Corporate
Mardia van der Walt-Korsten, CEO: T-Systems SA
Mardia van der Walt-Korsten, CEO of T-Systems SA, has a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Stellenbosch and began her career abroad, working as a Clinical Research Assistant for Hoechst UK in London.
Moving back to South Africa, Mardia joined M-Net in 1991 as a training and development specialist and progressed alongside the successful expansion of the group, with her last position here being Group General Manager of Human Resources at Multichoice.
In 1998, she joined T-Systems SA as general manager of human resources, when the staff complement was a mere 210 employees. The company now boasts 1 158 people in the workforce. In 2006 Mardia was appointed as CEO for T-Systems SA, the first woman to ever hold this position within the T-Systems International Group.
As a CEO in South Africa, she is strongly committed to BBBEE and takes it way beyond mere compliance with a code or charter. Her approach is to seek out strong black economic empowerment partners as part of the T-Systems SA strategy, in ventures that will benefit numerous South Africans.
Her business philosophy is one that aims to establish long-term partnerships between T-Systems and customers and at this point she can proudly claim that T-Systems has never lost a customer to a competitor.
Mardia attributes the exponential growth of the company over the past few years to the somewhat contrarian approach of the SA operations of the global firm. “We have a ‘can-do’ attitude here. We are somewhat different to the rest of the group as the SA operations were set up from scratch and do not have a legacy of corporate activity, mergers and spin offs from other industries in the broader ICT space.”
Her nonnegotiable philosophy is that the company cannot afford to be rigid when it comes to the client. “A flexible approach is essential especially with regard to the long-term contracts that are common in our industry. Clients have to be accommodated if their needs change during this time. It is a partnership, not just a simple service provider/customer relationship, and it has to be fine-tuned regularly. Our clients benchmark us against the best in the world and we have to outperform.”
Mardia sees customer satisfaction inextricably linked to staff and skills retention and development.” Staff must be motivated to meet our ambitious targets – but these also need to be realistic. Everyone at T-Systems is highly passionate about the company and the industry and this obviously comes across to the client.”
Mardia is a member of several professional organisations, being the Institute of People Management (IPM), the SA Medical and Dental Council (SAMDS), Business Women of South Africa (MWSA) and the Concerned Professional Woman’s Forum (CPWF). She was also a finalist in the 2007 Boss of the Year competition.
Entrepreneur
Chichi Maponya
• Currently, Director and PA to Chairman & CEO of Maponya Group, Mr. Richard Maponya. Responsible for all business activities of Maponya Group and subsidiaries; management, growth and diversification strategy.
• Chichi Maponya is founder and MD of Mathari Resources, a women owned company focusing on mining, procurement and commodities trading.
• She cut her teeth in business in the family businesses, mainly high street (food retail) and forecourt retail, where she gained experience spanning the entire gamut of business operations
• She then sought independence and went on to work for a property development company first as assistant to the MD and then as project manager
• Later joining The South African Institute of Civil Engineers (SAICE) as Bookkeeper and assistant Public Relations officer
• Soon thereafter joined Black Like Me Products, one of the largest cosmetics manufacturers in SA as PR Manager & assistant Marketing Manager
• Following that she established a communications company, with clients such as Coca Cola and MTN
• She then sought a change in career and worked as a trainee analyst with an Asset Management company, Quantum Alliance, focusing on mergers and acquisitions
• Later joining Kwezi Group as Director for Business Development, Marketing and Relationship Management
• She served on several boards; Intertoll Africa, Sitech Systems, Kwezi V3 and Kwezi BoE Asset Management.
• Hosted a number of events including Tourism Indaba in 1994 and was TV presenter for programme that encouraged domestic tourism in SA
• Graduate of the University of Natal with a BComm. degree