Ryan Swano
Bertina Engelbrecht’s journey is a study in steady upward momentum: from a childhood on the Cape Flats to the executive suite of South Africa’s largest health and beauty retailer. Officially announced as Chief Executive Officer of Clicks Group in January 2022, Engelbrecht has become one of the most prominent figures in South African retail, and one of the few Black women to lead a JSE-listed company.
Grabbing Opportunities in Her Formative Years
Born in a rural Eastern Cape town and raised on the Cape Flats, Bertina Engelbrecht attended primary school in Elsies River where she lived, and high school in neighbouring Bishop Lavis
A formative opportunity arrived when her high school Afrikaans teacher, Mr Tobie Titus, arranged for her to study matric on an AFS scholarship at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California.
“Through his networking, my Afrikaans teacher, Tobie Titus, opened up the opportunity for me to study matric on an AFS scholarship at the Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California. And at that school, Mr Meeks encouraged me to enter a speech contest that led to me winning the Lions International Speech competition in 1981 with a speech themed ‘My World, My Answer’. I was the first non-American to win since 1937. The prize money ($6,000!) enabled me to pay the full tuition cost of doing a BProc at UWC.” Engelbrecht told UWC Alumni News & Events.
Engelbrecht, having won the Lions International Speech competition (1981), uded the prize money to fund her law studies earned a BProc at the University of the Western Cape. She was admitted as an attorney in 1989, completed a Management Development Programme at Stellenbosch University Business School (1992), and obtained an LLM (Commercial Law) from the University of Cape Town in 1994.
Entering the Corporate World
After completeing her Attorney Articles and early legal work, Engelbrecht moved into corporate roles in the 1990s. Her career included stints at Spoornet, South African Airways (SAA) and senior roles at Transnet, followed by leadership positions in organisational effectiveness at Sea Harvest and executive roles with Shell Southern Africa. These HR and organisational-change roles prepared her for Clicks, which she joined in 2006 as Group Human Resources Director; her responsibilities expanded over time to include corporate affairs and stakeholder engagement, culminating in her CEO appointment in 2022.
Trailblazer Bertina Engelbrecht’s rise from the crime-ridden Coloured area of Elsies River on the Cape Flats to a Corner Office CEO inspires a new generation of South African leaders. Her story proves what’s possible when capability meets commitment, and vision meets perseverance.
Major Achievements and Impact
As leader of Clicks Group, Engelbrecht has been associated with strategic growth, transformation and employee empowerment initiatives. Internally she has highlighted the success of Clicks’ employee share ownership scheme, paying out around R1.3-1.5 billion to employees when it vested, and has overseen expansion of the group’s retail footprint and loyalty engagement efforts.
Before becoming CEO, Betina Engelbrecht, with her Human Resources background, has built a track record as an executive who has the employees at heart, resulting in Clicks consistently winning awards as one 0f the best empoyers in South Africa.
Her appointment as CEO was widely reported as a milestone for gender and racial representation in South African corporate leadership.
WATCH: Bertina Engelbrecht Interviewed – Best Employer Certification: Clicks Group
Commitment to Educational Development
Engelbrecht has been publicly vocal about education and people-development causes, reflecting both personal history and philanthropy. She has maintained ties with her alma mater communities and, in recent years, has accepted governance roles such as an appointment to the Council of Stellenbosch University, signalling an ongoing commitment to higher-education institutions and broader transformation efforts.
Portrait of A Leader – Capability Meets Commitment
Engelbrecht is described by many as a pragmatic, communication-focused leader with deep HR roots; someone who built her credibility by improving organisational culture and then applying those skills to commercial scale. Her path, from Cape Flats classrooms to global study opportunities, to legal training and corporate HR, and finally to the Clicks corner office, illustrates what happens when capability meets commitment: capability to run a complex retail group and commitment to the education and employee programmes that shaped her.
The Bertina Engelbrecht story should serve as an inspiration to every young leader not born with a silverspoon. Grasping opportunities to build your own capacity and capabilites, and being committed to your goals and vision, will lead to success.
