Edwin Dwinki Phala, is an Electrical Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management. An industrialist at heart, he formed Alcon Marepha (Pty) Ltd in 2001. Dwinki Phala was also a founding member of EON Consulting, an engineering and management consulting company.

He developed an interest in manufacturing after being on the board of directors for both the Aberdare Group and Powertech for 12 years, earning his stripes as a black industrialist in the sector .

Dwinki Phala had a vision of creating a black- owned, controlled and managed cable and conductor manufacturing entity. In pursuit of his vision, he approached the Aberdare Group to partner in the acquisition of Alcon Conductors (Pty) Ltd, after being unable to raise capital to acquire it on his own. Eventually Alcon Marepha was established, with Dwinki Phala as its majority shareholder though his investment company, Lone Ranger (Pty) Ltd.

Later, Dwinki Phala finally bought out Aberdare Group shares in Alcon Marepha, to make Alcon Marepha the only 100% black-owned aluminium overhead power conductor manufacturing company in South Africa.

Adele Hall brings a wealth of experience to Alcon Marepha.

Hall’s career started when she entered the accounting field, holding a number of positions while studying for her BCom degree in Accounting and Auditing. A defining moment of her career came when she was employed by Hannover Re, where one of Hall’s responsibilities was to lead a large team of professionals. The project ended up delivering unprecedented results, and that was a tremendous boost in Hall’s career.

Currently, Hall is intricately involved in the rewarding world of transformation within various organisations; using the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Codes as the main driver .

To date, Hall has held a number of positions in the transformation domain, including Director for Transformation at UTi; Vice President and Head of Transformation at Saab Grintek Defence; and currently, a shareholder and Director at No Ordinary Corporation (NOC).

As a diligent and passionate learner , Hall has realised that change sometimes needs to happen incrementally – that every step in the right direction is critical, irrespective of its impact, as long as the vision remains a priority and the people are continually motivated to push forward.

Neil Kayton qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CA) with Ernst and Young (EY) and during his articles, Neil focused primarily on the mining and manufacturing sectors.

Following EY , he joined Cape Gate, a private family-owned company that manufactures steel and related products from scrap steel. Neil was seconded to Universal Recycling Company, a joint venture business with Cape Gate, to assist in instituting governance processes and procedures.

During his time with Cape Gate, Neil acquired significant general management experience in all functions of the business. He was also involved in the management of a kosher wine farm in Paarl for some time, that allowed him to gain a comprehensive understanding of the complete business process.

Thereafter , he joined a global multinational pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, as a Financial Director. Here, his intent was to gain more sales and marketing experience and to see how an international company operates.

Following his role at AstraZeneca, Neil was approached by the Powertech Group; a wholly owned subsidiary of Altron, to join them as the Group CFO.