Linda Nyembezi

Linda Nyembezi - Founder & Managing Director at Insele Capital Partners

“We write our legacies every day whether we realize it or not. I want to use the power of my life to touch and change lives in a meaningful way, while the aim is to impact as many lives as possible, but one life significantly changed is also enough.”

Q1: Tell us about yourself (background)?

A1: I am the founder and director of Insele Capital Partners, a dedicated fixed income brokerage firm. I began my career in the Financial Markets as a Trainee Fixed Income Dealer at Kagiso Securities a pioneer black empowerment business. I then moved on to Deutsche Bank AG in 2006, in Fixed Income Sales servicing local and offshore institutional clients. With that came the execution of Money Market, Interest Rate – bonds and derivatives and FX orders and other responsibilities included placement of primary market issuance by local corporates. My career in the corporate work culminated in 2017 at Standard Bank where I headed the Fixed Income Sales Team. In the quest to contribute to solving the unemployment and access to job opportunities in financial markets which generally have high barriers to entry for the average black child, Insele Capital Partners was born. It has been a journey of resilience, fortitude and celebrating every victory, big and small.

Q2: Did you always know where you wanted to be? 

A2: For the longest time I wanted to be a pediatrician but the aversion to blood and cadavers that I’d have to encounter at medical school put me off. When I enrolled at university it was with the idea of becoming an Economist, however the world of financial markets captured my interest more and my course was thus changed, and I haven’t looked back since.

Q3: What has been the most vulnerable moment of your life or in your career (Any war stories you can share)?

A3: I generally struggle with showing vulnerability because I had always perceived it as a sign of weakness. But I have since learnt that it is part of allowing myself to be seen in my fullness in fact vulnerability is quite courageous. As a female working in male dominated spaces one has had to take on this hard persona and inauthentically be “one of the boys” because anything else places you in a position to be victimized and overlooked. One day after a face off with a ‘mean boss’, I burst into tears right there in the dealing room. I had had enough of putting on this brave, big girls don’t cry façade.

Q4: What personal sacrifices have you made throughout your career? 

A4:  Fortunately, none that are significant, and I suppose being unmarried with no kids helps. But I have had to be mindful about not compromising my mental health in the quest for career advancement.

Q5: Who was an inspiring woman leader to you growing up and who inspires you now?

A5: My maternal grandmother was the leader of our family, a true matriarch. She delayed having her own children so she could take care of her siblings and set them up for adulthood. She championed education, financial independence for women. She often said, “if you have to buy it on credit it means you can’t afford it, wait until you can truly afford it” Not that I listened to that sage advice all the time. She was a woman who was ahead of her time. She will forever inspire me. A woman who is more widely known who currently inspires me is Michelle Obama. She holds a high level of self- respect and respect for others. She managed to define herself in her own right rather than being defined by her hugely popular husband. She juggled roles of being a supportive wife, a super mother to two daughters, being first lady and a social rights activist with great poise and grace. And she remained very relatable despite her high profile.

Q6: What are some strategies that can help women grow within their organisations?

A6: Find a sponsor very early on, you cannot be the only person advocating for yourself and your work speaking for itself is not enough. Bring your authentic self always, it is easier to sustain. Do not be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback and use it as a way to grow.

Q7: This year’s commemoration of Women’s month theme is the “The year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Realizing Women’s Rights”. What does this mean to you?

A7: It actually saddens me that the efforts of this stalwart have not been realized or progressed in the modern day and to an extent showing signs of regression. Women remain largely subjugated in all intents and purposes. We still celebrate the “first black woman” to do this and that centuries later, where many privileges are still reserved for men.

Q8: How do you celebrate being a woman?

A8: By just being and embracing being a woman with all it’s complexities.

Q9:  As a Grind Member, what about our mission resonates with you?

A9: The drive to develop black youth in our communities is what resonates most with me. Our black youth is unfairly bearing the brunt of the socio-economic issues that overwhelm South Africa. Unequal access to schools and quality of education means that some children don’t’ have the opportunity to acquire the same skills or education levels as others. As a result, only a fraction of young adults enters the labour force with the same high levels of secondary and tertiary education, and this is how the inequality trap manifests. And because government is hamstrung by all sorts of things it is up to those of us with means no matter how small to foster some change. It is a mammoth task but if we keep at it, it inspires others to take it on too and the multiplier effect takes hold. Without actively working to change the structures of society we entrench the current situation.

Q10: How do you feel you could use your unique skills, experience, and perspective to further our cause?

A10: Kudos to the gents who breathed life into The Grind and sustained it to present day. I do however believe that subtleties in female experiences that men can miss with black women and children being the most vulnerable in our society. Our experiences are not homogenous, though we are seen as homogenous group, my own journey can be an inspiration or cautionary tale for others.

Q11: What would you like to be remembered for, i.e., what type of legacy do you want to leave?

A11: We write our legacies every day whether we realize it or not. I want to use the power of my life to touch and change lives in a meaningful way, while the aim is to impact as many lives as possible, but one life significantly changed is also enough. I am an ardent advocate for changing the course of the black female child who seemingly has the odds stacked against her from birth, through exchanges of knowledge, personal development, social support. I hope that those that those whose lives I touch move on to influence and touch others.

Q12: If you had to choose, which fictional character do you resonate with? And why (it doesn’t have to be a female character)?

A12: Hard-drinking, ass-kicking Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok- makes no apologies for her choices and draws solid boundaries. Sure, she’s flawed, but that’s what makes her successes so sweet.