Leadership and Key People

Founder & Group Managing Director, The Beijing Axis; President, South Africa Singapore Business Association - Kobus van der Wath

Kobus is the Founder and Group Managing Director of The Beijing Axis (www.thebeijingaxis.com), a China-focused advisory firm operating in four principal areas: Commodities, Capital, Procurement and Strategy. Clients include global multinationals with a 'China/Asia agenda'; and Chinese/Asian multinational firms with a 'go-global agenda'. The firm is a leader in China/Asia-Africa investment and trade facilitation, having worked on a number of high profile projects in this sphere.

Kobus is also the current President of the South Africa – Singapore Business Association (SASBA). SASBA was formed in 2000 by a group of South African business people with the support of the SA High Commission with the objectives of promoting South Africa as a destination for Singaporeans to invest in and form business ties with and offering a forum for South African business people in Singapore to connect with each other and with Singaporean business people.

Born and raised in South Africa, Kobus has been working in Asia for over 17 years and is based in Beijing and Singapore. In 2009, Kobus was included as one of 40 'foreign entrepreneurs' in China, to be profiled in a book 'China Entrepreneur' by Professor Juan Fernandez, from CEIBS Business School in Shanghai.

Kobus is the author of 'Doing Business in China – the System and the Strategies'. This book is the first book by a person from Africa on Business in China and was commissioned by the China International Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has also published other books and chapters in books on economics, finance and foreign exchange markets – particularly on China and the rest of Asia. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Reuters TV, SABC, TCS, CCTV and other networks. He has written for or has been quoted in the Financial Times, the Asian Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, the Singapore Straits Times, Singapore Business Times, China Daily and Business Day. He has done public speaking, on invitation, in more than 20 countries.

Before founding The Beijing Axis, he was Head of Investment Strategy and Global Market Research for Asia Pacific for Standard Chartered Bank Plc and, prior to that, he was a Senior Strategy Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Asia. In his early career, he was an Emerging Market Investment Strategist in London; a Treasury Economist with Standard Merchant Bank in Johannesburg; and an Economist with the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria.

Kobus teaches part time at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business MBA programme in the areas of International Strategy and Asian Business. In addition, he has lectured International Business at Curtin Business School and Edith Cowan University in Perth. He holds an MBA from INSEAD in France and a Master of Information Technology (cum laude) from Curtin University of Technology School of Information Systems.

GM: China and MD, Beijing Axis Commodities – Cheryl Tang

Cheryl is General Manager: China and Managing Director of Beijing Axis Commodities. She has also led the sourcing team since the company's inception and has successfully managed a significant number of projects assisting international companies to procure and invest in China, and in directing Chinese companies who are venturing and sourcing abroad.

Her previous experience includes:

• Account Manager for Beijing Yadi Media Company
• Senior Media Planner for J Walter Thomson Advertising Company
• Co-founder of a Beijing-based skin care boutique specialised in the distribution of European Products
• Advertising and Research Manager for Beijing Yanhuangxinxing Tech

Cheryl holds an MBA in International Business from Birmingham Business School, UK. She also has a BA degree in Marketing Communications from the Communications University of China.

Cheryl is fluent in English, Mandarin and Shanghainese.

Managing Director, Beijing Axis Capital - Matt Pieterse

Matt is a co-founder of TBA and served as a Non-Executive Director of the Company since 2003, focusing on governance, strategy and business development. He joined TBA in a fulltime capacity in 2009 from CREATE Ventures, the UK Venture Capital Fund Manager, where he was a co-founder and Investment Director since 2000.

At CREATE, Matt was a member of the Investment Committee where his responsibilities included investment origination, transaction negotiation, structuring and completion; as well as ongoing investee company portfolio management. Matt served on the boards of these investments as a Non-Executive Director, focusing on strategy and governance. His sector experience includes manufacturing, green technologies, biotechnologies, special materials, TMT and telecoms security. He has completed investments from seed capital to MBOs.

Previously Matt worked as an Investment Banker in the Corporate Finance divisions of Calyon (London and Paris) from 1998-2000 and UBS (Zurich and London) from 1993-1998.

At Calyon, Matt managed a team in Paris and London that worked on transactions in the Automotive, Financial Services and Logistics sectors.

Matt started his career with UBS in Zurich in 1993 as a graduate trainee in Corporate Banking before joining UBS's Investment Banking team in London. Whilst in Zurich, Matt worked on corporate transactions in South Africa, Israel, Greece and Turkey. He was promoted to UBS London in 1995 where he was responsible for the implementation of a new Investment Banking strategy before joining the M&A execution team. He worked in the London Corporate Finance team as an Assistant Director until 1998 where he was in the Metals and Mining transactions team.

