In this section: Phumzile Sithole, Nadia Bulbulia, Laurencia Cogan and more.
Nadya Bhettay
Group Executive: Business Development
Vodacom
Tel: +27 11 653 5000
www.vodacom.co.za
Nadya Bhettay, who is responsible for defining and implementing Vodacom’s strategy for growth, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions, joined the Vodacom group in May 2005 as executive head of mergers and acquisitions within the group’s corporate finance division, where she was also responsible for investor relations. Her experience in executing merger and acquisition deals was acquired during five years spent with Morgan Stanley in Johannesburg and London and as a member of the corporate finance team of Ernst & Young, where she completed articles for her CA(SA). Bhettay has a business science (honours) degree from the University of Cape Town, specialising in finance.
Liesl Brown
Internal Audit Executive
Cell C
Tel: +27 11 324 4000
www.cellc.co.za
Liesl Brown graduated with a BAcc degree from Stellenbosch in 1987 and discovered a passion for auditing during a stint at Sanlam. She moved to Johannesburg as part of the team which founded Sanlam Properties Internal Audit. In 1996 she decided to further her career by studying part-time for her CA(SA). In 1998 she entered the world of wireless telecommunications at MTN, contributing to the implementation of one of the first broad-based black economic empowerment assessment and measurement tools in the country. At the same time, she pursued another of her passions – encouraging entrepreneurial skills — by contributing to small business development through long-term sustainability and BEE assessments and offering advice on business models, operational structures and business processes. She joined Cell C Internal Audit in 2005 and was appointed to her current position in 2007..
Nadia Bulbulia
Executive Head: Regulatory
Cell C
Tel: +27 11 324 4000
www.cellc.co.za
Nadia Bulbulia, who is responsible for developing, overseeing and implementing Cell C’s regulatory strategy and advises the company on sector-related matters, is a woman of multiple skills and interests. She holds an honours degree in dramatic art from the University of the Witwatersrand and an MA degree (with distinction), the subject of her thesis being public television policy for children. She also has two drama diplomas from Trinity College, London. Her experience in communications was developed as a councillor at both the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa and its predecessor, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). During her time with the IBA her job as a policy researcher provided the grounding for her expertise in communications policy and regulation. Bulbulia has sat on several boards, including the controversial and recently disbanded board of the SABC, the Children’s Broadcasting Forum for Africa and the Media Monitoring Project.
Laurencia Cogan
Brand Manager
Neotel
Tel: +27 11 585 0000
www.neotel.co.za
Laurencia Cogan, an award-winning marketer who believes passionately in the power of brands, is also a published poet. In her more prosaic life she has managed brand equity programmes for a number of South Africa’s largest and most influential corporations in fields ranging from industrial manufacturing to financial services and the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. The holder of an honours degree in economics, she has been recognised by the Executive Women’s Club of Southern Africa, who awarded her a study scholarship. Her work has also been acknowledged by the Marketing Federation of South Africa, who placed her on their ‘Marketing Roll of Honour’ for her branding and marketing achievements for PG Glass.
Tracy Cohen
Executive Head: Regulatory
Neotel
Tel: +27 11 585 0000
www.neotel.co.za
Tracy Cohen’s varied and distinguished career includes four years on the council of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) between 2004 and 2008, her portfolio involving projects on market access and competition. She was also involved in inquiries into mobile pricing, call termination and leased lines. Cohen has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand; Columbia University, New York; the University of Toronto (from which she obtained a doctorate in law) and the London School of Economics and has worked as a regulatory consultant for domestic and international organisations including the International Telecommunication Union and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation. She is a member of the editorial board of the South African Journal of Information and Communication and of the advisory committee of the South African Law Reform Commission, Project 25, reviewing legislation administered by the Department of Communications (Statutory Law Review).
Nerina de Villiers-Viljoen
Project Portfolio Executive
Cell C
Tel: +27 11 324 4000
www.cellc.co.za
Nerina de Villiers-Viljoen, a veteran of the telecommunications sector, having worked for Telkom SA, MTN and LogicaCMG before joining Cell C, has had international experience in business analysis, project management, relationship management and project portfolio management. She has a B Com (hons) degree in industrial psychology and a master’s in business leadership from Unisa and recently completed a leadership development programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. De Villiers-Viljoen, who believes that the best contribution leaders can make in any corporate or social context is to develop others, is the driving force behind the creation and implementation of both relationship management and project portfolio management as new disciplines in the company.
Jullian Khala
Executive Head: Community Based Services
Cell C
Tel: +27 11 324 4000
www.cellc.co.za
Jullian Khala, who is responsible for the distribution of Cell C’s products to emerging markets in South Africa and for handling the customer base in the prepaid market, has a passion for developing people. Trained as an analytical chemist, she spearheaded the training of previously disadvantaged students at the North West Technikon (now Tshwane University of Technology) and has been active in entrepreneurship, sales and training and the SMME development sector for more than 15 years, working both nationally and internationally. Under her management, Cell C fulfilled its licence obligations in record time. She has been instrumental in developing thousands of entrepreneurs through the creation of telephony-based businesses in communities throughout South Africa.
