New About us Announcement Draft Page

OUR LEADERSHIP

Harambee’s Board of Directors is made up of a diverse group of individuals whose collective experience is what the organisation needs at this moment. Our executive team brings decades of relevant experience and represents the best of South Africa’s talent.

OUR EXECUTIVE TEAM

Maryana Iskander

Chief Executive
Officer

Kasthuri Soni

Group Finance
Director

Evan Jones

Group Strategy
Director

Mosuoe Sekonyela

Chief Operating
Officer

Penny Foley

Chief Community Partnerships Officer

Kuben Nair

Chief Brand
Officer

Marzanne Collins

Chief Information
Officer

Lebo Nke

Chief Culture
Officer

Sharmi Surianarain

Chief Impact
Officer

Zengeziwe Msimang

Chief Engagement
Officer

OUR BOARD

Amanda (Tandi) Nzimande

Board
Chair

Nicola Galombik

Founder &
Non-executive Board Member

Safiyya Patel

Non-executive
Board Member

Sandile Gwala

Non-executive
Board Member

Mcebisi Jonas

Non-executive
Board Member

Adrian Enthoven

Non-executive
Board Member

Maryana Iskander

Executive Board Member
& CEO

Kasthuri Soni

Executive Board Member
& Finance Director

TRACK RECORD

Harambee was named 7th favourite brand in South Africa amongst low-income earners in the Yellowwood mobile survey conducted to give an indication of those brands that consumers feel are most relevant to them.

The South African Presidency, The World Economic Forum, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), The World Bank, The Mastercard Foundation and several others featured Harambee in a case study demonstrating leadership, effective solutions and high performance.

Harambee wins the prestigious 2019 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in recognition of the the trusted and leading role it plays in solving youth unemployment at scale in the South African labour market.

The Conscious Companies Awards named Harambee winner of their 2019 NGO Award, recognising Harambee for operating with a sense of a higher purpose.

Harambee awarded best growth/scale plan in the 2017 Global Centre for Youth Employment Ideathon out of 200 submissions globally from 25 countries. Harambee’s model to aggregate information across South Africa’s labour market to more efficiently match youth to jobs was selected as one of the top five plans.

The John P. McNulty Prize has celebrated the boldness and impact of individuals who are using their exceptional leadership abilities, entrepreneurial spirit and private sector talents to address the world’s toughest challenges. In 2015 Harambee was a finalist for this prize that is awarded in partnership with the Aspen Institute.

In 2017 Harambee was in the top 2% of applicants for USAID’s open innovation program that supports sustainable local organisations to test and scale creative solutions to global development challenge. It now supports Harambee to build innovative solutions to youth unemployment.

Harambee is a regular contributor through the media and in other forums to thought leadership on youth employment and economic inclusion.

Maryana Iskander

Chief Executive Officer

Maryana Iskander is Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. She brings a track record of scaling organisations through technology innovation, partnership models, data-driven delivery, and talent management. In 2019, Maryana led Harambee to receive the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the Conscious Companies Award. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and as Advisor to the President of Rice University. Maryana was also an associate at global consultancy McKinsey & Company, and a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Rice University, an M.Sc. from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where she received a Distinguished Alumna Award. Maryana is a Henry Crown Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She also serves on the board of World Education Services, a leading institution in the field of education and professional development.

Kasthuri Soni

Chief Executive Officer

Kasthuri is the Chief Executive Officer of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. Kasthuri is a chartered accountant and the previous Group Finance Director who spent 10 years at Deloitte in various leadership positions. She brings prior experience as Chief Executive Officer of Soul City and is widely regarded as a seasoned executive. As a member of the team that incubated the organisation at its founding in 2011 she has deep institutional knowledge of Harambee.

