ABONGA NKWELO

CO-FOUNDER & DIRECTOR  |  SINANI ENERGY

Abonga has a degree in Organisational and Industrial Psychology from Rhodes University. In 2008 he founded Kanelo, a procurement business for a diverse group of businesses across a multitude of sectors. He moved on to be business manager of Wakaberry. After its acquisition by Famous Brands, Abonga was appointed Regional Ops Manager for Steers, Debonairs and Fishaways. Learning a great deal about systems from the corporate environment, Abonga co-founded Sinani Energy. Abonga’s passion for driving business sustainability is rooted in businesses becoming more energy efficient. However, his passion for people is not lost – he has started a programme called Man in the Arena, which seeks to address the mental health issues sports people go through during and after their playing days.

ANNELIZE KOTZE

CO-FOUNDER & BRAND MANAGER  |  MOVEPRETTY

Annelize started out her career in the world of advertising and brand management, but she’d always had a love for fashion and decided to continue her studies part-time at the Victoria Toma Institute of Fashion & Design and Elizabeth Galloway Academy of Fashion Design. The opportunity to start Movepretty came when school friend and professional triathlete, Mari Rabie, who was completing her MBA at Oxford University, contacted her about a research project that focused on the need for well-designed ladies’ active and leisure wear in South Africa. Annelize now runs the business full-time and loves doing something that adds value to women’s lives, creates jobs and allows her to live out her passion for design.

CHRISTIAAN VAN DEN BERG

CO-FOUNDER & CO-CEO  |  JOBJACK

Christiaan, a people-passionate pioneer, is the co-founder and co-CEO of JOBJACK. He is a qualified CA (SA) – he came up with the idea of JOBJACK while completing his audit articles in 2017. Although he is stimulated by the business behind JOBJACK, he is driven by the people they are reaching, whether job-seekers, companies, employees or people simply inspired by what is happening. Christiaan wants to see God’s Kingdom come not only in his organisation, but in every company and person’s life.

GRANT EDMOND

FOUNDER & MD  |  JUST GRACE

Grant is a qualified chartered accountant and holds an MPhil in Public Law from UCT. He co-founded Just Grace NPC in 2012 and has served as the Executive Director since 2018. He has received various awards in this capacity, including the South African Shining Star Award For Contribution To Education and the Surve Philanthropies Award For Contribution Towards Social Justice In Education. Grant is passionate about social justice and enjoys being involved in God’s redemptive story in Langa. He believes in implementing innovative solutions that empower community members to live out their full potential.

HEINE BELLINGAN

CO-FOUNDER & CO-CEO  |  JOBJACK

Heine is a born leader and motivator of people. He is the co-Founder and co-CEO of JOBJACK. Heine is a qualified CA (SA) and embodies the role of a forefront founder by his unending dedication and innovation. It is Heine’s call to be a Kingdom financier, leading the business world in his favour and walk with God.

HIGGO VAN BILJON

FOUNDER & CEO  |  FINMEUP

Higgo’s biggest passion for business is investing, education, and mentorship, as he believes in a greater purpose and causing change. He is both an opportunist and an optimist. Starting and scaling businesses gets him energised. He is someone who pours heart and soul into everything he does, and when he sets his mind on something, he does it. Whether it was climbing Mount Everest base camp at the age of 14, releasing two nr 1 hit singles, or scaling businesses like FinMeUp from WhatsApp group to thousands of app users.

IVAN SWARTZ

CEO  |  VALCARE

“Fighting and building” is part of Ivan’s DNA and a role he has been in for as long as he can remember, serving his community on various levels. He has a degree in Communications, an Honors Degree in Industrial Psychology and an MBA. In 2014 he founded Labit, a small business incubator focused on developing entrepreneurs in rural communities. In 2017 he joined Valcare as CEO, establishing it as a social impact investment platform. He enjoys long-distance running and endurance races. Having convinced his wife, Lecia, to marry him eight years ago remains his personal, most impressive achievement.

KOBUS LOUW

FOUNDER  |  CEO DEGIMY

After completing his Honours degree in Mathematical Sciences at Stellenbosch University, Kobus pursued a career in credit risk, where he later became a specialist in credit risk modelling. While building models that forecast the behaviour of the consumer for some of the biggest banks in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Africa, he realised that there is very little being done to change this consumer behaviour. With his modelling expertise and passion for mentorship, entrepreneurship and leadership development, he founded Digemy.com, an EdTech company that specialises in organisational optimisation, financial wellness, and entrepreneurial and soft-skill development in the Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer markets.

