Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa joined Naspers as CEO, South Africa, in July 2019. Before joining Naspers, she was the co-founder and Executive Chairperson of Sigma Capital, an investment holding company formed in 2015. Before Sigma she held the position of CEO at Shanduka Group, an investment holding company which she joined in 2004 and left in 2015. Prior to that, she was the Head of the Project Finance South Africa business unit at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Early in her career, Phuti spent a few years in New York at Fieldstone, an international firm specialising in the financing of infrastructure assets. She later transferred to the South African office, leaving as Vice President.

She is personally involved in several youth activities, including supporting students and mentoring young professionals. She is involved with the “Dignity Day” programme, which is led by Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum and focuses on re-enforcing the values of dignity in young people.

In May 2016 Phuti became a member of the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni. She has been awarded several accolades such as CNBC Africa’s All Africa Business Leaders “Woman of the Year Award” in 2019 and the Forbes Woman Africa “Businesswoman of the Year” Award in 2014. In 2013, she was awarded a “Distinguished Achievement” Award by The Douglass Society, and the Africa Investors recognised her as a “Leading Africa Woman in Business of the Year” in 2012. In 2011, Rutgers University conferred on her the “Rutgers Vision of Excellence Award”. In 2009, she was awarded the “Most Influential Woman in Government and Business” by Financial Services. The Wall Street Journal counted her among the “Top 50 women in the world to watch”. Phuti was also selected as a Global Young Leader in 2007 by the World Economic Forum. She was awarded “Top in Project Finance, 2003” by the Association of Black Securities & Investment Professionals (ABSIP).

Phuti holds a BA Economics from Rutgers University, USA, and an MBA from De Montfort University in Leicester, UK. She also completed the Kennedy School of Government Executive Education programme “Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century” at Harvard University in 2008. She sits on the board of the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation and was Chair of the KST Audit and Risk Committee in 2016. In 2017, she was appointed to the KST Board of Trustees. Phuti is an Independent Director of Vodacom, Gold Fields and Discovery Insure. She serves on the advisory board of the business school of Stellenbosch University.