Stephen Shields

Chief Opportunity Development Officer

Stephen Shields is the Chief Opportunity Development Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. He is responsible for leading and directing Harambee’s work to unlock demand across the economy for young people to secure income opportunities. Prior to joining Harambee in 2019, Stephen worked for the Adcorp Group between 2000 and 2019, where he held several senior and executive roles across various Adcorp brands and entities. During this time, Stephen was responsible for leading large teams servicing sizeable client contract portfolios across a variety of sectors including financial services, telecommunications, retail, hospitality, and global business services. Stephen also worked for the Southern Sun Hotel Group for 10 years having trained and qualified in Hotel Management.

Mosuoe Sekonyela

Chief Government Relations Officer

Mosuoe Sekonyela is the Chief Government Relations Officer of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. He is responsible for leading partnerships and delivery across multiple systems that pathway young people to build their employability, grow their work readiness, and secure income opportunities. Mo brings prior experience in business development, psychometric tools and organisational development. He holds an Honours Industrial Psychology degree from the University of Johannesburg.

Penny Foley

Chief Community Partnerships Officer

Penny Foley is Chief Community Partnerships Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. She brings three decades of experience in youth development, employment creation, human rights, and working with civil society organisations to increase their impact. After ensuring that National Youth Service policy was translated into programmes for youth at Umsbomvu Youth Fund, Penny then spent 7 years as a director of Shisaka Development Management working on projects within the public sector with a primary focus on community works programmes. Penny holds a master’s degree in international development studies from Deakin University as well as a Diploma of Education and Bachelor of Arts from Monash University.

Kuben Nair

Chief Technology Officer

Kuben Nair is the Chief Technology Officer of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. He leads the teams and multi-channel systems that are responsible for designing and delivering products and services to Harambee’s network of partners. Kuben led brand and strategic marketing portfolios at SABMiller and brings strategy experience from his time at African Bank and McKinsey & Company. Kuben holds an MBA in social entrepreneurship and is trained as a computer scientist.

Lebo Nke

Chief Culture Officer

Lebo Nke is Chief Culture Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. She leads functions related to culture, people, and talent management, as well as providing support for Harambee’s key partnerships. Lebo brings 18 years of experience in organisational change management, having worked at Accenture and De Beers Group before serving as the Managing Director of Converse Consulting and Management Services, which was acquired by Ernst & Young. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Economic History from the University of Witwatersrand and a Masters degree in Consulting and Coaching for Change from INSEAD – France, Fontainebleau Campus.

Sharmi Surianarain

Chief Impact Officer

Sharmi Surianarain is Chief Impact Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. She leads research, knowledge, and insights, focusing on the impact of Harambee’s capabilities to change the system and contribute to solutions for the African continent. Sharmi brings prior experience in human capital management, education, and facilitating links to employment across Africa, India, and the United States. She served as Vice President of Lifelong Engagement at African Leadership Academy (ALA) where she oversaw a network of 2,000 young African leaders, managed ALA’s Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Africa Careers Network, and ALA’s alumni engagement team. Sharmi also served as a management consultant providing strategic advice to clients including the Development Bank of South Africa, Transnet Capital Projects, and the Government of Mozambique. She holds a B.A. from Harvard University, a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Amanda Nzimande

Non-executive Board Member

Amanda Tandiwe (Tandi) Nzimande is the CEO of Solidarity Fund. She is a chartered accountant who started her career as a corporate finance advisor at Deutsche Bank. Following that, she acquired and ran a small business in the postal and courier industry for 4 years. During that period, she did work for WDB Investment Holdings (WDBIH), a women’s empowerment company where she eventually spent 14 years. She was most recently at Chapter One Innovation Brokerage, a business model research and development firm. Tandi joined the Hollard Foundation Trust in 2013 and started working more closely with its early childhood development programmes, KYB Change Management and KYB Incubator. She is a trustee of the FirstRand Empowerment Foundation, and a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative.

