family business, my 13 older siblings and I worked for him. 

It was the years of exposure and training of running my own fresh produce stall in various train stations in the afternoons and the early morning 4am commute to purchase the produce in the farms 40kms away from our house before school started that laid the foundation of persistence, dedication, determination in my passions later in my career. 

After completing my high school, I went on to study Architectural Design and graduated with a National Diploma and Baccalaureus Degree from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town in 2003. 

I worked briefly in corporate and at the age of 26 left my position to pursue my entrepreneurial ambitions and founded Indigo Kulani Group. The company started off as a small architectural practice and over the years grew to become one of biggest players in healthcare Infrastructure development, operating in South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Angola and Swaziland. 

My passion for Social infrastructure and personal development led me to pursue an Executive MBA in IMD Business school in Switzerland (2018). Furthermore, IKG continued to specialize in Healthcare infrastructure capital projects in both public and private sector, these include consulting for Development bank of south Africa (DBSA), Gauteng Infrastructure Funding Agency (GIFA) and National Treasury which exposed me to challenges and opportunities that exist within healthcare, these include finding alternative financing models, technology solutions and exploring various health delivery models that brings efficiency and effectiveness within the system. 

My diverse experience in multiple sectors in the three industries; infrastructure, investments and Digital health solutions have given me unique skills over the 15 years that continuous to fuel my desire to contribute in bringing about change in addressing Inequities that exist in Public healthcare. I am currently pursuing a 2nd Executive MBA in Healthcare and Leadership from EATON Business School in UK and due to graduate April 2021. 

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

My aptitude was revealed to me by a test in Standard 6 (Grade 8). I was split between the creativity of an author and the precision of a scientist. Information Technology allowed me to explore both. 

My interest in computers began long before I.T. was considered to be a “career” i.e. I did not initially see it as preparation for a job; rather, what drew me in was the seemingly magical process of typing in a string of symbols, in the form of mathematical equations, and producing something that would respond to requests as though it were intelligent. 

Its intelligence however only mirrored that of its creator and its usefulness demonstrated its creator’s ability to understand its purpose.

This realisation soon drove me to move from the role of creator to that of analyst and architect. The new role brought with it new challenges, not least of which was the ability to extract the business requirements from the heads of nontechnical business people and transform tangible processes and intangible concepts into lines of code that would increase earnings, reduce costs, improve efficiency and grow market share.

In the quest to become a more complete individual, I took on the role of manager where I discovered that I had a natural talent for organizing the activities of a team and driving them towards a common goal. 

I enjoy bringing out the best in people and driving them beyond what they think their limits are. As is natural in a corporate career, I moved up the management chain into senior and executive management positions. These opportunities allowed me to explore the strategic aspects of I.T. management and business management in general; exposing me to aspects that I never really focussed on before e.g. organizational financial management, shareholder management, marketing and corporate communication management.

Having reached these senior management levels, I elected to explore various challenges from small I.T. solution providers to an I.T. department in a large International organization, from development management to general I.T. management, from online systems management to online commercial management. 

I also decided to explore options outside of my home country and a global responsibility in a large, multi-national corporate.

Listen to Yunus' interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Wendy is an Innovation Specialist, she Chairs the 30% Club for KZN, which drives Inclusion within the corporate space, is on the KZN NBI council and heads Newmella Holdings (Pty) Ltd, an Innovation Consultancy. 

Newmella is focused on sustainably growing the profit of companies by enabling them to innovate at a faster rate, through the cultivation of cultures that embrace Inclusive or Systemic Innovation.

Wendy lectured a course in Business Innovation Management at Vega, a subsidiary of ADvTECH, has written a book on transformation and speaks globally on the need for, root and process of people transformation for innovation, profit and well-being.

As a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and an internationally accredited Trainer of NLP, Wendy has always been passionate about the value of neuro-science for rapid transformation and enhanced communication. It was during her Master’s in Business Innovation research though, that she discovered the value of neuro-science in innovation.

Wendy’s corporate positions include; Executive Director European Times, Director Sales and Marketing CNBC and Forbes Africa, General Manager Sales Trudon South Africa and Director TDS Namibia.

In the Exponential Age things are only going to get exponentially faster – the time to change is now. It is not the strongest of the species that will survive, it is the one most adaptable to change (Darwin).

Contact Wendy on wendy@newmella.co.za, to enquire now about how you can transform your business for innovation and profit.

“(L)istening to Wendy it becomes quite clear: she exuberates passion.” N Pretorius, Vega
“With her international experience she brings worldwide knowledge.” B Petrick, ECR
“If it's results you’re after, Wendy always delivers!" N Chetty, Trudon
“A dynamic individual, she is professional and personable.” A Lui, BMG
“Very insightful.” P Gerber - Bidvest
“Her insight and talent is invaluable.” S Overmyer Marks, BMG  

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

A trained Public Affairs and Communications Practitioner with extensive experience in Public Policy, Stakeholder Relations and Communications. 

A total of 17 years experience in the field, gained from reputable organisations such as UK-based Pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where I was tasked to position the brand in South Africa as Head of Corporate Affairs following the granting of antiretroviral (ARV) licences to local manufacturers. 

During my 9 year tenure spent at GSK, I managed to form partnerships with local organisations for the global Access to ARV medicines which gave uninsured patients access to affordable ARVs. 

I further gained experience in this field after joining The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) and was responsible for Corporate and Government Relations. 

I spent 4 years working with Organised Business as well as various government departments such as DTI, Health, Water and Environment and Sport. 

Achievements include partnerships formed with government departments, such as the promotion of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (FWC) Trophy Tour where TCCC partnered with local and provincial government to bring the experience to communities around SA. 

My role has also led me to expand my knowledge in Investor Relations through JSE-listed company, Adcock Ingram where I worked closely with Corporate Finance to succesfully rollout the Group's interim and annual results to the investor community as well as media.  

