Dorah Tlala-Tanor Honoured with National SABPP Capability Development Award
Dorah Tlala-Tanor’s SABPP win proves capability development done right transforms organisations.
JOHANNESBURG, 6 September 2026 — Dorah M. Tlala-Tanor, Group Chief HR and Corporate Affairs Officer at Proconics, has been named the winner of the Innovating Capability Development Award in the “Practitioner Championing Learning and Development Innovation” category at the SA Board for People Practices (SABPP) Annual People Factor Conference 2026, held in Durban under the theme “People Strategy for Complex AI-Led Realities: From Hype to Co-Creating Impact.”
The award recognises HR practitioners whose work has visibly reshaped how organisations build capability and develop talent. Tlala-Tanor was announced the category winner ahead of fellow nominee Professor Willie Chinyamurindi, in a category that drew some of the country’s most respected names in learning and development.
Tlala-Tanor brings more than two decades of experience to her role at Proconics, where she leads human capital strategy and corporate affairs across the group. As Group Chief HR and Corporate Affairs Officer, she is responsible for shaping the organisation’s people strategy, driving organisational development and culture transformation, and advising executive leadership on the human capital decisions that underpin business performance.
Her portfolio spans organisational design, talent and succession planning, leadership facilitation and change management, work she describes as helping organisations diagnose people challenges and translate them into interventions with measurable business outcomes.
On receiving the recognition, Tlala-Tanor reminisced, “When I look back on more than two decades of working with people, leaders and organisations across different sectors, I am reminded that some of the most meaningful impact happens when we create opportunities for people to discover their potential and translate it into performance.
This award is a deeply appreciated recognition of that journey. I am grateful to SABPP, teams I’ve led and inspired, colleagues and leaders who have shaped my thinking over the years, and to the many people whose development has made this work so rewarding.”
Tlala-Tanor holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from the Management College of South Africa and completed an Executive Leadership programme at Oxford University in England. She is a Gallup-accredited Strengths Coach, a Master HR Professional accredited by SABPP, a member of COMENSA, a licensed ASCHP practitioner and a registered EAP Specialist — a spread of credentials that reflects a career built as much on behavioural insight as on business strategy.
Over the years, Tlala-Tanor’s consulting and training footprint has extended into state-owned entities, government departments, municipalities, regulatory bodies and private-sector organisations, including NECSA, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Department of Labour, DHET, the Department of Health, SASSA, DIRCO, ATNS, SAPS, SABS, Eskom, SALGA, Transnet, a number of SETAs, the NNR, JRA and SANParks.
Her work has also taken her beyond South Africa’s borders, with assignments in Lesotho, Tanzania, Geneva and Lagos State, Nigeria, delivering leadership programmes and enterprise HR solutions shaped to each context. She is also a regular speaker and facilitator, engaging audiences on leadership identity, workplace culture, Employment Equity, disability awareness and the future of work.
Proconics staff turned out in numbers to celebrate the win with her, joining her on the night to mark a recognition the organisation regards as a reflection of the calibre of HR leadership it has built internally.
The SABPP honour arrives at a point when Tlala-Tanor’s profile in the HR community is drawing wider attention. She has also been selected as an Honorary HR Icon for 2026 by the Future of HR Awards, put forward for the CHRO Awards, now in their eighth year, and chosen for HR100 Recognition at the HR World Summit — a run of recognitions that, taken together, points to a practitioner whose influence on South African HR practice is being noticed well beyond her own organisation.
For Proconics, the award marks the strength of its human capital leadership at a time when organisations are being asked to rethink how they build capability and prepare their people for a changing world of work. It affirms HR leadership that treats people strategy as a driver of business performance, placing Proconics among the organisations shaping that conversation nationally.
More details on the SABPP Annual People Factor Conference and the full list of 2026 award recipients are available through the SA Board for People Practices.
