Meet our founder Phryne Williams
More than 25 years ago, Phryne blazed a trail pioneering South Africa’s first executive search and recruitment firm exclusively for Financial Services companies. It is an industry she loves for its high stakes, as well as its high calibre of people and expertise. She has successfully led Capital Assignments through bear and bull markets, all the while building outstanding industry networks and nurturing long-term relationships with blue-chip clients. Phryne is well-known as an inspirational thought leader when it comes to leadership, staffing high performance teams, coaching managers, and retaining talent.
Lifelong learning, knowledge sharing, mentoring, coaching and training are part of Phryne’s DNA. She built on her early studies in education to achieving a Masters degree in Professional Coaching through Middlesex University in 2015. Her thesis explored the impact of coaching on newly appointed Employment Equity candidates in managerial positions and earned her a distinction.
Two key events sparked Phryne’s idea of this niche market business – SA’s transition to democracy and the de-regulation of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. She had a particular vision of developing employment equity talent for the Financial Services industry, and immediately set about building Capital Assignment’s expertise in networking and relationship-building with candidates with prime employment equity potential. For many, Capital Assignments facilitated their first jobs in Financial Services and then maintained long-term mentoring relationships with them as they built their careers. The success of this strategy is evident in the number of Capital Assignments candidates are now captains in the industry.
Phryne also embarked on an impressive learning journey of global search and recruitment practices to ensure that she could offer the Financial Services market optimum human capital solutions. She frequently travels internationally to research methodologies and techniques, and continues to hone knowledge and tools to establish best practices at Capital Assignments that set the benchmark and still influence competitors today.
The firm has a unique advantage in having the experience of doing mutually-beneficial business with clients through Bear and Bull cycles. It’s not surprising that her well-developed know-how and skills-set has led her to providing clients with strategic consultation services and tailor-made in-house training.
Remaining true to her personal mission, Phryne sits on the board of Women for Afrika, (WFA) a non-profit organisation formed in 2004 as the Vice Chair. The Board serves the community by creating opportunities like education, training, workshops, leadership development, personal growth and access to resources.
About Our Team
With a wealth of experience our expert team operates nationally and internationally, placing candidates in Financial Services companies in South Africa, the UK, and the Cayman Islands.
Our team prides itself on keeping their fingers on the pulse of the industry. Together, we have decades of experience in recruitment and search, a deep understanding of the industry that is our speciality, and a human-centred focus on professional, process-driven interactions, underpinned by genuine care. As a high-performance team, we focus as much on quality results as we do on forging long-term, successful relationships with our clients and candidates. Our passionate team of experienced recruiters, researchers and talent specialists ensure the smooth running of each of our search assignments.
