Amanda Dambuza

Amanda Dambuza is the Chief Executive of UYANDISWA; a project management consulting firm she founded 8 years ago. She is also the founder and Director of Leadership Development Strategies, a company founded in 2016 with the purpose of mentoring, coaching, facilitation and identifying talent and team development. She was until recently also the Financial Services Director of the JSE listed software organisation, Adapt IT.

Prior to founding her own companies Amanda had spent most of her over 13-year corporate career in Information Technology within the Financial Services industry. She held various senior roles at all four major banks in South Africa with her last role as a Chief Information Officer at Barclays Africa where she drove a Change budget close to R1bn for the functions of the bank. This was spread across the 13 countries in Africa, including South Africa. Her clients were the most senior executives heading up the various Divisions. These were Finance, Compliance, Risk, Sourcing, Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Corporate Real Estate, Security, Internal Audit, Legal, Treasury and Barclays Shared Services. She drove demand management, prioritization, execution as well as service management and support.

Span of accountability further extended to the Technology Competency Centres of SAP, SharePoint and Reconciliations where she led multiple teams locally and internationally to deliver all IT services to the Enterprise Shared Functions.

Amanda is also an author of the world acclaimed book Baked in Pain, a memoir about how she rose above her circumstances rife with segregation, abuse and hardship to become a globally celebrated business woman and humanitarian. She also authored the children’s book A Brave Girl named AYAH, an educational story that affords caregivers an opportunity to tackle hard topics with their children in order to lift the vail of silence around abuse in their homes. It is a story of rising, hope, resilience and hardwork. Amanda created the character AYAH to inspire the millions of under-represented children across the globe with the aim of inspiring them to reach for their dreams and never limit their imagination. AYAH reminds them to know that they are the heros and heroines of their own stories.

She is also the Executive Producer and Creator of Vastly Sage Talkshow on You Tube, a platform through which she reaches audiences around the globe with the aim of affording them a space to tackle hard conversations in order for healing and transformation to take place. This show brings forth expert experience and shared personal life experiences with guests as well. She is also the creator of Vastly Sage Mentorship, a monthly mentorship platform on You Tube where she imparts all of her lessons in business and personal life to help people reach a higher expression of self. This talkshow and mentorship platform is ably supported by the annual Vastly Sage Brunch which brings together a hand-picked selection of inspiring guest speakers who pour their hearts and souls into inspiring and motivating all those in attendance with moving stories of courage and going for your dreams, no matter where you have come from. The common theme throughout these platforms is practical and applicable advice, resources and tools to empower the audience. They are resource and educational centres, something Amanda is very proud of.

Some of her awards include the 2017 overall winner of the international business woman award Veuve Clicquot ELLE Boss having won the entrepreneurship category as well. This award is to honour inspiring businesswomen who empower, support and encourage female creativity and leadership. Amanda was also recently nominated as one of the top 50 women through Inspiring Fifty 2019 an initiative in cooperation with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for the most inspiring South African women in the technology and innovation sectors. Amanda was also nominated for the 2019 Gender Mainstreaming awards as a Positive Role Model.

A seasoned and highly regarded business woman, she was named in the Top 30 women you need to know and applaud by Leadership Magazine. Amanda is an awarded gender pioneer and children’s rights advocate. She is part of the Influential Women’s Circle which raises funds on behalf of UNICEF SA.

She spends most of her time running her businesses and mentoring young and old in how to achieve the best out of their lives. She helps them navigate difficult corporate environments and help them find their own purpose. Amanda is a sought after mentor and a Duke Corporate educator. She has done leadership development work and keynote addresses with a number of large corporates including ABSA, Discovery Vitality Life UK, Unilever, Nampak, SHELL SA, SA HomeLoans, Standard Bank, Barloworld, Nedbank, Deloitte, Rand Merchant Bank, South African Reserve Bank, and Barloworld to mention just a few. Amanda had the honour of being a guest speaker at the 2019 World Economic Forum tackling the topic of Together We Lead for Mastercard. She has also been a guest speaker at the 2019 EVE Programme held in Dakar, Senegal by L’Oreal and Danone. Amanda was also recently invited to address the United Nations South Africa on Leadership as well as deliver a talk to Lumiere Sciences community based in New York, USA.

She has graced the cover of the business magazines DESTINY and Mindspace Magazine and has been featured on multiple ELLE Magazine issues, Luxuria Lifestyle as well as numerous online digital publications including Entrepreneur Mag, Business Insider, Tech Financials, IT Web and Engineering News to mention just a few. Amanda has also been featured and hosted radio shows on multiple radio stations including 5FM, Metro FM, KAYA FM, Gagasi FM, Chai FM and others. She has also been featured on television programmes, to note The Insider SA, Newzroom Afrika,Trending SA, Mindspace TV on CNBC Africa, Top Billing and Morning Live. She uses these platforms to deliver positive messages of hope, self-belief and the benefits of having a clear vision for your life.

Amanda is a Wits University and Duke Corporate Education graduate. She is also a certified PMP®, PRINCE2®, AGILE and ITILL which enables her to keep abreast of industry developments and continuous improvements.

BOARDS & DIRECTORSHIPS

• Non-Executive Director Mineworkers Investment Company (Member: Investment Committee)

• Non-Executive Director Redefine Properties (Risk, Compliance & Technology Committee, Social, Ethics & Transformation Committee, Nomination and Governance Committee)

• Non-Executive Director Grindrod Bank & Grindrod Financial Services Holding (Chairperson: Board of Directors, Social & Ethics Committee, Chairperson: Risk and Capital Management Committee, Chairperson: Director’s Affairs Committee, Remuneration Committee) (from 2018 to 2020)

• Non-Executive Director Dynamic Visual Technologies & Inspired Testing

• Director MAC Consulting

• Director USWAYA Pty LTD

• Director Leadership Development Strategies Pty Ltd

• Director UYANDISWA Project Management Services Pty Ltd

• Director UYANDISWA Group Pty Ltd

• Non-Executive Founder Africa Data Science Association (from 2016 until 2018)

• Executive Director Adapt IT Pty Ltd JSE Listed (from 2014 to 2017)

SOME OF HER OTHER NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• First Black Female Chairperson of a bank in South Africa

• Golden Key International Honour Society Honorary Member

• Guest speaker World Economic Forum Cape Town 2019

• Veuve Clicquot Elle Boss Overall winner 2017

• Veuve Clicquot Elle Boss Entrepreneur category winner 2017

• Guest host of Influential Fridays on Kaya FM and Power Drive on Power FM

• Guest speaker at the 2017 inaugural Women In Tech conference hosted by Standard Bank and Liberty.

• Duke Corporate Educator

• Featured on Banker SA 15: SME’s and BEE

• Gender Pioneer 2017 awarded by House of Pearls Foundation.

• Keynote and guest speaker at multiple organisations including Unilever, Nampak, Absa, Standard Bank, BWASA, SA Homeloans and others.

• Panelist at the Small Business Indaba 2018 Johannesburg

• Advisor to the IT EXCO on transformation to the largest bank in Africa; Standard Bank.

• Runner up 2016 Regional Business Achiever Awards in the Entrepreneur category hosted by Business Women Association of South Africa.

• Named “Top 30 Women You Need to Know and Applaud” by Leadership Magazine publication August 2016.

• Finalist: Individual Excellence in The One Africa Group Chief Executive Awards 2013 in Barclays Africa.

• Nominated as one of 900 Values Leaders across the globe to deliver cultural change through the values workshops for the Barclays Group.

• Nominated for Barclays Woman of the Year Awards 2012 in the category of leadership.