A glance at the CV of Siphokazi Mngxunyeni, who joined the CPO Board in June 2023, will tell you one thing … the experience she has had in the business world over the last 15 or so years in varied and enormous and a great asset to her new role with the orchestra. Miss Mngxunyeni is currently with the University of Cape Town’s Modelling and Simulation Hub, Africa for infectious diseases.
She has also been manager of the Raymond Ackerman Academy (RAA) of Entrepreneurship and Personal Development at the Graduate School of Business at UCT, where, she co-designed and oversaw operations of a business management training for youth entrepreneurs. During COVID she successfully migrated the RAA entrepreneurship programme from contact to online teaching and then back again. In this time she developed new strategies for recruitment reach as many young people as possible who would benefit from the course, classroom experience that facilitates ease of learning and alumni relations for mentorship and business incubation opportunities in a very difficult time in our country. She has also mentored students and tackled such challenges as mental health, campus and classroom dynamics including race and gender issues, work-life, and financial resources, which could be hindering if left unchecked.
Her employee relations management style demonstrates an appreciation for people as complete human beings and their unique contribution to the collective effort.
She is an entrepreneur in her own right, having set up her own enterprise from registration to business plan development, management of key stakeholder engagement and developing customer and supplier bases.
This was preceded by a life in the corporate world where she worked in some of the major banks – responsible for market research, segment strategy and community banking fund management. She cut her teeth in multinational fast moving consumer goods companies responsible for consumer and market knowledge. And held many more positions including being an account executive in advertising.
Siphokazi spends some of her time contributing to the learning of others through student coaching in systems thinking work and entrepreneurship masterclasses in UCT’s Graduate School of Business’s MBA (Executive management) and Solutions Space programmes.
Miss Mngxunyeni holds an MBA specialising in executive management from UCT Graduate School of Business, a BSocSci from UCT and currently grappling with her PhD ambitions. She has completed courses in marketing, leadership and business rescue.
Her mission is simple: She strives to contribute meaningfully toward viable businesses that improve the quality of lives, are accessible and impactful to the targeted audience. This bodes well for the CPO, for her experience in consumer and market intelligence will assist the orchestra in becoming even better suited to its leadership role as the largest educator of young musicians in the country, and set on transforming the orchestral landscape.
Miss Mngxunyeni is “excited to join the CPO at a time it is investing resources to attract the interest of and involve the youth of Cape Town in this music genre.”
With so many skills and so much experience, she is suited to serve on all the CPO board committees!
