Alethea Conrad
(Chairperson)
BA, LLB, Management Advancement Programme (Wits Business School), International Executive Development Programme (Wits Business School and London Business School)

Lea has held directorships on the boards of listed, public and private companies since 1999. Lea previously served on the board of Oceana Group Limited ("Oceana") as an executive director, as well as on a number of its board committees. Lea has extensive experience in serving on the boards of JSE-listed companies and is well skilled in scenario planning on future policies, strategy development and implementation as well as developing governance frameworks. Whilst serving on the board of Oceana, Lea led the process to ensure that Oceana's inclusion on the JSE's Socially Responsible Investment Index was retained for 10 consecutive years. Lea also created and established the Oceana Empowerment Trust in 2006, through which more than 2 600 Black employees now own 13.8 million shares in the Oceana group. A group-wide transformation strategy was developed and successfully implemented by Lea, achieving recognition for Oceana to be ranked as the most empowered listed company in South Africa for a period of two consecutive years (2014 and 2015).

Lea has been appointed as an independent non-executive director, chairperson of the board, chairperson of the remuneration, nomination, transformation, social and ethics committee and as a member of the audit and risk committee.

Thiru Pather (“Thiru”)
(Independent Non-Executive director)
Thiru has over 13 years’ experience in the finance and investments industry. She is a member of the South African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association transformation subcommittee with specific involvement in the development and implementation of a Fund Manager training programme for emerging Fund Managers.

She is currently a Principal at the SA SME Fund which was established by members of the CEO Initiative – a collaboration between the South African government, business and labour to address some of the most pressing challenges to the country’s economic growth. This role includes responsibility for day to day investment activities including due diligences and monitoring and reporting of investment performance.

Prior to joining the SME Fund, Thiru spent just over 7 years at the Public Investment Corporation (“PIC”), where her role included strategy development and all aspects of investment execution – deal origination, transaction structuring, due diligence, valuations, strategic oversight, divestitures, performance monitoring and reporting.

Thiru is a Chartered Accountant by profession and completed her articles with Deloitte. Thiru also gained valuable technical skills and experience in her role as a manager at PWC Corporate Finance.

Reshma Mathura
(Independent Non-Executive director)
CA(SA), BCom (Honours,) PGD and MBA.

CA(SA), BCom (Honours,) PGD and MBA. Reshma has over 18 years' experience in financial management. She is the executive director of finance at Unisa, where her responsibilities cover all aspects of financial management including financial planning, asset management, governance and compliance as well as financial reporting. Reshma recently completed her Masters in Business Administration from GIBS, after having qualified as a chartered accountant in 2004. Prior to joining Unisa, Reshma served as the chief financial officer for the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications for more than four years. Reshma also gained experience as a senior manager at the Road Accident Fund and director for financial control services at the Department of Defence and the SA Police Services.

Reshma has been appointed as an independent non-executive director and as a member and chairperson of the audit and risk committee.

Samuel Sithole ("Sam")
(Non-Executive director)
CA(ZIM), Leadership Development from Harvard Business School.

Sam is the CEO and co-founder of Value Capital Partners Proprietary Limited, a current shareholder in African Phoenix. He previously served as the Group FD of Brait SE and a member of the Brait Investment team for eight years. Prior to that, he was the audit leader of the financial services team at the Deloitte and Touche Group. Sam is currently a non-executive director for Allied Electronics Corporation Limited and Adcorp Holdings Limited.

Sam has been appointed as a non-executive director and a member of the investment committee and the remuneration, nomination, transformation, social and ethics committee.

Executive director

Mr Oyama Mabandla
(Executive Director)
BA (Political Science) (University of California) and Juris Doctorate (Columbia University School of Law)

Oyama joined the Johannesburg Bar as a practising advocate in January 1999 after working as an investment banker for the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). He was then headhunted by South African Airways as general counsel, later becoming the Deputy CEO of the airline. He has held various positions during his career, including board chairperson at both Vodacom Group Limited and Consol Glass Proprietary Limited; director of Group Five Limited and Mvela Group Limited; and as a member of the JP Morgan African Advisory Board.

Oyama has been appointed as an executive director.