The ‘woman of steel’ who took corporate South Africa by storm and now watches over its biggest bank
Nonkululeko Nyembezi is a trailblazer in corporate South Africa and is currently the chairperson of Standard Bank, South Africa’s largest bank by assets under management.
Born in Pietermaritzburg in 1960, Nyembezi grew up in the Clermont township outside Pinetown. Her mother was a nurse, and her father was a lawyer active in the apartheid struggle.
A gifted maths and science pupil, she would go on to study at the Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the UK.
She would then go on to receive a Master of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology. She then received an MBA from the Open University Business School.
Her first roles were with IBM in the United States and South Africa, where she worked in various technical, marketing, and management roles.
She then moved to Alliance Capital Management, where she would become CEO and chairperson of the Namibia business.
She then pivoted into telecommunications, becoming the Chief Officer of Mergers and Acquisitions of the Vodacom Group.
She then moved to industry again,taking over as the CEO of ArcelorMittal South Africa.
During her time there, she earned the monikor of South Africa’s “woman of steel”, heading up the country’s largest steel producer.
Despite appearing as an odd fit to lead an industrial giant, she believes that her unique skillset was good for the company—being an expert team builder, who recognises the value in skillsets and people who can get things done.
“In some industries, there is a time when it is perhaps good to bring in an outsider who can shine a light and ask questions about things that others might not have,” she told Forbes.
“I know how to build a team and can compensate for areas where my knowledge may have been limited.”
Her growing influence saw her named one of the most influential women by Forbes in 2012, ranking 97th worldwide.
Following six years at AMSA, she moved to mining company Ichor Coal NV, which focuses on thermal coal production, where she again stayed for six years.
Outside of her day-to-day duties, she also joined the board of several listed and unlisted companies across South Africa.
She became the chairperson of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2013 and served in the role for close to a decade.
She was also named the chairperson of Alex Forbes in 2018, becoming the first black woman to chair the company. She left near the end of 2019.
She remains the chairperson of Business Leadership South Africa, a corporate lobby group thats members include Standard Bank, Nedbank, the JSE, Vodacom. Allan Gray, MTN, Vodacom and far more.
On top of these roles, she has also worked on the boards of other JSE-listed companies, including Old Mutual and Anglo American.
Takes the job at Standard Bank
She was appointed to the Standard Bank Group and Standard Bank South Africa (SBSA) boards in January 2020 as an independent non-executive director.
She was then named chair-designate of the group and SBSA in March 2022, taking over in June 2022.
“By every possible measure of experience, character, skill, and achievement, Nyembezi is ideally suited to be the chairman of the group,” said Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala at the time of the announcement.
“Nyembezi’s very strong academic background, great achievements as an industrialist and corporate leader, and her worldwide network of colleagues and peers combine to make her a very widely respected citizen of South Africa, Africa, and the world.”
Nyembezi will likely be busy at South Africa’s largest bank, as the group looks to find a new CEO and CFO.
Although the group recently increased its executive retirement age from 60 to 63, this will not apply to current CEO Sim Tshabalala and CFO Arno Daehnke.
Tshabalala became CEO in 2013, while Daehnke was appointed in 2016.
She has already overseen one transition in her role as the chairperson of Standard Bank South Africa.
Earlier this year, Kenny Fihla left his roles as Group Deputy CEO and SBSA CEO to take over as the Group CEO of rival Absa.
While Tshabalala filled in as SBSA CEO on an interim basis, the group’s Chief Risk Officer, David Hodnett, will take over full-time.
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