Nicola Galombik

Founder and Board Member

Nicola Galombik is the founder and a non-executive board member of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. She is also an Executive Director at Yellowwoods, an investment holding company with several businesses in financial services and the restaurant/leisure sectors. Previously, Nicola established and was Managing Director of Converse Consulting, held senior executive positions in television broadcasting, policy and regulation and in education, and was a documentary filmmaker. Nicola was a Fulbright scholar and holds an MA from New York University. She is a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative and the Aspen Global Leadership Network, as well as the IGD Frontier 100 and African Leadership Network. She sits on the boards of several private sector businesses as well as the African Leadership Network.

Safiyya Patel

Non-executive Board Member

Safiyya serves as the head of corporate practice at global law firm Webber Wentzel. She is a leading expert in commercial law, mergers & acquisitions, and transactions related to broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE). She has written on cyber-rights and worked across mining, financial services, construction, media, telecommunications, broadcasting, and information technology law. Saffiya has been recognised by Legal 500 (for mergers & acquisitions), India Business Law Journal (for top international law firms who work in India), Who's Who Legal (for internet, e-commerce & data protection), and Best Lawyers (for corporate law).

Sandile Gwala

Non-executive Board Member

Sandile is the co-founder and CEO of SoluGrowth, where he brings over 21 years of experience in outsourcing and managed services. Previously, he headed up the Business Process Solutions (BPS) division and served as an executive partner at Deloitte Africa. In early 2018, he led the management buyout of the BPS business, resulting in SoluGrowth. He has served public sector clients in South Africa, where he led turnaround initiatives at government entities in the insurance, broadcasting, education and training sectors. Sandile holds a BCom in Computer Auditing and an MBA.

Mcebisi Jonas

Non-executive Board Member

Mcebisi Jonas is the Board Chairperson of MTN Group. He is also one of four Presidential Investment Envoys who support investment growth in South Africa. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Deputy Minister of Finance and a Member of Parliament. Before his appointment to national government, Mcebisi held multiple leadership roles in the Eastern Cape Provincial Government, including as MEC of Finance. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Investment and Marketing in the Eastern Cape. During the anti-apartheid years, he played a key role in the establishment of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Eastern Cape and upon his return from exile, Mcebisi was central to establishing the African National Congress (ANC) structures in the Eastern Cape. More recently, he played a role in civic activism against state capture and corruption.

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OUR LEADERSHIP

OUR EXECUTIVE TEAM

Maryana Iskander

Chief ExecutiveOfficer

Kasthuri Soni

Group FinanceDirector

Evan Jones

Group Strategy Director

Mosuoe Sekonyela

Chief Operating Officer

Penny Foley

Chief Community Partnerships Officer

Kuben Nair

Chief Brand Officer

Marzanne Collins

Chief Information Officer

Lebo Nke

Chief Culture Officer

Sharmi Surianarain

Chief Impact Officer

Zengeziwe Msimang

Chief EngagementOfficer

OUR BOARD

Amanda (Tandi) Nzimande

BoardChair

Nicola Galombik

Founder &Non-executive Board Member

Safiyya Patel

Non-executive Board Member

Sandile Gwala

Non-executive Board Member

Mcebisi Jonas

Non-executive Board Member

Adrian Enthoven

Non-executive Board Member

Maryana Iskander

Executive Board Member & CEO

Kasthuri Soni

Executive Board Member & Finance Director

TRACK RECORD

Maryana Iskander

Kasthuri Soni

Stephen Shields

Mosuoe Sekonyela

Penny Foley

Kuben Nair

Lebo Nke

Sharmi Surianarain

Amanda Nzimande

Nicola Galombik

Safiyya Patel

Sandile Gwala

Mcebisi Jonas

Chief Executive
Officer

Group Finance
Director

Group Strategy
Director

Chief Operating
Officer

Chief Brand
Officer

Chief Information
Officer

Chief Culture
Officer

Chief Impact
Officer

Chief Engagement
Officer

Board
Chair

Founder &
Non-executive Board Member

Non-executive
Board Member

Non-executive
Board Member

Non-executive
Board Member

Non-executive
Board Member

Executive Board Member
& CEO

Executive Board Member
& Finance Director