I am Sharlot Aphane and I started working at a company called In-Staff, as a waitress in a restaurant at Absa Capital in May 2010. That’s where I met someone that would change my life for the better. Some of my colleagues didn’t like her, nor should I say understand her. Here is why: she is meticulous, pays attention to detail and didn’t expect anything less from her staff, but most importantly she had an eye for raw talent.  I had no idea what she saw in me then, but she saw something that no one did, something that I didn’t even see in myself. She realized that I, as a waitress was not enough, it didn’t showcase my talents. She then took me out of the restaurant and promoted me to being a receptionist.

When I started I didn’t know anything about being a receptionist, or how to even present myself to clients. Let’s not even talk about my computer skills, it was nonexistent. I didn’t even know how to switch it on.  That didn’t seem to faze her, at all. She took me under her wing. Taught me everything; from communicating to clients, how to send an email, to the way I should dress, how to wear my makeup, how to walk, even taught me how to smile at clients. Okay to cut the long story short, I ended up being one of the best receptionists ever. As if that was not enough, this woman realized my leadership abilities. She then promoted me to be a Team Leader, leading eight of my colleagues.  She saw a potential in me, she brought out the best in me and she made me the professional that I am.

Today, in 2015 I am a proud Personal Assistant to one of the Top executives at Barclays. And all this happened because of one woman. Her name is BRAWYN PILLAI. She was the Service delivery manager when I started. To Brawyn; I just want to pay homage to you and say Thank You for believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself.  Thank you for turning a young girl from Limpopo who didn’t have any self-esteem in herself that; she is beautiful, talented and to reach for the sky. Thank you for everything!!!!!!!!!!!

Kind regards

Sharlot Aphane

Personal Assistant – Barclays Capital

I have been privileged to work with Brawyn whom I regarded as a mentor. Brawyn has inspired me to approach every task with passion and commitment and taught me that service delivery and commitment to providing a world class service are imperative service standards that cannot be compromised.

 I will take the following key points that I have learnt from her and carry them with me in every job that I do for the remainder of my career.

• Remain calm in stressful situations
• Focus on the solution and not on the problem
• Always put the client first
• Provide the best possible service to the client
• Always portray a positive attitude
• Remain professional at all time
• Do not act emotionally to work situations
• Giving up is not an option
• Provide positive solutions and find resolutions when things do go wrong

Lerato Ngcongwane

Reception team lead – Barclays Capital

Hi Brawyn

I’ve only heard today the shocking news that you are leaving us.

It is such a big hole you are leaving behind, it was an absolute pleasure working with you, the emptiness in our lives at DSFM will never be filled with the kind of person that you are.

May you have a blessed future lying ahead and thank you for everything I could learn from you and go well.

Regards

Hannes Verster

Switchboard Operator - Drake & Scull

My name is Nomfundo Duma and I joined Drake & Scull on the 1 August 2012 started working as a receptionist. I was a temp for 3 weeks and Drake & Scull made me permanent.

Working as receptionist at Barclays was not easy because we had to stand for the whole day, we were not allowed to wear pumps the only thing that made it fun was that it was a very busy and we had a lot of walk – in clients, Brawyn touched our lives differently I’d say, as much as she shouted and always complained when things go wrong she’d brag when you make her proud, Fridays she’d come stand with us and work with us at reception which I thought was fun and very interesting.  I’d say that has helped me a lot as an individual, her professionalism and demanding at times has helped and I became the person I am today. She has made me confident, and have very strong skills (skills of how to handle difficult clients – how to deal with stress).

I am now working as a Personal Assistant to Robert Benvenuti who is head of the Business Change and the Strategic Execution Office for Barclays Africa - I joined the bank on the 21 July 2014. What I have learnt from Brawyn is that you need to be confident at all times, smile all the time, be professional and be able to deliver – I have carried that to my current role I am able to work under pressure and I am able to also deliver with a smile since it was part of the requirements at reception.

In closure I’d like to say thank you Brawyn – it has not been easy (made sure we do things professionally, standing was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life) but because you saw the potential and knew I’d somehow make it and grow as an individual I am where I am today.

Thank you so much I hope you also grow as individual – may everything you touch turn into GOLD.

