Lerato Nonyane, country HR head at ACWA Power, South Africa, draws on her diverse experiences across energy and mining sectors to champion diversity, inclusion and women empowerment while fostering unity in global workplaces.
As country HR head (people and culture) South Africa at ACWA Power, where she has been since February, Lerato Nonyane has developed an understanding that it’s not just important to consider diverse workforces, but also various sectors and operating environments. And that, in our differences, there are also commonalities.
The bulk of Lerato’s career has been in either the energy or mining industries, working at companies as diverse as BTE Renewables and Enel Green Power, as well as Aveng, and she moved into the alternative energy industry from one that is equally characterised by being male dominated: mining.
Lerato, who has won several awards including Standard Bank Top Gender Empowered Company Leader for three years in a row in the Energy Sector, points out that her career has grown with each sector change, as each industry has their own way of approaching business.
This is something she has always been cognisant of throughout her career. While HR principles are cross-cutting, people aren’t, she says. “Our organisation is very global, which means we need to ensure that our practices are localised. However, many of the aspects of dealing with people, such as empowerment, cross geographical boundaries.”
Lerato’s first post was that of administrating sector skills plans and training development at the Mining Qualifications Authority.
Subsequently, she held positions in mining and renewable energy – as well as at Edcon – before being headhunted by BTE Renewables in December 2019 to head up HR for Africa. This, she says, was a great experience at which she managed to achieve many milestones. Here, Lerato had to start an HR unit heading up Africa from nothing, during which time the company grew from about 60 employees to around 200 .
For this, the company nominated her for the Standard Bank awards, which she scooped three times. One award led to another, and her career has led her to ACWA Power heading up HR for South Africa, ACWA Power is a developer, investor and operator of power generation and desalinated water plants, with 90 assets in operation, construction, or advanced development across 13 countries, and headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. “So, when I won the awards, that’s when I knew I had done well, and I was approached by ACWA Power,” she says.
At ACWA, she sees great opportunities to make an impact. One area that is universal, she says, is diversity and inclusion. “Some of the challenges that we face are global.
“I find it quite interesting that I’d sit in meetings and think some of the discussion points are unique to me as a South African, but they happen across the world, they just sometimes have different names or scenarios,” says Lerato.
Here, she is able to bring South Africa’s national pride to the fore: “unity in diversity”.
“People will come to me and ask how we did it, how South Africa succeeded in diversity. And I can draw on our experiences. But I also have examples I can share from Kenya and Italy, and all the other cultures I’ve been exposed to throughout my career,” she says.
Lerato also constantly takes advantage of her various positions across companies to learn about other cultures, such as Ramadan while in Dubai or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “It teaches you to be versatile when you work with people across a range of industries, time zones and cultures,” she says.
Without an inclusive culture, there is no collaboration, which means no teamwork and no synergy. This goes back to a lack of culture, says Lerato. An inclusive culture also benefits the business, as it transcends different employee levels and ensures that people are interested in each other.
“It’s important that everyone understands each other, that we can all find common ground, because then we can all work together in harmony, leveraging each other’s strengths and helping grow the business,” says Lerato.
This, she explains, doesn’t mean losing yourself. “I’m always looking for candidates that are true to themselves, because then they will be true to me and the company. They are authentic, and invest in what they believe in,” Lerato says.
Empowering women is also important to Lerato. A key aspect for her is having specific targets in hiring when it comes to a mix of genders.
Bringing together diversity as well as people’s true selves results in a good mix of people, who help grow the business and aid it in reaching its objectives, she says. Here, she leads by example, bringing diversity into her own teams at each company she has worked at.
