Returning Home: Phume Mazibuko Rejoins Gapuma as Operations Associate

28 September 2026

Some people pass through an organisation; others are shaped by it, and help to shape it in return. Gapuma is delighted to announce that Phumelela Mazibuko – known to colleagues as Phume – has rejoined the company as Operations Associate, just over a year after first arriving as an intern.

Her return is a source of real pride for all of us. It is also a quiet affirmation of something we have long believed: once people come to Gapuma, they become invested, and that sense of belonging stays with them.

A deliberate beginning

Phume’s path to Gapuma began with a recommendation. A family member pointed her towards the company as a good place to learn, and she followed up on her own initiative, writing to us with her CV and a clear account of why she wanted to enter the industry and understand how a trading business operates from the inside.

That directness set the tone for her seven-week internship in the summer of 2025. She came to learn, and she did – not only about the mechanics of commodities and speciality chemicals trading, but about herself.

“The internship taught me what I wanted from my working life,” she says. “I realised I wanted a dynamic role, one where I would be solving problems that have real commercial impact. That was the moment everything came into focus.”

Choosing to come back

What stayed with Phume after her placement ended was the combination of culture and industry. The pace, the responsibility and the people around her matched the kind of professional she wanted to become.

So rather than wait for a vacancy to be advertised, she took the initiative once more. She wrote to her former supervisors to ask whether there might be room for a graduate, and what followed was a series of open, constructive conversations. Together, we shaped a role that did not yet exist, but which we recognised would be essential to Gapuma’s commercial success and to the smooth running of the business day to day.

It is a story that reflects well on Phume’s resourcefulness, and on a company willing to make room for talent when it knocks on the door.

The role

As Operations Associate, Phume will focus on making Gapuma’s daily operations as efficient and productive as possible. Her responsibilities include:

• supporting the end-to-end execution of supply chain activities
• quality control
• keeping documentation organised and up to date
• ensuring compliance standards are upheld across the commodities and chemicals we trade, and across our suppliers and clients
• monitoring and tracking key performance indicators
• managing risk, and developing strategic solutions across each of these areas

It is a wide-ranging brief, and one that places her at the heart of how the business functions.

Looking ahead

For Phume, the return feels less like a new start than a continuation.

“Gapuma’s culture, combined with the industry itself, was exactly what I was looking for as I developed professionally,” she says. “Coming back was an easy decision. I’m thrilled to be home, and I’m genuinely excited about what lies ahead – for me, and for the company.”

Welcome back, Phume. It is wonderful to have one of our own home again.