Dapper-looking Siphesihle (Sipho) Hlela is our Man Crush Monday. He is the newly appointed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director for Africa at Meltwater, the global company at the forefront of media intelligence and social analytics.
Sipho, with years of experience in the technology, SAAS, and digital industry space, is the go-to person when it comes to building and expanding data strategies, as well as establishing and maintaining positive business relationships, all towards adapting to meet evolving opportunities and environments and driving initiatives with clients across Africa.
He is also known for his dynamism, passion, dedication, and professionalism. Equally impressive is that Sipho leads from the front and devotes his time in developing talent – in essence, using his expert knowledge to bring about positive change.
Prior to his most recent appointment at Meltwater, he was appointed as the company’s Kenya Country Lead Director in 2018 to launch an office in Nairobi, Kenya – a strategic move by the company to increase its market share in East Africa. In June 2021, he spearheaded Meltwater’s first-ever Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) South Africa Virtual Summit. This summit created awareness, transparency, and dialogue on pertinent issues from both local and international perspectives.
As an erudite student, Sipho was working full time while engaging in an Executive MBA at the Quantic School of Business and Technology in Washington. He graduated in August 2021, having specializations in Startup Entrepreneurship, Strategic Thinking, and Advanced Corporate-Level Strategy.
It is not all about work for our Man Crush, Sipho takes time to relax in the world of rugby. He takes pride to have featured on eNCA sharing Meltwater’s insights on the #strongertogether campaign that rallied behind South Africa’s Springbok team, who then won their third championship at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Sipho is not just a career professional, he has established himself as a thought leader featuring in several exciting panel discussions about digital transformation, big data, and marketing technology to name a few. We are pleased with how Sipho is using his position, influence, and expertise to transform the digital space. He is a worthy Man Crush Monday.