Director: USB

Dr Geraldine Gina Abaidoo holds a DBA and MBA ACII, MCIM and a chartered insurer qualification. She is the lead consultant for FINNET Solutions Ltd, a firm that provides consulting services and deployment of best business solutions to create synergic value and business growth.  Geraldine has expertise in business strategy, business risk assessment and training. She has experience in new business initiatives such as Bancassurance partnerships and customer-centric initiatives. She has strong negotiation, planning, communication and leadership skills and she serves on various committees. She is an adjunct lecturer at the Ghana Insurance College and an inhouse peer reviewer of the Journal of Functional Education. She obtained her Doctorate in Business Administration (Project Management) from Walden University, USA.

Jakkie Coetzee is Director of Africa Commercial Vehicles (Iveco) in Windhoek, Namibia. He fulfilled the position of General Manager at Iveco from 2010 to 2016. Prior to that, he was Financial Manager at JHI, Namibia. He holds a BComm Hons (Management Accounting) from Stellenbosch University and an MBA from USB.

Prof Prieur du Plessis is the chairperson and founder of the investment management business Plexus Holdings. He holds a number of key positions including membership on the Advisory Board of USB, a trustee of PPS Holdings Trust, chairperson of Grindrod Asset Management Holdings, deputy chairperson of the Institute of Directors in South Africa and director of the Distell Group. Prof Du Plessis is also a professor extraordinaire at USB and the Honorary Consul General of Slovenia for South Africa.

Virna Greer is a MBA alumnus and a Partner within the Advisory Operations competency of PwC. Virna has over 20 years of experience across various industries and this has afforded her the opportunity to develop strong leadership, communication, business and operational skills. Virna’s main area of focus is Strategy and Operations focusing on the exploitation of organisational design and technology to unlock business value.

Virna believes that as an alumnus you have the responsibility to grow the Brand and foster relationships across the globe.

Shayo is currently the CEO and Lead Consultant at StratNovate Consulting an, indigenous firm birthed to assist businesses in providing strategic direction and substance to their visions and aspirations. StratNovate’s vision is to be a global force in providing creatively innovative and positively disruptive business solutions to its esteemed clientele that help reposition their businesses for continuous and consistent future growth.
Shayo has almost 30 years of experience in finance, auditing & compliance, consultancy and advisory, and more recently business development and strategy. Her career has taken her through almost every industry in Nigeria.
Shayo previously served as the Group Compliance Director of Troyka Holdings Limited, the biggest indigenous conglomerate in the advertising space in Nigeria. The group has business interests in marketing communications, public relations, media buying, out of home advertising, digital marketing solutions, property development, and security & protection.

Mark Phillips is involved in Research and Strategy at Sanlam Investments’ Multi-Manager Business.  Mark joined Sanlam Investments in January 2010 as an Investment Analyst.  During the 7 years spent at Sanlam Investments, Mark is involved in market and manager research. Mark completed his B.Bus.Sci (Quantitative Management) (Hons) at the University of Cape Town, graduating the 2009. He has also completed the PGDip in Futures Studies at the University of Stellenbosch Business School. Furthermore, he is currently completing the MPhil in Futures Studies this year. In his spare time Mark enjoys reading and playing golf.

Emma Rono, is a specialist in the grants, fund and project management spaces, with strong donor/funders and university relationship, deep understanding of fund management and extensive experience in university capacity building in Sub Saharan Africa. Emma provides fund management and governance advisory services to Universities, foundations, individuals and international organizations on strategic growth and fund management. Over the last 13 years, Emma has built up extensive experience in non-profit making organisations, universities and institutional public-private partnerships. Most recently she was the  programme officer with African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and currently involved in Academic Programmes Development for a private International University and involved in the governance of a public University in Kenya.  A member of Project Management Institute (PMI) and the Institute of Directors. Emma holds a Master of Development Finance from University of Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa and a Bachelor of Education in Accounting and Economics from University of Nairobi, Kenya in addition to other professional certificates.

Bettina Schneider works in the Telecommunications sector as Manager of Special Projects at Kabel Deutschland, in the Munich Area, Germany. Previously Bettina worked as Consultant, Supply chain Management with Accenture in Kronberg, Germany. She is a USB graduate with MBA cum laude.

Matlhogonolo Sebate is a specialist African investment advisor with his own company. A keen investor, his consulting expertise balances theory and practice in areas such as economics, development finance and strategy. He believes that his active and passive (opposed to static) approach to investments in Africa and the diversity of projects in which he has been involved throughout the value chain have honed his skills to give advice on investment themes such as private equity, development finance, investment funds and direct investments. Mr Sebate also guides governments on economic and financial policies to stimulate growth and development.

Elyssa Spreeth, an electrical engineer, works at Sasol in Secunda and focuses on the commercial aspects of project management. She has project and engineering management experience in open-pit and underground mining as well as petrochemicals. She obtained her MBA cum laude at USB.

Pieter Uys, a USB MBA alumnus, is part of the executive management structure of Remgro Ltd. He is head of Strategic Investments at Remgro Ltd. He joined the investment holdings company Remgro in April 2013 after having served as Vodacom’s CEO for four years, having joined the company over 20 years before that.

Mehran Zarrebini, CEO at PFE International Inc., specialises in strategy, start-ups, buy-outs, acquisitions, turnarounds, manufacturing and international sales. He assists companies to innovate and develop unique and efficient business processes to enable them to transform into powerful brands and inspiring cultures, and to increase their financial performance. Mr Zarrebini has worked in the flooring, plastic extrusion, property and recycling industries in South Africa and Southern Africa.