Unlike most human resource practitioners who unexpectedly stumble into their careers, Vodacom's Chief Human Resources Officer Matimba Mbungela has had his heart set on HR since the beginning of his working life.
As soon as he graduated with a Bachelor of Administration degree in 1990, he began his HR career at the department of Department of Agriculture & Forestry. From then on he moved to Mondi, Unilever, BMW SA and, in 2004 he joined Vodacom as the Group Executive for Talent, Learning and Development.
(In the photo Matimba Mbungela, CHRO Vodacom, and Didi Sehume, executive manager CHRO South Africa)
CHRO South Africa - the soon-to-be-launched organisation that seeks to help HR executives to boost their network, knowledge and careers through events, media and peer-to-peer advisory – caught up with Matimba ahead of the executive HR roundtable that he will be hosting at Vodacom Park on March.
“I chose to be in HR. It’s my life’s work, and even if such a time came that I retired, or moved on to start a new business, I wouldn’t switch to a different field.”
Now in his dream job, he is excited about being at the forefront of new developments in technology in so far as they impact his field. He says Vodacom has been a first mover an adapting a digitisation strategy and looking forward to navigating an environment in which many jobs will be become obsolete. But he says this as more of an opportunity than a threat in terms of the bigger picture of creating employment opportunities.
Says Matimba:
“We’re going into digital in a big way and it will reshape the way we do business. Of course there will be fewer people needed for the jobs we currently have – and, yes, there may not be such a thing as a call centre job in the future - but there will also be a need for different kinds of skills in a digitised world, and we’re working hard to build digital skills into the organisation. I’m very excited about it.”
