From Tembisa to top freight forwarder

Fortunate Mboweni, an import controller at Bidvest Panalpina Logistics, fought off global competition to be named winner in the finals of the Fiata Young Freight Forwarder of the Year 2014 competition held at the Fiata World Congress in Istanbul earlier this month. Mboweni had just 15 minutes to convince the judges that her knowledge, expertise and approach to the subject of her dissertation were better than those of entrants from the Fiata Europe, Americas and Pacific regions. She won the South African competition in January 2014 followed by the Region Africa Middle East contest in July 2014. Her presentation used a combination of an African teaching tool (the Buffalo thorn) and symbolic images to describe her journey from ‘unconscious incompetence’ to ‘conscious competence’ and how the African tradition of Ubuntu guides her to inspire other young people. She has been invited to Fiata’s Region Africa Middle East meeting in Dubai and the World Congress in Taipei next year as the Youth Ambassador for Africa. Her competition prize includes one week of training in London and another week in Hong Kong or New York. Mboweni is a product of the BPL Academy, which was formed to address the scarce and critical skills needed for transformation and sustainability. CAPTION Fortunate Mboweni, Fiata Young Freight Forwarder of the Year 2014.