MONDI GROUP

Mondi, a leading global packaging and paper group, is at the forefront of sustainable business practices. The business is determined to contribute to a better world through the use of innovative solutions using paper where possible and plastic when useful.

Earlier this year, it launched the Mondi Action Plan 2030, which maps the actions the business intends to take over the next decade to meet its ambitious 2030 sustainability goals by delivering circular driven solutions created by empowered people, taking action on climate. 

Its plan is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability is at the heart of Mondi’s purpose, strategy and culture.

The group plans to deliver value accretive growth sustainably by focusing on four strategic value drivers: to drive performance along the value chain, to invest in assets with a cost advantage, inspire its people and grow responsibly, and partner with customers for innovation.

Mondi’s company culture promotes diversity and inclusion with zero tolerance for any form of discrimination. Creating a work environment that fosters and respects a culture of diversity and inclusion is vital to the organisation’s success and is a critical pillar of Mondi’s objective of becoming an employer of choice.

Women form a key part of this focus on diversity and inclusion. Mondi’s sustainability goals for the next decade, MAP2030, outlines ambitious plans to increase the proportion of female employees across all levels of the group to 30%. Achieving this target will mean, for example, that four out of every ten new hires over the next decade will need to be women.

Its Covid-19 business sustainability principles focus first and foremost on health and safety, including the mental and psychological wellbeing of employees and their families. In addition, its business sustainability principles focus on leadership, prioritising business continuity, ensuring responsible cash utilisation, the protection of jobs, working closely with customers and suppliers, prioritising technology as an important resource to enable seamless remote working, and a commitment to make meaningful social impacts in its efforts to contain the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mondi’s South African business sustainably manages around 254,000 hectares of plantation forests and manufactures and sells pulp, virgin containerboard and uncoated fine paper products. The company is ranked as a level 1 BBBEE contributor, employs approximately 1,500 employees in its forestry operations and two mills located in Richards Bay and Merebank in Durban.

WOMEN OF MONDI

Thobi Mkhize

Stakeholder engagement is an essential part of conducting socially responsible business in South Africa, points out Thobi Mkhize, Head of Stakeholder Engagement at Mondi South Africa.  

“Our approach to stakeholder engagement involves listening carefully, taking on board different views, behaving responsibly and acting transparently.”

In addition to being responsible for stakeholder engagement, Thobi is also responsible for corporate social investments involving the communities in which Mondi operates and overseeing all land tenure and restitution claims. Portions of Mondi landholdings in South Africa are subject to land claims under the Restitution of Land Rights Act.

“We cooperate with government around the settlement of land claims affecting our land. Following a successful land claim model and process, communities gain ownership of the land and can derive a sustainable income from it. We support land claim beneficiaries post-settlement so that they gain meaningful, sustainable benefits. We also work with them to ensure the fibre they produce continues to be sustainably managed and retains credible certification, explains Thobi.

Thobi, who holds a BCom in Industrial Psychology, joined Mondi as a human resources clerk. However, it was when she joined the social development team that she found her passion. She has held various positions in the company, including being a lands claim practitioner, where she was part of the team that settled Mondi’s first restitution claim, in partnership with the government, in 2008.

“My work is challenging, but I love it,” she reveals.

A career highlight for Thobi was when she represented Mondi South Africa at a colleague recognition conference held in Berlin, Germany. One of the most significant benefits of working for Mondi, she reveals, is the way the company supports and develops its people while at the same time acknowledging their hard work and contribution. She believes women have a responsibility to share their experiences and career lessons and to mentor other women.

Vivien McMenamin

Effective leaders need to lead bravely, be vulnerable and constantly focus on building a culture of trust, maintains Vivien McMenamin, Mondi South Africa’s first woman CEO.

Viv has been playing a leading role in Mondi’s drive to be a more sustainable company since being appointed as CEO in 2017, including driving the modernisation of the Richards Bay mill through the Ecolean project, which will reduce the mill’s carbon footprint and renew its critical power and chemical assets to enable the competitive operation of the mill for the next twenty years.

Under her watch, the company has made good progress in becoming a diverse and inclusive workplace where people can grow to their full potential and contribute to the business’s success, and a globally competitive operation that produces high-quality, fully-recyclable products from sustainably sourced fibre.

Viv did her undergraduate and honours degree at UCT before being awarded the Helen Suzman leadership scholarship enabling her to study an MSc in Economics at the University of London. More recently, she participated in the Advanced High-Performance Leadership Course from IMD in Switzerland, further emphasising the challenge of “Caring and Daring Leadership”.

