CAPITAL: The Voice of Business Issue 1, 2015 | Page 89

PEOPLE
I come from a very creative family. Among
many other things, my mom is a designer
and had a wedding shop at Laager Centre,
so I must have got the talent from her.
I started making occasion stationery and
wedding favours for friends and family
after looking for an alternative creative
outlet besides my chosen career. I soon got
referrals and I now spend my weekends
hand-crafting wedding invites, etc. You
know you are doing a decent job when
friends and family aren’t your clients!
I run my home business concurrently
with my career and I love seeing the
personal impact that I can have on another
person through doing great work.

What are your future career plans?
In the short term, I have my sights set on
a marketing leadership role within the
South African corporate world and aim to
have achieved my MBA by 2017.
What drives you in life?
This quote is my mantra: “A bird sitting in a
tree is never afraid of the branch breaking,
because her trust is not in the branch, but
in her own wings.”
I keep this sentence with me everywhere
I go because it defines me. I have an
unwavering belief in myself and am
accountable for the energy that I bring
into the world.
That drives me.

The Maritzburg Master Griller
ho brought the title back home

PIETERMARITZBURG can also claim another important link to the fiery Nando’s
brand — in the form of Siphamandla
Shabalala.
Shabalala is the griller from Pietermaritzburg’s Victoria Road Nando’s who
in 2013 snatched the internationally coveted Nando’s Master Griller title from the
hands of the Aussies and returned it to
its rightful place in South Africa. He beat
hopefuls from 30 other countries.
The Master Griller Challenge is an annual event where the top grillers from the more than 1 000
chosen to
Nando’s restaurants around
esent South
the world vie for the title of
e chicken grilling
“Master Griller” Winning the
.
Khumalo (2nd
title gains Master Grillers their
ala, is behind
own special Machado (a cleavd.
er) and huge respect among

their peers. Master Grillers are also invited to various occasions on the Nando’s
events calendar and are given the opportunity to further their careers within
Nando’s through a development plan
that gives their career a huge boost.
Shabalala joined Nando’s six years
ago, beating 13 other people who interviewed for the one available job. He was
unemployed at the time and had to borrow money from a friend to go for the
interview.
Since then he has been all over: from
the Griller competition he won in Australia, where he enjoyed a week of activities that included a traditional Australian
barbecue, a beach volleyball competition and a climb up Sydney Harbour
Bridge; to London where he coached the
finalists for last year’s competition.

Capital | Issue 1 |

89