Our people

Nicky van Hille

Nicky is responsible for the strategy consulting and research functions of the company.  She is also responsible for the day-to-day running of the company.

She is a highly experienced business strategist with a focus on developing holistic, integrated and sustainable business strategies for organisations within Southern Africa. Combining strong analytical and numeric skills with strategic thinking and good interpersonal capabilities, she has been particularly successful in developing and implementing business strategies in a number of large corporates.

Nicky has a degree in Economics, Econometrics and Mathematical Statistics, Accounting and Business Management, which she obtained cum laude from the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit (RAU) now known as the University of Johannesburg.   She also has various strategy development, financial and business case development, programme management and leadership development credentials.

Nicky was the head of strategy at Brandhouse Beverages for over 3 years, where she was responsible for developing corporate and functional strategies and for managing the implementation thereof.   A significant portion of her time was spent working with the company’s respective shareholders to gain alignment and support for the Brandhouse strategy.

Her consulting history includes deep experience in strategy development, programme management of large-scale business transformation interventions, post-merger integration and commercialisation.

She was the head of Gemini Consulting’s Analysis and Design discipline, where strategic thinking and business case development were fundamental capability requirements.

In 2005, Nicky established The Moss Group.  The company focuses on strategic level management consulting, assisting her clients in bringing simplicity to complex situations, gaining deep insights into strategic issues and enabling businesses to translate thoughts into action.

Aside from work, Nicky is a family person, taking great pride in her little boy and her husband.  She is an avid runner and enjoys all aspects of outdoor life.  She and her family are based in Cape Town.

Dr Rob van Hille

Rob van Hille has over 15 years of research experience in the fields of environmental biotechnology and biohydrometallurgy.  He currently holds the position of Senior Research Officer within the Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research.

Rob graduated in 1994 with a BSc in Microbiology, Zoology and Biochemistry from Rhodes University, completing an honours degree in Biotechnology, with distinction, the following year.  He received his PhD in Biotechnology from Rhodes University in 2001.  His PhD research focused on the development of a sustainable bioprocess for the remediation of acid rock drainage, utilising biological sulphate reduction and algal biotechnologies, coupled with selective precipitation using biologically generated sulphide and alkalinity.

Upon completion of his PhD, Rob spent two and a half years as a post-doctoral researcher in the Crystallisation and Precipitation Research Unit at the University of Cape Town, working on a diverse range of projects from fundamental studies on metal sulphide precipitation and carbonation of alkaline brines to concrete corrosion and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane degradation.

Rob moved to his current position in July 2004 and has remained actively involved in both post-graduate student supervision and “hands-on” research.  His research interests centre primarily on aspects of environmental and mineral biotechnology, particularly with respect to the cycling of inorganic elements through the environment.  The biologically catalysed mobilisation of heavy metals and sulphur from sulphide minerals, both in controlled bioleaching operations and undesirable acid rock drainage generation are being investigated from a kinetic and thermodynamic perspective.  The bioremediation of acidic, metal and sulphur containing waters forms a second major research focus and includes biosorption, precipitation, sulphate reduction and sulphide oxidation technologies as well as the bioremediation of thiocyanate and cyanide compounds associated with the mining industry.  Aqueous speciation, thermodynamic and kinetic driving factors are considered.

Biooxidation and sulphate reduction, as well as anaerobic digestion for bioremediation and bioenergy generation, are performed by mixed microbial consortia.  The application of molecular biology techniques to investigate microbial ecology and population structure-function relationships constitutes a major interest, that’s cuts across the research areas.  A final area of research interest is in algal biotechnology, focusing primarily on carbon sequestration and integrated processes for energy generation and bioremediation.

Outside of work Rob is a keen sportsman, enjoying everything from ultra-distance running to golf and bowls.

Our partners

We have established a formal alliance with PSP Icon, a highly respected management consulting organisation.  The Moss Group operates as PSP Icon’s sustainability consulting division, enabling PSP to offer a complete range of sustainability consulting services that complement their traditional management consulting service offering.

The Moss Group makes use of PSP Icon resources as required to deliver specific client engagements.  The two companies have a long history of working together and share a very similar culture and set of values.  Our fundamental ways of working and core approaches also align very well, enabling our people to move seamlessly between the two organisations.

Specialist consulting services

The Moss Group also works with carefully selected partners to assist in areas where specialist expertise is required.

Environmental consulting services

The Green House is a niche consultancy which provides tailored services that cover strategy, technology and capacity building for sustainability, with a particular focus on environmental issues.

The strength of their consulting team lies in their engineering background, which affords them an in-depth understanding of the technological and financial challenges facing industry, while their environmental grounding and experience allows them to engage with the broader complexities and implications of moving towards an environmentally sustainable operation.

The Moss Group partners with The Green House on delivering projects that require a deep technical knowledge of environmental issues, particularly those pertaining to climate change.  The Green House is also our preferred partner for carbon, water and other footprinting engagements.

Employee engagement services

Employee engagement services

Julia Seal Engagement Strategies

The Moss Group partners with Julia Seal Engagement Strategies when working on projects that require a specific focus on truly engaging the hearts and minds of employees around our client’s strategy in order to bring about real behaviour change.

B-BBEE legal advisory services

The Moss Group works in partnership with Graeme Dorrington, a well-known and highly experienced B-BBEE specialist lawyer, on all of our client engagements that require specific expertise relating to B-BBEE legislation and scorecarding.  Graeme provides invaluable technical input into our B-BBEE strategies, particularly in the sphere of preferential procurement, enterprise development and socio-economic development.

Industry associations

Our passion for cross-sector facilitation has resulted in us becoming proud members of the National Business Initiative (NBI).

We also play a very active role within the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), with Nicky van Hille being the Chairperson of SAICA’s Southern Region Sustainability Forum.