Listen to Dudu Interview on Vimeo, YouTube and SoundCloud

Management of staff includes HR and performance development systems to mentor,coach and train staff using performance development systems for assessing performance. 

Current skills also include compliance monitoring and Enforcement of Environmental legislation.Key focus on risk and evironmental damage and pollution from unlawful developments, breach in environmental protection laws.Actively involved in compliance audits; promotion through environmental law training programs; regulators monitoring committees; criminal investigations and advisory support to litigants. 

Active participant in National task teams related to waste issues and Enforcement issues. Project management skills include rendering legal advice for proposed developments to ensure sound environmental best practices subscribe to international customs ,practise and international environmental legislative requirements.

Sign off on final approvals in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment legal requirements by reviewing impact assessment reports and editing decisions to ensure legally sound decisions are taken.

Participate in Remediation of contaminated land projects for both historically contaminated sites and new sites contaminated. Includes groundwater contaminated and tier 1 and tier 2 risk profiling and mitigation monitoring of remediation strategy. 

Bio remediation auditing and monitoring of scientific analysis of groundwater. Provide strategic direction on post emergency situations and incidents to address environmental damage. 

Balancing science with environmental law 

and striking the balance between the two comes from practical experience working in a highly industrialised area for the past 24 years.

Recently enlisted as technical advisor in carbon sequestration pilot project.
KZN representative at National Law Reform and Policy working group. Actively involved for past two years in national environmental laws amendments process, regulations and policies reform process.  

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

Paul Morley Leads a functional team of world class data professional’s, having ownership of  Nedbank’s Enterprise Data Service (GDS-Group Data Services), and responsible for delivering Nedbank’s regulatory requirements, to the FIC, SARB and SARS.  Inclusive of Data Analytical Services to Nedbank functions and business.  Covering Retail, Corporate, Finance, Human Resources, Compliance, Forensic Services, Audit, Group Technology, as primary business partners and consumers of the data ecosphere.

With operational accountability of the horizontal dimensions supporting data domain and ecosphere. Covering the dimensions of data governance and principles, data platforms, data integration, data products, enterprise reporting and other supporting components that support a modern, relevant and world class data strategy.

With almost 30 years of experience in IT and Data, and privilege to participate in many international data “think tanks” and conversations defining systems, strategies driving leadership into the global “data” conversation.  Continues to participate at global executive level,  and think tanks, for IBM, SAS and Microsoft at an international level, coaching and imparting his knowledge to like-minded and passionate people.

Has bee recognised locally and internationally a number of time’s,  for participation, leadership and commitment to innovative thought and leadership in the context of the data industry.  And continues to be passionate and controversial about data and changing the status quo.  Truly believes that we need to think differently to make the difference. #seetheworlddifferently

Is passionate about education and development of “self” and others, striving to make an impact in society with in context of South African’s current challenges, and contribute’ s his time, patience, knowledge and finances to build a better society and world, and believes we have moral and social obligation to making our profession and social context, better for the next generation of professional’s and leaders.

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

Dr Gule, is CEO of the IPM, a professional business coach registered with International Coaching Federation (ICF) following completion of coach training at Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). 

He is also chairman of a non-profit organizations and charity , The Love Trust, (www.lovetrust.co.za) which focuses on education for vulnerable children. 

He was for 13 years the Chairman of the South African Employers for Disability (www.sae4d.co.za) an organization that helps employers to successfully mainstream and integrate persons with disabilities in the workplace. .

He has been, for over thirty years, involved in people development and HR, Transformation and Supply Chain Management in different organizations in a variety of challenging, interesting and fulfilling roles. 

He holds an Doctor of Education (Ed.D) and Master of Education (Ed.M) from Harvard University and another Master of Education (M.Ed) from the University of Pittsburgh. He did a B.Arts and Diploma Ed. at the then University of Botswana and Swaziland. 

Dr Gule is a passionate business person with deep interests in leadership, coaching, disability and inclusion and creating high quality education opportunities for children from underserved communities. 

He is Fellow of the Institute of Directors Southern Africa (IoDSA). He is married to Dr Gugu Gule and celebrated their 38th anniversary in 2020.  They have three children and a grandson.  

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

Experienced Head Of Human Resources with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry. 

Skilled in Negotiation, HR Consulting, HR Policies, Organizational Design, and Labor Relations. Strong human resources professional with qualifications in Industrial Psychology and International Leadership in Retail (Henley Business School and W&R Seta). 

Experience 

• PEP Chief Executive: People Support March 2018 - Present (2 years 11 months) South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia & Eswatini Pep Stores, Pep Cell, Pep Home, Dealz & PAXI 
• TFG (The Foschini Group) 8 years 11 months Head of HR: Foschini Division October 2016 - February 2018 (1 year 5 months) Includes Foschini, Donna, Colette, Charles & Keith & Soda Bloc Head of HR: Design, Prestige & Merchandise Procurement (TFG) April 2009 - September 2016 (7 years 6 months) 
• Vodacom Senior HR Consultant October 2005 - March 2009 (3 years 6 months) Virgin Active Regional HR Manager March 2005 - September 2005 (7 months) 
• Pep Clothing HR Manager: Operations Page 1 of 2 March 2003 - February 2005 (2 years) 
• Paarl Media Cape (Gravure Printers) HR Practitioner March 2000 - October 2002 (2 years 8 months) 

Education 

• Henley Business School Post Grad Diploma: Management Practice, International Business · (2015 - 2016) 
• University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika Honours, Industrial & Organisational Psychology · (2009 - 2011) 
• University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika BA: Industrial Psychology  · (2008 - 2009) 
• Cape Peninsula University of Technology BTech: Human Resources  · (2000 - 2001) 
• Cape Peninsula University of Technology ND: Human Resources  · (1997 - 1999) 

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

Kganki is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Black Business Council, an umbrella body of black business in South Africa. 

He also occupied the position of Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director at Sentech SOC Ltd. 

