Founder & Managing Partner
Zinhle Matentji, Founder and Managing Partner
Zinhle is the Founder and Managing Partner at SearchSpecifics TRANSEARCH Africa. With over 15 years experience in the executive search industry. Zinhle founded SearchSpecifics in 2005 and partnered with TRANSEARCH International in 2015. We have offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nigeria, and growing.
Zinhle is a visionary in her own right who built the business from the ground-up. Her business conversion rate is above par, and is achieved through her natural and assertive impetus of opening doors and building winning relationships. She is able to push performance improvement whilst at the same time delivering exceptional growth.
Zinhle’s philosophy on talent acquisition is rooted in finding great leaders who have a burning desire to set their career agenda; and match these individuals with clients. She receives enormous satisfaction when she knows she has created a winning partnership between both the client and leadership talent. Seeing the talent journey unfold, leaders who make a difference and take companies to the next level of performance and sustainability through the process of talent acquisition, growth and retention is what fuels her.
Zinhle holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree from Rhodes University as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management; and a Certificate in Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching. She began her career in the recruitment field as a researcher at a global executive search firm. Having valuable exposure and experience in this role, and armed with knowledge about a number of diverse industries, she was headhunted by a leading South African search firm as an account executive.
Partner Johannesburg
Carilyn Quigley, Partner Johannesburg
Carilyn has over 25 years of executive search experience, 16 of which were running her own businesses. Her early years in search were focused on stock broking, investment banking and asset management in the hey day of deregulation of the markets. She developed a reputation for building teams from scratch, moving teams to start up international banks and putting in place leadership teams to start up financial services companies. Her focus shifted to a more diverse commercial market at the start of her second business where she focused more on leadership and specialist roles within multiple specialisations.
In order to formalize her coaching work, Carilyn qualified at GIBS university on their Professional Business Coaching Programme. This has given Carilyn the edge when dealing with competitive leaders and assisting her clients in attracting the right talent for their organisations and getting that talent transitioned and preforming in no time.
Building relationships with clients, understanding their needs, their corporate culture and their most pressing demands – translating that into a comprehensive search of the market using TRANSEARCH’s unique tools, and identifying the exact talent required by the client is a challenge that never gets tired.
Carilyn has enjoyed her many years in the industry and continues to do so.
Partner Cape Town
Julie Conde, Partner, Cape Town
Julie is an established executive search specialist with over 14 years’ experience. She prides herself in being a trusted advisor influencing tomorrow’s leadership by connecting top talent with select clients. She has worked for different search firms gaining valuable experience and exposure to different markets, such as the financial services and investment banking markets. A leader with entrepreneurial flair she also successfully ran her own executive search firm. Julie is a results driven individual, who has over the past 14 years successfully, passionately and consistently delivered senior talent acquisition solutions across an array of global disciplines, and has an excellent track record of landing critical & rare skills at a senior level. Now leading the Cape Town office she brings her wealth of experience of working in a fast paced environment that demands accuracy and discretion, providing clients with thorough and in-depth market coverage for attracting the best talent.
Partner London
Celeste Whatley, Partner London
Celeste Whatley is an accomplished executive with over 20 years experience in the business and professional service industry in international and multi-cultural environments. Celeste is a Partner in SearchSpecifics TRANSEARCH. She is responsible for all the business and strategic initiatives of the company, driving the company’s development and guiding it towards long-term success, while fulling a strategic advisory role for clients. With a business mindset, she is able to see the “big picture” in a variety of settings, while always keeping the human factor in perspective. She is able to navigate complex challenges and manage exacting projects.
Prior to joining TRANSEARCH, Celeste managed CGU Africa’s e-business department and call centre. She joined Commercial Union as HRD Manager following several years as a management consultant specialising in competency based training and development.
Celeste has several insurance qualifications and degrees in Political Science, Labour Relations and Anthropology.
Partner Lagos
Enife Atobiloye, Partner Lagos
Enife has over 19 years of international experience in executive search and Human Resources consulting. Enife is a Partner in SearchSpecifics TRANSEARCH. Enife has gained wide proficiency and exposure in several executive roles, such as being Managing Consultant of Kimberly Ryan, a leading indigenous HR Consulting firm in Africa with offices in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.
Apart from successfully conducting searches across Africa, she has spent over 15 years in organisational design, development and performance, with a proven track record in start-ups and leading existing teams to deliver business value.
Enife holds a Masters degree in Organisational Performance (Cranfield University, UK). She is certified for occupational testing, levels A&B (British Psychological Society), and is also a certified Global Practitioner in Human Resources (GPHR).
