Isabella Makuta is founder and CEO of Mapletree Africa (Pty) Ltd– a management consulting company operating in sub-Saharan Africa. She is an established business leader with over 25 years of experience working in government, state owned companies(SOC’s) and listed private sector organizations operating in transportation, engineering, energy, construction, manufacturing, and property development.

She is currently iNED + Board Chairperson at Shelfline (Pty) Ltd; Board NED at GIBB (Pty) Ltd, and Foundations & Finishes NPC. She served as Trustee of the Transnet Pension Fund; NED at Sky Sands(Pty) Ltd; President of the South African Forum for Civil Engineering and Construction (SAFCEC); and Deputy Chairperson of the Black Business Council’s (BBC)Infrastructure Committee; She also served on the management committees of the Black Management Forum (BMF) and the Businesswomen Association (BWA) Johannesburg chapters respectively over a number of years.

Amng a series of qualifications she holds is an MBA (Bond University, Australia); and business leadership certifications from GIBS (SA), Harvard and Wharton in the USA; she is member of several professional bodies, such as the Institute of Directors(IoDSA) and World @ Work as certified Global Remuneration Professional.

Some of her commendations and
awards include:

• Transnet’s “Leadership Award for Women Empowerment” – 2002
• “Champions Award in Business” for contribution towards the development and
  empowerment of women in corporate South Africa- 2014
• BMF’s “Manager of the Year” award- 2017