Ready for a new challenge

in various positions at Unilever ultimately ending her 22 years at the company as human resources vice president Africa. Mechell, who will be relocating to Denmark soon, said she is excited to embark on the new adventure. “I am South African and will always have my roots here, but I will use this experience to engage with people from other walks of life, travel through Europe and do more hiking, hopefully.”

Chief people officer Akhona Qengqe takes on KFC GM role

Nana Serapelo joins Netstar

Nana Serapelo has been appointed human capital executive for Altron subsidiary Netstar.

She started her journey as a payroll administrator for a consulting company, moving quickly through the ranks in different disciplines from administration to consulting over the past decade.

Nana holds a post-graduate diploma in HR and is passionate about people development.

Mechell Chetty head of people function for Maersk Latin America, IMEA

The former head of HR at A.P. Moller - Maersk Mechell Chetty has taken up a new position as head of people function Latin America, IMEA and Global Commercial at the integrated logistics company. Prior to joining Maersk in 2021, Mechell was

Former chief people officer of KFC Africa Akhona Qengqe has taken up the position of general manager of the leading food chain in Africa. Making her the first African woman to do so on the continent. Akhona will be replacing Dhruv Kaul, who is moving into a GM role for KFC Pan Europe. Akhona was appointed chief people officer in 2020 and prior to that she held the position of director from transformation and diversity.

Absa appoints Jeanett Modise as CPO

Absa Group has appointed Jeanette Modise as its chief people officer. The accomplished human resources professional has extensive experience at executive level, driving HR strategy, operations, turnaround and digital transformation in local and global organisations

Jeanett has led HR, procurement and facilities management teams and strategic initiatives in fast-changing environments. Her focus has been on culture, change and transformation in dynamic, customer-focused, growth businesses where the attraction, retention, and development of top talent is one of the key business drivers.

She has served as non-executive director on the boards of various companies for more than 20 years, and was most recently the group HR executive and director on the board of JSE-listed Sanlam Limited and Sanlam Life, as well as a member of the Social, Ethics and Sustainability Committee.

Bohlale Paile has joined WeBuyCars

As the newly appointed head of HR at WeBuyCars, Bohlale Paile is responsible for the strategic ideation and execution of the human capital element of the business.

Prior to this, Bohlale was the head of HR and talent for Transaction Capital and head of graduate recruitment and development at Bowmans. She has 13 years’ experience in HR.

Asoka Moodley has joined Dr Oetker SA

Asoka Moodley has been appointed as group people and culture manager at Dr Oetker South Africa.

Asoka has 16 years’ experience in the HR space. She previously worked at Fury Motor Group as group HR manager, and has held various HR roles in the motor retail, IT, FMCG, oil and gas, recruitment, banking and education sectors.

Bulelwa Mamabolo joins Medipost Holdings

Bulelwa Mamabolo has taken on the role of group HR manager at Medipost Holdings.

Bulelwa holds a BA (Hons) in psychology and a national diploma in human resource management. The keen advocate of lifelong learning has continued to expand her horizons with postgraduate courses, the most recent of which is a management and executive coaching course she completed through the University of Cape Town.

She was previously the group HR manager at Signa Group Shared Services. Bulelwa has gained experience in different facets of healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry, including as HR manager for Imperial Centurion, and fixed contracts at Adcock Ingram (Aeroton) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Health Consortium.

Vasinthee Moodley takes on director role at Tiger Brands

Vasinthee Moodley has been appointed as the people experience director at Tiger Brands. The company says Vasinthee brings a wealth of experience gained from various leadership roles.

She started her career in the process engineering and quality assurance fields at Procter and Gamble (SA), before transitioning into the human capital space.

Vasinthee has held key roles in companies such as SABMiller, Consol, Nedbank, Absa Capital/Barclays, and Massmart. She was also the group talent executive at the FirstRand Group, where she was responsible for creating the first group-wide employee experience portfolio for the group.

Sonwabo Maholwana is Novartis SA’s head of HR

The local entity of global medicines company Novartis has appointed

Sonwabo Maholwana as head of people and organisation.

Sonwabo joins the company from Boehringer Ingelheim, where he was the human resources director for three and a half years.

He has a Management Advancement Programme (MAP) postgraduate qualification, an Industrial Relations Programme certificate and is currently studying a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration (PDBA) at Wits Business School. He boasts more than 20 years of experience in enhancing organisational culture, talent development, and legislative compliance.

Variable workforce provider Makosi has appointed Lindsay Gaal as its first chief people officer

The experienced C-suite level executive, who previously headed HR for New York-based Friedman LLP, an accounting, tax, and business consulting firm, has been cited in many publications and thought leadership articles for transforming culture and people functions in the accounting industry.

Lindsay has a master’s degree in Human Resources Management and a PHR.

Claudia Sefatsa heads HR at Echo Service Provider

Claudia Sefatsa has been appointed as the head of HR at Echo Service Provider. She previously held the position of human resources manager at William Radcliffe. Prior to joining Radcliffe, Claudia was the HR business partner at software development house Britehouse from 2016 to 2020. As an experienced HR professional, Claudia holds a Diploma in business management and administration, a higher certificate in management practice, and a higher certificate in project management.

Executive director of HR at Vodacom SA Njabulo

Mashigo’s foray into HR was accidental: she initially intended to study journalism. However, the switch to industrial psychology was a good choice as she quickly excelled and became an HR director at the young age of 30.

BY PUSELETSO MOMPEI

ince winning the coveted 2022 CHRO of the Year Award, Njabulo Mashigo, executive director HR at Vodacom SA, has been flooded with well-wishes – and requests for mentorship and guidance from young people.