Lerato Yvonne Okeyo

Women in Business

Nominee's Province:
Gauteng

Project Name/Description:
Thuto Trust, Sweeney’s Paint and Construction, One Africa Capital, One Africa Logistics, FedGroup Holdings and Right to Care

More info:

Sweeney’s Paint is a 100% black-female owned and managed paint business, specialising in paint supply and application of decorative paints, industrial paints and heavy duty coatings, mainly to retail and commercial clients in Gauteng. The company was founded by Lerato Yvonne Okeyo in 2013. Okeyo’s investment management career started in 2003 at the National Empowerment Fund where she was an investment associate in the private equity division, and later headed post-investment management. In 2006, she joined CIDA Empowerment Fund as an executive director and thereafter served as the CEO of Nozala Investments. She later joined T-Systems as an executive responsible for the management and growth of a portfolio of diverse customer segments. She then went on to start Sweeney’s Paint. Through her management, the company has grown and is operating profitably under her strategic guidance as non-executive chairperson. She is also chairperson of the CIDA Empowerment Trust and chair of the Fluor Development Trust and serves on the boards of FedGroup Holdings and Right to Care NPC. One of her companies, Thuto Trust, funds the provision of full bursaries for disadvantaged black youth interested in pursuing teaching as a career. The company funds 50 students, predominantly women. “There is a whole lot in your life that is within your control: this is where your responsibility is, recognising always how your choices affect others, too.”