Inspirational Women In Corporate SA
THEY fill senior leadership positions within the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and their areas of expertise range from strategic alliances and communication to biosciences, ICT, the natural environment as well as health and safety.
In short, Dr Rachel Chikwamba, Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, Hina Patel and Professor May Hermanus are an inspiration to women seeking careers within the sciences. Equally so for those lacking confidence that there can be gender transformation within a discipline long dominated by men.
Dr Rachel Chikwamba, Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication, nurtures productive, strategic research, development and innovation partnerships between the CSIR and its stakeholders. She does so locally and internationally, across a number of sectors.
A geneticist, who specialised in the metabolic engineering of plants to express affordable therapeutics, she served as a postdoctoral research associate at Arizona State University, USA, before joining the CSIR in 2004. Presently Chikwamba also serves as a non-executive board member for several organisations involved in technology for development. In all this she combines her technical expertise, leadership skills as well as her experience gained from her MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria.
One of the CSIR’s first two women chief scientists, she is a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation and an honorary research fellow at St George’s, University of London. As a member of the CSIR Strategic Research Panel she championed the development of the Health Research Impact Area strategy.
Initiatives she is most proud of in her current role include successfully forging R&D alliances with state-owned companies like Transnet and Eskom and facilitating global alliances with the likes of Airbus Defence and Space. She also champions the ‘Ideas that work’ communication campaign, emphasising the role of science and technology in everyday life.
Committed to underpinning technology and innovation in order to drive a thriving knowledge economy across Africa, she says, “No single organisation can resolve our developmental challenges. The CSIR seeks to make a difference in the spaces we operate within and beyond Africa. In carrying out our mandate to advance scientific research and drive industrialisation, we strive to leverage our intellectual resources and those of our partners.”
Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela joined the CSIR in 2005 as a postdoctoral researcher specialising in biochemistry, focusing primarily on nanotechnology drug delivery. She spent the following year in Switzerland and the UK as an extension of her Post-doctoral degree. A senior researcher in the CSIR’s polymers and composites area for a few years, she joined the McKinsey’s Leadership Programme and was later appointed General Manager for Research, Development and Innovation at the Innovation Hub. Last year she was appointed Executive Director for CSIR Biosciences.
Her many accolades and achievements include the Biotech Fundi Award in the Young Researcher category and the South African Bioplan Business Plan Award and she declares them “life-changing” because of their practical and comprehensive, learning-oriented benefits.
Semete-Makokotlela has a strong interest in leadership and how it enables people to realise their potential. Hence her participation in the McKinsey Leadership Programme, among others.
Last year she completed an MSc in Management Finance and Investment. Her thesis on ‘Evaluating the investment performance of the biotech industry in South Africa’ suggests new funding models to establish a sustainable biotech industry in South Africa.
Hina Patel, Executive Director of the CSIR Meraka Institute since February last year, joined the CSIR in 1996. She studied Computer Science at the University of Royal Holloway in London (UK) and holds a Master’s in Science in Technology Management and Innovation from the Da Vinci Institute of Technology Management in South Africa.
Having represented the country at a range of international forums, she singles out the development of the National Accessibility Portal (NAP) as defining. The initiative aimed at contributing to the independent living of persons with disabilities by providing access to information and technology services. It also enabled communication, irrespective of age, gender, disability, language and level of literacy.
She elaborates, “It was on this project that I really began to appreciate that the world is not a homogeneous place, but a kaleidoscope of diversity. It set me on a path of ensuring that in my sphere of influence I would always seek to create opportunities for the diverse people I encounter in the workplace.”
The more than 50 staff whom she assisted with their promotions during the years can attest to this. She adds. “Ultimately, a country’s growth and development is dependent on the depth of its peoples’ skills. I want to make a big difference in this country,”
Patel was also instrumental in drawing up the National ICT Research, Development and Innovation Roadmap that was approved by Cabinet in 2013.
Professor May Hermanus, Executive Director of Natural Resources and the Environment unit, is known for advancing the field of health and safety in mining. Notably, she integrates these concerns into environmental protection and broader sustainability across Africa. She joined the CSIR in 2012 and views her role as a natural progression from dealing with the effects of environmental factors on people, to thinking in more general terms about the environment and how to live within the limits of our natural resources equitably.
She graduated with a geology degree from the University of Cape Town and an MSc in Physical Metallurgy from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Her unit is one of the most geographically spread in the CSIR – a management challenge she relishes. “The CSIR has a unique opportunity to be a thought leader for understanding the grand challenge of sustainable development and the whole concept of the green economy,” she says.