Nonkululeko Merina Cheryl Nyembezi-Heita

Born and raised in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, Nonkululeko is a proud South African woman who broke down the stereotypical view that females were not suited for professional industries that have historically been male-dominated, particularly within her industry of choice, engineering.

Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita is a shining example for women in the South African business fraternity.

She was appointed the chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal in 2008, Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita is no newcomer to jobs with great responsibilities. She was previously the chief officer of mergers and acquisitions at the Vodacom Group, and her impeccable professional reputation has gained her great respect within the business fraternity.

Her journey to success took off when she was the recipient of the prestigious prize scholarship from Anglo American, which allowed her to further her studies in England where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, specialising in Electronic Engineering.

She ensured that she stayed abreast of global trends by going on to obtain her Master of Science degree at the California Institute of Technology and later receiving her Master of Business Administration at the Open University in the United Kingdom.

The initial years of Nonkululeko's career were spent abroad in Raleigh, North Carolina in the United States where she worked at IBM as an engineer from 1984 to 1986. It was here where her leadership qualities were recognised and for the next 14 years, the company would groom her into the exceptional leader she is today.

In 1986, IBM moved her from the US to South Africa to work as an accounts sales representative for its IBM SA venture. It was not long thereafter that she made regional manager for the company in 1993 at its Windhoek branch, a position she held until 1998 when a career change landed her at Alliance Capital as its new CEO.

At the end of January 2008, the Board of ArcelorMittal South Africa announced the appointment of Nonkululeko as CEO and member of the Board of one of the country's largest steel-producing companies. Nonkululeko took up this position on 1 March 2008.

She succeeded Rick Reato, who has been appointed as vice president of operational excellence in the ArcelorMittal Group based in London, where he will focus on the group's steel businesses in South Africa, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Since joining ArcelorMittal, Nonkululeko has tackled the economic downturn head-on, with a thorough cost-cutting review and focus on greater efficiencies. She has emphasised the need for the company to expand on its wider obligations in environmental, social responsibility and health arenas.

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Page Created: 31 January 2012