Thea Aboud started her career in industrial engineering with Iscor and moved to local, provincial, and national government. She subsequently branched out into accounting, procurement, and human resources. After 17 years she decided to become self-employed. She started Shacabanga Consulting, working as a strategist and capacity-building advisor. In collaboration with New Horizons she facilitated Business Implementation Plans for local, provincial, and national government, non-profit organisations, and the private sector in South Africa and other African countries.

In a complete turn-around, Thea ran a successful takeaway/general dealer in the Eastern Cape, before returning to Johannesburg in 2010 to set up the Writers Guild of South Africa (WGSA). Today she still runs the WGSA as Executive Officer in conjunction with its council. Among her other clients are the Documentary Filmmakers’ Association, the South African Screen Federation, Sisters Working in Film and Television, the Southern African Freelancers’ Association, the South African Science Journalists Association, and the Independent Producers Organisation.

Thea’s strengths lie in organisational capacity building, system analysis, financial management, strategic planning, and project management. She has a sound knowledge of the Public Finance Management Act. As a writer, she has screen credits on a children’s programme and has also been a ballet, ballroom, and Latin American dancer and trainer.