Board of Directors
Dr Yvonne Muthien
Independent Non-executive Chairperson
Yvonne is an experienced corporate executive and board director. She is a non-executive director of the SA Reserve Bank, Aspen Pharmacare, the SME Fund and Mavovo Capital (chairperson). She was previously chairperson of Bankserv and the Sasol Foundation and a non-executive director of Santam, Sanlam Investments and Thebe Investment Corporation. Her past executive experience included senior positions at Coca-Cola Africa, MTN Group and Sanlam.
Thabo Leeuw
Lead independent director
Thabo is the CEO and co-founder of the Thesele Group. He is a director of Hulamin (chairperson), Attacq, JSE Ltd, M&G Investments South Africa, Mortimer Thesele Holdings (chairperson) and Vexila (chairperson). Thabo was previously a global director at Cazenove and director of Cazenove SA where he spend nine years. He was previously the independent chairperson of ICAS SA.
Venessa Naidoo
Independent Non-executive Director
Venessa has over 30 years’ experience in business, finance and start-ups and has held executive directorships and key financial roles in telecoms, media, entertainment, retail and investment companies. She is an independent non-executive director of OUTsurance Group Ltd and Lesaka Technologies Inc. Venessa was a founding shareholder of Smile Telecoms Holdings where she served as a director and chief financial officer from 2007 to 2020.
Bongiwe Njobe
Independent Non-executive Director
Bongiwe has extensive experience in sustainable agricultural and transformative social development programmes. She established the Tiger Brands Foundation and the Social Investing Office at FirstRand Limited, and served on the Institute of Directors Task Team for Sustainability. Bongiwe is a non-executive director at ANB Investments, chairs both the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa and the Perishable Products Export Control Council (SA) and is a trustee of the Old Mutual Foundation.
Selomane Maitisa
Independent Non-executive Director
Selomane serves as a non-executive director of Phatsima Properties and Alpha South Africa. She was previously an executive director of Titan Marketing, DraftFCB SA and Metropolitan Health Group Holdings and was a non-executive director of Metboard Properties, Imperial Logistics, Voith Turbo SA and Integrated Ship Handling.
Garth Willis
Non-executive Director
Garth is a principal of Capitalworks private equity funds and has over 20 years’ experience in private equity investing and corporate finance. He serves on the boards of Minet Holdings Africa, DGB, Citadel Holdings and the Infrastructure Specialist Group. He has previously served on the boards of operating companies in a wide range of industries and contributed to the full spectrum of governance sub-committees.
Zeyn Angamia
Non-executive Director
Zeyn is a principal at Capitalworks and has over 20 years’ experience in private equity investing. After starting his career in auditing and later corporate finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he was a partner at Medu Capital for almost a decade before co-founding Adinah Capital Partners in 2013. Zeyn joined Capitalworks in 2019. He serves as a non-executive director of a number of private companies in the Capitalworks private equity portfolio.
Tom Blok
Independent non-executive director
A chartered accountant by profession, Tom had a 33-year career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, including 21 years as a partner and director. He has extensive experience in the fields of corporate governance, IT risk assurance, fraud and risk management, data analytics and business resilience. Tom has been an independent business consultant and professional non-executive director for the past five years.
Pieter Hanekom
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director
Pieter joined RFG in 2015 from Pioneer Foods where he was the executive responsible for the Ceres Beverage Company. He led the group’s successful entry into the fruit juice market. He was appointed Managing Director: Long Life Foods in 2017 and promoted to Deputy CEO in 2020. Pieter was appointed CEO in October 2021.
Tiaan Schoombie
Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director
Tiaan has been the group’s chief financial officer for 24 years. Prior to joining the group, Tiaan spent nine years at Deemster Foods in financial management and ultimately as general manager of the operation.
