CAPITAL: The Voice of Business Issue 1, 2015 | Page 86

PEOPLE
of what PMB had to offer — the resources,
schools, the cultural sites and sounds ...
I worked my first waitressing job at Icy
Cool and Piping Hot, owned by Mr and
Mrs Beaumont at Cascades Centre, with
my bestie Mrs Mmabatho Brown (who still
lives in Chase Valley). It was a coffee shop
opposite the movie house — I think it’s
changed now.
Pietermaritzburg’s impact on my success
is that through my journey I have viewed
every place, experience or interaction as
an opportunity to learn. From a character
point of view, it was about learning to
remain true to myself and humble, even
when the world around me is changing.
You were recently married at a traditional
wedding in Pietermaritzburg. Do you
still have much contact with the city?
Yes. My parents, my aunt, and my brother
and his wife still live there. The extended
Mnyandu family reside in Taylors Halt/
Elandskop, so Pietermaritzburg will always
be home to me.
Do you have siblings? What do they do?
I am the last born. My eldest sister,
Mpume Mnyandu-Motaung, is married,
lives in Johannesburg and is the senior
communications manager for CBRTA

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| Issue 1 | Capital

(Cross-Border Road Transport Agency).
My second-born sister, Zandile MnyanduSithole, passed on in March 2013. She
was the general manager of corporate
services at the Central Energy Fund in
Johannesburg.
My brother, Velile Mnyandu, is also
married and works for Telkom as a
technician.
From a fairly short stint at Unilever you
rose quickly through the ranks at SAB,
from regional management trainee
to marketing manager for strategy,
planning and innovation, before
becoming marketing manager for KFC
(SA) at Yum Restaurants International.
How and when did you get the position
of Nando’s SA’s general manager for
marketing communications? Can you
tell us about that?
I was headhunted for the role at Nando’s,
went through a formal interview process
and started at Nando’s in August 2013.
My current boss had been exposed to
the work I had done at KFC, and my
profile and training in various food and
beverage industries meant that I had the
characteristics that Nando’s as a company
was looking for to take the brand forward.