He is a highly experienced and seasoned business executive with over 25 years operational and strategy execution experience, including doing business in more than 10 countries in the African continent, covering the telecommunications, policy, power utilities, rail logistics, motor retail, Bus Rapid Transport and mining sectors.

Kganki, who started his career as an interim teacher/educator, is a highly accomplished public and private sector business professional who managed Profit and Loss, have served as both Executive and Non-Executive Director. 

He served with diligence and continues to serve as a member of board committees such as EXCO, Audit, Finance and Risk, Social and Ethics, Transformation as well as Human Resources and Remuneration committees.

He is a highly influential networker and sought-after speaker who is a thought leader on socio-economic issues of national and international significance and importance.

His academic standing includes a Masters in Business Leadership, Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Baccalaureus Technologiae (B-Tech) degree in Cost and Management Accounting.

Current Directorships

• Non-Executive Director: Sandown Motor Holdings, a Mercedes Benz SA Company
• Independent Non-Executive Director (Operations) and REMCO Chairman - KTVR Bus Service (Pty) Ltd
• Council member: The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Council Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Charter Council
• Executive Committee (EXCO) Member: The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) NEDLAC
• Co-Executive Sponsor: Business for South Africa (B4SA

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

Jesmane Boggenpoel has over 16 years’ experience in private equity, investments and as an entrepreneur. 

She is also the former Head of Business Engagement Africa at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. She currently serves on the boards of three JSE listed firms: Murray & Roberts, EOH and Spur. 

She is the Chairperson of: ETG Inputs Holdco (Dubai headquartered and largest African fertilizer distributor); and fintech company Sybrin (with clients in 17 countries). 

She is a member of the investment committee of VC fund E4E and the Digital Economy working group of BRICS. She is a shareholder and founding board member of African Women Chartered Accountants Investment Holdings, an investment company with 55 African women shareholders. 

She holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University’s JFK School of Government and is a CA (SA). Jesmane was nominated a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2013.  Jesmane has travelled to 70 countries, including 22 African countries. 

She is the author of a book on racial reconciliation, healing and inclusion My Blood Divides and Unites (www.myblooddividesandunites).

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

Candice joined AECI as Group Human Capital Executive in 2020. She is an experienced corporate leader, having developed her human capital and leadership skills across industries that include FMCG, logistics, financial services and IT.

In her most recent role she was Human Resources Director at British American Tobacco Southern Africa. Here she was

responsible for leading the people agenda through execution of talent strategy and organisational effectiveness initiatives to enhance business performance.

A dynamic, professional leader with a global perspective of business across multiple industries she is passionate about driving best practice principles across geographies.

She is currently enrolled for a doctorate at the University of Cape Town pursuing her research interests in understanding the underrepresentation of women in senior management in the context of perpetual practices of exclusion.

She is a mom of two and enjoys cooking & travelling. Favorite Quote: ‘Ease is the greatest hardship to progress’

EXPERIENCE 18 years Cross Industry

Experience

QUALIFICATIONS 

- HONORS DEGREE PSYCHOLOGY –

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

- DIPLOMA GENERAL MANAGEMENT 

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

- MASTERS IN BUSINESS–

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

- PHD IN BUSINESS (IN PROGESS) – 

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

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

Prof Adré Schreuder is considered to be the subject matter specialist in the field of customer experience measurement and management. 

He has over 25 years of experience and advises companies across multiple industries both locally and internationally. 

He realised a career dream when he founded (& chairs) the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi), an independent national benchmark of Customer Satisfaction, in 2012.

Adré Schreuder finalised his Bachelors, Honours & Masters degree in Marketing Cum Laude at the University of Pretoria (UP). He completed his doctoral studies at University of Johannesburg. Adré held various academic positions up to Professor & Head of Department before he he became full time practitioner in leading Consulta for the last 20 years. 

Currently Adré holds the position as Founder and CVO of Consulta – a Customer Experience Advisory Consultancy.

His specialties include: Customer Experience Measurement & Management, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Engagement, Customer Loyalty, Customer Service, Service Quality, CVP Design & Testing, Conjoint Analysis, Brand Fitness Analysis, Market Research Leadership 

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

Skilled software engineer and entrepreneur Tebogo Mokwena (25) has taken part in some significant moments throughout her dynamic career. 

She was part of the team that built the first digital bank in Southeast Asia; she has cofounded a financial technology company, Akiba Digital; and she completed a triple major in biochemistry, computer science and genetics at the University of Cape Town and the University of California, simultaneously. 

Furthermore, she is the owner of digital consulting firm, Bold, and a fellow at the Peace Revolution African Fellowship.

“My role today as an African female entrepreneur with software engineering expertise is to make use of technology to create experiences that fundamentally make the lives of Africans better,” she says. “I hope my contribution to Africa will empower women and others so that they push the boundaries of what is deemed possible.”

Mokwena’s plans for the future are as bold and bright as she is. Her plan is to spin up highly innovative technology start-ups led by women, start-ups that solve social challenges in new ways. 

She wants to create an innovation consortium that brings together African innovators across different industries and sectors to engineer world class products.

“I want to solve specific social problems such as health, education, security and finance for Africans,” she says. “We need more young women in technology, creating and building new things and pushing boundaries. The software engineering space is highly dominated by men and for this to change, we need to be at the table. We need to participate and cocreate the narrative.”

For women looking to change their lives as they move forward, Mokwena says: “Start learning how to code now. This is how you will learn to think of solutions. The beauty of technology is that it is created and shaped into anything by creativity and that is something we all have.”

Refiloe Rantekoa is a young entrepreneur from Soweto who operates Borotho Bakery, known for selling bread at very affordable prices for the community. 

The business began in the back room of his grandfather’s house, where Refiloe would bake and sell a meagre twenty loaves a day at first. Now, Borotho Bakery sells around 500 loaves of bread every single day, still at an affordable price, while also having created employment for five additional people. 

