08/08/2017: Ayanda Kanana to head up Joburg Fresh Produce Market
Councillor Leah Knott, MMC for the City’s Department of Economic Development, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Ayanda Kanana as CEO of the Joburg Fresh Produce Market.
A Chartered Accountant by profession, in 2013 Ayanda was appointed as the Director for the Governance and Reporting Unit in the City of Johannesburg, where he represents the Shareholder interests in the Board of Directors of the Municipal Entities owned by the City.
Ayanda is the interim Managing Executive of MTC (the Broadband Company) at CoJ, where he’s overseen the mammoth task of managing 1152km of fiber network for the Metro. He is the youngest Executive Director in the Executive Management Team.
Ayanda Kanana personifies dynamism and agility when it comes his professional career and personal life. A diverse individual who not only enjoys the thrills of a boardroom tackling strategy as a CEO but loves farming and horse riding as hobby and a challenge.
He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2008 and worked at Deloitte South Africa as a Learning and Audit manager. During his tenure at Deloitte, his client base included Anglo Platinum, Barloworld Limited, Murray & Roberts Construction, and Cricket South Africa. He has held Independent Audit Committee positions in the following institutions:
• Johannesburg Social Housing Company
• Johannesburg City Parks & Zoo
• Mogale City Local Municipality
• Randfontein Local Municipality
• South West Gauteng College
In 2013 he was appointed as the Director for the Governance and Reporting Unit in the City of Johannesburg where he represents the Shareholder interests in the Board of Directors of the Municipal Entities owned by the City.
He is also a Board member and a Chairperson for the Audit and Risk Committee at East London Industrial Development Zone. The common thread with these board roles is that he was and continues to be the youngest member – with a huge amount of contribution to the success of these organisations.
Ayanda started an initiative called Green Couch. This is a learning platform where different professionals impart business skills to scholars in grade 12 in order to prepare them for the working or professional world. This attracted some good donors from various fields and pupils were treated to a day filled with great activity.
While Ayanda aspired to be a Partner in the audit profession, this ambition competed heavily with his passion for public service. He left the audit profession to join the public sector. In this space, he recruited young professionals to the Governance department where they resolved key challenges facing the organisation in the City of Johannesburg Metro. In 2016, he saw an opportunity to create a training office and commenced with the administration as the City’s first Training Officer. The City of Johannesburg is now accredited by SAICA and has appointed its first trainees under the programme called #JoburgCAs.
This is a major breakthrough for the City as there is a much bigger opportunity for the City to be one of the best training offices amongst all the Metros. This is sure to develop accountants and leaders who understand local government and contribute anywhere else in government.
This is a major source of pride and joy in Ayanda’s achievements. The appetite for developing others did not stop at the training office - Ayanda also uses innovation to deliver business solutions. He hosted MBA students from GIBS and presented an opportunity for them to develop a strategic direction for the Broadband Company of the City of Joburg Metro. The partnership with GIBS is critical and aims to attract more young professionals into public service so we can “be the change” we want to see in government.
Issued by the office of:
Cllr Leah Knott
MMC for Economic Development
Tel: (011) 703-5528
Email: leahkn@joburg.org.za"> leahkn@joburg.org.za
