Professor Tawana Kupe is not only Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, but a big fan of the LeadUP Podcast! 

In this special episode to wrap up this first season of the podcast, Prof Kupe reflects on some of the highlights of our previous interviews with UP alumni, and shares his own experiences of leadership. 

On this episode he speaks about:

• His ‘why’, and the purpose guiding him. 
• The importance of reflection as a leader.
• The privilege of being a leader and bringing energy to the role.
• Bringing power and kindness to your leadership style. 
• What he’s busy reading.

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Deepa Sita is the Chief Financial Officer at Tiger Brands, after holding similar roles at the likes of Mondelēz and Makro. She grew up working in a family business that she then took over after her father’s death. 

She is a qualified chartered accountant and holds an MBA (Cum Laude) from the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

On this episode she speaks about:

• Falling in love with being a chartered accountant and making good business decisions. 
• Taking over the family business under difficult circumstances after her father’s death. 
• Why  failing her board exam turned out to be a positive turning point in her career.
• Why she surrounds herself with people that would be good enough to take over her job.
• Being willing to do something you don’t yet know how to do.  

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Andries Levi Pretorius is a serial entrepreneur, from selling candy floss as a student to innovating in the real estate industry. 

He completed his BCom Honours in Finance & Entrepreneurship at the University of Pretoria while running a leading confectionery business called Willmor Candy Co.

He later co-founded an extraordinary property investment group, WeBuyProp, and is currently the head of strategic partnership and growth at LeadHome. 

On this episode he speaks about:

• Enjoying the thrill of entrepreneurship from a young age.
• Some of the problems he’s faced and solved, including selling candy floss to students.
• Being led by a big-picture vision.
• His struggle to reconcile his entrepreneurial spirit with a previous corporate role.
• How entrepreneurship isn’t as sexy as it might look on social media.

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Dr Coceka Mfundisi is the first woman to receive a Master of Medicine in Neurosurgery degree from the University of Pretoria. She now practices as a specialist neurosurgeon at Busamed Modderfontein private hospital and has interests in neurotrauma, neuro-oncology and spinal surgery. 

Her notable achievements include being a member of the Golden Lions Rugby Club Medical Committee, serving as a test match surgeon during international rugby matches. She is currently a member of the Health Professions Council of South Africa’s Fifth Medical Committee of preliminary enquiry. She is also a member of the executive committee of the Society of Neurosurgeons of South Africa. 

On this episode she speaks about:

• Having the temperament of a surgeon. 
• How farming fields alongside her family as a child helped her as a young surgeon.
• Fusing traditional African medicine with Western medicine.
• Not quitting on the way to her dreams, and being supported in her journey.
• Injustices in her field, and fighting for change.

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Dion Shango started with global professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers soon after graduating with a BCom Financial Accounting from the University of Pretoria over two decades ago, and became PwC's Africa CEO in 2019. 

On this episode he speaks about:

• How his community of colleagues and women-led family have shaped his success
• Creating a strong and positive culture in a large company
• Building trust externally and internally as the bedrock of PwC’s business
• Staying and growing with PwC for his whole career
• What he hopes his legacy will be

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Leandri van der Wat is a Product Development Engineer at L’Oreal International in Paris. She holds a Master’s in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Pretoria. 

In 2013, she finished second in the TV show Masterchef South Africa, and she is the co-author, with her sister, of the cookbook Two’. 

On this episode she speaks about:

• How she has grown and fostered her curiosity
• Masterchef teaching her to fearlessly go for her dreams
• That her job at L’Oreal International came at just the right time 
• Her style as a leader being authentic but adaptive
• Working on the core issues in a team, and working with constructive feedback

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

 LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Dr Kresen Pillay is a graduate of the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science, the second oldest veterinary faculty in Africa and the only one of its kind in South Africa.

He recently moved to Australia to pioneer a new department as the Manager of Veterinary Services at the Sydney Zoo. Among the many other highlights of his career so far, Dr Pillay was part of the team that conducted surgery on Makokou, a gorilla from the Johannesburg Zoo.  The rare surgery garnered international attention. 

On this episode he speaks about:

• Being encouraged to pursue his passion from a young age
• How studying taught him self-leadership and discipline
• Why all of us need to take wildlife conservation seriously to leave a legacy
• How he learned management and leadership in the zoo space
• How he is building a team at the Sydney Zoo, and the magic and majesty of working with wild animals

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Reverend Charlotte Sibanyoni is the first black woman to be ordained by the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NG Kerk). She is currently a PhD scholar and lecturer in Hebrew at the University of Pretoria (UP), where she obtained her Masters of Divinity and undergraduate degrees. She is actively involved in the Pretoria community and runs the student Greenleaf student ministry on UP’s Groenkloof (Faculty of Education) Campus. 

On this episode she speaks about:

How growing up in the house of a Dutch Reformed minister shaped her character and love for her community. 

• Leading change from within a community instead of criticising from outside, and how she has done this in her work. 
• Rising above one’s doubts to lead.
• How she is using her PhD to combine biblical ideas about exile and violence in current South Africa.
• Making an impact by serving in small and practical ways locally.

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

 LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

Miss South Africa 2020, Shudufhadzo Musida, obtained a Bachelor of Social Science in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Pretoria. 

She has used her reign to bring awareness to mental health issues, has launched her #MindfulMondays mental health online programme and addressed the United Nations on the subject. Musida has also placed her focus on the educational and economic empowerment of children and women. More recently, she published a children’s book that focuses on bullying and the power of friendship. 

On this episode she speaks about:

• the journey that led her from being a shy girl with big dreams to trusting her inner voice and winning the crown;
• the significance of education and being of service, and how change can start small; 
• how self-awareness and mental health support can advance not only your own journey, but society as a whole;
• what she has learned about leadership during her reign; and
• the change for women that she would like to see; 

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.

As a Tuks student he moonlighted to pay his bills, and now his team has won a technical Oscar for creating new technology that gets used in making many of our favourite movies and shows. 

Nicol Verheem is an entrepreneur and innovator who completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic Engineering degree at the University of Pretoria, and went on to become CEO of Creative Solutions and founder of Teradek. In 2021, he won an Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Awards. 

On this episode he speaks to us about:

• His surprise at winning an Oscar, and what that process was like. 
• How something they had already created turned out to be an innovation for the movie industry.
• How entrepreneurship means striking out on your own and taking some risks.  
• How failure is an important part of entrepreneurship and growth. 
• That one of his first leadership experiences was moonlighting as a programmer to fund his studies.

Subscribe to the LeadUP Podcast today ­– click here to find LeadUP Podcast in your favourite podcast app, or go to www.up.ac.za/LeadUP and click on LeadUP Podcast. New episodes are out every second Monday. Help us out by rating and reviewing us. 

LeadUP is a production of the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Office. Our host is Lennox Wasara and our team includes Elna Schütz and Samantha Castle. Our sound engineers are Louis Cloete Productions.