This growth was explosive, to say the least, and Rantekoa had to exhibit considerable ingenuity when meeting this demand, even using shopping carts as a delivery mechanism to keep their clients satisfied. 

The story of Rantekoa and Borotho Bakery spread quickly and soon enough Thomson’s Reuters, an international news agency, came to document this small yet smart business operating in the heart of Soweto.

His story clearly points to the source of his business acumen. “I was raised by my grandmother, she taught me how to sell when I was just 8 years old. I had to sell fat cakes every morning before I went to school and maize at the bus stop every day after school… Therefore the confidence and the spirit of what I do had been instilled in me from a very young age.”

Given his background, the success of Borotho Bakery is a testament to the strength of Rantekoa’s character. Having weathered such harsh circumstances growing up, he’s giving back to his community through the Borotho Foundation, which will provide clothes, stationery, and other necessities to underprivileged children. 

Refiloe exhibits the qualities of a great entrepreneur, having been chosen by the Township Entrepreneur Awards as the Best Start-Up Business of 2018 as well as personally being awarded young entrepreneur of the year, as well as a life-changing philanthropic force in his community. 

Driven by his vision of creating a business that will inspire others to follow his footsteps, he’s a role model to young South Africans everywhere, regardless of their circumstances.

As he says himself, “The hunger to make, to build, and to inspire is something that will remain long after our time has passed.”

Brett Tromp has been the Chief Financial Officer of Discovery Health since June 2007. 

He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Health Care Services and the Head of Discovery SRX Pharmacy.

Brett Tromp joined Discovery Health inn 2003 and was appointed as CFO in 2007. He has a successful track record as a Chief Financial Officer with over 15 years’ experience. 

He also possesses CEO experience by running three businesses within Discovery, Third Party Recovery Services, Discovery Health Care Services and Discovery SRX Pharmacy. He sits on three boards of Discovery. 

As an Industry expert on Finance leadership, he also writes in the national accountancy magazine on a monthly basis. 

In 2015, Brett Tromp received the Young CFO of the Year and High Performance Team Awards from CFO South Africa. He is a CA (SA).

Work
2015 – Present    Chief Executive Officer Discovery Health Care Services
2014 – Present    Head, Discovery SRX Pharmacy
2013 – Present    Director, Discovery Third Party Recovery Services
2007 – Present    Chief Financial Officer, Discovery Health
2003 – 2007         Various Positions, Discovery Health
 

Education
CA (SA) 

2013 – 2013         Executive Leadership Program, University of Oxford
1997 – 1997         University of Witwatersrand
1989 – 1993         Matric, NorthCliff High

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Victor is the immediate past national vice chairman of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. 

He has also served as the chairman of the audit committee and as a member of the strategy committee of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. 

Victor is active in the accounting profession having served on the board of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants for the last ten years. He is also past National President of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants.

Victor is the Chief Executive of SNG Grant Thornton and formerly SizweNtsalubaGobodo, the largest national black owned accounting firm and fifth largest national audit and accounting firm in Southern Africa. 

He has extensive audit and consulting experience in various industries such as transport, logistics, energy and the public sector.

He is a former member of the Assurance and Auditing Standards Committee, a committee of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, which is tasked with setting Auditing Standards in South Africa.

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After completing her articles of clerkship, Rivasha joined Meadow Feeds in June 2004 as a management accountant. 

Thereafter she fulfilled various senior finance positions at Nampak and Tega Industries. 

During 2016 she was appointed as financial director at DivFood, a Division of Nampak.

She joined Afgri in May 2017 as CFO looking after grain management, equipment, retail, unigro and harvest time. 

These companies operate in South Africa and African countries. In February 2018 she was appointed as group CFO at Afgri Group Holdings.

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Ralph Mupita was appointed CFO of MTN in April 2017. Prior to this he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Old Mutual Emerging Markets from February 2012 until January 2017. 

He served as an Executive Director at Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (South Africa) Limited from 2011 until 2017. 

Ralph served as the Director of Special Growth Projects for Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (South Africa) Limited. 

He joined Old Mutual in 2000 and was seconded to Old Mutual Zimbabwe where he worked on a strategy project that led to re-structuring several functional areas within Old Mutual Properties (Zimbabwe). 

On re-joining Old Mutual South Africa in July 2001 he looked after the strategy and business planning functions for Individual Life as a Strategy Director. A key responsibility in this role was the Vision 2002 Programme. 

From October 2002 to October 2003, he became responsible for customer development for the retail middle market business (Personal Finance). 

Ralph is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a BSc Engineering (Hons) with construction projects in South Africa and completed his MBA at the University of Cape Town in 2000. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School's GMP programme and has also attended executive programmes at London Business School and INSEAD. 

For his work at MTN, Ralph has been nominated for CFO Awards 2019.

Work
2017 – Present        CFO, MTN
2012 –2017              CEO, Old Mutual Emerging Markets
2011 – 2017             Executive Director, Old Mutual
                                    Director of Special Growth Projects, Old Mutual
2004                           Managing Director, Old Mutual Unit Trust
2003 – 2004             Group Direct Sales/Retail Customer Management, Old Mutual
2003 – 2004             Customer Development: Retail Middle Market Business, Old                                        Mutual
2001 –2002              Strategy Director, Old Mutual South Africa
2000 – 2001             Old Mutual, Zimbabwe

Education
2007                           GMP programme, Harvard Business School
2000                           MBA, University of Cape Town 
                                    BSc Engineering (Hons) 

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Grant is a Partner in the PwC Advisory Consulting practice leading Finance Transformation. He has 22+ years experience. Focus areas include:

Strategy;
Finance Function Design and 

Transformation;
Finance Benchmarking and Finance Function Effectiveness Reviews;

Finance Business and Operating Models;
Feasibility and Business Case Development;

Business Recovery and Crisis Management;
Turnaround and Business Transformation;

Finance Business Process Re-engineering;

Outsourced Finance Operations; and
SSC Design and Implementation.

