The Human Capital Engine (THCE)

General information

THCE’s journey began in the early 1980’s when, despite apartheid legislation, fate enabled Thandi Chaane and Jackie Naudé to cross paths. These two strong, independent women recognised in each other not only a shared passion for South Africa, but also a shared belief in the power of the South African people.

Over the next two decades they supported each other in their vision of positively influencing the national education system. A vision which ultimately culminated in Prof Jackie Naudé founding the Centre for Community Development of Vista University and Thandi Chaane becoming the Gauteng DDG of Education.

As from the early 1990’s many multinational companies realised that the fall of apartheid was imminent and began to engage the services of Jackie and Thandi in their personal capacities. Their personal journeys as well as their extensive understanding of South Africans and their struggles, placed them in an ideal position to support individuals in preparing themselves for a new, diverse society.

During the 1990’s Thandi and Jackie continued to support companies in positively addressing the challenges of new diverse workforces. Then in the late 1990’s they met Linda Thango, together with whom they formally founded The Human Capital Engine (THCE) in 2001.

Since its inception the formal leadership of THCE has changed, but the thought leadership has remained that of the “founding mothers”. Over the course of its existence THCE has never actively marketed itself and yet has continued to grow through word-of-mouth. This is, firstly, because the business has intentionally been kept small, enabling us to offer customised programmes that meet each client’s unique and specific needs, but more importantly it is because we at THCE believe that the time has come for us all to actively and consciously build the South African nation and all our programmes and processes reflect this belief.

Our intrepid leaders are :
Prof Jackie Naude – Managing Director
Jackie has a MA & D. Phil (Psychology) and is a registered Educational Psychologist with 31 years’ experience. She has extensive experience in organisational transformation and community development. She was the founder and national director of the Centre for Community Development (formally known as the Centre for Cognitive Development) of Vista University. During her time in academia she was involved as a lecturer and external examiner at WITS, UP, UPE, UWC and UNISA. She is currently the Managing Director of The Human Capital Engine, an organisation which she co-founded in 2001 aimed at addressing the challenges facing organisations through facilitated diversity and transformation processes. In this capacity she has consulted to numerous corporate organisations and has also acted as consultant to numerous government departments dealing with their transformational agendas. In 2011 she was invited to be a Member of the Presidential Task Team on An appropriate National Youth Service concept for the South African socio-economic context and all matter deemed material to its realization. Prof Naudé is an expert in the field of human development, and furthered her national studies with studies in Israel under the mentorship of Prof Rueven Feuerstein. She has also delivered numerous papers both locally and internationally on organisational and community optimisation, with specific emphasis on maximising people power.

Ms Thandi Chaane – Founding Director
Thandi specialises in the transformation of Government departments and facilitated the strategy formulation of the Public Service Commission. She has also consulted in various private sector companies which include the likes of Vodacom, Standard Bank, Ernst & Young, Investment Solutions and many more. Thandi became the first woman Deputy Director General of the Gauteng Government of Provincial Strategy and in 1999 was head hunted by the Multi-Choice Foundation on using the cutting edge teacher training technology. This led to an increased business focus and in 2001 Thandi co-founded the Human Capital Engine - a consultancy focused on organisational transformation, diversity management and human capital development. She is the Chairperson of the Primovie Transformation Committee as well as a Non-Executive Director on the Primovie Board. Ms Chaane has extensive experience in training, facilitation, mediation, project management, change management and business management. She is currently involved in Leadership and Development programmes throughout the continent and is an Independent Expert for the Public Service Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) and was awarded the Woman of Purpose Award by Tribute Magazine in 2000.

Mr Arnold Shkaidy – Director People Processes
Arnold has a Masters in Psychology (cum laude). He has various certificates in Human Resource Management and has attended the Management Development Diploma at UNISA. Mr Shkaidy is the former head of Human Resources at the Land Bank and spent 6 years at Spoornet as senior manager in HR. His last post, before deciding to consult full-time, was as Head of Transformation at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. He has extensive knowledge of Human Resource strategy and operations. Mr Shkaidy is an expert facilitator in diversity, HR and strategy development and has led various teams through organisational transformation processes.

Ms Nici Turnbull : Director Projects and Compliance
Nici has worked within the field of organisational transformation for the last 9 years as a project developer and programme facilitator. Over the last 3 years she has utilized her degree in political sciences to critically interrogate government policy on Employment Equity and has assisted numerous organisations in meeting their EE compliance requirements. She specializes in the alignment of Employment Equity imperatives with broader transformational and HR agendas within the organisation. Together with a Political Science degree, Ms Turnbull holds a BA(Hons) (cum laude) in History as well as a Higher National Diploma with specialisation in South African Political History (cum laude). She also successfully completed the UNISA Advanced Labour Law Programme (cum laude).

Mr Jacques Naude : Director Business and Communications
Jacques Naude has extensive experience in audio-visual production, marketing and branding having been involved in this area of expertise since 1999. He managed both the production and marketing teams at the largest campus radio station in South Africa and as part of his responsibilities coordinated numerous large-scale events. He expanded his knowledge into television production during an internship at M-Net in 2003. In 2004 he started his own company, SYNC Seven Visual Consultants, which specialized in the development and maintenance of company brands through internal communication strategies. In 2006 Sync Seven was incorporated into The Human Capital Engine, where Jacques now assists in developing internal communication solutions for companies undergoing organisational transformation. He has a broad knowledge base in terms of design, production, advertising, IT and mixed media, which leads to creative and innovative marketing strategies.

Facilitation team
The delivery of THCE’s quality product is enhanced by the experience and knowledge of our diverse and highly qualified facilitation team which includes :

Dr Biki Minyuku (PhD)
Dr John Volmink (PhD)
Ms Nicky Abdinor (MA)
Mr Pat Govender (MA)
Ms Steffi Stockton (MA)
Mr Malan Laubscher (MEd)
Mr Thabiso Kgosana (BA)

Support team
The facilitators are supported by a team of four dedicated project managers who, with the assistance of 2 project administrators, ensure the successful running and implementation of all THCE programmes.

THCE is a Level 2 Contributor and Value Adding Company and Enterprise Development Beneficiary.