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Hayley Ivins Downes
Head of Sales, Lightstone
Hayley joined Lightstone in 2008 as a Business Development Manager. She has a background in GIS, business analytics, strategy, location analysis and sales management. She has a love for solving problems and enjoys helping clients achieve their goals. Hayley believes that data solves any problem and the true power to achieving more is harnessing knowledge of internal and external data. She has an Honours degree in GIS and Development studies from UJ and a master’s degree in Business Leadership from UNISA.
Don Kruger
Crypto Product Development Lead, Purple Group
Don Kruger is the crypto product development lead at Purple Group, a leading FinTech company in South Africa. Alongside EasyEquities & EasyProperties, Don led the development and successful deployment of the EasyCrypto investment platform. Prior to that, Don completed his Master’s degree in Finance at the University of Pretoria, with a research background on the diversification benefits of crypto assets in South African investment portfolios. He is currently busy with his masters in IT at the University of Cape Town and has appeared as a guest speaker at several crypto conferences and podcasts in South Africa.
Snowy Masakale
Financial Services Expert
- Qualified with Bachelor of Economic Science majoring in Mathematics & Econometrics; BCom (Hons); Post-Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning (CFP) and an MBA from WITS.
- Has over 20 years of financial services experience specializing in investments, business development, sales & marketing, employee benefits and investment consulting.
- Former CEO of Vunani Fund Managers (VFM) and worked at Royal Investment Managers, the joint venture between Rand Investment Holdings (RMI) and Royal Bafokeng Holdings, where she has been an executive director.
- She started her career at Alexander Forbes Financial Services where she spent five years consulting to boards of retirement funds with respect to risk benefits, investment strategies and pension fund related matters.
- Headed up institutional business and marketing at Absa Investments for six years, was an executive of the investment cluster and a Non-Executive Director of Absa Consultants & Actuaries (ACA).
- Received an award for The Most Inclusive Leader for Large Companies from Business Engage in July 2022 and awarded The Most Influential Woman in the Financial Services Sector from ABSIP in September 2014.
- She is currently the Non-Executive Director and a Member of the Investment Committee of AltVest Credit Opportunity Fund Ltd.
- She is passionate about upliftment of women in the economy and supporting the upliftment of transformed investment firms who are aligned to sustainable responsible activities.
Fikile Mbhokota
Chief Executive Officer, Satrix
Fikile Mbhokota is a seasoned leader with over 18 years’ financial markets and investment industry experience covering indexation and active investment management and consulting, operations, research, strategy, fund administration, custody management, executive client account management and business origination. Most recently she held the positions of Acting Head of Investments and trustee at the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), Africa's largest pension fund with more than 1.2 million active members and assets worth more than R1.7 trillion. Fikile holds a Master of Commerce in Finance and is currently in her final year studying towards a Doctor of Philosophy in Finance. She has completed Private Equity, Strategic Asset Allocation, Manager Selection, and Master Custody programs at the Institute for Limited Partners in Chicago and World Bank in Washington DC, USA respectively.
Nicola Comninos
Chief Risk Officer, Purple Group
Nicola Comninos, CFA is a director, a loving partner, a mother of three boys, a seasoned financial markets executive, board member and pension fund trustee with 17 years’ experience in group risk, strategy, sustainability, capital markets, trading, investments, and analytics. She is passionate about mentorship, financial inclusion, and diversity. Currently she looks after risk, governance, legal, compliance and sustainability as the Chief Risk Officer of Purple Group and its subsidiaries including, but not limited to EasyEquities, EasyCrypto and EasyProperties. As a CFA Charterholder, with investment management degrees she is actively involved in CFA South Africa, Women in ETFs SA and holds non-executive board seats at AfricaGlobal Xchange and the Institute of Risk Management of South Africa.
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