About Us

Yedwa Mbali Mjiako is a distinguished governance, risk and assurance executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience across the public sector, state-owned entities, and the financial services industry. She is widely recognised for strengthening governance frameworks, enhancing board effectiveness, and enabling organisations to achieve sustainable growth through sound governance, strategic oversight, and effective risk management.

Throughout her career, Yedwa has advised boards, executives, and organisations on corporate governance, enterprise risk management, internal audit, organisational transformation, and business performance. She combines strategic insight with operational excellence to help organisations navigate complexity, improve decision-making, and build resilient institutions capable of delivering long-term value.

Her executive career includes establishing the National Treasury’s first in-house Internal Audit Unit, leading Corporate Functions Audits at Standard Bank Group across key business functions while supporting audit teams operating in 18 African countries, and holding senior executive leadership positions within Barclays Africa and Absa Group. Across these roles, she successfully led multidisciplinary teams responsible for governance, internal audit, risk management, compliance, legal, operations, and corporate services.

Today, Yedwa serves as a Lead Independent Non-Executive Director and continues to contribute to governance excellence through her service on public and private sector boards. She chairs and serves on Board Committees responsible for Audit, Risk and Capital Management, Human Resources and Remuneration, Social and Ethics, and Governance. She also serves as a Council Member of a leading University of Technology and contributes to governance oversight through her membership of several public sector Audit Committees.

Her governance experience extends to national policy leadership, having chaired the Ministerial Task Team appointed by the Honourable Minister Dr Blade Nzimande. In this capacity, she provided strategic leadership, governance oversight, and policy guidance on matters of national importance.

Yedwa is respected for her independence of thought, balanced judgement, and ability to provide constructive challenge while maintaining collaborative relationships with boards and executive leadership. She believes that governance should extend beyond compliance to become a strategic driver of organisational performance, ethical leadership, stakeholder confidence, and sustainable value creation.

As the Founder and Managing Director of Yedwa & Associates, she partners with boards, executives, and organisations to strengthen governance, optimise risk management, enhance assurance capabilities, improve board effectiveness, and build resilient organisations positioned for long-term success.

• More than 25 yearsof executive leadership in governance, risk, assurance, operations, and strategic advisory.
• Established the National Treasury’s first in-house Internal Audit Unit, strengthening governance and accountability within the institution.
• Led Corporate Functions Audits at Standard Bank Group, providing governance oversight across Finance, Human Capital, Legal, Marketing, Governance, Shared Services, and Real Estate, while supporting audit teams across 18 African countries.
• Held senior executive leadership positions within Barclays Africaand Absa Group, leading multidisciplinary teams across governance, business risk, compliance, legal, operations, and assurance.
• More than 13 yearsof board and board committee experience as an executive director, together with service as an Independent Non-Executive Director.
• Currently serves as Lead Independent Non-Executive Director, Board Committee Chair, University Council Member, and member of several Public Sector Audit Committees.
• Chaired the Ministerial Task Teamappointed by the Honourable Minister Dr Blade Nzimande, providing governance leadership and strategic policy guidance.

Areas of Expertise

• Corporate Governance
• Board Effectiveness
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Internal Audit & Assurance
• Audit Committee Advisory
• Strategy Execution
• Organisational Transformation
• Governance Reviews
• Board Evaluations
• Risk Governance
• Regulatory Compliance
• Ethics & Integrity
• Executive Coaching & Mentoring
• Public Sector Governance
• Board & Committee Performance

Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Bachelor of Commerce (BCom)
• Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)

Professional Memberships

• Member, Institute of Directors South Africa (IoDSA) – M.Inst.D
• Member, Institute of Internal Auditors South Africa (IIA SA)