Isabella Makuta is founder and CEO of Mapletree Africa (Pty) Ltd– a management consulting company operating in sub-Saharan Africa. She is an established business leader with over 25 years of experience working in government, state owned companies(SOC’s) and listed private sector organizations operating in transportation, engineering, energy, construction, manufacturing, and property development. Her diverse professional experience encompasses Strategy Development and implementation, Business Management and Development, Project Management, Corporate Governance, Marketing, Corporate Communication , Stakeholder Management, and Human Resources.
She is currently iNED + Board Chairperson at Shelfline (Pty) Ltd; Board NED at GIBB (Pty) Ltd, and Foundations & Finishes NPC. She has served as Trustee of the Transnet Pension Fund; NED at Sky Sands(Pty) Ltd; President of the South African Forum for Civil Engineering and Construction (SAFCEC); and Deputy Chairperson of the Black Business Council’s (BBC) Infrastructure Committee; She also served on the management committees of the Black Management Forum (BMF) and the Businesswomen Association (BWA) Johannesburg chapters respectively over a number of years.
She holds an MBA (Bond University, Australia); combined with business and executive leadership training from GIBS (SA), Harvard and Wharton in the USA; member of Institute of Directors(IoDSA) and World @ Work certified Global Remuneration Professional. Some of her commendations and awards :
- Transnet’s “Leadership Award for Women Empowerment” -2002
- “Champions Award in Business” for contribution towards the development and empowerment of women in corporate South Africa – 2014
- BMF’s “Manager of the Year” award- 2017