High profile clients in the sectors of Mining, Construction, Logistics, Transport, Oil and Gas, Energy, Industrial Products, Infocomms, Media and Entertainment, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive, Development Finance, Public Sector and FMCG.

Qualified accountant and auditor as well as a member of the Turnaround Management Association of South Africa. Extensive travel across the African continent and abroad on various performance improvement and business transformation engagements. Grant is a subject matter expert for Finance Transformation and Shared Services.  

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I would describe myself as a rare combination of acumen, persistence and charisma. I am popular, outgoing and an initiative-taking person, yet also a person who recognises the value of pausing for quiet analytical reflection.

I have always had a huge hunger for continued learning, and an ability to master and implement the new knowledge I gain. I am currently completing a PHD in Management, focusing on Technology and Innovation. I am a firm believer in CHANGE !!

I am a leader, coach and mentor. I set time aside to develop future leaders. I am a Fixer. I pay attention to detail, customer / client experience and I focus on delighting all my stakeholders, both internal and external. I RESPECT everyone - from the tea lady to the Chairman.

I am full of and share positive energy with people I engage with on a daily basis. I have a huge smile, wicked sense of humour and I laugh a lot ... Laughter feeds my soul.

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At work my CEO calls me #1, my colleagues call me "happiness". I am blessed in everyway possible and when necessary, I will 'fight' to protect and retain my brand, reputation and name.

Emotional, cultural and social intelligence are my three top and secret ingredients to building relationships, whilst my humility and ability to say I don't know OR show me OR teach me ... is what makes me a successful leader.  

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Jo has experience spanning start-ups to listed corporates; having operated locally, regionally and globally. She is the Group CFO of iOCO, chairs the CAFSA board, is on the 30% CSA SteerCo and Sanari Growth Partners’ Advisory Board.

Prior to this, Jo was the Group CFO at Bowmans, consulted to Texton Property Fund Ltd, was an Executive Director and Group CFO for Telesure Investment Holdings, Africa CFO for Standard Chartered Bank and executive member on the Regional Africa (overseeing 15 countries, 4 listed) and global Finance Management Groups, Executive Director and CFO for Ubank Ltd and Head of Finance for Barclays Africa, Middle East and Indian Oceans. She’s has also held non-executive, independent director roles on a number of local, regional and international boards and supported the One Young World National Organising Committee.

Jo is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA(SA) and ACCA), a Professional Banker of the Institute of Bankers in SA (PBSA) and a member of the IOD with a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Wales and completed an executive development programme with the University of Oxford - Said Business School.

She is part of the South Africa Boss of the Year alumni for 2013, was identified by Euromoney as one of Africa’s top 20 rising stars in 2014 and is a member of the African Leadership Network (ALN) class of 2015 and won the overall Positive Role Model Award and Trailblazer category at the Gender Mainstreaming Awards in 2019.

She is highly principled and passionate about empowering people and philanthropy. She counsels cancer patients, works with entrepreneurs, is a member of the 30% Club Southern Africa Steering Committee and an adjudicator for the GMA awards. She has been a sponsor and mentor on the Global Women in Leadership and Africa Emerging Leadership Programmes, mentored on the Black Entrepreneurship Initiative and served on SAICA's (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants) Initial Professional Development and Exam Committees and has adjudicated the Technology Top 100 (TT100) awards and CFO case study.

She is married to a Zimbabwean born entrepreneur, has four children, is genuinely curious and enjoys learning, traveling, art, history and motorbike riding.  

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Mr Pimi is a professional mechanical engineer with almost two decades’ experience in the energy, manufacturing and mining industries. He grew up in Cameroon where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Yaoundé 1. He also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with majors in Finance and Strategy from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (USA) and a Certificate of Mining Studies from the University of British Columbia (Canada). He is passionate about achieving results with a diverse, inclusive and highly motivated team and will be based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a strong supporter of promoting local talent and has unleashed diverse and capable teams across the regions in which he has worked, combining seasoned industry leaders with exciting new hires equipped with strong local market knowledge and solid regional business culture. 

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Sbu is the former Chief Executive Officer of Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa Inc. He also served as Chairman of Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa Inc from 2012 to 2018, and was the Global Chairman of Norton Rose Fulbright in the 2014/15 financial year. 

He was the President of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces (LSNP) until October 2018, and served on the following LSNP committees: Management Committee; Ethics Guidance & Rules Committee; Finances & Human Resources Committee (ex officio); Judicial Appointments Committee; Law Society of South Africa Council; National Library Committee; Attorneys Fidelity Fund: BOC. 

He was also a committee member of the Gauteng Law Council. Sbu is based in Johannesburg.

Sbu previously focused on immigration as well as employment and labour law. His practice involved representing major local and international corporate clients. Sbu has vast experience in advising on all employment aspects arising from business sales, restructurings and shutdowns. 

He has been involved in labour and employment law for more than 25 years and has written a number of articles on the subject. He has been involved in landmark cases reported in Labour and Employment law reports and has gained experience in litigation in the Magistrate’s Court and the High Court, as well as in commercial matters. 

He has acted as a judge in the Labour Court and has sat as an assessor in the High Court. Sbu was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Labour Law at the inaugural South African Professional Services Awards 2014 (SAPSA).

Sbu has been interviewed by many leading radio and television stations on a wide range of topics. He has also been profiled on the CNBC programme, “On the Couch”, SAFM, Power FM and others.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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For the past 6 years, I have been the Executive Head of Marketing at Cell C, one of South Africa’s Cellular Network Operators. 

Here I headed up the markeCng function and, along with my team, controlled one of the biggest marketing budgets in South Africa and have increased Cell C’s brand value to be the 16th most valuable brand in SA with a value of $986 million (BrandZ, 2018). 