LARA SCHOEMAN

CO-FOUNDER  |  BRAND TOGETHER

Lara is the Co-Founder of Brand Together: a marketing agency focused on offering support to businesses that want to grow strategic and operational capacity whilst reducing risk. She believes that good marketing happens when you connect someone with the right solution. It isn’t bells and whistles that sell best but a human-centred approach. She’s a strategic, creative thinker with branding, marketing and customer research background. She spent the bulk of her career at Allan Gray, then got the opportunity to work at a non-profit, an Ad agency, a big corporate and a startup. She is an entrepreneur at heart who gets her kicks from eradicating jargon and a well-chosen font.

LEÀNNE VIVIERS

CO-FOUNDER & CEO  |  MINTOR

A creative problem solver, passionate about youth development and social entrepreneurship (and dancing) – this is what makes Leànne thrive and she’s put it to action having co-founded Mintor to see millions of unemployed youth realise their potential. Leànne’s background comprises 15+ yrs in IT and Operations Consulting (UK, USA, Africa), including her former role as global SME development manager for IFC (World Bank Group). She holds a B.Eng (Industrial Electronics) from Stellenbosch University and an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship from Oxford University, however, her biggest learnings were from doing business and learning from others that do.

LEON VAN VUUREN

FOUNDER & CEO  |  OPTIQUE

Leon is an optompreneur (an entrepreneurial optometrist) and founder of Optique. He grew up in Bloemfontein and received formal education from the University of the Free State with a degree in Optometry. After that, Leon gained experience in private practice before starting his first business. He has competencies in Digital Marketing from UCT and an MBA for executive development from USB. His core skill set gravitates towards critical and strategic thinking. He is an optimistic, melancholic maven living in Paarl with his wife. He enjoys visiting coffee shops with a new book, hunting, and spending time with family.

LUNGI MOLOI

DIRECTOR & COO  |  BETHEL ESTATE

Lungi is the COO of Bethel Estate and constantly inspired by the call to build the farm operations into a mixed commercial operation with both local and international export potential. She earned her degree in commerce (specialising in accounting) from UCT and is currently training at Agri college. Lungi is also a financial advisor with Old Mutual and a Phenomenal Women director, a business she started during her varsity days. Her passion is aligned with her family’s vision to create employment and “be the light” wherever they operate. As a young African woman, she is excited to work alongside her mom, who has been a great business leader for many years. By leapfrogging many hard lessons, she appreciates wise counsel based on biblical truths.

LUSANDA MAGWAPE

CO-FOUNDER & CEO  |  DREAM FACTORY

Lusanda is an admitted attorney who is passionate about raising the next generation of youth leaders in Africa through education. As co-founder and CEO of Dream Factory Foundation, she’s received global recognition for her work, including the 2017 SE 100 Most Inspiring Social Innovators and Social Entrepreneurs; the 2016 Leadership Award at the Ministerial Youth Excellence Awards, and the Inyathelo Philanthropy Award for Education. She’s also a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a proud wife and mother to baby Joy.

MARLI GOUSSARD

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT & COLLABORATION MANAGER  |  RANYAKA

Marli is a social entrepreneur and NGO sector specialist with 18 years’ experience in business development, operations, social enterprise development and socio-economic programme development. She is the current Enterprise Development & Collaboration Manager of Ranyaka Community Transformation. Marli is using her invaluable experience in the NGO sector towards a shared and holistic developmental purpose. She works with non-profit organisations, academia, government and civil society networks to steer their focus towards the common agenda to make collective impact. She facilitates collaboration between these multiple sectors streamlining their focus and playing to their strength within the context of their geographical and thematic ecosystems. She is the current Chairperson of the Stellenbosch Civil Advocacy Network (SCAN), a non-executive Board Member of Fix Forward and also serves on the Stellenbosch University Institutional Forum. She graduated with a B-tech Degree in Public Relations Management from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2003.

