“Put your hand up before you feel fully ready."
This advice from Shabnum Dawood is personal. She understands that "growth happens outside your comfort zone".
For Dawood, who began her career at age 17, there were many times she was pushed outside what felt comfortable or possible.
After leaving school, Dawood had wanted to study but could not afford tertiary education. So, instead, she joined a freight company and initially worked without a salary to gain experience. Three months later, she was offered a permanent position and used her first pay cheque to register for part-time studies.
Now, more than two decades later and many comfort zones left behind, Dawood is CEO of DHL Global Forwarding South Africa and a member of the company's Middle East and Africa management board.
Dawood's rise to the top is not accidental. She has worked every rung of the ladder, sleeves rolled up, learning as she went, in effect getting her apprenticeship not only in her books but also through her career procession which took her through operations, branch management, product leadership and commercial roles before she took the helm of DHL Global Forwarding South Africa.
“I wanted to keep growing, and I still believe that learning is one of the most important choices you can make for yourself and your career," she said.
Her journey has also seen her rise through a traditionally male-dominated industry, an experience that has shaped her approach to leadership and her views on creating opportunities for women.
“The barriers are not always obvious, but they are real.
"Women still need clearer pathways into operational and executive leadership, more visible role models, and stronger sponsorship from people who can advocate for them in rooms where they are not yet present.”
From learning the industry to leading it
Dawood joined DHL in 2011 and subsequently worked across several areas of the business, including operations, branch management, product leadership and commercial roles.
She led DHL branches in Durban and Port Elizabeth before taking responsibility for Ocean Freight in South Africa, experiences that gave her insight into both the operational and strategic sides of the logistics industry.
But the route to leadership was not always straightforward.
Dawood said working in a traditionally male-dominated environment also presented personal challenges.
“Logistics was, and in many rooms still is, a male-dominated space, and early in my career I dealt with real imposter syndrome,” she said.
Mentors played an important role in helping her overcome those doubts and encouraged her to take on positions before she felt completely ready.
“That taught me something I still carry today: leadership was never about having all the answers on day one. It's about being adaptable, making strategic decisions with agility, and trusting your team and the experts around you to help you get it right,” Dawood said.
Today, that ability to adapt is being tested in an industry facing significant disruption.
South Africa's logistics sector is navigating pressure from port congestion, rail capacity constraints, a volatile rand and shifting global trade patterns.
For Dawood, navigating these challenges requires resilience, flexibility and strong leadership.
Building resilience into South Africa's supply chains
DHL Global Forwarding is responding by focusing on flexibility across different transport modes, allowing customers to shift between air freight, ocean freight and cross-border road freight when disruptions affect a particular route.
The company also provides customers with market updates and visibility through its myDHLi platform, while working with public and private-sector partners to support the efficient operation of trade corridors and warehousing.
For Dawood, the biggest opportunities are emerging in sectors where reliable logistics are essential to growth.
Renewable energy is one such area, with South Africa's energy transition creating demand for logistics support for solar, wind and battery infrastructure.
Global trade is changing
As a member of DHL's Middle East and Africa management board, Dawood also has a broader view of the trends reshaping supply chains across the region.
She identified diversified sourcing, digital and green logistics as three major developments.
“Resilience has become non-negotiable,” Dawood said.
Political instability and conflict have affected trade routes, capacity and customer confidence across the region, prompting businesses to rethink how they source and move goods.
Businesses are increasingly diversifying their sourcing strategies to reduce their exposure to individual markets and potential disruptions.
At the same time, technologies such as paperless customs clearance and sustainable aviation fuel are becoming increasingly important to customers.
For South African companies looking to remain competitive, Dawood said businesses need to embrace agility and resilience rather than focusing solely on minimising costs.
“Be willing to adopt the digital tools, build resilience into your supply chain rather than optimising purely for cost, and look beyond our borders. There's a lot of opportunity in the rest of the continent for businesses willing to expand into it,” she said.
When logistics becomes a matter of life and death
Life sciences and healthcare are among the sectors where logistics can have particularly serious consequences.
Vaccines, medicines and biotechnology treatments often require strict temperature controls, regulatory compliance and rapid customs clearance.
“Healthcare logistics asks more of you than almost any other part of this business, because behind every shipment is someone's life,” Dawood said.
DHL supports these requirements through GDP-certified temperature-controlled facilities, real-time monitoring of temperature, humidity and location, as well as specialised teams focused on life sciences and healthcare.
The company also handles urgent shipments, including chartered flights, across African borders.
As healthcare systems expand across the continent, Dawood believes dependable logistics will become increasingly important in improving access to essential medicines and supporting better patient outcomes.
Creating more opportunities for women
Dawood's own experience has also informed her approach to gender diversity within the logistics industry.
She said women continue to face barriers when trying to progress into operational and executive leadership positions, including a lack of visible role models and sponsorship.
“The barriers are not always obvious, but they are real.'
She also stressed that male allies have an important role to play.
“Inclusion is not a women's issue; it is a business issue,” she said.
At DHL, programmes such as Women in Leadership are designed to develop women's leadership capabilities, strategic and commercial skills, while providing access to mentors and professional networks.
Dawood also highlighted the importance of creating informal support networks within organisations.
“I believe just as strongly in creating a sisterhood within corporate life: pulling up a chair for another woman when you are the only woman at the boardroom table, building allies and sponsors, and making sure talented women are seen, heard and supported,” she said.
Leadership built on kindness and accountability
For Dawood, successful leadership requires balancing performance with the needs of employees.
“If I had to sum up how I lead, I would say it is empathy and kindness paired with accountability. Results matter, of course, but people are what drive those results.”
She believes employees should have ownership over their work while operating within clear expectations and accountability.
Creating a psychologically safe environment where employees can ask difficult questions, challenge ideas and learn from mistakes is also central to her leadership philosophy.
It is an approach that connects the different stages of her career, from the 17-year-old who took an opportunity before knowing where it would lead, to the executive now making decisions in an industry where certainty is increasingly difficult to find.
And perhaps that is why her advice to young women considering careers in logistics, supply chain management and international trade is so simple: “Put your hand up before you feel fully ready. Growth genuinely happens outside your comfort zone.”
And this is not the end of growth for Dawood:
ashley.lechman@nationalmg.co.za