Operating since 1990, Auguste (Gusti) Coetzer is the doyenne of executive search in the Sub-Saharan Africa recruitment industry and is the founder and CEO of People Power Placements SA (Pty) Ltd, trading as Auguste Coetzer Executive Recruitment.
Prior to this, Gusti was an academic and held executive human resources positions in the motor and retail industries, as well as with the Chamber of Mines.
Over the years, Gusti has gained credibility as a head-hunter in the executive search industry in terms of delivery, cross-cultural sensitivity and being a top biller. She is a generalist executing mainly Executive level (C-suite), Non-Executive Directors and specialised skills searches. She has demonstrated an ability to work for clients in various industries such as banking and insurance, energy, fast-moving consumer goods, industrial, mining, telecommunications, agriculture and parastatals.
Furthermore, Gusti has an established client track record with Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) companies and, she has gained recognition in the recruitment of executives from different ethnicities. She has also executed numerous cross-border assignments for various locations in Sub-Saharan Africa such as Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. She has an in-depth knowledge of conducting business in Africa.
Gusti holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and a Post Graduate Diploma (cum laude) in Industrial Relations from the University of South Africa. She is registered with the Health Profession’s Council of South Africa (HPCSA). She speaks English, Afrikaans and her Xhosa is fair.
Her interests, when she is not in the office, includes an appreciation of classical music and spending time in nature with her friends. She’s an enthusiastic cook and collects cookbooks of different countries, cultures and regions and keeps her wine cellar well catalogued.
Specialities: Chief Executives, Chief Operating Officers, Financial Directors, Commercial Directors / Marketing Directors, Chief Information Officers, Head of Legal and specialised skills executives such as skills in disruptive technologies, as well as Competency Based Assessments and Board Strategy Facilitation.
