Previous experience: I have the oversight responsibility of the corporate affairs division of Shanduka Group. My experience has mostly been gained in the financial services sector, where I headed the group’s corporate communications department at African Life Assurance Limited as well as the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and corporate communications department at Sanlam. Prior to that, I was the deputy director of the Life Officers’ Association (LOA). I attained a BA degree from the University of Botswana having majored in Economics and Accounting as well as an MBA from the Wits Business School. I was recently appointed Trustee of the Fundani Trust, the Mabindu Trust as well as the Shanduka Black Umbrellas Investment Trust.

Previous experience: Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Cape Town, Postgraduate Diploma in Accountancy – University of Kwa Zulu-Natal, Durban. Chartered Accountant (South Africa). Various finance senior management roles with companies such as Rabie Property Developers, Frank and Hirsch, Bank of New Zealand.

Previous experience: I am the Executive Director of the Shanduka Foundation which focuses on small business development and education. Prior to that, I was personal assistant to Cyril Ramaphosa for 11 years. I was instrumental in setting up the Adopt-A-School Foundation and acted as Executive Director in its first year of operation. I started my career as an activist and was the Deputy Secretary of the Border Region of the ANC, which was later amalgamated into the Eastern Cape. I am a Trustee of the Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust, The Alexander Forbes Community Trust, Mabindu Trust and the Shanduka Foundation. I am a Director of the Adopt-A-School Foundation and Shanduka Black Umbrellas.

Previous experience: Graduated with a Law Degree from the University of the Western Cape in 1998, and was admitted as an attorney in 2000. Practised law in the Western and Eastern Cape as well as Kwa-Zulu Natal. Consulted to SMMEs and medium enterprises on BEE compliance and BEE ownership equity models for a number of years. Current focus is on corporate governance in the financial services sector.

Previous experience: Marten Govender is the CEO of Synergy M&A, established in 2002 as a niche corporate finance advisory firm. Marten has a BCom degree from University of Natal and subsequently began a career in the corporate finance at a large auditing firm.

He is an entrepreneur by heart and has a vested interest in various opportunities outside of Synergy. Synergy has offices in Cape Town, South Africa and Lusaka, Zambia. Marten presently sits on a few private and public sector boards advising on transformation, corporate governance and strategic business services.

Previous experience: I don’t know where to start....A graduate of Rhodes University in Economics, worked for 15 years as a social entrepreneur designing projects like Men on the Side of the Road, 5in6 Project , Broccoli Project, Rock Roads Project, Dojo, Fundraising Academy, The Stick Fighting Company, Indlu Yegazi and Shoebox Homes.

Previous experience: Graduated with a BSc. ChemEng at UKZN in 2001 and started my career as process engineer within Sasol’s coal to liquids and gas to liquids (CTL/GTL) plants. I have been a refinery economist for British Petroleum South Africa responsible for the refinery’s business planning and commercial performance evaluation. I completed my mba at GIBS in 2009 and returned to Sasol as an operations manager. I’m currently an investment analyst conducting techno-economic assessments for Sasol’s chemicals and polymers technologies. The current focus is on gas monetisation opportunities particularly in countries applying shale gas extraction technologies.