Much love ma

Nomfundo Duma | Personal Assistant |

Office of COO CIB

15 Alice Lane, Sandton, 2196, South Africa

A MASTERMIND IS THE ONE WHO FEEDS OTHERS OF HIS TALENT

We all have our destiny interpreters and   I am proud to say BRAWYN PILLAI is my Destiny Interpreter and I look up to her. She is capable of spotting a talent or potential.   My name is Lazarus Sakoane, I started working as a vending attendant for company called Compass Group which I did so well.  And I was rehired by Fedics to be supervisor for vending, but BRAWYN needed more challenge for me. So I was moved to be a store man, to do monitoring of the stocks and do orders for the restaurant. For her it was not enough, I was promoted to be front of house manager and simultaneously, monitoring of the staff and to do portions plan and costings with Chefs in the short space of time. When all these happened, she started coaching me on front office and now she is coaching me on other items.

She once sat me down and told me if I want something I just need to be positive, check all the blind spots and keep in mind that I need to take my life to the next high level.  She continued saying I have to set a goal; also self motivating can assist in achieving a great measure of confidence.  She taught me the very important keys, my client come first, find the solution for the problems, provide best service to the client and be professional.

Above all she arranged proper training for me “Managing develop program“ which is  being  recognize by SAQA. This Lady is so Remarkable, Extraordinary, to me She is so UNIQUE.

I THANK U

LAZAROS

I don’t know where to start talking about this woman. I met Brawyn between 2009 -2010 I was working on three months’ probation as a switchboard operator for ABSA Capital. Fortunate enough she saw something in me and granted me an opportunity to be a permanent employee. To this day I thank her, we had out moments, we had our arguments but in some way we always managed to both come to the party.

It wasn’t easy I must say but it was worth it.  When I met Brawyn I didn’t have a posture, couldn’t wear heels, and she instilled that in me she said “head up shoulders back and walk like a lady” always wearing a smile on your face. To this day I am a lady. Through the years escalating within the company -seven years later she has always been supportive – I can talk to her and seek advice ant any given time. I am currently an assistant to the CIO of Markets IT. I never ever regret any of her teachings, had she not given me a chance and groomed me I wouldn’t be where I am today. Most of her girls if not all have now escalated to greater heights and I know how much she’s proud of us.

Another lesson she taught me “humble yourself and be a good listener”. No one believed in me but Brawyn.

I thank you and I wish you all the best in your new venture.

Lebohang Mosikidi

Good Morning Brawyn,

Hope you are well ☺

So today is my last day at Abcap,(a lot of tears) and I just thought I need to send you a small thank you

I just wanted to thank you for guiding me through this year I was at Abcap, for being to me like a mentor.

When I started here, I was alone in this thing and had no cooking clue what I was doing, but I’ll be honest, I have learned so much from you.

I know we had a lot of ups and downs haha, (lately more ups than downs), but one thing I can assure you of that I’ve learned from you, is to believe in myself and to never be afraid to learn new things.

Today I can say I leave here more independent than what I arrived here, I got more fight in me and I’m willing to grow more and more ☺

I know it’s not goodbye or anything, but I thought I should just let you know what big role you played in my one year “adventure” at Abcap. ;-)

 Regards

Caralize van der Schyf

Dear Brawyn,

I wanted to send you a special thank you to express my sincere gratitude for all the impressive effort you put into the event.

The décor, layout, food, flowers etc were just spot on!  You really made the event memorable with special touches like the beautiful cupcakes, sweets table and lunch packets all ready to be collected and taken with them back home.

This event could not have happened without you, therefore I would like to say thank you once again for putting so much positive energy and love into this.  Your efforts are truly and gratefully appreciated.

It was a great pleasure working with someone of your calibre and expertise, at no point did we ever have to worry about anything, you took care of everything, overseeing everything to the smallest of details.

Thank you once again.

With kindest regards,

Yu-Fang

I’m one of the event managers on the Group Events team in London. This week I came to Johannesburg for the Board meetings and had the pleasure of working with Brawyn.

I was thrown in to cover this event at the last minute, because our team manager Helena Winter-Brown, who was going to manage it, had an ear infection and couldn’t fly. I feel so lucky to have had Brawyn working on this as it meant that even despite the very late personnel change in our team we had nothing to worry about as Brawyn had every detail covered.

Brawyn truly embodied the Barclays values demonstrating a high level of Service, Excellence and Stewardship in all of her work. Everything ran seamlessly under her execution with no detail missed.

She was incredibly helpful and obliging in fulfilling all requests, of which there were many, and coping with last minute changes.

Her manner in dealing with a very senior level of client, the Chairman and the Board, was exemplary.

Above all, she was such a pleasure to work with, always maintaining a calm, friendly and professional demeanour. I was incredibly impressed her efficiency, delivering a high volume of work extremely quickly and with a very high standard of quality.

I hope I get to work with Brawyn at some other point in the future.

Kind regards

Anna

Anna Sampson I Assistant Vice President I Group Events

Barclays, 1 Churchill Place, London, E14 5HP

barclays.com