Obakeng Kgethe

I am an experienced business development strategist with over 20 years of workplace experience, over 10 years of which have been in management.

I am an energetic, ambitious and highly passionate person who is driven to lead a company to be innovators, forward thinkers and leaders within their industry. I believe in the best or nothing, and promote an open, collaborative and team-playing spirit. Networking and relationship management coupled with a drive to produce long lasting results are key to success, along with a vision to create an agile way of work.

My background and career path has been forged in both private and public sector in the areas of property & business development, stakeholder & relationship management, projects & operations management. I have extensive knowledge in marketing & business development, property development, Stakeholder and partnerships management backed by commendable leadership capabilities, gained in the cooperate sector.

In my spare time, I trade my suite and tie for hiking gear as I love nature and adventure. travelling, exploring and trying new things. I enjoy reading, meditation and exploring life outside the concrete jungle.

JB HOLDINGS

• Best Sales Award - over R100 Million singel deal.




STANDARD CHARTED BANK

• I was appointed to head a successful Straight2bank compliance audit in ZAMBIA Standard Charted Bank in November 2013
• I was involved in Project Rubicon, a record-breaking deal that saw ABSA (BARCLAYS BANK) sell their entire Custody Business to Standard Charted Bank and 150 of their staff members move to SCB.
• Coordinated a successful but complex software upgrade project, changing the entire Standard Chartered banks operating system from Windows XP to Windows 7.
• Responsible for ensuring best value is obtained for the project including supplier base use of internal and external resources.
• Tracking activities against the detailed project plans. Responsible for progress meetings and working closely with all departmental managers to promote overall company effectiveness. Prepared status reports for use in communication to stakeholders.
• Elected Standard Charted Bank’s HIV/AIDS Country Lead Champion for South Africa region.
• Organized charity workshops, HIV awareness campaigns, Motivational Seminars at schools, community halls in townships and villages.




SIBANYE GOLD (Goldfields)

• Coordinated a successful migration project, moving all Goldfields mines to one domain, including servers and network.
• Worked closely with shaft managers, personal assistants and other stakeholders.
• Escalating issues and area of concern to senior managers.
• Ensured staff and sub-contractors timesheets were accurately completed.
• Managed the project team including subcontractors.
• Tracking activities against the detailed project plans.




VODACOM BUSINESS UNIT

• Awarded best Team manager for two consecutive years for consistent performance.

I like hiking alone because I can enjoy the beauty of silence and the sounds of nature. I like listening to the rhythm of my breath, looking at the small details or loosing myself in the look of a magnificent scenery, trying to engrave it in my memory, for ever. When I hike I want to feel fully immersed in the nature surrounding me, I like to remember how small I am. It helps me putting things again in the right perspective. I don’t feel the need of talking and even less of listening to other people chatting. It’s not the place for words, unless they are spoken by nature.

To me, hiking is much more than an outdoor activity. It’s a philosophy and a medicine. For the body and, most of all, for the soul. When I go hiking alone, whether in the mountains, in a lush forest or a coastal track, I feel as if I was making a journey inside myself. In that moments, my senses are so acute, the feelings I experience so deep, that it would be impossible to share them. They are part of my deepest self, something about myself that I forget too often until I know that I have to go back to my more intimate roots.