With a career spanning over 25 years, Rita Nkuhlu is a dynamic and driven Executive Director at Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa and is distinguished by her ability to lead her teams within the organization, whilst effortlessly shifting gears through diverse challenges, inspiring and driving her various teams to high performance.
In her current role as Executive Director for Business Excellence in Sub-Saharan Africa, she has successfully implemented various strategic business initiatives that resulted in positive impacts on multiple business areas and has demonstrated a natural ability to seize opportunities for growth.
Rita’s work experience has provided her with extensive international exposure, as a result, she has developed a broad global mindset, setting her apart as highly skilled and able to identify and act on emerging opportunities in African Markets. Due to her intercultural sensitivity, she possesses the unique ability to see/look beyond cultural differences to solve business problems.
Rita started her career in 1997 at Siemens Transportation Systems as Commercial Manager of Tenders, quickly becoming the Head of Commercial Project Management and later Project Commercial Manager for SADC countries. She later relocated to Germany and was appointed as Commercial Project Manager for Transportation Systems in a major project in the United Kingdom. In 2004, she returned to South Africa and was appointed Commercial Manager for Communications Enterprises. In 2007, she moved to Siemens Healthcare as Commercial Manager for Customer Services, before being appointed as the Head of Risk and Internal Controls within the Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa organization. Rita was ultimately promoted to her current position as Executive Director – Business Excellence for Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa region, in 2012.
In addition to her extensive list of accomplishments and titles, she is also the current Head of Siemens Real Estate for the Sub-Saharan region, driving the business towards a Green Star-rating, actively reducing the company’s carbon footprint and passionately contributing to a healthier world for future generations. In addition, Rita is also responsible for various Corporate Portfolios, consisting of Business Development, Corporate Communications, Permanent Establishments and Branches Coordination, as well as Diversity Management, which includes Corporate Social Responsibility, Enterprise & Supplier Development.
She holds a Master of Business Administration in South Africa as well as an Executive MBA from the European School of Technology & Management in Berlin.
