BrazilKnight Piésold promotes Vishal Haripersad to head of Africa
The Africa practice of mining and infrastructure consultancy Kinght Piésold has a new Regional Manager. Vishal Haripersad, who has been with the firm since 2004, will take over the regional reins after a three-year stint as the Managing Director and Chairman at the firm’s Johannesburg office.
His appointment is effective as the 1st of January this year. Leon Furstenburg, who held the position previously, will move on to a more supervisory role and will continue to operate on the firm’s board of directors. Haripersad will now overlook the firm’s operations across South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, DRC, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Madagascar and Mauritius.
Haripersad has an academic background in civil engineering and an MBA, both from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He began his career as a Research Engineer at CSIR, where he was engaged for a period of four years before he moved on to Goba to work as a Civil Engineer.
He took up teaching part-time in 2001 at his alma mater – the University of KwaZulu-Natal – in the field of civil engineering, a role that he held for more than 7 years. He is the Director and Chairman at Civilab and is a Board Member at Consulting Engineers South Africa.
Haripersad joined Knight Piésold in 2004 as an Engineer, and made his way up the ranks through the positions of Director, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director & Chairman, before taking up his current role as the Regional Manager for Africa as of the start of this year.
He will have his work cut out for him in his new role, given the rapidly expanding market for infrastructure services across Africa, and the dependence of several of the major economies on the mining and commodities sector. Mining is evolving in tandem with digitalisation, and several firms are looking for support with this transition.
Commenting on his appointment, Furstenburg said, “Vishal brings fresh, new energy to the group. He has been vital in driving the growth and expansion of the company into new countries and markets, and I look forward to seeing the continued growth of the group under his leadership.”