Claire Lapham
Group Executive: Legal Affairs
Cell C
Tel: +27 11 324 4000
www.cellc.co.za
An expert in labour law, Claire Lapham is responsible for handling the company’s labour litigation and ensuring compliance with all aspects of the Labour Relations Act and related legislation. A former member of the Johannesburg Bar, where she practised for five years, she spent ten years in New York doing consulting work in the field of employment law. She also worked in South Africa as an employment law consultant with a firm of attorneys and was employed by Dorbyl Limited as a senior legal advisor.
Minnie Maharaj
Managing Executive: Wholesale Services
Vodacom
Tel: +27 11 653 5000
www.vodacom.co.za
Minnie Maharaj began her career as an auditor in the office of the auditor general, later joining Telkom as an internal auditor. There she gained a solid understanding of the telecoms industry, assuming responsibility for all international data and voice business. In 2004 she was appointed managing executive of wholesale services, which extended her portfolio to include all domestic interconnection, relationships with other service providers, global capacity management (modes of international connectivity such as submarine cables) and product development and marketing. She brought this wealth of experience to Vodacom in 2006. Maharaj has a BCom degree from the University of Natal and a master’s in business leadership from the Unisa School of Business Leadership.
Sasha Monyamane
Group Executive: Ethics and Compliance
Vodacom
Tel: +27 11 653 5000
www.vodacom.co.za
Lesotho-born and raised Sasha Monyamane, whose job entails ensuring that Vodacom meets its compliance obligations and conducts its business to the highest international ethical standards, joined the company in 2004 after careers as an academic and in the corporate world. Previously deputy dean and acting dean of law at the University of Lesotho, she has held positions as a non-executive director of the Central Bank of Lesotho and Vodacom Lesotho and was a member of the management team of Sekha-Metsi Investment Consortium, which acquired a stake in Vodacom’s Lesotho operations. She also worked for Uthingo Management, South Africa’s national lottery operator, in an executive compliance position. Monyamane studied for her BA (law) and bachelor of law degrees at the National University of Laws in Lesotho before completing an LLM degree at Monash University in Australia. She also received a PhD in law from Strathclyde School of Business in Scotland, with a thesis on corporate social responsibility and its place in corporate law and governance.
Priya Rajmoney
Customer Operations Executive
Cell C
Tel: +27 11 324 4000
www.cellc.co.za
Priya Rajmoney, who is responsible for the all-important area of customer satisfaction, provides strategic planning, direction and leadership to Cell C’s customer operations business unit, which is accountable for call centres, credit management, billing, client interactions and retentions operations. Rajmoney, who had more than 20 years of credit management and operational experience before joining Cell C, has an MBA from the Open University, has participated in the management development programme at the Unisa School of Business Leadership and has financial and credit management qualifications through Damelin College. She is a member of the Business Women’s Association of South Africa.
Phumzile Sithole
Executive Head — Community Services and Contact Centres
Neotel (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 11 585 0000
www.neotel.co.za
Phumzile (Pumi) Sithole, who has worked for organisations in South Africa and the United States, has led various projects through critical restructuring initiatives, product rollouts, strategic planning of marketing, sales and customer services functions. Her current position requires her to drive rural telecommunication projects, providing high-speed internet access to under-serviced areas, making a difference to the lives of disadvantaged communities and empowering prospective communications sector entrepreneurs, particularly in rural communities. Prior to joining Neotel in 2007 she spent eight years with Transnet in various marketing, sales, customer services and management roles and was awarded a regional achiever certificate by the Businesswomen’s Association. Awarded a UN scholarship, she graduated cum laude with a BSc in business administration at the University of Missouri, following this up with an MBA (magna cum laude).
Leigh-Ann Redelinghuys
Executive Director: Customer Care
Vodacom
Tel: +27 11 653 5000
www.vodacom.co.za
Leigh-Ann Redelinghuys started her career in the late 1980s, studying business and marketing management. In 1994 she joined a small company which had obtained an exclusive service provider licence from Vodacom. During her time with the company she forged a solid relationship with many people in Vodacom and in 1994 joined Vodacom’s sales and marketing division as an account manager, managing service providers. After completing an advanced executive programme at the University of Cape Town, she was promoted to executive head of sales: service providers. Her aptitude for business management. Gave her the opportunity to build and run Vodacom’s retentions and trade-partner support divisions. From there she moved to managing executive customer care, with responsibilities including managing all the country’s customer care call centres. After successfully re-engineering the customer care division, which included building several new specialist call centres and a call centre in the Johannesburg CBD employing more than 1000 staff, she was appointed to her current post.