She has always been deeply passionate about the transformation of lives, with particular focus on women, children and the overall healing of human beings from all forms of brokenness.

Louisa allocates her time to service in a number of development initiatives. These include serving on the Board of Directors of Oxfam South Africa and on the Board of the Bethesda Fountain of Healing (BFoH). BFoH is a non-profit association established by the Bethesda Methodist Mission to operate independently of the church in healing the brokenness of society in Greater Johannesburg area and beyond. She also coordinates the work of GSF, a consortium of stakeholders active in a range of fields, including: agriculture and food security; environmental and ecological sustainability; community engagement and organising; human rights and social justice. GSF leverages, in transformative ways, the resources available in large commercial agricultural entities, while giving central attention to supporting communities to organize themselves and awaken to their power to take charge of their destiny. Through community participation, GSF supports the co-creation of productive, enabled and nurturing communities.

Louisa previously served as Head of Secretariat for the National Education Crisis Forum, CEO of the Public Protector South Africa, CEO of the Bertha Gxowa Foundation, General Manager: Legal at Sasol; General Counsel at SAA, CEO of the National Nuclear Regulator, Secretary to the PrepCom of the CTBTO (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation) in Vienna, CEO of the SAHRC (South African Human Rights Commission) and Deputy Executive Director of the Constitutional Assembly Secretariat. She also held non-executive roles at the NRF (National Research Foundation) and NACI (National Advisory Council on Innovation).

Bongi was charged with 10 other students for sedition in what became known as the “Soweto 11” Trial. As the only female student charged, she was nicknamed ‘the rose among the thorns’ and imprisoned for two years at a female prison in Kroonstad, in the Free State Province. Six years after the 1976 protests she was finally released in 1982. Time spent in the women’s prison only resolved her commitment to fighting for the dignity of black lives and strengthening the position of African women.

After her release Bongi was served with several banning orders, laws limiting who she could be in contact with and restricting her movements to Zola Township. She made her hometown the epicentre of her activism. Under the auspices of the South African Council of Churches, Bongi was trained by The Legal Resources Centre as a para-legal and founded the Zola Advice Office offering practical, social, and legal advice and assistance to people living under the rule of an oppressive state.

Most recently, she was awarded The Order of Luthuli (Silver) by the President of South Africa, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, on 27 April 2018. The award is in recognition of her fight against apartheid, her continued work in social justice and for her excellent contribution to the well-being of South Africa’s children. She has also awarded an honorary doctorate in Philosophy by the Nelson Mandela University.

In her tenure as CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s fund, Bongi moulded an African organization for social justice, and a critical player in issues affecting children, their families, and communities. The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund founded by Nelson Mandela has a footprint that extends beyond the borders of South Africa and encompasses Southern Africa.

Embracing Nelson Mandela’s mission to change how society treats the African child, in the last decade Sibongile Mkhabela has been on a journey to ensure that the county’s children have access to world-class tertiary healthcare and institutions devoted to their care. She led the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust, R1 billion ($100m) capital campaign behind the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. Only the second of its kind in Southern African, the Children’s Hospital now provides state-of-the-art tertiary paediatric care and aims to improve the quality of paediatric research and training in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It is in this context that she built relationships with the French government and its people. During her tenure at NMCF, the French government hosted South Africa’s children and invited them to address a sitting of parliament. The French government was one of the lead donors and partners during the research phase of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.

Bongi presents a unique development perspective that incorporates grassroots action working with the Advice Offices and other grassroots initiatives as well as work with organizations with a national and global agenda.

Part of that experience saw her work in senior positions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); serve the first democratically elected government as the Director responsible for programming in the Office of the President with specific reference to civil society-government partnerships as well as overseeing the implementation of The UN Children’s Charter.

A graduate from the University of Zululand, Bongi is also a Joel L. Fleishman Civil Society Policy Fellow at Duke University in North Carolina, USA. She also completed her post-graduate Business Management studies with the University of the Witwatersrand Business School in Johannesburg. In 2017, Mkhabela was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Italy – a residency offering space to reflect and write about her experiences and the future of social justice movements.

Bongi serves on various boards, including the USA based Global Philanthropy Alliance and she is former Chairperson and current Trustee of Black Sash. She continues to serve on the board of Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. Bongi recently accepted an invitation to serve on the Firelight Board, California, USA.

Her novel Open Earth and Black Roses recounts the ordinary and extraordinary tales of black families in Apartheid South Africa and she tells her personal experience as a young woman imprisoned, restless and resisting social injustice.

In her current role as Founding Chief Executive Officer of Barloworld Empowerment Foundation – a non-profit organisation that seeks to ignite individual self-belief and unleash community resilience through advocacy and story-telling – during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bongi’s vision is to bring a human face to development work and ultimately creating a sustainable platform for transformational change and sustainable impact through this newly established Foundation.

