Naspers appoints Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa as SA CEO
Naspers, Africa’s largest public company thanks to its investment in China’s Tencent, has appointed Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa as CEO of its SA business ahead of an offshore listing of its valuable international assets.
Mahanyele-Dabengwa was previously executive chair at Sigma Capital, a privately-held majority-black owned investment group.
She will report directly to Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk, and will oversee the group’s main operations in SA alongside its new start-up fund in the country, the group said.
Naspers’s existing operations in SA include Takealot, Superbalist, Mr D Food, OLX, Autotrader SA, Property24, and Media24.
“Phuti is a seasoned leader with a strong track record of achievement throughout her career,” Van Dijk said.
“Her significant investor and board experience across varied sectors makes Phuti the perfect match for this important role at Naspers,” he said.
In June, Naspers’s R1.4bn start-up fund, Naspers Foundry, invested R30m in local technology start-up SweepSouth, which operates an online cleaning services platform.
That was the fund’s first investment since Naspers announced its creation in October 2018 at SA’s inaugural investment conference.
Meanwhile, Naspers plans to list its international assets in Amsterdam later in 2019 as part of its efforts to reduce a valuation gap.