1. In collaborationwith
IPM WOMEN’S CONVENTION AND WORKSHOP
“WOMEN IN THE ECONOMY …how to boost their impact and involvement”
Friday, 24 July, 2015
Speakers’ Profiles
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
LINDIWE RAKHAREBE, Chief Executive Officer,
Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, Durban
Lindiwe Rakharebe, is the newly appointed Chief Executive
Officer of the Durban International Convention Centre (Durban
ICC).
Lindiwe holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Leadership
(Free State University), a Diploma in Management
Development Programme (Executive Education), and a
number of professional development programmes including
the Financial Services Training Programme (International
Training Solutions).
Lindiwe has extensive experience in the financial services
industry in KwaZulu-Natal and is a well-respected business
leader across the country. During her career, she has held various management and
specialist positions in public sector banking, vehicle finance at First National Bank, Wesbank,
Absa and Nedbank.
She is passionate about women and gender issues in respect of women empowerment, and
caring for the aged is close to her heart. In light of her leadership role in driving women
empowerment and caring for the aged, she is serving as the Chairperson of the KwaZulu-
Natal Network in preventing violence against women.
Lindiwe is personally and professionally committed to making a difference in the lives of those
less fortunate.
Lindiwe’s roots are in KwaZulu-Natal. She was born and raised in Chesterville. She is of the
firm belief that nothing supersedes the value of being a mother and the importance of
belonging to a family. At the core of her purpose is to ensure that quality time is set aside for
her family. She is a loving and adored mother of four children: three boys and a girl.
She is an avid reader of most literature. Her health is extremely important to her and is
something she takes seriously. She plays tennis, table tennis, squash and basketball.
Lindiwe’s motto in life is ‘Treat others the way you would like to be treated’.

2. SPEAKERS AND PANELLISTS
KARABO RAMOOKHO. National Marketing Manager for KZN,
Personal Financial Advice, Old Mutual
Karabo is the National Distribution Marketing Manager with one of the top Financial
Services Providers in South Africa. She started as a trainee sales support manager
in 2001 and then moving on to becoming a Sales Manager, and then a Sales
Manager before leaving to work as an Office & HR Manager for a leading TV
Production Company. Prior to taking up her current role, Karabo was the Regional
Marketing Manager for the Gauteng Region, a position she held for over 4 years.
Her passion lies in enabling others to find their own passion in life. A passionate
speaker on issues of personal finance for women and how having your financial
ducks in a row can enable women to reach almost all their goals in life, Karabo is
also a singer, a published writer and a passionate cook with a National Diploma in
Food Service Management from the University of Johannesburg. Touted as a
hidden comedienne, her sharp, somewhat dry sense of humour keeps the guests
laughing throughout her talks and shows.
Karabo has won several singing competitions and in 2005, Karabo was one of the top 24 finalist of the popular
South African Idols Competition. She has entertained at venues such as Sun City for both corporates and as
an entertainer for some of the events that were held for patrons. Her versatility in being able to soulfully deliver
classics by the likes of Nina Simone, to rendering songs made popular by the late Mirriam Makeba with ease
as well as numbers by Kurt Darren like Loslappie, makes sure that she caters for most audiences.
She has written an article on women and business in Africa for the SAA in-flight magazine, and also had her
first short story published in 2010. She lives by 2 mantras, the first being by Mahatma Gandhi “Be the change
you wish to see in the world” and the other one by the Director General of the office of the Gauteng Premier Ms.
Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo “Use the rules to change the game” – in an industry where everything is governed by
one or more rules, Karabo believes – you won’t always be able to change them, but you can use the rules as
stepping stones in yours and the advancement of those around you. Karabo is in her final leg of completing a
Master’s Degree in Business Administration with MANCOSA. Karabo is married with three children aged 1, 9
and 13.
BESSIE MABUNDA,
General Manager: Project Execution Manganese, Iron Ore,
Western Cape and Eastern Cape and Acting Engineering GM of
Transnet
Bessie holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA), Leadership
and Strategy from Milkpark Business School, and a Bachelor’s Degree: Electrical
Engineering from the University of Cape Town.
As General Manager with Transnet, she manages a portfolio of rail and port
infrastructure projects.
Prior to joining Transnet, Bessie spent nearly 6 years as Senior Project Manager with Eskom in Sunninghill,
managing a portfolio of projects comprising Renewable Rail, Road and Research projects. She spent 3 years
from 2004 to 2007 as Programme Manager with Eskom in Braamfontein, where she managed a programme of
projects for Eskom Distribution’s Central Region. These included sub-stations, network strengthening, network
refurbishment, customer connections and electrification. She also spent two years managing major reticulation
projects in Eskom Distribution’s Central Region and managed refurbishment projects on Hydro Power Plants in
Durbanville as an Eskom Engineer.
