Passionate about leadership, people development, and using customer insights to develop relevant propositions for customers, Chimhandamba comes from the telecommunications company Cell, where she has been the executive head of marketing for telecommunications since 2019.
During her tenure, the brand was ranked as one of Kantar’s BrandZ’s Top 30 Most Valuable South African Brands for four consecutive years, despite tough market conditions.
In 2022, Chimhandamba clinched gold, silver and leader marketing awards for Cell C at the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa Assegai Awards, for a shared value campaign that also received recognition at the London Festival of Media Global Awards in the same year.
Prior to Cell C, Chimhandamba served on the Outsurance executive committee. When she was at the Standard Bank Group before her time at Outsurance, she served various markets, including Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Mauritius, among others.
“I am truly excited to take on this new challenge and look forward to becoming a Hollardite. The Group is on a transformative journey as it expands on the African continent, and I am honoured to be part of a team that is driving this Pan-African strategy while offering localised solutions in each operating country,” Chimhandamba says.
“We are thrilled to have Hazel join us. She has extensive experience in leading marketing roles in the insurance, telecommunications and banking sectors, and we are especially keen to benefit from her expertise in pan-African brand marketing,” says Hollard CEO Willie Lategan.
Chimhandamba holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science; a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing from the University of South Africa; a certificate in digital marketing from the University of Cape Town; and a certificate in sales and marketing from the Institute of Marketing Management.
She has also attended executive leadership programmes at London Business School and Wits Business School.
Chimhandamba is also an ardent supporter of art and sports development in local communities.
