Dr. Mark Mabhudhu is a professional engineer armed with a B. Sc. (Hons) degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Zimbabwe. He has a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Studies (2000), an MBA from New Buckinghamshire Chilterns University (UK), and a Master of Philosophy (Information and Knowledge Management) degree (Stellenbosch, 2008). He is currently working on completing his DBA degree.
In addition, Dr. Mabhudhu holds a D. Eng. Metallurgical Engineering (Honoris Causer) from Commonwealth University in collaboration with the London Graduate School of Business (2022).
A professional with vast knowledge and rich experience, it is not possible to mention the global mining industry and not take his name. Dr. Mabhudhu has almost three decades of experience in this sector.
Most of his experience has been with new mining operations from inception, for example, Auridiam Zimbabwe Private Limited’s River Ranch Diamond Mine, BHP Minerals Private Limited’s Hartley Platinum, Diamond operations in Botswana, and the ZCDC’s Chiadzwa Diamond Mines. He has also done significant work across the globe, in countries like Angola, DRC, and RSA on brownfield diamond projects across the diamond value chain as well as in countries like the UAE (Dubai), Belgium, England, Israel, India, and the USA.
Dr. Mabhudhu is one of the few diamonds industry leaders who have witnessed the Kmberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) develop from its foundation years in the early 2000’s to its current form and state to date.
SETTING NEW BENCHMARKS
Dr. Mabhudhu was roped in as the new CEO at ZCDC in September 2020 with his tasks chalked out. The organisation was in a dire state financially, operations had stopped, and employees had gone for nearly seven months without being paid salaries. Dr. Mabhudhu was faced with the herculean task of getting the organisation back on its feet.
Under his aegis, ZCDC has now become one of those state-owned organisations that are performing extraordinarily well. It is his unwavering hard work that made the company exceed the diamond production targets by 300% – a clear demonstration of leading from the front. He also incorporated several new initiatives that further enhanced the business performance. A new-age state-of-the-art ore processing plant with remote security surveillance system that include drone surveillance technology, as well as integrated CCTV monitoring, resulted in zero security breaches and zero diamond pilferage incidents. These milestones resulted in ZCDC performing extraordinarily well in 2022 and all is set to achieve its targets for the coming years.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Dr. Mabhudhu has been recognised for his hard work many times. He won special recognition for outstanding optimism, patience, understanding, and bravery under stress at the Megafest National Business Awards in 2020. He was chosen the ‘CEO of the Year’ under multiple categories. He was also named ‘Zimbabwe CEO’s Network Outstanding Public Sector Leader and Outstanding Leader in Business.’ In 2021, he was also chosen the ‘Outstanding CEO of the Year.’ He has been featured in CEOs Network’s Top 20 Outstanding Leaders in Business Category. These are just a few awards that Dr. Mabhudhu has won for his business ethics, professionalism, and vision.
LEADER OF THE PEOPLE
For the past three decades, Dr. Mabhudhu has been diligently serving in the mining industry. He has witnessed the industry going through different phases and has been an active part of the progress. As he grew in ranks, he found himself leading new projects and initiatives. He has seen many new projects from start to finish.
Dr. Mabhudhu believes that people management is the hallmark of successful organisational management. To him, a leader must excel in people management to achieve the desired goals. One of his key differentiating skills as a leader is also people management. As a CEO, the biggest challenge one can face is to bring in the right talent to the organisation, and this Dr. Mabhudhu has overcome through people management. He has in fact excelled in this department and that is attested by the resounding success of the organisation.
Dr. Mabhudhu’s communication style is open and transparent. He thrives on making sure that the employee base fully understands where the organisation wants to go in terms of its vision and aspiration. He ensures he has a solid relationship with his colleagues and employees. As a CEO, he does everything to ensure he is approachable, and every team member, regardless of their level in the organisation, finds him accessible. Sound decision-making capacity is one of the most coveted skills for any leader, and Dr. Mabhudhu believes that he has brought that successfully to ZCDC. Through his distinct leadership style, he brings maturity, stability, and overall positivity to the whole organisation.
WORKING FOR THE GREATER GOOD
Dr. Mabhudhu has an insatiable drive to fulfil his goals. He derives inspiration from people who achieve success through sheer hard work, innovation, and commitment to the cause. In his case, his cause is not only a successful business, but also improving the quality of life of the general population. He has charted out his path for himself where he leads various initiatives that result in the greater good of society and not just the business.
At a personal level, although bound by the limitation of resources, Dr. Mabhudhu has been a part of many initiatives to assist schools in the areas where he went for his primary and secondary education. His other social initiatives have included equipping schools with building materials to fix dilapidated classroom blocks and joining up with old classmates to purchase COVID-19 related materials for school children in affected schools. Such initiatives might be modest but they touched the hearts of many.
Dr. Mabhudhu also leads numerous initiatives at ZCDC for the long-term benefit of the communities in which the company does business. He believes it is the responsibility of the organisation to take great care of these communities. His approach is to make sure that as a company ZCDC is unflinchingly focused on community empowerment initiatives.
These initiatives include local enterprise development, health, education, infrastructural development, and general care for the disadvantaged. Under his leadership, the company has committed up to 10% of its revenue to community development initiatives. As a company, ZCDC has also developed a community based consumables buying framework whereupon all their edibles are sourced locally. This has created a co-existing ecosystem where even the local businesses benefit from the big companies.
Dr. Mabhudhu envisions a great future for ZCDC Pvt. Ltd, where it emerges as a world-class diamond producer for the long term benefit of the nation, and he is right on the path to achieving this goal.