OWEN MUZAMBI

CO-FOUNDER & CEO  |  DRIVEN ADVISORY

Owen Muzambi is a Co-Founder and the Executive Director of Driven Advisory, a social enterprise and development advisory group. They focus on accelerating the economic and financial inclusion in South Africa and Africa by designing and implementing custom social change interventions. Owen is actively involved in creating and supplying innovative micro-enterprise solutions to improve sustainable entrepreneurial capabilities; alleviating poverty in low-income urban and rural communities.

PAUL KIM

CO-FOUNDER & CEO  |  REDEMPTIVE CAPITAL

Paul is a co-founder of Redemptive Capital, a small investment firm focusing on supporting companies that seek the flourishing of low-income South Africans and their families. He is an actuary by trade but has developed expertise in startups, behavioural economics, and redemptive design. Paul is an eternal learner and strives to connect his Christian faith practically to all spheres of life using the lens of biblical wisdom.

PIETER AVENANT

CO-FOUNDER & DIRECTOR  |  KAINOS PROJECTS

Pieter is a Kingdom-minded Chemical engineer with 12 years’ experience in design and turnkey projects in the industrial and municipal water sectors. He is an MBA graduate (Cum Laude, UCT, 2015), a co-founder and Director at Kainos Projects Africa. Pieter combines his technical experience with a big picture perspective in pursuing business development opportunities for the company, ensuring growth and strategic market penetration into Africa.

SAM VOS

FOUNDER & CEO  |  LUCEO SOLUTIONS

Sam Vos is the founder of Luceo Solutions, a consultancy to help organisations systematise how they create value. He is passionate about doing business in developmental ways that ensure inclusive growth. Upon graduating with a degree in Industrial Engineering from Stellenbosch University, he moved to London and spent six years working as a project manager at Schroders Asset Management. At the end of 2004, Sam returned to South Africa with his wife and young family. In 2005 he joined U-turn Homeless Ministry. He built the organisation up from a soup kitchen with four staff to a multi-site, multi-business, industry-leading institution with more than 80 staff members. During his 15 years at U-turn, Sam founded a retail division in U-turn as a social enterprise that provides training and work opportunities and maintained an annual growth rate of 27% per annum. The retail division has continued to grow and flourish, now comprising multiple sorting facilities, over ten stores and a reputation as one of the best charity retail operations in Cape Town. Sam formally handed the organisation over in Apr 2021.

Sam is married to Jane, and together they have two boys.

SAMMY RABOLELE

CO-FOUNDER, CEO & PRODUCER  |  BEYOND THE EYES

Sammy grew up in a farming family in the North West, post-Bophutatswana. He was educated at Potchefstroom High School for Boys and the University of Pretoria. It was at university that he truly came to know Jesus as his Lord and Saviour and sensed the call of the Lord on his life. After completing his B.Com Investment Management degree, he joined a ministry called Campus Outreach as full-time staff for six years, sharing his faith on campus. The desire to tell stories finally drove him to realise his dream of capturing the African stories that often remain untold, co-founding Beyond the Eyes in 2014. He shares the journey with business partner Tebogo, as well as his wife Mpho and their daughter Aobakwe.

TIM VAN STORMBROEK

FOUNDER  |  PLAN BEE

Tim has pursued a career in occupational hygiene, food safety and, for the last 14 years, in environmental consulting. This has been overlapped with 24 years of experience in beekeeping and honey production as a sideline. Tim is passionate about grass roots development in Africa and seeing lives changed through sustainable rural beekeeping. He believes strongly that the agri-potential in southern Africa is still highly undervalued and is excited to help unlock this blessing.

VINCENT OMBAKA

CO-FOUNDER  |  OYAKE ENTERPRISE

Vincent is married to Lydiah and together they work in consumer products distribution in Nairobi, supporting micro and small enterprises by providing consumer products at wholesale terms. He also supports governments and non-profit organisations in public policy development and advocacy and is an aspiring legal philosopher.

WERNER CLOETE

FOUNDER & CEO  |  CALLING ACADEMY

Werner is a passionate and influential educator. He is the principal of Calling Academy and CEO of Calling Education. He previously taught at Paul Roos Gymnasium, where he headed up character development, Christian union, hockey and a boarding house. His other teaching experience includes Berkhamsted School and the Royal Grammar School (both UK). He is the author of First Class (a book for Christian teachers) and has spoken widely at staff development and education conferences. He is co-founder of Engage (promoting fatherhood in schools) and is a non-executive director of The World Needs a Father. He holds BSc(Ed) and BTh(Honours) degrees.