Matt holds a B.Com Hons degree in Investment Management from the University of Johannesburg, 1992.

Managing Director, Beijing Axis Procurement - Lilian Luca

Lilian is the Managing Director of Beijing Axis Procurement and is also responsible for the development of Russia/CIS clients, for the coordination of TBA's global projects, for best-practice exchanges and for operational excellence. Since joining The Beijing Axis in 2007, Lilian has lead numerous procurement and strategy consulting projects for Chinese, Russian, and multinational clients in the mining, steel and heavy machinery industries.

His previous experience includes:

• Line management positions in Russian industry, as well as private equity and management consulting experience
• Commercial Director with RatimirSales Director with Wimm-Bill-Dann (NYSE: WBD), and Strategy Director with WBD in Moscow
• Associate with McKinsey & Company in Moscow and in New JerseyPrivate Equity Analyst with Europa Capital Management in Prague

Lilian holds a BA degree in Economics and International Relations from the American University in Bulgaria, and an MBA degree from INSEAD, France. He is fluent in English, Russian and Romanian. He has a working knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, Bulgarian and French.

General Manager, Beijing Axis Strategy - Javier Cuñat

Javier joined The Beijing Axis in July 2008 as strategy consultant. He has managed and conducted numerous strategy projects involving industry and competitive landscape analysis and market entry. Javier also has several years of experience of in-depth industry research in support of sourcing activities.

Javier's previous experience includes:

• Project Consultant: Beimad Investment Services, Grandall Legal Group
• Finance Manager: Fermax Electronics Beijing Branch
• Market Analyst: IVEX, Beijing Rep. Office

Javier holds a BA Economics from the University of Valencia, Spain, and a BA in Business Management from the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium.

Javier is fluent in Fluent in English, French, and Spanish and also speaks Mandarin.

Director and General Manager: Africa – Dirk Kotze

Dirk is the Director and General Manager: Africa. His involvement with The Beijing Axis started in 2004, focusing initially on general China-Africa business facilitation, but later moving towards an emphasis on commodity-related consulting projects within China. From 2006 he served in several management roles, including that of China country manager for The Beijing Axis. In all, Dirk spent close to ten years in Greater China, during which time he consulted several blue-chip mining companies on their China-related activities.

In addition to various roles at The Beijing Axis, Dirk has also held the following positions at other companies:

• Due Diligence Officer at Capitec Bank in South Africa
• Senior Consultant at CRU in Beijing

Dirk holds a BCom Law degree from Stellenbosch University and in 2009 obtained an MBA from the China Centre for Economic Research at Peking University in Beijing. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has a recreational interest in studying adaptive web-based learning solutions for Chinese script.

General Manager: Strategic Projects and Relationships – Haiwei Huang

Haiwei joined The Beijing Axis as a consultant in March 2006. He currently serves as the General Manager: Strategic Projects and Relationships. Prior to this, he worked as a consultant in Beijing Axis Procurement as well as Beijing Axis Strategy of The Beijing Axis.

Before joining The Beijing Axis, Haiwei worked as an international business development manager at Zhejiang Chant Instrument and Meter Company, which is part of CHINT Group, responsible for European and American clients. Prior to CHINT, he worked as a sales representative at Shanghai Huaqi Telecommunication Company.

Haiwei studied at London South Bank University in England. He holds a BA Hons degree in Business Administration. Haiwei is fluent in English, Chinese as well as Shanghainese.

Senior Manager: International Procurement – Diana Wang

Diana joined The Beijing Axis in April 2004 as an analyst and became Senior Manager: International Procurement in 2011, based in Beijing. Diana has seven years of China sourcing experience and has managed numerous procurement projects for commodities, machinery and industrial goods.

Diana holds a BA degree in International Economics and Trade and a BA degree in English Literature from Beijing Normal University.

Diana is fluent in Chinese and English.

Manager: Business Development – Jackie Li

Jackie joined The Beijing Axis as a Consultant and rose to Senior Consultant before becoming Manager of Business Development in the Johannesburg office. She has developed expertise across a range of areas such as project management, risk management, negotiation and relationship management. Jackie has worked with large Chinese and South African SOEs, as well as private organisations. She has led delegations into Africa as has introduced South African firms to China.

Before joining The Beijing Axis Jackie was a Project Consultant for Thuthuka Engineering, and was involved in a large China-based joint venture project. Previous to that she worked in marketing and sales for an import business, responsible for their industrial product line.

Jackie was educated in China and South Africa. Her first degree is in Marketing Management and she holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Institute of Marketing Management. She is currently studying towards an MBA at WITS Business School.