Phuti Mahanyele

Phuti Mahanyele is the executive chair of Sigma Capital, an investment holding company launched in 2015 in South Africa. Sigma Capital, a majority black-owned business, focuses on enabling sustainable partnerships in such fields as power and infrastructure, real estate, consumer goods, technology, media, and financial services.

Mahanyele’s experience in the region dates to 1993. She joined Fieldstone, an international advisory firm specializing in infrastructure, as an intern in New York City in 1997. She rose in the ranks to the position of vice president, having moved to the firm’s South Africa office. She then accepted a position leading the Project Finance South Africa business unit of the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Most recently, she was chief executive officer of Shanduka Group, a South African investment holding company she joined in 2004 and left in 2015.

Among her many accolades, Mahanyele was recognized as the ForbesWoman Africa 2014 Business Woman of the Year, as well as one of the 50 Women to Watch by the Wall Street Journal in 2008. Mahanyele was also selected as a Global Young Leader in 2007 by the World Economic Forum and was recognized by Africa Investor as the Leading African Woman in Business of the Year in 2012.

Her philanthropic efforts are focused on empowering the next generation. In addition to mentoring young professionals and students, Mahanyele is a participant in Dignity Day, a program led by the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum, which is focused on reinforcing the values of dignity in young people. She is also a patron of the National Education Empowerment Trust, an honorary member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, a patron of the Bosele Foundation, and a member of the advisory board of Stellenbosch University.

Mahanyele holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Rutgers and a master of business administration degree from De Montfort University in Leicester, United Kingdom. In 2008, Mahanyele completed the Kennedy School of Government Executive Education program, Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century, at Harvard University. She serves on the boards of Comair Limited, an airline, and Reunert Limited, an electronics business, both of which are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. She also chairs the Bain Academy, which supports professionals in corporate Africa.