26 Aug MS KONEHALI GUGUSHE
Chief Executive Officer: Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund
Kone is a Chartered Accountant (SA) with more than 20 years working experience, spanning over the financial services sector and development finance. After graduating from Rhodes University and University of Natal, she commenced her career with articles at the audit firm Moores Rowland in Cape Town. On completion of articles, she worked at various banks including Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank (now Standard Bank CIB), JP Morgan and Nedbank, gaining experience in credit risk management and investment analysis. She also gained exposure to private equity management through her time at Safika Holdings.
With a passion for development, Kone spent 5 years heading up the Nedbank Foundation, the primary CSI arm of the Nedbank Group. During this time, she had the opportunity to drive the CSI strategy of the bank, which mainly aimed to make the group a catalyst for upliftment in our communities with a major emphasis being placed on sustainability.
Following her time at Nedbank, Kone expanded her development finance experience when she joined the Land Bank as the Chief Risk Officer in 2015. While her primary responsibilities related to the identification, mitigation, and management of all risks for the bank, Kone also emerged as quite a dynamic leader for the bank, capable of being deployed to various other areas including Acting Company Secretary, Acting Chief Financial Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer. Through her career, Kone has developed a broad range of technical expertise and strong leadership qualities. Not only does she have a holistic understanding of the risk and governance issues impacting organisations, but she is also committed to good governance, active stakeholder management and leading with integrity.
Kone’s vision is to be an active participant in shaping a better future for generations to come, particularly contributing towards better social cohesion and community development. She has a passion for African development and youth empowerment. As Madiba said, “may your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears”, it is Kone’s choice to invest in the children who are the future of our society.
Kone has participated in several functional and management related leadership training as part of her professional development. She is a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative (ALI), which is part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In 2014 she received the Emerging Old Rhodian Award from her Alma Mater Rhodes University. This award is aimed at honouring younger Old Rhodians (i.e., Rhodes University Alumni) who have excelled early in their career and shown potential for continued success. She is also a non-executive board member for several organisations and is a council member of the University of Johannesburg Council Member.
Kone has been married to Nkosi for the last 18 years, and they have 3 wonderful children.