Mbele began working for the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 1999, rising to become an anchor for its programme News at Ten.

[4] In 2007 Mbele joined CNBC Africa at its launch as one of the channel's senior business presenters.

While at CNBC she hosted regular programmes on the channel in addition to coverage of many other business events, such as the World Economic Forum.

She was also the long standing presenter for Africa Business Report, a weekly programme that provided analyses on different sectors of the economy across African countries.

In 2014 Mbele was named a Young Global Leader by the Switzerland based World Economic Forum, in the cohort selected that year.