Full Name: Takura Malaba

Position and Company Name: Country manager of Bolt South Africa

Main Activity of the Company: Bolt is an Estonian e-hailing services company with operations in over 45 countries. In South Africa, the company provides safe, reliable and affordable transportation for millions of people, while providing earnings opportunities for over 40 000 people who chose to earn an income as drivers on the Bolt platform

Date and Place of Birth: June 9, 1992

Schools and Tertiary Education: Matric, St Albans College, Pretoria; industrial engineering degree, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits); postgraduate diploma in business administration, Wits Business School; MBA, Wits Business School; master’s minor in Big Data analytics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

First Job: Stylist at Aca Joe

Size of First Pay Packet: R2 000 a month

Career Path To Date: I worked as an industrial engineering graduate at Nampak from 2014 to 2015, focusing on operations, process optimisation and design. From 2015 to 2017, I was an industrial engineer at Novus Holdings, focusing on project management, process optimisation and design, systems analysis and design. From 2018 to 2020, I was a strategy and consulting manager at Accenture, focussing on strategy development, strategic cost reduction and advanced analytics. Thereafter, I spent about two years as a science manager at Deloitte, where I focused on strategy, cloud and machine learning design and implementation. I have been the country manager at Bolt since November 2021

Value of Assets under Your Control: Not stated

Number of People under Your Leadership: The organisation has 150-plus employees in South Africa

Management Style: Strategic, collaborative and results orientated. I always hire smart and dedicated people who buy into the vision. Once the vision and strategy are clear, all they need is a little guidance and coaching

Personal Best Achievement: Achieving work-life balance. It is important to work hard and even more so to work smart

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My mother

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: My first manager, Sihle Ngubane

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Elon Musk – his methods are unconventional but he is undoubtedly a visionary and pioneer. His results speak for themselves

Philosophy of Life: What’s the point if you aren’t having fun? In the end, the sum of all your inputs should result in a happier life

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Being appointed country manager at Bolt

Biggest Ever Disappointment: Failing a year at university, owing to partying and not going to class. I learnt to not lose focus on the important things and that failure is part of life. In summary, I learnt a lot of life lessons that year – not to be repeated! Pun intended

Hope For the Future: To leave a lasting legacy

Favourite Reading: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins, and A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking

Favourite TV Programme: The Office

Favourite Food/Drink: Well-prepared braai/Cognac

Favourite Music: Hip hop and Amapiano

Favourite Sport: Rugby

Hobbies: Working out in the gym and playing golf

Car: None

Pets: None

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Lack of accountability

Married: Single

Children: None

Clubs: Chelsea Football Club