The brand equity and enterprise value also increased with Cell C being SA’s fastest-growing brand in 2018 with

a 48% year-on-year growth (Brand Finance, 2018), the Cell C Sharks winning the Currie Cup, and all digital plaTorms showing appreciable growth and engagement. 

My team and I have also grown the

subscriber base to over 16 million subscribers in the last few years and have won numerous International and local marketing awards over that same period.

I am also an independent Business Consultant and part-time lecturer / facilitator at USB-Ed, with an

interest in Marketing, Leadership, Culture, Strategy and Organisational Performance.

As the former Marketing Executive at Ster-Kinekor, South Africa’s leading motion picture exhibitor, I was responsible for the entire marketing function. There a cross functional team interacted with all of the Hollywood studios in releasing and promoting over 300 movie titles per year.

Prior to that, I served for 9 years as the Marketing Director of Nashua Mobile, a South African cellular service provider, where I headed up the marketing and was intrinsically involved in the company’s strategy. 

Nashua Mobile was focused on contract and pre-paid cellular, call routing and broadband data. I was part of the Nashua Group for a total of 17 years (8 years at Nashua Limited).

Before that, I worked at Radiospoor, that specialised in radio paging, and my career started at Firestone tyres in 1989. Through these different companies I have gained experience in Markting, Sales, Strategy, HR and

Training, as well as General Management.

Academically, I have a B Comm. (major in Business and Industrial Psychology) and B Comm. Honours (major in Business) from the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University), a MBA from Wits Business School (with a thesis on sport sponsorship), and a DBA from the University of Phoenix in Arizona, USA (with a dissertation on organisational culture).

I have served on the academic advisory boards at Tshwane University of Technology and Nelson Mandela University, where I also give regular guest lectures. I am a Chartered Marketer with the Marketing Association of South Africa.

I have presented at various conferences on a variety of business topics; the most common being

marketing, sponsorship, organisational culture, customer service, general business and strategy.

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Arno is a Chartered Accountant with 15 years experience spanning across Commercial Finance, Business Management and Consulting. 

Being a Former CFO he has led Finance at divisions of global giants such as Dimension Data, Autodesk and the Top rated Business school in Africa, The Gordon Institute of Business Science. 

Arno is also a Certified Financial Modelling and Valuation Analyst as well as a Certified Banking and Credit Analyst with an Advanced Diploma in Business Management. Since 2014, he has been an active member on LinkedIn sharing his thoughts and opinions on Finance Business Partnering, Personal Development and Leadership. 

He also runs various LinkedIn groups on Finance Value Creation and Power BI for Finance and Accounting Professionals. Arno is well known in the Finance community on LinkedIn and is seen as a Futurist and Thought Leader. 

His career achievements includes delivering 100+ business improvements, completed 40+ courses on Accounting, Finance and IT, Learnt 60+ Tech Applications. Arno currently sits on the Board of the Global Corporate Finance Society who promotes financial modelling skills amongst the Finance community. 

He loves continues learning and sharing his knowledge. 

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Lee Miles has been Red Hat’s general manager for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) region since May 2015. 

Under his leadership, the Red Hat business has seen an extended period of significant growth in this region. 

Before joining Red Hat he worked at Infor where he served as regional director for the Middle East and India. His key achievements at Infor included orchestrating the integration of the two regions, growing the company's staff and partner ecosystem, and establishing Infor's office in Saudi Arabia. 

Prior to his time at Infor, he held several leadership and sales positions at SAP and Computer Associates where he gained invaluable experience in developing businesses in emerging markets.

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Or watch the slides as you listen here

Natalie Naude is the former Head of Communication, Marketing, and PR for the YPO regions of Africa and the Middle East and has since registered her own company, Quantum Communications that consults and advises CEOs on strategic communications, marketing, and public relations on both their brand as well as that of their organisations.   

Before this, she was instrumental in developing the water-saving app for Wesgro, the investment and tourism agency of the Western Cape, during the water crisis.   

She started her career working with the Institute for Maritime Technology in underwater acoustics thereafter, moving to Old Mutual where she was editor of a lifestyle magazine. 

Natalie embarked on an entrepreneurial journey where she co-founded a national award-winning business to consumer exhibitions. 

She served as the president of the Exhibitions and Events Association of South Africa (EXSA) for two years where she and the executive board, further shaped and profiled exhibitions in South Africa and abroad. The journey took her back to the classroom where she recently completed an Executive MBA at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, where she was the class president of 48 phenomenal leaders from across Africa and France.   

Natalie believes that leading is a privilege and that the essentials of including intergenerational collaboration combined with diversity and inclusion of gender, culture, and skills, would be paramount for future leaders. The soft skills of clear communication and allowing for psychological safety for one’s team to feedback is what transparent leadership encourages.  

Besides being a mother of an Olympian climber, she is a keen cook who loves entertaining and experimenting with exotic dishes. 

Natalie’s MBA thesis delved into determining the level of happiness in CEOs in organisations, which allows her to possess many pearls of wisdom on one’s purpose, transparent and authentic leadership, and having clear and fair communication with your team, always remaining the humble servant leader. 

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Chris Is the General Manager at The Peninsula All Suite Hotel Cape Town, where he has worked for the past 16 years. 

Born in the UK in 1959 he moved to South Africa with his parents in 1972 and matriculated at St Andrews College Grahamstown in 1977. 

He entered the Hotel Industry in the late ’70 as a trainee at the Carlton Hotel, Johannesburg and has been pioneering change in the Hospitality Industry ever since. 

Considered by many in the industry as a maverick, not willing to accept the status quo, but respected for his commitment to the development of human capacity and doing the right thing regarding sustainability.

Chris studied through the American Hotel and Lodging Association and is a Certified Hotel Administrator; in 1988 he attended the Professional Development Program at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. 

He is an experienced hotelier having managed many properties throughout South Africa and the UK. 

Over the past decade at The Peninsula, Chris attributes the properties financial success and awards to the many initiatives they have undertaken to preserve our precious resources and develop the potential of youth through mastering their craft. 