Prior to joining Eskom, Bessie was Control & Instrument Engineer with Unilever SA for two years in Boksburg
and was responsible for automation of production and packaging processes.

3. JUANITA SIMPSON, Director: Sales and Marketing,
ICAS (Independent Counselling & Advisory Services,
Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd.
Juanita has over 18 years’ experience in the fields of Individual and
Organisational Risk Management, Health Insurance, Employee Wellness and
Management Consulting. She is a member of the Institute of Directors in
Southern Africa (IoDSA) and the Institute of People Management (IPM). In
2014 Juanita completed her MBA at Business School Nederland, and
currently acts as a mentor to MBA students at the school. She also recently
attended Harvard University on an Executive Course: Women in Leadership.
Drawing on a wealth of knowledge in the private, public and government sectors, her focus is providing
individuals, organisations and their business leaders with risk management mitigation options in order to achieve
business growth. Through her work, Juanita has had exposure to a broad range of client organisational
frameworks both locally and internationally with an ongoing focus on human capital optimisation, solutions,
which allow her to provide a unique insight and perspective.
Building on her expertise in the fields of product innovation, business strategy, marketing management,
organisational development, customer centricity and leadership development and coaching, Juanita has
developed a special interest in human capital risk management and the impact of leadership on the sustainability
of an organisation. Previous to ICAS Juanita was employed by The Unlimited World and Quest Flexible Staffing.
ICAS is Africa’s largest provider of organisationally focused employee health and wellness support services and
provides a range of services (from Absence Management Programmes, Prescriptive Human Capital Risk
Solutions to Employee Wellbeing. Occupational Health and Executive Care and Coaching Programmes) to
over two million individuals in both the private and public sector across eighteen African countries. As Director,
Juanita is responsible for functions ensuring that ICAS has a market relevant and innovative Human Capital
Risk Management solution set to provide to the broader environment in which it operates and develops. Integral
to the role is leadership, innovation, risk management and stakeholder relationship engagement.
DUMILE CELE is the Chief Executive Officer of the Durban
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Dumile is a passionate leader with an energetic enthusiasm for all she does. Her
strong sense of vision, planning and hard work have seen her through the
challenges she faced from the time she was born in rural KwaZulu-Natal, Eshowe,
through her education and onto her career while establishing a family of her own.
Dumile Cele was educated at St Anne’s in Hilton and, having been awarded a
bursary by Deloitte, obtained a B.Soc.Sc in Economics at the University of Cape
Town. She also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (UKZN)
and is currently finalising the requirements for a M.Com in Maritime Studies.
Her career experience includes spells at a senior executive level in both Safmarine
and Portnet where her particular responsibilities, as she progressed, related to business development at the
Durban port, road transport, transformation and container operations.
Possession of first class communication skills enables Dumile to build lasting relationships and to articulate her
thoughts and views well both in writing and when speaking in public. She has extensive corporate experience
at senior management level, which together with her qualifications has equipped her with business management
skills within the broader socio-economic and political environment. Her corporate experience is coupled with
experience in the small, medium and micro enterprise sector. As a certified director, Dumile also has a full
appreciation of the intricacies of corporate structure.

4. Dumile joined the Durban Chamber in January 2013. Her portfolio has included Business Services Manager
and International Trade and Business Information Services. She has also managed the SMME Department for
a year in the absence of an enterprise development manager. This experience has given Dumile knowledge
and understanding of the Chamber movement and the role of organised business.
Earlier in her working career, Dumile decided to leave the corporate world and become self-employed in order
to create more flexibility while raising a young family. During this time Dumile completed an executive coaching
course with the Coaching Centre based in Cape Town. She has since gained experience coaching people at
various levels. She also did much business consulting and skills development during this time.
Dumile was involved in various BEE investment initiatives including being part of the Bidvest empowerment
deal. She at times attended board meetings with the Bidvest Board which included the likes of Mr Brian Joffe.
Here she gained invaluable experience concerning the strategic directing of very large corporates.
