Sarah Mthintso knows a thing or two about making a meaningful impact. She’s made her mark on South Africa — across the NGO, government, and corporate sectors — through a collaborative spirit, clarity of purpose, and a passion for equity.
Armed with both corporate and civil society work and a people-centred leadership style, Sarah Mthintso is ready to take the SAB Foundation into its next chapter. Image supplied.
While holding leadership positions at some of the country’s biggest companies, she’s never lost sight of advancing inclusive development and empowering marginalised communities.
Before joining the SAB Foundation, she led public affairs at Vodacom South Africa, shaping the company’s strategic engagements with government and advancing policies on digital inclusion and equitable growth.
While at Telkom and Old Mutual South Africa, she championed high-impact socio-economic programmes and advanced transformation agendas that delivered measurable BBBEE outcomes.
Armed with a people-centred leadership style and expertise in both corporate and civil society, she’s ready to usher the SAB Foundation into its next chapter.
For #WomensMonth on Bizcommunity, Mthintso discusses overcoming gender stereotypes, women’s empowerment, and making a lasting and meaningful impact.
What inspired you to pursue a career in social impact, transformation, and public policy?
I’m not sure I consciously set out at the beginning of my career saying that I wanted to work in social impact or public policy.
What I have always been interested in is the intersection between business and society, and particularly how institutions can use their resources, influence and capabilities to create opportunities for people.
Over the years, whether I was in the NGO or public sectors, corporate affairs, public policy or social investment, that thread has remained consistent.
I have always believed that business can be commercially successful while also contributing meaningfully to the society in which it operates.
What has become clearer to me over time is that sustainable impact is not about doing things for people.
It is about creating the conditions that enable people to participate meaningfully in the economy, build their own futures and, ultimately, create opportunities for others.
That is what continues to motivate me today.
You’ve worked in the NGO sector, government and corporate sector. Which do you prefer? Where do you see the most impact being made?
I don’t think I would choose one over another because each sector has a very different and important role to play.
Government has the ability to create an enabling policy environment and deliver at scale.
The private sector brings capital, expertise, innovation and execution capability.
Civil society and development organisations often have a much closer understanding of communities and the challenges people experience on the ground.
Having had the opportunity to work across different environments, I have come to appreciate that some of our greatest impact happens when those strengths come together.
South Africa’s challenges are too complex for any one sector to solve alone.
For me, the question is therefore less about which sector can make the greatest impact and more about how we build stronger partnerships across sectors around shared outcomes.
Having held leadership roles at companies like Telkom, Old Mutual, and Vodacom South Africa, how have you overcome gender stereotypes to be taken seriously in your career?
Gender stereotypes are real, and I think many women will recognise the experience of sometimes having to work harder to establish credibility, to have their voices heard, or to be afforded the same benefit of the doubt as their male counterparts.
And those stereotypes are not always perpetuated by men.
Sometimes, as women, we perpetuate them too.
You would hope that because we have a sense of shared experience, women would naturally be the first to support and advocate for one another.
One of the lessons I have learnt in my own career is that this does not necessarily follow.
Those experiences have taught me that overcoming stereotypes is not simply about working harder or constantly trying to prove yourself.
It is about building a level of credibility and authority that allows your contribution to speak for itself.
I have been deliberate about understanding the environments in which I operate, being clear about the value I bring, building strong relationships and ensuring that I contribute meaningfully to the decisions that matter.
Over time, I have also become much more comfortable occupying my space as a leader without feeling that I need to diminish myself, over-explain my presence or conform to someone else’s idea of what leadership should look like.
For me, that has been an important part of the journey, developing the confidence to lead authentically while remaining open to learning and growth.
But my own experiences have also shaped how I think about the women coming behind me.
They have made me much more intentional about looking out for other women and, where I can, trying to ensure that their journeys are not marked by as many of the difficulties that some of us have encountered.
As you become more senior, you gain greater access and influence, and I believe there is a responsibility that comes with that.
It is not enough to have navigated these challenges yourself.
For me, it means opening doors, advocating for other women, creating opportunities, making sure their voices are heard and recognising their potential, sometimes before they fully recognise it themselves.
I have learnt not to assume that women will support women simply because we are women.
We have to be intentional about it.
That is something I try to practise in my own leadership: creating space for other women, advocating for them when they are not in the room and, as I progress, making sure I bring others with me.
Ultimately, I would hope that the women coming behind us encounter fewer of the barriers that some of us had to navigate.
What does women’s empowerment look like? How do you work to empower women in your industry?
For me, women’s empowerment is fundamentally about agency.
It is about women having the confidence, resources, opportunities and freedom to make decisions that shape their own futures.
That means addressing the practical barriers that continue to limit women’s economic participation, access to finance, markets, networks, skills and opportunities to lead.
At the SAB Foundation, women make up a significant proportion of the entrepreneurs we support.
But our objective isn’t simply to increase the number of women participating in entrepreneurship.
We want to see women building sustainable businesses that can grow, create jobs and compete successfully in the economy.
I also believe empowerment happens in everyday leadership.
It is about opening doors, creating opportunities for women to lead, listening to different perspectives and sometimes simply giving someone the confidence to step into an opportunity they may not yet believe they are ready for.
What advice would you give to other women aspiring to replicate your success?
The first thing I would say is that there is no single blueprint for success, and I don’t think anyone should try to replicate somebody else’s journey.
But one lesson I would share is: don’t wait until you feel completely ready.
Some of the greatest opportunities in my own career have come at moments when I didn’t necessarily have every answer.
Be curious and keep learning.
Build genuine relationships and protect your reputation because it is one of the most valuable things you carry throughout your career.
Lead with integrity, treat people well and do what you say you are going to do.
And don’t be afraid of setbacks. A career is rarely a straight line. Some experiences will make sense only much later.
Most importantly, as you progress, take other people with you.
To me, success becomes far more meaningful when your own journey creates opportunities for others.
How can South Africa “build resilient economies for all”?
We have to start by enabling more South Africans to participate meaningfully in the economy.
Small and growing businesses are critical to that.
They create jobs, stimulate local economies and often develop innovative solutions to challenges within their own communities.
But we need to move beyond simply encouraging people to become entrepreneurs.
We have to create an environment in which good businesses can survive, grow and ultimately scale.
That requires access to appropriate finance, but funding alone is not enough.
Entrepreneurs also need capabilities, networks and, critically, access to markets.
A business becomes sustainable when it has customers and a genuine opportunity to grow.
We also need much stronger collaboration between government, business, development organisations and financial institutions.
Each part of the ecosystem has something different to contribute.
If we can become more deliberate about connecting entrepreneurs to capital, capabilities and markets, we can build stronger businesses, create more jobs and ultimately build a more inclusive and resilient South African economy.
Finally, if you could meet yourself as a little girl, what would you tell her?
I would tell her not to be afraid to dream beyond what she can currently see.
When you are young, your world can sometimes feel defined by your immediate circumstances, and you don’t yet know how many possibilities exist beyond them.
I would tell her that where you start does not determine where you can go.
I would also tell her that not everything will work out according to plan, and that is okay.
There will be disappointments, mistakes and moments when she questions herself, but many of those experiences will eventually shape her into the person and leader she is meant to become.
I would tell her to remain curious, work hard, treat people well and trust herself a little more.
And perhaps most importantly, I would tell her: when doors eventually open for you, remember to hold some of them open for the people coming behind you.
