The Plight of Black Professionals in Cape Town

Earlier this year, an opinion piece written by a discontented investment professional made waves in local media highlighting a key pressure point for business – the plight of black professionals in Cape Town. The widely-shared article was both disheartening and encouraging to see. It was encouraging because it has brought a critically important issue into the public domain in a manner that demands attention and deep, honest engagement around a subject that is often uncomfortable to acknowledge. It was disheartening because it is a long-standing issue in corporate Cape Town, which has not been actively addressed and which ultimately results in a sense of alienation for young black talent who feel unwelcome in the Mother City.

This is, however, a complex and multi-faceted challenge, informed more by anecdotal rather than empirical evidence. The evidence, nevertheless, is there and can no longer be ignored. Cape Town is experiencing an exodus of black talent and it costs regional corporates a fortune to continually import black talent and offer above-market salaries in the hope of driving greater retention, only to have them relocate north after a year or two. This issue is not new to Accelerate Cape Town as we have traditionally supported our members’ Human Capital programmes through initiatives such as our Inspiration Sessions, Young Leaders Dinners and HR Professional Forums.

The objectives of this Thought Leaders engagement are to:

• Continue the conversation around the plight of black professionals in Cape Town in an honest and robust manner
• Discuss ways to deal decisively with both perceived and actual racism
• Consider programmes within the workplace that drive higher levels of cultural intelligence across all levels of the organisation
• Take a closer look at recruitment practice and the unconscious cultural bias often evident in the behaviours of recruiters.

Speaker profiles:

Nene Molefi

Owner and MD of Mandate Molefi, Nene is an experienced consultant and facilitator with a track record that spans more than 18 years. Nene’s work involves facilitation in culture change, transformation and leadership development interventions for large and medium-sized companies. She has conducted dialogue sessions on Social Context and Social Cohesion for all the High Courts and Constitutional Court Judges and is currently working with a number of Private Schools on Unconscious Bias and Diversity, as well as Inclusion Strategies. Nene has been a member of the Diversity Collegium, a think tank of diversity experts across the globe, where she served as an expert panelist responsible for developing the Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmark Tool. She is a board member and secretary of The Center for Global Inclusion – an organisation founded in the USA with members across the globe. Nene sits on the Advisory structure of the Auditor General of SA and is an esteemed author of a book called A Journey of Diversity and Inclusion in South Africa (Guidelines for Leading Inclusively), published in 2017.

Ayanda Mfusi 

Ayanda Mfusi is a seasoned and experienced Corporate and Investment Banker with over 4 years in the industry. She’s currently a Relationship Manager at Absa’s Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) division where she’s responsible for the overall management of large-scale accounts with the combine value of over R 3 Billions. Ayanda currently serves as the Black Management Forum (Western Cape) Deputy Chairperson and as an alternate Director of the Black Management Forum Board of Directors. Prior to her election she was the inaugural Chairperson of the Century City Branch. She’s also the ABSA Corporate Investment Banking Western Cape CSI Chairperson Committee looking at various social impact project initiated by the bank. Ayanda is also a member of the fundraising committee of the NPO, Fun Learning for Youth (FLY). She’s holds a Bachelor of Business Science – Finance (with Honours) from the University of Cape Town.  Ayanda is passionate about socio-economic transformation and strong advocate of Gender Equity.

Please note, this event is for members of Accelerate Cape Town and by invitation only