In 2005, Dumile founded a non-profit organisation for women development and empowerment. The organisation
aims to move women out of the peripheral of our society into the socio-economic main stream. Branches have
grown from Durban to Newcastle, Piet Retief, Eshowe, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
Senior Management Experience – Portnet: After being head hunted in 1996 Dumile joined Portnet as
business development manager. This position gave her exposure to the entire port authority operations and
specifically port business. Dumile travelled extensively around Europe studying international best practice in a
number of sea ports in countries such as Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium and the UK. She also studied
logistics management in Antwerp, Belgium
During her tenure with Portnet she gained experience in port operations management and even acted as Durban
Port Manager. Later Dumile became the road transport services manager and managed a profitable business
within Portnet. She had a staff of approximately 350 people including a multi-discipline management team to
support her drive a critical service within the economy of our country. She controlled an operating budget of
approximated R50 million and a capital budget in access a R100 million.
Other positions Dumile held in Portnet included transformation consultant, responsible for business processes
re-engineering and container operations consultant, responsible for implementing a container terminal operating
system in all seven ports in South Africa. Later, with her maritime business experience she became manager
for the Port Academy (now known as the School of Ports), a training institution responsible for skills development
in all South African ports. Dumile was responsible for turning the Port Academy from being a cost centre,
operating at a loss, to becoming a profit centre. She achieved this through the implementation of various
business strategies including taking the skills development offering of the Academy to ports in the SADC region
and further into Africa. While there she also delivered the Ship Handling Simulator for marine operators’ training
- a flagship contribution toward skill development in the maritime sector
Maritime Corporate Experience – Safmarine, Cape Town & Durban: Dumile joined Safmarine’s Marketing
Department as a market analyst after graduating from UCT in 1994. Her role was to conduct market analysis to
provide the company with accurate market intelligence used by senior management for decision making. She
became exposed to international trade dynamics and high-level intelligence activities occurring within the
shipping industry. It was during these early days that Dumile developed a love for the maritime industry, a sector
most people in her community knew very little about.
In 1995, in order to facilitate a move closer to home, Dumile applied for a CSI position within Safmarine and
soon became the KZN corporate social investment manager. In this position, Dumile delivered many
development projects in previously disadvantaged communities in KZN. She successfully project managed the
building of schools, clinics and business centres for SMMEs in marginalised areas. While these projects were
a response to our country’s socio-economic challenges, Dumile ensured a return on investment for Safmarine
by increasing the company’s profile as a responsible corporate citizen in the early days of our democracy

5. SHIRLEYANTHONY, owner of Marketing Breakthroughs, a
Marketing Consultancy operational for over twenty-one years
Shirley holds a BA Degree from Rhodes University, Cape Town, majoring in
English and Psychology. She simultaneously studied for the two year Certificate
in Secretarial Practice, graduating with a distinction in shorthand. She has also
completed a Digital Marketing certificate through digital agency, Quirk and
University of Stellenbosch.
She successfully sat the eight month Management Advancement Programme
(MAP) - Wits Business School, Johannesburg and attained distinctions in five out
of six subject and was placed second in a group of 200 students. She is a
member of top syndicate.
Shirley has also attained a Marketing Management Certificate from Damelin
Management School, Johannesburg and graduated first class. She also
completed a two Year Diploma in Public Relations through the Public Relations Institute of South Africa (PRISA).
Shirley operates her own marketing consultancy, and her assignments span a myriad of industries, including
information technology, food, tourism, banking, pharmaceuticals, mining, armaments, clothing and cellular
technology. She has the ability to handle several and diverse projects simultaneously and to adopt and apply
knowledge and experience to different circumstances and environments.
Her corporate learning has been gained via extensive market and marketing management experience at senior
management level, in large multi-national, fast moving consumer goods organisations. She has an in-depth
knowledge of consumer behaviour trends, both locally and internationally, across a broad spectrum of market
sectors. She is familiar with business, manufacturing, wholesale and retail environments and has a proven
track record for product and business development, profit generation and return on investment.
Having completed a Digital marketing online certificate qualification offered jointly by digital agency, Quirk, and
the University of Stellenbosch, she can therefore provide Digital Marketing strategies and implementation.
Shirley has lectured in various aspects of marketing to students studying for Marketing and Business Diplomas
at Executive Education and Damelin, private colleges in Johannesburg. She has also presented a course of
marketing lectures at Wits Business School. She has addressed junior and middle level personnel on the
importance of a company’s image in selling its product or service.
Shirley’s professional and academic interests include the philosophies and management styles of successful
business people and new product market potential, while keeping up to date with people and trends through
extensive reading.
Shirley has just authored a book titled “The NEW entrepreneur: A practical Marketing Guide for Growing Your
Own Business”.
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