Consistently seeking ways to add value within my personal and professional sphere of influence has allowed me to build my career through collaboration rather than competition.

Melanie de Nysschen is a trailblazer in the banking and finance industry who’s developed an astounding depth of experience over the course of her career. As she works with The South African Venture Capital Association, the duties of her role are guided by an emphasis on the sustainable development and growth of small, medium and micro-sized enterprises. By enabling more economic opportunities for smaller businesses, De Nysschen is able to impact the lives of South Africans by fostering the conditions that will allow entrepreneurship to flourish.

As a finance industry professional, her expertise is impressive. She obtained a BA and an LLB from the University of Witwatersrand and was recently part of a prestigious fintech programme offered at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. With her legal background and extensive experience in corporate finance and capital markets, she’s a proven leader in her field: she’s advised and executed on both local and cross-border transactions in the listed and unlisted spaces. She has managed mergers, acquisitions, and disposals; takeovers; listings, de-listings and re-listings; public and private capital raisings, block trades and more.

Her personal success is just one component of what makes De Nysschen an inspirational figure: her awareness of issues regarding representation has led her to become an active part of the transformation of the finance industry towards a more inclusive paradigm. Her strongly-held position of putting people first is exhibited in her leadership style, which she sums up in the advice, “Hold people accountable; trust them while inspiring them to be part of a collaborative whole.”

Leadership and teamwork have in their separate ways contributed to De Nysschen’s broad professional network. Her advice to the next generation of female financiers? “Be courageous: the world deserves you, and you deserve the world. Walk your own path, in your own timeframe, reflect on it often, and purpose will find you. And be kind. Always.”

— Cayleigh Bright

Twitter: @melmelaniedn