Viv has close to two decades of experience in the pulp and paper industry and has had executive responsibility for marketing and sales, human resources, corporate affairs and transformation at Mondi South Africa.

Her previous roles have included Mondi Group Head of Sustainable Development and Director of Land and Forestry, two roles that have given her significant sustainability experience and insight. She was instrumental in the establishment of Mondi Zimele, Mondi’s small business development arm, which has resulted in job creation in many of the rural communities in which Mondi operates, and in the crafting of Mondi’s innovative approach to land reform.

Viv spent a decade in politics at the start of her working life, an active member of the anti-apartheid movement.

“This was a tough decade for me. I was working in the ANC underground, continually facing the threat of arrest and imprisonment. What kept me going was the big goal of fighting for the human rights of all South Africans.”

After the ANC was unbanned, she worked in the first ANC office in South Africa with Nelson Mandela. Working with Mandela was undoubtedly one of the highlights of her life.

“He was truly inspiring, combining great personal warmth and humour with an enormous vision for a non-racial democratic South Africa.”

The next decade of her working life was spent in government as part of the eThekwini Municipality, where she was tasked with driving economic development, including launching the Durban Point development. She also served as a member of President Thabo Mbeki’s Economic Advisory Panel.

Since joining Mondi, the achievements she is most proud of include transforming forestry work to be far more ergonomic and competitive with international best practices. 

Since becoming CEO, she has been instrumental, together with the Mondi South Africa operational team, to ensure that all parts of the business have continuous improvement projects intended to help build a strong, competitive and sustainable Mondi South Africa. She is committed to building a strong and diverse management team that represents the various demographics of South Africa. A good work-life balance, Viv maintains, is important for everybody.

“Without it, we lose perspective of what is important, become stressed, lose focus and even our sense of purpose. I’m very aware of the importance of good health and a clear, relaxed mind. I love spending time with family and friends, walking on the beach, watching a good series, and reading a good book.”

Nelly Ndlovu

A woman should never try to be a man in her role, maintains Nelly Ndlovu, CEO of Mondi Zimele. Not only is it not necessary, but her unique attributes are ideally suited to leadership positions. “Being authentic, having a caring attitude and strong communication skills makes us better managers and leaders,” she says.

She believes that leading in what is often perceived to still be a man’s world is about striking a balance between being assertive and embracing her feminine attributes. At the same time, she says she does not want to be treated differently just because she’s a woman. “I can do anything I set my mind to,” she insists. The right attitude, she insists, is critical to career success because it allows you to carve out a purposeful path.

“So much of what we achieve in life is driven primarily by attitude. We can’t change our past, and we can’t change the fact that some people will act in a certain way, but we do have a choice in terms of our own attitude and how we embrace life’s challenges. I’m a firm believer that we’re responsible for our own actions and attitude.”

An achiever from a young age, Nelly was awarded the Cecil John Rhodes Scholarship throughout her high school career. She has a BCom in Economics and Supply Chain Management from Rhodes University. While at university, she was selected to participate in Unilever’s Introduction to Business Management Congress. As a young graduate, she gained invaluable experience at Standard Bank and the Competition Commission. She has since complemented her studies with a GIBS Leadership Development Programme and obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Leadership.

She joined Mondi in 2006 and has worked in a number of roles in procurement management and business optimisation, including driving broad-based black economic empowerment in the forestry supply chain before taking over the reins at Mondi Zimele, the company’s enterprise development arm.

Established in 2007, Mondi Zimele provides equity, loans and business development support, enabling small businesses within the Mondi value chain and surrounding communities. Its aim, ultimately, is to support the success, growth and sustainability of enterprise in South Africa. The word ‘Zimele’ means to be independent or to ‘stand on one’s own two feet’.

Nelly explains that Mondi’s local enterprise support creates wealth and employment, strengthens local supply chains and helps to build more independent, resilient communities. Since 2012, Mondi Zimele has provided approximately R125 million in loan funding to assist over 300 local businesses to create more than 4,000 jobs. It has also been instrumental in establishing several land claimant community contractors.

Mondi Zimele and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Forestry Contractor Incubator Programme successfully developed 42 small forestry contractors, focusing on growing skills, management capability and improving their operational know-how. She concedes that one of the biggest challenges has been balancing the needs of her job with those of her family. Despite being driven to succeed, she makes certain to be available for her two daughters.

*Interviews conducted by Business Day