Dawn Nathan-Jones is an award-winning South African entrepreneur, business leader, mentor and professional speaker, best known for her remarkable career building Imperial Car Rental into what became Europcar South Africa. She spent more than three decades with the business, ultimately serving as CEO and becoming one of the most influential female executives in South Africa’s automotive and tourism sectors.
Dawn joined Imperial Car Rental at just 21 years old, working alongside founding members Carol Scott and Maureen Jackson. She progressed through the organisation to become CEO of the Imperial Group’s Car Rental Division, overseeing a substantial portfolio that included Europcar South Africa, Tempest Car Hire, Auto Pedigree, Imperial Autobody and other mobility businesses. By the time she stepped down as CEO at the end of 2015, the car-rental operation had grown to a fleet of approximately 20,000 vehicles.
One of the defining chapters of her career was the transformation of Imperial Car Rental into Europcar. Dawn played a central role in the merger and repositioning of the businesses and subsequently the 2009 transition to the international Europcar brand. At the time of the rebrand, the operation had approximately 15,000 rental vehicles, 120 branches and a 32% share of South Africa’s car-rental market.
Her leadership has earned significant recognition, including the Transnet Foundation Boss of the Year Award in 2007. She has held leadership positions within the vehicle-rental industry and has been involved with organisations including the Business Women’s Association, International Women’s Forum and Institute of Directors.
Dawn became known to an even wider South African audience in 2016 as one of the five investors on M-Net’s Shark Tank South Africa, where she used her commercial experience to assess, mentor and invest in emerging entrepreneurs.
Today, Dawn’s work is strongly focused on entrepreneurship, mentorship and developing sustainable small businesses. She is Executive Director of Over the Rainbow, an organisation providing entrepreneurial education, mentorship and development opportunities, and is the founder and driving force behind Cape Town’s Entrepreneurs’ Network, which connects emerging business owners with experienced entrepreneurs, mentors and commercial opportunities.
As a speaker, Dawn combines real-world corporate leadership with entrepreneurial experience, addressing topics such as leadership, entrepreneurship, women in business, building high-performance teams, customer service, navigating change, business growth and developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Her experience of helping build a nine-car start-up operation into a major national business gives her presentations a particularly practical and credible business perspective.
Based: Cape Town, South Africa. Current professional and entrepreneurial activities place Dawn in Cape Town, where she remains actively involved in the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
