Trading Places

● Kyle Hauptfleisch has been appointed MD of Basalt Technology and will work closely with Basalt founder and CEOWayne Zwiers.

Hauptfleisch has more than 15 years of senior management, business development and strategy experience, seven of which were at an executive level in corporations and start-ups.

He was COO of BVNK, a modern banking platform provider focused on the Swiss market, where he gained experience developing and executing business strategy across territories.

● Black Royalty Minerals Koornfontein, part of the Makole Group, has appointed Zandile Mdanda CEO of Koornfontein mine in Middelburg. She will be assisted by Jacob du Plessis.

Mdanda worked her way up the corporate ladder, starting as a trainee geologist at Anglo Coal, where she eventually held the position of senior geologist. She was also chief geologist at Xstrata Coal (now Glencore) and chief geologist to the general manager project at African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation before moving to the Milele Group.

● The University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) has appointed Merchant Capital founder and CEO Dov Girnun as entrepreneur-in-residence for the MBA entrepreneurship focus programme.

This is the first appointment of an entrepreneur by Gibs in this new post.

Girnun has qualifications from Harvard Business School and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. His company, Merchant Capital, is an award-winning and leading alternative provider of working capital to SMEs in SA.