Cornelis van der Waal, CEO
Cornelis holds an MBA degree obtained through the University of Stellenbosch Business School in 2005. In addition, he has completed two honours degrees, one in Business Administration (2004) and the other in Industrial Relations (1999) as well as an undergraduate degree in Industrial Psychology obtained from Rand Afrikaans University (University of Johannesburg) in 1998.
His working experience, of over 15 years, includes management consultancy in market and industry research roles. He has extensive experience with management, data analysis, generating new ideas and helping customers to grow their businesses based on a fact foundation. The majority of his experience has been gained through helping companies identify new markets and product opportunities across public and private sector while working for consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. He has extensive stakeholder relationship management experience and has worked with senior executives across many sectors. Cornelis is seconded to the GDA from Wesgro, the Western Cape investment, trade, tourism and film promotion’s agency.
At Wesgro he was the Chief Research where he headed a team of economists and tourism research specialists. His role was to direct their research efforts in order to assist internal clients across trade, investment, film and tourism and also any external customer seeking information on opportunities in the Western Cape. He has extensive presentation experience and has developed prospectus investment proposals for a number of municipal development projects.
The opportunities he had in his career thus far helped him to gain experience in doing research across Sub Sahara Africa with the major focus on energy, infrastructure, agriculture and automotive related research. He has advised various government departments on policy, economic development and job creation opportunities and have experience in both micro and macroeconomics. He has consulted to companies in order to improve processes, map business activities and help to improve efficiency. A significant portion of his time has been spent at senior level to assist with strategy development. He has managed research teams of up to 20 people in Africa and Latin America. He has solid financial planning and budgeting experience.
His project experience includes internal and external opportunity assessments, survey and research design and execution, process mapping, acquisition and partnership target identification, process improvement and best practice identification and implementation. He has advanced MS Excel skills and have been exposed to various valuation methodologies, acquisition scenarios and detailed financial forecasting.
He has gained extensive document writing, presentation and media experience. He has published various articles in industry magazines and has been invited as a knowledge expert at many conferences. He has gained facilitation, business development, negotiation, project management, general management, management consulting, governance, strategy, solutions design and mentoring skills.
He enjoys the challenge of problem solving. He is a firm believer in continuous innovation in the business environment and the empowering of employees in order to bring out the best in them. He thrives in a culturally diverse environment and believes that hard work bring results.
