Kaashifah Beukes appointed as Saldanha Bay IDZ-LC CEO

After an extensive recruitment process, the Board of the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone Licensing Company SOC Ltd (SBIDZ-LC) and the Provincial Minister for Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, are pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Kaashifah Beukes as the new Chief Executive Officer of the SBIDZ-LC.

 

The SBIDZ-LC is mandated and authorised to manage and promote the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (SBIDZ). The SBIDZ-LC was registered as a state-owned company in 2014 after Saldanha Bay was designated as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2013. The SBIDZ is South Africa’s first SEZ to be located within a port and the only sector-specific SEZ in South Africa catering specifically to the oil and gas, maritime fabrication and repair industries and related support services industries. The SBIDZ is intended to be a vibrant hub of opportunity, job creation and sustainable growth for the Western Cape and South Africa.

 

These are exciting times for the SBIDZ-LC. The SBIDZ-LC Board are particularly pleased about Ms Beukes’ appointment, as she brings her own unique leadership style and a wealth of relevant experience to the organisation.

 

Prior to her appointment as the CEO of the SBIDZ-LC, Ms Beukes executed the functions of this role for the last eighteen months, drawing on her strong background in senior leadership positions. She has been with the SBIDZ-LC since its registration as a state-owned company in 2014 in an Executive position, responsible for stakeholder management and, between 2010 and 2014, was one of the lead project managers overseeing the SBIDZ feasibility study and business plan development with local, provincial and national government, as well as community and private sector stakeholders.

 

Ms Beukes played an integral role in ensuring the eventual designation of Saldanha Bay as an SEZ by the national government in 2013.

 

Prior to joining the SBIDZ-LC in 2014, Ms Beukes practised as a civil engineer for a private consultancy in Cape Town.

 

As one of only a handful of SEZs in South Africa, the SBIDZ will be managed by the SBIDZ-LC team under the leadership of Ms Beukes and will tackle complex, strategic and operational matters to deliver sustainable value to the SBIDZ-LC’s shareholder (the Western Cape Government) and stakeholders alike.

 

“I am humbled and honoured to have been selected by the SBIDZ-LC Board for this pivotal task. As an SEZ, we are tasked to deliver on the vision of a growing and thriving South African economy. My nine years of exposure on the SBIDZ project, in particular, has shown me that delivering such a vision depends on taking a long, broad and inclusive view, and that above all we are called to be ethical and catalytic in equal measure,” Ms Beukes commented, adding “I look forward to leading the operating entity for the SBIDZ to full operationalisation over the next 5 years, while continuing to drive economic growth and employment creation locally and regionally.”

 

Ms Beukes holds a BSc in Civil Engineering (UCT) and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business (UCT).