Seelan Gobalsamy

- South Africa

Profile

Seelan Gobalsamy is an African business leader with vast, international experience in financial services and manufacturing. He is the Group CEO of Omnia Holdings Limited, a South African-based JSE listed company, operating across more than 25 countries with over 4,200 employees. With almost seven decades of experience across multiple industries, Omnia Holdings (Omnia) is internationally recognised for its research and development, manufacturing capabilities and specialised solutions (products, services, networks) as well as technologies for the agriculture, mining and chemicals application industries. Its subsidiaries include Omnia Nutriology, BME, Protea Mining Chemicals and Protea Chemicals. The Group continues to grow its global footprint, bolstering operations in Australasia and Brazil and expanding its presence in the SADC, North America, Canada and the EU.

Seelan leverages his expertise as a Non-Executive Director at Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited, Momentum Metropolitan Life Limited, and JSG Capital, a company he founded. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.), Accounting, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting, both from Rhodes University. He has also completed an Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School.

In previous senior and executive leadership roles, Seelan’s impact was tangible, succeeding in leading his teams to increase sales, grow market share and bolster industry relevance. Seelan’s leadership footprint is proudly pan-African – he has demonstrated his deft expertise at leading large and complex organisations, assisting them to navigate dynamic challenges and grow at a rapid pace.

Seelan joined the Omnia family as a Non-executive Director in 2018. He was seeking to widen his business knowledge outside of financial services and was soon appointed Group Financial Director. In September 2019, at a time when Omnia found itself in a position of immense financial turbulence, Seelan assumed the role of Group CEO and was tasked with spearheading Omnia’s turnaround strategy. With Seelan at the helm and despite the challenges of COVID-19, Omnia returned to profitability in 2020.