Neeran Naidoo, CEO

Neeran Naidoo is a specialist crisis communication and reputation risk management consultant. He is a British Council Chevening scholar with a Master’s Degree in Communications from the Centre for Mass Communication Research at the University of Leicester, UK. He has extensive experience working in leadership roles in the public, NGO and private sectors. He spent 8 years at Woolworths SA as head of strategic communications, he was Director of Communications at the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Special Advisor to the Speaker of the National Assembly during Mandela’s presidency. Neeran currently serves on the Board of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. He was one of the founding members of the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC). Neeran is the South African and English-speaking African country rep for the International Association of Risk and Crisis Communication (IARCC).

Allergens

Dark arts and alternative truths.

Proudest contribution to South Africa

Designed the Mace of the National Assembly, one of South Africa’s national symbols when Mandela was President.

View presentation to Parliament here. (Apologies for the poor sound.)
Read presentation to Parliament here. 

Kesebone Mogotsi, Associate

BA Communications (University of Johannesburg)
Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (GIBS)

With over 22 years of experience in brand management, reputation strategy, and corporate communications, Kesebone brings exceptional expertise to the Hewers team. Kesebone has been instrumental in crafting and executing integrated communication strategies that build brand positioning, enhance reputation, and drive impactful internal and external communication campaigns.
Kesebone previously served as Head of Corporate Communications for leading organisations such as Bushveld Minerals, ALUWANI Capital Partners, and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). In these roles, she led high-stakes reputation management initiatives, consistently aligning communications with business objectives to achieve measurable outcomes.
Prior to these leadership positions, Kesebone was a senior strategist with FCB Johannesburg, Ogilvy, and Brunswick South Africa. Here, she advised and managed communications for prominent clients across various sectors, such as telecommunications, financial services, tourism, retail, mining, and manufacturing.
Kesebone’s career reflects a deep commitment to strategic excellence and a proven ability to manage complex communications landscapes, making her a valued contributor to Hewers mission of protecting and enhancing our clients’ reputations.

Dr Dominik Heil, Associate

Dominik Heil is a programme director at Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, UK and a sessional lecturer and PhD supervisor at Wits Business School. His research interests include corporate reputation, philosophy of management, organisational culture, strategy, and leadership. Dominik was the founder of the Reputation Institute in South Africa and has more than 15 years of experience in reputation research and analysis, consulting and advising blue-chip clients on reputation. Dominik has published extensively in local and international journals on reputation and is a regular columnist and commentator on corporate reputation.

Nyiko Sithole, Intern

Nyiko Sibusiso Sithole is an emerging academic dedicated to enhancing his research skills. He holds a Master of Arts in Strategic Communication from the University of Johannesburg and works as a strategist, converting research findings into actionable insights. He co-published a paper titled “Gen Z and Cause Marketing: A Q-Methodology Perspective” with Dr. Roela Hattingh in the journal Communitas (2024) (available here). He recently presented a paper on Generation Z’s perspectives on cause marketing on Instagram at the 40th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity.

Nyiko’s is current an intern with Hewers on Reputation Risk Analysis for a major client.