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South Africans have come to know Saskia Falken as a radio personality, television presenter and public relations specialist. She brings all of this and more to her new role as Marketing Intelligence and Strategy Manager at the UCT GSB. 

Not many people know that this versatile media expert – who now goes by her married name of Hickey – also has a keen business brain coupled with a deep social conscience. “The GSB is such an exciting brand to work with,” says Falken-Hickey, explaining that she will be reviewing the brand and helping to take it forward in line with the vision of the school. “We will be reviewing where we are as a brand and then begin to formulate a strategy that is in keeping with our passion for values-based leadership and social innovation.” 

The GSB is recognised as Africa’s top business school and has recently risen to a prestigious 59th place on the Financial Times global ranking for full-time MBAs. But Falken-Hickey says there’s still lots of work ahead. “I think we need to tell more of our stories. While we’ve done incredibly well in the rankings; that is just one story to tell about the GSB. 

Another would be that the GSB offers not only the best business education on the continent, but also the space where the leaders of tomorrow’s emerging market environments are shaped.” 

Falken-Hickey recently completed her MBA at the school and says doing the degree changed her life. With her background in media (she worked at the SABC, Heart 104.9 FM and ENCA), she brings a wealth of experience and contacts in the PR and marketing world. 

She credits her years of experience in the industry with knowing how to build good relationships and really listening to people, as well as understanding markets and how to communicate important messages. 

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With extensive and diversified experience of more than 15 years in the banking and financial services industries, a comprehensive training foundation and an exemplary career at leading national and international organisations, Dr. Kalonji possesses the required skills and knowledge as a valuable asset and an executive leader. 

With commendable management and leadership experience and expertise in the fields of management accounting, personnel management, operational and project management, marketing, sales and customer focused service delivery she has contributed meaningfully to the achievement of company objectives and goals. 

In her current role, Dr. Kalonji has been instrumental in transforming the Client Experience landscape of her organization by effecting a number of deliverables. She was able to build the team to its current formation and carefully crafted the Strategy and was able to deliver on it in 18 months. Dr. Kalonji introduced a banking first by building a Market Conduct Scorecard which enabled the Institution to revisit their approach to Conduct risk management and moved to a business model and strategy that is client led with client experience and client centricity at its core and allows for the successful compliance output and assisted in rebuilding trust in the market. 

It allows for effective management, performance and conformance to conduct measures and brought together metric that the Regulator requires into ‘business as usual’ (BAU) and not have conduct as a separate functioning entity. 

She effectively introduced the mapping of Client Journey maps and all gaps (point of failures) were identified and actions categorized into short, medium and long term and are in the process of being implemented with short and medium already completed. She introduced and built the Research and Marketing Insights team, the Voice of Employee, the Market Conduct team and the Customer Value Proposition teams. 

She successfully managed to raise the bar pertaining to Client Experience and raised CX advocates across the business by people buying into that CX is not a function nor a role but a thread that runs through the business despite what your role is. 

She is a confident negotiator with the ability to compellingly convey the message at hand to all levels of stakeholders, both internal and external. Dr. Kalonji has outstanding knowledge of general leadership and management practices and disciplines with sound experience in dealing at executive and board level. She is able to strategically plan and successfully coordinate complex operations. She is an astute, results-oriented leader with a proven ability to solve problems through applying analytical thinking with operational leadership reinforced by solid ethics, good industry knowledge and experience.  

Dr. Kalonji has been an Exco member for the past 7 years in the roles she has held and currently sits and represents her Organisation on the Board for Market Conduct. 

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Nicki is  an experienced and highly motivated leader with extensive cross category and strategic experience in the SA retail environment.  

Says Nicki: "I have the ability to drive strategy and deliver plans with multiple key stakeholders.  I am passionate and goal driven by nature, always approaching obstacles and challenges with an ‘out the box’ ability to find solutions. 

My end in mind it to deliver to the bottom line with ongoing ability to excite the customer and offer solutions to drive sustainable purchasing behaviour.  

My personal strengths are my willingness to take initiative, capacity to quickly adapt, leadership, passion, level-headedness, professionalism and reliability. I am at my best leading a dynamic team to collectively deliver strategy. "

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Stephan qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1986. Until 1989 he worked for the South African Revenue Services where he also completed related tax specialist qualifications. 

In 1989 he was appointed as Financial Director of Capital Computer Bureau. In addition to his financial responsibilities, he became involved in project management aspects of the business and became closely involved with the development of the insurance and financial services systems at Capital due to his financial background. 

In 1994 Stephan co-founded Futura Optimum Solutions and was appointed Managing Director in 1996, a position he still occupies. 

In 2003 Stephan helped form and represented a black owned company, Embomini Financial Services Ltd, on the board of Unity Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the Telesure Group. 

Since 2004 Stephan has remained involved with B-BBEE in South Africa and is currently applying his tax and financial restructuring skills to transform the Agriculture Sector.

He brings with him a number of expert skills, inter alia, tax planning, financial planning, financial management, project management, business analysis and financial services systems expertise.

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Having held management positions at international leaders such as Unisys, CSC and HP, Gerald launched Logikal Consulting in 2005. 

His leadership has allowed the company to grow into a leading multinational corporation with presence in Africa and South East Asia. 

Originally having wanted to study genetics and biochemistry, Gerald moved into IT early in his career, becoming an IT industry veteran. 

Gaining experience in the software market, he increased sales and revenue in every role he held, achieving executive positions at a number of international organisations. 

With over a decade’s worth of experience in delivering solutions across Africa, Gerald’s expertise spans management, architecture and project delivery, as well as sales. 

Experienced at managing high level relationships in the public and private sectors, he has leveraged his skillset to establish Logikal Consulting’s leadership position in Africa and India. 

A creative leader with an established record of managing extended sales and delivery teams, Gerald holds a number of qualifications, including an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education. 