Lerato has been recognized by the 2018 Financial Mail Women as a driving force in the Energy sector and was named a Woman of Fortitude honoree by the South African Government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee headed by the Minister of the Department of Energy. She is an alumna of the prestigious Fortune 500 – U.S. Department of State Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership, a public-private partnership between Fortune Most Powerful Women, the U.S. Department of State, and Vital Voices Global Partnership.

She has a strong devotion to the economic inclusion of African girls and young women, and founded Girlignite Africa Academy, a non-profit organisation which empowers and equips Black African females who are not in education, employment and training with practical skills in leadership, technology, social entrepreneurship, Maths and financial education. Lerato’s contribution in the non-profit community has seen her implementing innovative programmes in South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique and Comoros Islands in partnership with public, private and non-profit sector donor organisations, which include the British Council, The Global Citizen Project, The Higherlife Foundation and the U.S Department of State.

Lerato has a contagious enthusiasm and passionate belief in people that inspires them to become prouder, stronger, and more valuable contributors to their organisations and society.

Rorisang is also an adjunct member of faculty at Duke University CE, delivering a portfolio of corporate education programmes.

He is an African Leadership Institute/Oxford University Desmond Tutu Fellow, an Africa Leadership Initiative/Aspen Global Leadership Network (YALI) Fellow, and a Bertha Foundation Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellow. Amongst Rorisang’s hidden talents is that he is both a retired politician and a retired radio show host.

CEOs call upon him to support them and their top-management teams through processes of investing in the conceptualization, development, establishment and early-stage management of new products, services and strategies. He supports top-teams to generate and use unique insights in order to develop innovative business models and the business and management systems through which they are delivered.

She also served as a Non-Executive Director for numerous companies including Santam Limited and Grindrod Limited and Grinrod Bank. She also served – on both companies – as a member of the Audit Committee. She chaired the Audit Committee of the Public Investment Corporation.

Tantaswa also served Umalusi Council for Quality Assurance in General and Higher education as the chairman of the Audit Committee.

She has also previously served as a trustee of Tshephang Trust and Soul City.

Tantaswa has also served the following professional institutions; SAICA (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants), IRBA (Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors) and Audit Commit ABASA (Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants in Southern Africa).

During her spare time, Tantaswa volunteers her time to mentor and empower the women and the youth of South Africa. She writes poetry, enjoys reading, spending time with her family and loves flowers.

South African born Gugu was recently selected by Forbes for its list of ‘Top 10 most Powerful and Influential Women in Africa’. She was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a community of less than a 1000 across the globe who are viewed as leaders helping play a role in positively impacting the world across sectors (business, government and the not for profit sectors). Gugu Sepamla is a strategy and performance turnaround expert with vast experience across a broad range of industries, having served the top management of leading institutions.

She is a respected industry leader and dedicated mentor who is actively involved in various trusts, charities and is a champion for women’s empowerment in South Africa. Among her many notable achievements is that she has worked with a government task team of a BRICS country to design the operating model for a proposed national pension system, leveraging existing institutional capacities in the public as well as the private sector.

Fundiswa joined the Proconics Board in November 2014 as a Non-Executive Director through the signing of the B-BBEE partnership with Dlondlobala Capital (Pty) Ltd. She is currently with Dlondlobala Capital where she fulfils the role of Chief Executive Officer

In the past she was Investments Director at Imperial Holdings Limited, Director of Investments for Kagiso Tiso Holdings (Pty) Ltd. and Fund Manager for Old Mutual Employee Benefits.

She also served as Chairman for Matrix Vehicle Tracking, Executive Director at Kagiso Ventures Ltd. (a subsidiary of Kagiso Tiso Holdings (Pty) Ltd.) and Chairman-Risk Committee at The Technology Innovation Agency.

Significant career growth during her 14-year tenure at Nedbank Group Ltd has awarded Lindiwe her current position as Executive Head of the Nedbank Group Foundation. She holds complete strategic responsibility for the group CSI funding function. Lindiwe works collaboratively within the core team and network of partners, possessing the necessary entrepreneurial mindset, thought leadership and gravitas to achieve corporate goals and strategy.

An agile communicator that is experienced in Public-Private Partnerships and managing stakeholder relationships across diverse spheres of corporate, public and government sectors, Lindiwe explores and leverages strategic opportunities for business development within this well-established network.

Lindiwe’s extensive commercial and financial acumen is complemented with robust compliance to statutory, sector and organisational requirements. She drives continuous improvement initiatives in high-pressured and dynamic business arenas, effectively managing change and cultivating a world-class team of talented, motivated and empowered individuals.