As part of Women’s Month 2025, we meet Nesh Chetty, our Commercial Executive. With more than 30 years in the roofing industry, Nesh brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her leadership role at MiTek South Africa.
With a unique background spanning design, sales, and board leadership, Nesh shares her insights on driving compliance, safety, and expanding MiTek’s reach into new market segments.
From designer to customer journey expert
Starting in the roofing industry at just 20 years old, Nesh’s first role was as a roof designer using MiTek software. “My grounding in the roofing industry was always that you had to take your role as a designer seriously. There were people living under those roofs,” she explains.
This early experience instilled in her the importance of compliance and safety – values that have guided her 30-year career. After 13 years in design, she moved into sales for a concrete roof tile company, bringing her unique perspective as someone who truly understood the customer’s journey.
“Understanding the customer’s journey is something that has moved with me throughout my career,” Nesh reflects. “In every environment I go into, I focus on understanding what the customer is experiencing and how I can make their journey better. The next step is how to become partners with my customer. Those two factors are so important when it comes to business.”
For Nesh, improving the customer journey is central to MiTek’s growth strategy. “Every touch point in MiTek is a customer experience touch point,” she emphasises. “The only way to grow sales is to grow the customer.”
This philosophy extends from the initial design stage through to project completion, creating a culture where excellent customer service drives business growth. It’s about understanding that profitability comes from helping customers succeed rather than simply selling more products.
Creating new channels for Ultra-Span growth
Another of Nesh’s key priorities is increasing the market share of Ultra-Span, MiTek’s light gauge steel truss system, particularly in light commercial applications.
Nesh is focused on actively exploring innovative applications for Ultra-Span, targeting new industry segments, and continuously pushing the boundaries to drive market growth.
Nesh has also addressed response time issues, bringing a dedicated designer into the sales team to handle marketing leads directly. “When you’re trying to specify a product range that requires engagement with architects, engineers or developers, and you cannot respond within 48 hours, you’ve lost the opportunity,” she notes.
Championing compliance and safety in construction
As Chair of the Institute for Timber Construction in South Africa (ITC-SA), Nesh brings valuable industry leadership experience to MiTek. The ITC-SA works to ensure all market players comply with South African building regulations, educating stakeholders about the risks of non-compliance.
Nesh notes that MiTek, as a market leader, ensures its software is always compliant with current regulations. “Our customers have the peace of mind that we will always keep them compliant. As a business we will always be on the side of regulation and compliance.
“Compliance is key to our values as a market leader in the roofing industry.”
Looking ahead
As Nesh looks forward, she sees two key focus areas for MiTek South Africa:
“Internally, I’d like to be the instrument that brings positive cultural change within MiTek – taking the ‘One MiTek’ message into every aspect of the business. Although we are various departments that handle different aspects of the customer’s journey, I want to be part of the leadership team that has one message: customer experience – going from good to better to best.”
On the commercial side, Nesh aims to expand MiTek’s market reach: “I would like to expose MiTek to industries beyond just truss manufacturers, opening new channels and growth opportunities.”
By focusing on customer experience, compliance, and market expansion, Nesh Chetty is positioning MiTek South Africa for continued innovation and growth in 2025 and beyond.