A proficient pianist, Gerald marries art and science to create the technology solutions that Logikal Consulting has become known for. Gerald has a compelling track record of delivering strategies and projects spanning IT consulting, architecture design, program management, systems integration, independent testing, managed services, production support and network operations. 

As CEO of Logikal Consulting, he enables the delivery of dynamic consulting, integration and outsourcing services in the company’s operations in 15 countries. 

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A dip into Ryan Stramrood’s swimming CV is impressive, and cold: he has already completed 76 Robben Island-to-mainland crossings and swam solo across the notorious English Channel. 

With a team of South Africans, he swam the first official “Ice Mile” in -1°C water in Antarctica, completed the world’s first swim around the southernmost tip of South America – Cape Horn – and, again with some extreme friends, was the first, South African male to swim from Europe to Africa across the Gibraltar Strait.

But beyond Ryan’s physical prowess, this born-and-bred Capetonian is a gifted speaker whose telling of a personal journey of challenge and discovery is deeply inspiring.

It’s hard to believe that not very long ago, fitness was not much of a priority for Ryan.

Couch potato was where I was heading, and eventually I decided I needed to do something. I’d always enjoyed swimming, so I nervously signed up with a small swimming squad. I think I managed about 20 lengths before I was exhausted, but I stuck with it, and after a while I started meeting guys who were doing big things in swimming.

It wasn’t long before one of those guys suggested that Ryan attempt to swim from Robben Island to Blouberg.

At first, I thought it was an insane idea; something reserved for elite athletes and nowhere near my aspirations nor abilities. But I trained for it anyway, and in 2003 I gave it a go, and succeeded.

It was that first Robben Island swim – 7.3km in very cold water – that started Ryan’s journey and got him thinking about what more was possible. Since then, Ryan has been quietly crossing channels and setting records without much fuss or publicity, and still describes his swimming as a hobby – one he undertakes “for deeply personal reasons”.

I’m not a professional athlete by any stretch of the imagination. Nor am I superhuman. My body doesn’t have any special abilities. My story isn’t about winning or losing or success or failure. It’s a story about pushing beyond my own perceived limitations, about learning. You can do it too, if you really want to.

It was a moment in the middle of the English Channel in 2008 that really brought the “why” home for Ryan.

I reached a point in the swim where it was physically impossible for me to carry on. I’d hit the wall. I still had four hours to go to get to France and every part of me was screaming, ‘get out’ and ‘impossible’. Thanks to a strong support team, a bit of grit and for the first time, switching gear entirely from body to mind, I eventually found myself on a French beach many hours later in complete darkness. The experience taught me how the mind is designed to keep you safely inside your comfort zone; to make you believe your limitations. If you believe them, you 

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Steven attended Greenside High School in Johannesburg and wanted to study medicine but didn’t achieve the required results. 

Instead, following the advice of his parents, he enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand and became a chartered accountant.

“We didn’t have bucks, so I did it part-time over many years,” says Steven. “I loved university; I’m a bit of an academic at heart.”

In 1990, the young Cohen met Osrin and Epstein, who would later become his brother in-law. The two had started a software company and Cohen joined them as a “nerd accountant”.

“Ivan was strictly a deal maker in those days and Alan handled sales. I was the accountant who knew the ins-and-outs of accounting, which proved important. We were making accounting software, after all,”.

Steven also found himself filling the role of financial director, something that became increasingly tricky as the company grew. “In those days it was called Brilliant Software. We aggregated about 20 000 businesses with our software.”

In the mid-1990s, the IT group Persetel, which eventually became Business Connexion through a complex series of deals, acquired a 70% stake in Softline. 

But in 1997, Softline bought back the stake, paying double for it. Softline then listed on the JSE. “It was the time of the listings boom and as the financial director I became more of a corporate,” says Steven.

“I was meeting with Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch. Hell, I even rang the bell on the Nasdaq. It’s easy to start thinking you’re a big shot, but really you just lose touch with your people. When you list, you stop working on the business. You’re selling your share rather than your product. I think that’s screwed up.”

By 2003, Softline realised it wanted to delist. “The dot-com boom was bust, we were spending big listing fees, and our share price was going nowhere, so we tried to buy [the company]back. When you do this you kind of put a ‘for sale’ sign on your business.”

So, not entirely unexpectedly, a hostile bid came in for the company, and UK-based software giant Sage eventually bought Softline. “Sage was very powerful in the US and Europe. We now handle the southern hemisphere for them.”

In 2016, Steven joined IronTree Internet Services where he is leading partnership growth, business development and sales enablement. 

When Steven isn’t working, he spends his time building and flying radio-controlled aircraft and collecting and playing guitars 

Steven says he collects guitars and mounts them on the walls of his home. “Keeping a guitar in a box is a travesty.”

His other obsession is motorcycles. “I only ride a bike these days, even when the weather doesn’t hold.” 

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Miranda’s obsession is to unite, excite and nurture people and organisations for collective growth. 

As an ‘Accidental Entrepreneur’ with an academic background in Theatre for Development, she strategically transferred her skillset to the private sector in 2009 when she founded Empower (www.empower.co.tz) a flourishing Human Capital Consulting Firm servicing East Africa and beyond. 

Miranda is a Mother, writer, motivational speaker & tenacious advocate of Skills Development having spearheaded Empower Academy and the ‘Kidpreneur Movement’ to prepare Tanzania’s future generation for business. 

Miranda is a Member of The Africa List – a select community of next generation CEOs in Africa’s most exciting growth markets and serves on the Board of CRDB Bank, CCBRT, African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative, READ International and is an active Member-Leader of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (www.eonetwork.org).  

Her Life Mantra: ‘Always strive to be a better version of yourself.’  

Follow Miranda on 

Twitter @MirandaNaiman 

Facebook @MirandaNaiman 

Instagram @Miranda.Naiman 

LinkedIn ‘Miranda Naiman’ 

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