Shereen Hunter, founding member of Unleashed Combat Sport and Events, a well-known and reputable boxing promoter, who established her company in 2017, has over the last five years seen South African boxing remerge and go from strength to strength. As boxing returns to its former glory, she sees the opportunity into the future and has therefore started to prepare through the acquisition of additional human resources for the business to be able to achieve the goals she announced in the middle of 2022, which is to engage corporate South Africa with a call to action to sponsor professional boxing in South Africa as it unfolds.
She has appointed two leading women in business to flank her. The first appointment is Candace Jacob, who is appointed as an Executive Director and will be working closely with Shereen Hunter as the CEO in the strategic management matters and good governance of the company. Candace Jacob has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce majoring in Law, as well as an Honours level qualification in Corporate Governance. She is currently completing her Master’s degree in International Law (LLM) through the University of Cumbria in London, and has worked with various structures within the South African boxing fraternity over the last five years. Some of her work for boxing in South Africa includes being a facilitator at the provincial Gauteng Boxing Promoters workshop in 2021 and consulting on strategic boxing matters throughout 2021 and 2022.
The second appointment is Gugu Tshabalala who is appointed as the Chief Operating Officer for Unleashed. Gugu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, specialising in Public Relations and Communication and has worked with Unleashed in the management of events over the last two years and has shown significant potential in managing the operations of the Unleashed business fully, including, all communication and PR.
Gugu says: ”I have seen the amazing traction in boxing over the last two years and I am excited to see Unleashed Combat Sport growing from strength to strength as we build on the three pillars of our organisation being the empowerment of women in the sport of boxing, uplifting and developing the youth and securing sponsorship from the private sector to meet our objectives. Unleashed is a brand that I am proud of and proud to have ownership of.
Both executives will enjoy shareholding of the company, and this will also ensure performance in terms of having financial interests in the company.
”I have been preaching from the mountain tops over the last seven years that Women in Boxing are not limited to women inside the ring. There are amazing business skills outside the ring that women hold and positions at operational levels that need to be filled to take South African boxing forward. Those in the ring who lay down their lives to create livelihoods need sound and solid support from strong women outside the ring who take the business of boxing seriously and have the capacity, ability and skills to tap into human and financial resources, build reputation and be progressive in strategic boxing affairs,” said Shereen Hunter.