Meryl Malcomess

After matriculating at Jeppe High School for Girls, my father thought it prudent to send me to finishing school in Switzerland where I could hone my talents as a young lady rather than expose me to the harsh world of business or, even worse, university studies. Unfortunately the Swiss finishing school was closed for renovations at that time and I was enrolled at a secretarial college in the interim. After a short stint at college, I opted to dive straight into the working world and took up a position as a private secretary at a large company. At the age of 21, I became the first, and youngest female Financial Manager in the company. I have since then accumulated experience in commodities and advertising; and even ran a family trucking and airfreight business. I have been with SYSPRO for more than 18 years now and as Marketing Director, I am involved in determining the strategic direction of the Company’s marketing activities. I believe the key to SYSPRO’s success is to monitor market forces, including customer behavior patterns and trends highlighted by industry analysts. A SYSPRO initiative which I take great pride in is the concept of Soil to Palate – a SYSPRO philosophy for the food and farming industries that believes there is a happy middle ground between providing healthy, sustaining food and being a profitable business. I have many passions but my greatest passion are my daughters Lara and Bettina and grandson Sebastian.